In 1955, when the title was awarded, there were many young generals in our army, the youngest of the founding major generals was Wu Zhong, who was only 34 years old at the time, in addition to Wu Zhong, there was another founding major general who was also relatively young, he was only 40 years old Zou Yan. General Zou Yan was only 15 years old when he joined the Red Army, originally such a young child joined the army, the Red Army refused, but because of a battle to capture the county town of Ji'an, the organization saw the military talent of this child, and finally broke the box and let him join the Red Army.
In 1915, Zou Yan was born in a poor peasant family in Xingguo County, Jiangxi Province, and from a young age, he listened to his grandfather tell some stories of ancient generals marching and fighting, and gradually became interested in being a soldier under the influence of his ears. In 1930, in the revolutionary wave of "100,000 workers and peasants going down to Ji'an", the 15-year-old Zou Yan put down the lead rope in his hand and attacked the county town of Ji'an with 100,000 troops.
At that time, the garrison of Ji'an County was the Kuomintang warlord Deng Ying, who had repelled nine attacks by the 100,000 Red Guards, relying on solid fortifications, Deng Ying's panicked heart calmed down slightly, as long as the reinforcements arrived, Ji'an would still be his world.
The Red Guards were already helpless, and although they had thought of many ways before, they were helpless to find that the other side was a well-armed Kuomintang army, and even if they had a great advantage in numbers, they still could not make up for the gap in weapons.
Just when the leader of the Red Guards was frowning, 15-year-old Zou Yan drove more than a hundred cows to the battlefield, and he rushed to the Red Guard headquarters and told the chief that he could use this hundred cows to charge and crush the enemy's military defenses. When the chief heard this, he excitedly patted the young man's head and said, "Good way, little devil." ”
The chief immediately rearranged the battle plan, on the same day, more than a hundred cattle in front, the soldiers in the rear, after the battle began, these cattle rushed forward like crazy, where the defending Kuomintang troops in front could stop, and within an hour, the defense was washed out, and the Red Guards quickly occupied the county town of Ji'an.
After the battle, the chief found Zou Yan and asked him how he came up with this method, and Zou Yan scratched his head and said, "When I was a child, I heard my grandfather tell the story of Tian Dan using the fire bull array to repel the Yan army, and this time I thought of it. When the chief heard this, he smiled and said, "At a young age, you will fight wars and have a future." ”
After that, the chief asked Zou Yan, "How did these cattle come from?" Zou Yan said that he borrowed it from his fellow villagers, and the chief listened, patted him on the shoulder, and said: "These cattle are the lifeblood of the peasants, they can lend you to show that they are very optimistic about our Red Guards, and now after this battle, many cattle have been injured, you tell these fellow villagers, in the second half of this year, they can get hay for free." “
Zou Yan nodded excitedly and told his fellow countryman about the good news.
After the capture of Ji'an, many Red Guards joined the Red Army, and the 15-year-old Zou Yan also wanted to join the army, but because of his young age, he was rejected, and after the chief heard about it, he made an exception and let him stay, became a propagandist in the political department of the 12th Army, and told everyone to cultivate Zou Yan well, and this child would have a career in the future.
In the revolutionary years, Zou Yan successively served as a guard for many chiefs, and because of his excellent work, he was unanimously praised by everyone.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zou Yan also made a great contribution to the country, he captured the CIA spies Donnai and Fektu, and shook the world.
At that time, 5 agents of the CIA airdropped to the northeast border through the Japanese base, but these people were captured by the northeast public security, zou Yan was in charge of this operation at the time, he thought that he could use this opportunity to expand the results of the battle, so he asked one of the spies to report to the spy agency in the tone of the person in charge, saying that he had obtained major intelligence and hoped to airdrop more agents.
Soon, the CIA sent planes to the northeast border, at which time the police officers, who had been lurking for a long time, immediately shot at the enemy planes, and finally the planes were shot down and captured two of the CIA's big spies, Donnai and Fektu. This victory shook the world, and Zou Yan and all the personnel were commended by Premier Zhou and the Ministry of Public Security.
In 1955, at the age of 40, Zou Yan was awarded the rank of major general.