The first award of the title by the Chinese People's Liberation Army held in 1955 is undoubtedly a major event in the history of the republic. In this award, our party awarded the ranks and medals of meritorious service to the founding heroes according to the five elements, and marshals, generals, and soldiers shared the honor from top to bottom. However, four people were not awarded the rank of general because they were transferred to local work, and people called them "rankless generals", one of whom was called Li Xiannian.
Born into a poor peasant family, Li Xiannian participated in the jute uprising in 1927 and then joined the Communist Party of China, which lasted for more than 60 years. In the past sixty years, a large number of talents who have made outstanding contributions to the motherland have emerged on the mainland, including many warriors who have galloped on the battlefield. And these great generals, however, were all full of respect and satisfaction with Li Xiannian, why was this?
In November 1938, Wuhan fell, and Li Xiannian led a team into the Yu'e area to carry out combat tasks behind enemy lines, with only more than 160 troops. At that time, the Yu'e region was like a hell, all the key counties and towns were controlled by the Japanese army, and the countryside was filled with a large number of puppet troops and bandits, and Li Xiannian's troops were not only isolated and helpless, but also faced the situation of harsh climate and lack of food and clothing.
However, it was in such a sinister environment that Li Xiannian's military ability was brought to the extreme. In a negative environmental factor, he keenly grasped the sporadic favorable conditions and played their role to the extreme.
He took advantage of the contradictions between the recalcitrant army, the Japanese army, and the puppet army to win over all the anti-Japanese forces that could be won; he used the mountains and waters to fight, so that the mechanized troops of the Japanese army lost their superiority; and he also mobilized the masses to sabotage the logistics supply line of the Japanese army.
In 1945, Li Xiannian established a base area of 90,000 square kilometers under the eyes of the enemy, and his team grew from more than 160 people to 350,000 people. Not only that, the army led by Li Xiannian also annihilated more than 43,000 Japanese puppet troops and rescued many anti-fascist alliances from the Japanese encirclement.
Li Xiannian not only has excellent combat ability and organizational ability, but also excellent observation and analysis ability. On June 16, 1935, Chairman Mao and other central comrades met with Li Xiannian, then political commissar of the 30th Red Army, in a Catholic church. Under Chairman Mao's question, Li Xiannian analyzed the geographical conditions and strategic environment of the Min and Jia regions like several family treasures, and expressed his own views.
This conversation provided an important basis for the subsequent development and combat of the Red Army, and Li Xiannian was highly appreciated by Chairman Mao for this reason. Indeed, how can a commander who is good at fighting, able to organize, and who has great powers of observation, control, and valuable insight not be subjugated by many strong generals?
In the autumn of 1976, the Party and the people were in dire straits, and the past decade had brought great disasters to the Party and the people. Chairman Hua, who was in charge of handling the affairs of the great man, asked Li Xiannian to visit Ye Shuai and exchange views with him on how to improve the current situation. Therefore, on September 14, Li Xiannian secretly visited Ye Shuai on the pretext of going to the botanical garden to relax.
Under the cover of the radio sound, Li Xiannian and Ye Shuai exchanged oral communication with their pens for thirty minutes, and then burned all the paper with the content of the conversation. After that, Li Xiannian, Ye Shuai, and Chairman Hua secretly discussed the plan of action and arrested those lawbreakers who undermined peace. In other words, Li Xiannian was one of the decision-makers who contributed to the arrest.
After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, Li Xiannian and other veteran comrades worked together to rehabilitate unjust, false and wrongly decided cases of all sizes, and made outstanding contributions to rectifying the chaos. He is committed to promoting reform and opening up, has done a lot of work in promoting the reform of the economic system, and put forward a series of insights of great value.
Li Xiannian has made great contributions in the fields of military, economics, and diplomacy, but he not only does not take credit for himself, but also says that all his knowledge and skills are "learned." He regarded himself as a "poor and white" student, and regarded Comrades-in-arms and superiors such as Xu Xiangqian, Chen Yun, Premier Zhou, and Chairman Mao as his teachers. Humility is so humble that it is no wonder it is respected by everyone.
Indifferent to fame and fortune is also a valuable quality of Li Xiannian. In 1955, Li Xiannian, who worked in the central government, although his meritorious deeds were outstanding, could not be awarded because he had long left the army. Chairman Mao, who wanted to find another way to commend him, personally asked him for his opinion, and Li Xiannian said that he did not want to give titles, but only worked.
Li Xiannian's personality charm is also reflected in the education of children. Li Xiannian's child, Li Xiaolin, said that his father was tolerant of outsiders, but he was very strict with several of their children, asking them not to become officials and not to become famous, but to do the work of ordinary people and do it well. Although he held an important position in the party, Li Xiannian never thought of introducing his children to work.
"Tiger father has no dog", Li Xiannian's children have mostly become doctors to save lives after growing up. They never show off that Li Xiannian is their father, and they will not use this matter for convenience. Many people don't even know that they are li xiannian's children.
Of course, the most touching thing is Li Xiannian's deep and practical care for the people. In the course of reform and opening up, he attached importance to safeguarding and developing the interests of the people, emphasizing linking economic development with the interests of the masses and allowing the working people to obtain visible material benefits, so as to further arouse the enthusiasm of the masses.
In 1992, Li Xiannian, who had reached the age of 83 and was seriously ill, wrote a letter to Li Senmao, then minister of railways, expressing strong support for the planning of the Hubei section of the Beijing-Kowloon Railway through the old revolutionary areas of Hong'an and Macheng. Under the efforts of Li Xiannian, after his death, the Beijing-Kowloon Railway was built according to his wishes, and the train smoothly led to Hong'an and Macheng.
As a result, the old revolutionary areas, the place where Li Xiannian fought with blood, ushered in new opportunities for development, and the lives of the people in the old revolutionary areas also had new vitality. Li Xiannian, the people who are still worried about him at the end of his life, also repay him with eternal remembrance.
Li Xiannian's outstanding military ability, outstanding political achievements, and noble personality charm are the reasons why he was respected by many fierce generals. In fact, he was respected far more than just the generals, and every place where Li Xiannian left his footprints had left people's praise for him.
In fact, there are many revolutionaries like Li Xiannian who have made great contributions to the country and the people and have high moral character, and they have used their life's hard work and a pure heart to jointly create the country's current peaceful and prosperous world.
"Draught does not forget to dig wells", while enjoying the beautiful today, people will also think of these great heroes and be grateful to them. Building a harmonious socialist society with their own little actions and striving to create a better tomorrow for the motherland is the best way to be grateful.