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In 1955, the Central Military Commission decided to assign military ranks to all comrades according to their merits during the revolutionary war.
Chen Qihan
Chen Qihan is a veteran Red Army, and according to organizational regulations, his qualifications can be rated as a general, but he wrote the words "lieutenant general" on the declaration document.
Many years later, many descendants and historians still talk about General Chen Qihan's past, and his experience has surprised many people.
So, what wonderful moments did General Chen Qihan have in his life? What rank did the Central Military Commission confer on General Chen Qihan in the end? All this has to start with Chen Qihan's youth.
Take off your leather shoes and put on straw sandals
In 1897, Chen Qihan was born in Banan Village, Xingguo County, Jiangxi Province, relying on his smart mind, Chen Qihan was not only admitted to the famous Yunnan Lecture Hall in modern Chinese history, but even entered the Whampoa Military Academy under the recommendation of General Zhang Zhizhong.
When Chen Qihan attended a Xi in Guangzhou, he first met Chairman Mao, who was still in charge of spreading revolutionary ideas at the Guangzhou Peasant Xi.
After listening to Chairman Mao's lectures several times, Chen Qihan sincerely agreed with and praised the lofty ideals of communism.
In 1925, Chen Qihan was formally sworn in to join the revolutionary team led by the Communist Party of China through the recommendation of Chen Geng and Xu Jishen, however, Chen Qihan immediately ushered in a test.
In May 1925, Chiang Kai-shek began to exclude dissidents in the name of sorting out party affairs, and the elder Chiang issued an ultimatum to all Kuomintang functionaries:
If someone joins both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, they must choose to leave one of the parties.
At that time, Chen Qihan enjoyed quite good treatment within the Kuomintang, and if he could take this opportunity to join the ranks of the Kuomintang, he would inevitably be greeted by the treatment of high-ranking officials in the future.
Moreover, Chiang Kai-shek's action to sort out party affairs has fully released a signal: In the future, the Kuomintang will inevitably attack and squeeze out the Communist Party at all levels, and whoever chooses the Communist Party will inevitably be retaliated against by the Kuomintang.
But even so, Chen Qihan decided to join the Communist Party, and he not only publicly announced his resignation from the Kuomintang, but also resigned from his position as a military instructor within the Whampoa Military Academy.
From then on, Chen Qihan took the initiative to take off his leather shoes, put on straw sandals and followed several of his fellow villagers back to his hometown in Jiangxi to do communist propaganda work.
In the past few years, he not only sowed the flame of revolution in the countryside of Jiangxi, but even openly set up a newspaper in Nanchang to criticize Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang government at that time in the sharpest language.
Even later, when Chiang Kai-shek betrayed the revolution and created an atmosphere of "white terror" throughout the country, Chen Qihan and his comrades did not show the slightest fear of the enemy.
In the spring of 1927, Chiang Kai-shek once sent an invitation to Chen Qihan in Jiangxi, and as long as Chen Qihan was willing to serve the Kuomintang, the old Chiang could immediately appoint him as the director of the chamberlain.
This position is almost close to Chiang Kai-shek himself, and his future career will inevitably be smooth sailing, and many Kuomintang officials who want to become officials are vain in their requests for this, but Chen Qihan said that he was ill and turned down Chiang Kai-shek's invitation.
At the same time, he accepted Zhu De's invitation to take the initiative to go to Nanchang to take up a position, and because of this, Chen Qihan later became one of the main leaders of the Nanchang Uprising.
When the guns of the August 1 Nanchang Uprising rang out, the Kuomintang troops stationed in the surrounding area gathered towards Nanchang almost instantly, and at this time, Chen Qihan took the initiative to take on the task of covering everyone's retreat.
After that, Chen Qihan used his incorruptible tongue to lobby around after the failure of the uprising, successfully expanding the ranks of the revolution.
In this way, by the time he arrived at the Jinggangshan Meeting, Chen Qihan had become an important figure in the base.
Chairman Mao's "love general"
After going to Jinggang Mountain, Chen Qihan became Chairman Mao's favorite Red Army commander and fighter, and it turned out that Chen Qihan was also worthy of Chairman Mao's trust in himself.
During the period of the Republic of China, there were often some heroes in Jiangxi who gathered in the mountains and forests, and although their style was very strong, they were still in essence ordinary people who were oppressed by the Kuomintang government and the reactionary landlord class.
