In 1955, the Central Military Commission awarded corresponding military ranks according to the seniority and positions of the revolutionary generals, of which seniority was an important criterion for awarding titles. However, after the list of founding generals came out, the titles of two people attracted people's attention, in 1927, two people had a division commander and a platoon leader, and 28 years later the platoon grew into a founding general, but the division commander was only a general.
This founding general was Xu Guangda, and this founding general was Zhou Shidi. Born in 1900 in the Guangdong Music Club, Zhou Shi was 8 years older than Xu Guangda, and he began to actively participate in activities at the time of the rise of the "May Fourth Patriotic Movement", and in 1924 he was admitted to the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, and Xu Guangda was the fifth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy. In 1925, Zhou Shidi served as the battalion commander of the first battalion of Ye Ting's independent regiment, and in 1927, he led his troops to participate in the Nanchang Uprising and served as the commander of the 25th Division, while Xu Guangda was only a probationary platoon leader under Zhou Shidi.
Born in 1908 to a poor family in Changsha, Hunan Province, Xu Guangda was admitted to changsha normal school at the age of 13, where he began to be exposed to revolutionary ideas and actively participated in the patriotic movement in the school. He also joined the Communist Party in 1925 and formally embarked on the revolutionary road. The following year, he was admitted to the Fifth Artillery Section of the Whampoa Military Academy, and after graduating in 1927, he joined the National Revolutionary Army, serving as a probationary platoon leader in the artillery battalion of the Fourth Army, and had a very prominent performance on the battlefield. In 1932, Xu Guangda was unfortunately wounded in battle, but he was also able to go to Moscow for medical treatment and study at the Moscow Military Academy. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he was ordered to return to Yan'an from the Soviet Union and served as the commander of the Independent 2nd Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army. After the liberation war began, he served as the commander of the 3rd Column of the Jinsui Field Army under the recommendation of Zhou Shidi, and successively participated in major battles such as the Battle of Yichuan, the Battle of Chengguo, and the Battle of Lanzhou, and made outstanding achievements on the battlefield.
It was not until the late stage of the Liberation War that Xu Guangda became the commander of the Second Corps, when Zhou Shidi served as the commander of the 18th Corps, and the positions of the two were finally equal at this time, and both of them also made immortal contributions in the competition to liberate the Great Northwest. When he was awarded the rank in 1955, Xu Guangda, after learning that he had been awarded the rank of general, believed that he was not senior enough and asked for a demotion, but was rejected by the central government. It was precisely in this way that Xu Guangda was able to come to the top and his military rank was even higher than that of Zhou Shidi.