As we all know, there are many cattle people in our army, all of whom were disciples of Chairman Mao in their early years, and Xiao Jinguang was also one of them; in 1920, he joined the Changsha Russian Research Association founded by Chairman Mao together with Ren Bishi, listened to Chairman Mao's lectures on a lot of revolutionary principles, and was later sent to Russia and became one of the first batch of students to study abroad.
In 1921, when Xiao Jinguang was only 18 years old, he came to Moscow, just when Lenin was presiding over the Third Congress of the Communist International, listening to Lenin's impassioned speech on the spot, Xiao Jinguang could not help but be infected by the atmosphere, and then shouted Ulla.
Later, Xiao Jinguang, Ren Bishi, Liu Shaoqi and others became the first batch of Chinese students of the Moscow Oriental University, and in 1922, Xiao Jinguang became a member of the Communist Party.
Xiao Jinguang, who had been studying at the university for a year, met the Red Army Officer School to enroll in Dongda, when Dongda recommended Xiao Jinguang and Ren Yue and others according to the registration volunteers, so Xiao Jinguang went to the Red Army School and was eagerly learning all kinds of military knowledge and skills every day.
Soon after, Chen Duxiu came to Moscow to attend the Conference of the Communist International, and he reprimanded Xiao Jinguang fiercely, believing that his study of military knowledge was a complete nonsense, and in this way, Xiao Jinguang was forced to interrupt his studies at the military academy.
At this time, Chen Duxiu did not understand a truth, that is, in a chaotic world, it was difficult to achieve a great cause without controlling the army and only grasping the pen pole.
In 1925, after Xiao Jinguang returned to China, he was introduced by Zhou Enlai to serve as the director of the political department of the 6th Division of the 2nd Army of the National Revolutionary Army, ranking with the rank of lieutenant general, when he was only 22 years old.
After the defeat of the Great Revolution in 1927, the revolution fell into an unprecedented low tide, and Xiao Jinguang once again went to the Soviet Union for further study, and it is worth mentioning that Chiang Ching-kuo was still his classmate.
During the Red Army period, Xiao Jinguang successively served as the political commissar of the Red 5 Army and the chief of staff of the Red 3 Army.
At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Xiao Jinguang served as the director of the General Left Guard Office of the Eighth Route Army and the commander of the corps, and at that time Chairman Mao quipped to him: I still have to rely on you to eat with our left-behind corps! During this period, Xiao Jinguang not only led his troops to repel dozens of Japanese invasions, but also stuck to the defense of the Qianli River, which was also his initiative in supporting the army and loving the people.
During the Liberation War, Xiao Jinguang led his troops to besiege Changchun, when he adopted military encirclement, political disintegration, economic blockade and other means, forcing the 100,000 defenders of Changchun to have no way out, and could only be forced to surrender one after another, which directly created a precedent for the peaceful liberation of large cities at that time.
On the eve of the founding of New China, Chairman Mao personally appointed Liu Yalou as the first commander of the Air Force, while the commander of the Navy was Xiao Jinguang.
At that time, there was a very interesting phenomenon, that is, the commander of the Air Force actually fainted, and the commander of the Navy, Xiao Jinguang, was a notorious dry duck.
In April 1949, the Naval Command was formally established in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, and Zhang Aiping served as commander, but Xiao Jinguang was suddenly transferred back to Beijing, and in early 1950, Chairman Mao directly appointed him as the first naval commander of New China.
Logically speaking, Zhang Aiping should be responsible for forming Sanye into a navy, so why should Xiao Jinguang of Siye be appointed as the commander of the navy? There are only two reasons for this.
First, the construction of the navy is inseparable from the help of the Soviets, Xiao Jinguang has studied in the Soviet Union twice, and Zhang Aiping has not studied, plus Xiao Jinguang is not only good at Russian, but also very clear about the situation in the Soviet Union, which is very convenient to communicate, and it is more conducive to the exchanges between the two armed forces in the future.
Xiao Jinguang has a lot of experience in transforming old units, such as during the Red Army period, when he was the political commissar of the Red 5 Army, he had transformed the former Kuomintang 26th Route Army of the former Jiangxi Ningdu Uprising, and during the Liberation War, he had the experience of transforming the 60th Army of the Changchun Uprising.
Zhang Aiping does not have these advantages, and the most important thing is that he is far less mature than Xiao Jinguang in politics.
With the defeat of the Kuomintang troops, many Nationalist generals began to judge the situation and lead the uprising, and Lin Zun, the commander of the Second Fleet of Coastal Defense, was one of them, and after he led the navy to the Uprising on the River surface of The Mountain in Nanjing, Zhang Aiping was ordered to receive the rebel troops.
As was customary, Zhang Aiping took him to meet Liu Bocheng, then mayor of Nanjing.
Liu Bocheng was very unhappy after talking with Lin Zun, and Zhang Aiping asked what he talked about? Liu Bocheng frankly said that Lin Zun wanted to be the first commander of the navy of New China, he was too proud, Zhang Aiping did not hear the wrong tone of Liu Shuai's tone, but still said without thinking: Then let him be it.
Zhang Aiping did not think about a problem, that is, although the navy is a technical branch, it also needs to consider the issue of the direction of army building and the political foundation.
From the above level analysis, it is difficult for him to support the heavy burden of the Navy, and Lin Zun is not able to do it, he later served as the deputy commander of the East China Sea Fleet and the vice president of the Naval Academy, and he did not hold a full position, and was awarded the rank of rear admiral in 1955.
Chairman Mao chose to make Xiao Jinguang commander of the Navy, and I have to say that a generation of great people is really unique in the employment of personnel, which is admirable.
In 1955, Xiao Jinguang was awarded the rank of Grand General, and was also awarded a Medal of August 1st, the Order of Independence and Freedom of the First Class, and the Liberation Medal of the First Class.
In the position of commander of the navy, Xiao Jinguang worked hard for 30 years, and he also became the longest-serving naval commander, and the three fleets he formed ended the passive situation of no defense in China's history, and created many firsts, such as the creation of the first regular naval school, the first speedboat unit, and the development of the first nuclear submarine.
Chairman Mao once said that as long as Xiao Jinguang is still there, he will be a naval commander all his life, and from this sentence, we can see the degree of trust that the chairman has in him.
In 1957, Chairman Mao caused a cold and fever when he inspected the navy in Qingdao, and he entrusted Premier Zhou with full authority to inspect the naval forces on his behalf, at that time, Xiao Jinguang's family lived in Qingdao, and Chairman Mao proposed that Xiao Jinguang do his best as a landlord and want to go to his house for a meal.
Xiao Jinguang of course agreed, and prepared meals at home, Chairman Mao ate very happily, there were eight dishes on the table at that time, all of which were extremely ordinary home-cooked dishes, including Chairman Mao's favorite braised pork, two dishes at that time were brought by Chairman Mao, one was rapeseed and the other was spinach.
It is recorded that Chairman Mao went to his subordinates' homes to eat a particularly small number of times, and this was the only time that could be found in the literature.
In March 1989, Xiao Jinguang died of illness in Beijing at the age of 86, the last of the ten founding generals, he died the latest, in the late 1980s, our party twice deliberated and confirmed 36 great military experts, including Xiao Jinguang.
As far as the title of military expert is concerned, he deserves it, and the Battle of Sibao Linjiang was commanded by him, which fundamentally changed the situation of the northeast battlefield, and then he took Changchun without bloodshed, and in the Battle of Hengbao, he severely defeated Bai Chongxi. . Behind all these merits, he deeply hid his merits and fame, and paid tribute to this great revolutionary ancestor.