Under Chen Qihan's influence, many people developed sympathy for the communist revolution and even directly joined the revolutionary contingent led by the Communist Party.
At that time, there was a gang organization called the Hongjia Three-Point Association in Jiangxi, and Chen Qihan asked some comrades to break into it and propagate to it the revolutionary concept of "the three-point society cannot be a flood without a common force."
Later, this group of heroes from the green forest all joined the ranks of the Red Army and was reorganized into the second and fourth regiments of the Jiangxi Red Army.
Even when the Red Army retreated from Jinggangshan in 1929, Chen Qihan had already prepared a foothold for everyone in advance, and seeing Chen Qihan's contributions, Chairman Mao evaluated it as "Jiangxi peasants are a banner of the movement".
In addition to being a good hand on the propaganda front, Chen Qihan was also an extremely principled cadre, and at no time did he forget to unite all the forces that could be united to develop the revolutionary cause.
In 1930, Chen Qihan was transferred to the third branch of the Red Army Military Academy as the chief of education, and at that time Chen Qihan found that some Red Army soldiers were very rude to the rich peasants in the process of opposing "encirclement and suppression".
Later, this incident was learned by Chairman Mao, who was far away in Longyan, Fujian, and the chairman sent a handwritten letter to Chen Qihan.
In the letter, Chairman Mao painstakingly taught Chen Qihan:
"Don't unconditionally oppose the kulaks, don't concentrate on attacking the kulaks, and pay attention to your policy towards the kulaks. ”
After receiving Chairman Mao's letter, Chen Qihan really changed the strategy adopted by everyone in the process of the agrarian revolution.
After that, the Red Army won the support of a large number of people in the base areas, and Chen Qihan was able to accomplish this task so well, which shows that Chairman Mao did not see the wrong person.
One day in August 1934, Chen Qihan accompanied Chairman Mao to Changsheng County, Jiangxi Province to inspect the work.
When the local staff saw that Chairman Mao was coming, they smiled embarrassedly:
"Chairman, why don't you say hello to us when you come to the village! ”
Who knows, Chairman Mao seems to have seen through everything a long time ago, and he also smiled and said to the cadres who came to greet him:
"Why do you want to say hello in advance? You must know that I have come down, and now some cadres are going to the countryside for fear that others will not know, and this style of work is not good!"
That night, Chairman Mao was arranged to live in an old local ancestral hall in Chen Qihan, and several local cadres insisted on arranging a sumptuous dinner for Chairman Mao and them, but this request was rejected by Chen Qihan and Chairman Mao.
We just ate a bowl of potato porridge, a few sweet potatoes, and some dried radish.
The next day, Chairman Mao and his comrades urgently rushed to the central government in Ruijin because of urgent matters, but they found an embarrassing problem halfway through: Chairman Mao did not pay food expenses to local comrades yesterday.
Since everyone had already walked halfway, many people asked Chairman Mao to continue on his way.
After all, local comrades will never have an opinion of Chairman Mao because of a meal, but Chairman Mao himself and his companion Chen Qihan insisted on paying this food fee.
Because in their opinion, all the food and clothing expenses of the group after arriving in Changsheng County were all public money, and since this is the case, then they must pay the public fees in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Soviet District.
After several people argued for a while, Chen Qihan took the initiative to say:
"Chairman, leave this matter to me, you should hurry first, your affairs are important. ”
After listening to Chen Qihan's words, Chairman Mao looked at him with satisfaction and said:
"Lao Chen, you must handle this matter well! All of us are leading cadres, and we must be extremely strict in implementing the system!"
Subsequently, Chen Qihan really handed over the food and accommodation expenses for the previous night for Chairman Mao, and the local government also registered this expense in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Soviet District.
Today, the account books used for registration have become revolutionary cultural relics, and people can still see this cultural relic when they go to the Ruijin Central Revolutionary Memorial Hall in Jiangxi.
This cultural relic not only shows people the selfless spirit of the older generation of revolutionaries, but also shows Chairman Mao's attention and trust in Comrade Chen Qihan in the course of the revolution.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army in North China quickly occupied the Taiyuan area of Shanxi, and since then, they have repeatedly used Taiyuan and other places as bases to bomb Yan'an and other revolutionary bases.
Japanese bombing
During the entire War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Qihan insisted on being responsible for the defense of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region, and while being responsible for defending Yan'an, he also led his comrades to continuously develop production conditions and eliminate nearby bandits and bandits.
By the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Yan'an had already shown a thriving scene, which was not only the result of the unity of the military and the people of Yan'an to build their homeland, but also had an inseparable relationship with Chen Qihan's planning and leadership.
By the time the whole army was awarded titles in 1955, there were not many old Red Army soldiers like Chen Qihan who had come all the way from the Jinggangshan period.
In recognition of Chen Qihan's contribution to the revolution and the nation, the Central Military Commission decided to let Chen Zihan declare his military rank.
Chen Qihan refused to be a "general"
At that time, the Central Military Commission laid down a set of basic rules for the grading of generals and colonels, and all comrades who were rated as generals must have established an independent base area or served as a first-class military commander or political commissar during the Red Army period.
1955 Investiture Ceremony
Judging from Chen Qihan's revolutionary qualifications, he can be rated as a general, because he meets all three conditions, but Chen Qihan filled in the words lieutenant general in the declaration document submitted to the Central Military Commission.
In the elaboration column, Chen Qihan wrote emotionally: "For me, the level of personal position and status is a very small problem. ”
At that time, many veteran comrades who had participated in the revolution complained privately because they were not satisfied with their military ranks, but Chen Zihan took the initiative to ask the comrades of the Central Military Commission to "demote" him.
However, after seeing Chen Qihan's application documents, almost all the comrades of the Central Military Commission were moved by his honesty and modesty.
They knew that Chen Qihan did not value military rank and merit in his heart, but the military rank assessed to Chen Qihan was actually an attitude of the party and the army towards him.
Therefore, after careful consideration and careful study, it was decided to confer the rank of General Chen Qihan.
Even after becoming a general, Chen Qihan still behaved relatively low-key, and he almost never boasted of his exploits in front of others.
In fact, Chen Qihan was not only an important military commander and fighter in the early days of our party, but also a well-known "military judge" within the PLA.
Because Chen Qihan was very principled in his work, after the founding of New China, the organization specially arranged for him to serve as the chief judge of the military court, and it was precisely under Chen Qihan's continuous research and efforts that the People's Liberation Army also established its own military law system.
He not only took the initiative to formulate a series of military regulations, but even presided over the trial of a large number of Japanese war criminals in Shenyang, Taiyuan, and other places.
Because of this, Chen Qihan was also affectionately called the only "military law general" in the PLA by many people later.
Later, Chen Qihan's body also suffered from a very serious illness in the process of work, and at this time, no matter how strong Chen Qihan's willpower was, it was time for him to retire.
In the end, Chen Qihan had no choice but to retire from the leadership position, and from then on, he began to concentrate on reading, sorting out a lot of materials related to revolutionary history, and even at the last moment of his life, he had to continue to shine in his own way.
A large number of historical materials and oral notes left by General Chen Qihan in his later years have become an important reference for people today to study the history of the Red Army and the Central Soviet Region, and the significance of his work cannot be measured by money and material materials.
On June 19, 1981, Comrade Chen Qihan died of illness in Beijing at the age of 84.
After his death, many old comrades who were still alive rushed to visit Chen Qihan's family in person, for them, Chen Qihan was not only a comrade-in-arms, but also a role model!
Chen Qihan's life is a life free from low-level interests, at the beginning, he had the opportunity to choose to embrace wealth and status more than once, but Chen Qihan still resolutely chose to embrace his fiery revolutionary ideals.
In the face of the affirmation of the party and the people, Chen Qihan still behaved without arrogance or rashness, indifferent to fame and fortune, and for him, it was already the happiest thing to be able to witness the establishment and development of New China.
Perhaps, General Chen Qihan is not the most prominent tiger general in the PLA, but his contribution to the PLA and the cause of national liberation is still not inferior to anyone else's.
When the People's Liberation Army walked through Tiananmen Square with majestic steps, the loud military song sung by people was the best memory and commemoration of General Chen Qihan and countless revolutionary ancestors!
Bibliography:
1. Chen Qihan's original intention and demeanor Party History Wenyuan 2020 04
2. Chen Qihan: The only military law general in the Republic so far People's Court Daily 2021 07 01
3. The style of the founding general (9) - Chen Qihan, a general of Xingguo, contemporary Jiangxi, 2010 09
4. Mao Zedong pays the fee according to the rules Gannan Daily 2021 07 01
5. Today's headlines: "Chiang Kai-shek once wrote a letter to him to give him an official, but he politely declined, and became the founding general after the founding of the People's Republic of China"