In 1955, the Party Central Committee decided to award military ranks to heroic generals, which was an extremely important task and attracted the attention of the people of the whole country.
The work initially proceeded very smoothly, but when comrades such as Li Xiannian were selected, the leaders made a difficulty: According to the decision of the central authorities, in principle, the cadres of the troops who have worked in the localities do not participate in the activities of awarding military ranks, but taking into account the historical situation and the actual needs, some people can indeed be awarded reserve ranks. So, what rank is appropriate for Comrade Li Xiannian to be awarded?
Pictured| Chairman Mao
Based on this question, Chairman Mao approached Li Xiannian and asked for his opinion. After knowing this matter, Li Xiannian replied without hesitation: "I don't want any rank, you lead us forward, even if you are a sergeant squad leader, as long as there is a work arrangement for me!" ”
In fact, Li Xiannian's state of indifference to fame and fortune was reflected a long time ago!
Picture | Li Xiannian
Li Xiannian's participation in the revolution was not too early, and when He Long and Liu Bocheng and others were already high-ranking officials in the army, he was just an 18-year-old wind-chasing teenager. The day he became a member of the Communist Party came in 1927, a stormy year. That year, several major events occurred in China that were enough to mark milestones in human history.
In 1927, the parties decided to unite and go north against the reactionary warlords who oppressed the people there. The warriors marched forward in triumph, and in only half a year, the Northern Expedition army fought from the Pearl River Basin to the Yangtze River Basin. In this way, two of the three major warlords who committed evil in China have been eliminated. Sun Chuanfang, a rising warlord of the direct line who was once called the "joint marshal of the five provinces", and Wu Peifu, a "contemporary Guan Gong" who was known as a "contemporary Guan Gong" who was very good at fighting, were beaten down by everyone, and there was no longer the arrogance of the past.
The reason why the Northern Expedition army was able to achieve such brilliant results was inseparable from the selfless assistance of the Communists, but when the army progressed to the most critical moment, Chiang Kai-shek, the supreme leader of the Kuomintang, once again had a bad heart for the Communists. Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei, who had always presented themselves as leftists of the Kuomintang, exposed their true colors and held aloft the large knife that slaughtered the Communists.
Chiang Kai-shek launched the brutal "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup, and countless heroes lost their lives. White terror gradually spread throughout the country, the people were frightened to hide in their homes and did not dare to go out, and the streets and alleys were silent.
Faced with such a depressed scene, the Communists decided to take up their guns and fight back against the enemy. Therefore, Zhou Enlai and other comrades held the Nanchang Uprising in Nanchang.
As the war gradually spread across the country, a large number of patriotic compatriots stepped forward and decided to change this dark society, and Li Xiannian was one of them.
Pictured| Chiang Kai-shek
In November 1927, at the age of 18, Li Xiannian actively responded to the call of the revolution and joined and led the jute uprising in his hometown. In addition, he established the Eyu Border Soviet District.
Later, the Eyu Border Soviet Area became an important part of the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District, and the rebel troops he led were also incorporated into the strongest Red Four Fronts Army among the three main forces of the Red Army. In December of that year, Li Xiannian became an official member of the Communist Party.
Li Xiannian's family was poor, and no matter how hard the elders tried, they could only provide him with a small period of private school, and after dropping out of school, he began to rely on his own craft to eat. He studied carpentry in the local area for a period of time, and after completing the study, his craft was very good, and his neighbors called him "Little Plum Carpenter".
After joining the revolution, li Xiannian quickly won the appreciation of his superior leaders by virtue of his own qualities, and at the age of 20, he was promoted to secretary of the county party committee and chairman of the county soviet, and began to lead the people to participate in revolutionary work.
On November 7, 1931, the Red Fourth Front was formally established by unanimous decision of the leaders, with Xu Xiangqian as the commander-in-chief of the army and Li Xiannian as the political commissar of the 33rd Regiment of the 11th Division of the Red Fourth Army. On November 10, Li Xiannian was given an important task to attack TheOkiko Mountain.
It was the first time Li Xiannian had commanded a regiment to fight, and he was very nervous before he traveled. Finally, he was unable to complete the task due to inexperience. This mission also made Li Xiannian aware of his own shortcomings, and in order not to affect the army's follow-up operations, he began to actively ask his comrades for relevant knowledge.
Wu Yunshan, the commander of the Red Army who was familiar with the military, was a good candidate for advice, but he also always had busy times, so he sometimes consulted with sun Yuqing, a junior battalion commander. Most face-loving people will not do this to their subordinates, but Li Xiannian does not think that this is a taboo thing. In times of crisis, no matter who can make him progress, he will not hesitate to ask for advice.
Of course, among all the people, Li Xiannian's best "teacher" should be the commander-in-chief Xu Xiangqian. Every time he had free time, Xu Xiangqian could always see Li Xiannian come to ask about his military knowledge, and more importantly, Li Xiannian would also ponder his every battle deployment. This state of affairs made Xu Xiangqian very pleased, and he often praised him: I didn't expect that as a political cadre, you could study military command knowledge so seriously. Because of this, Xu Xiangqian can be described as pouring out to him.
Under the leadership of Xu Xiangqian and after the baptism of several wars, Li Xiannian gradually mastered the guerrilla warfare method developed by the Red Army.
In 1933, at the age of 24, Li Xiannian was promoted again, from a former political commissar of the Red Eleventh Division to a political commissar of the 30th Army. At that time, Xu Xiangqian and members of the General Command often acted together with the Red Thirty Army, so Li Xiannian was able to witness Xu Xiangqian leading troops to fight.
On the battlefield, the generals always have to take the lead in lining up the troops, and whenever this happens, Li Xiannian will watch from the side, and when he encounters something he does not understand, he can immediately ask for advice in person. The two discussed the enemy situation together, studied the idea of combat and the ancient method of warfare. In addition, in order to improve himself faster, Li Xiannian will also use his free time to repeatedly watch the combat textbooks compiled and printed by Xu Xiangqian, such as "Key Points of Fighting with the Sichuan Army" and "Basic Actions of Infantry".
Figure | Xu forward
After 10 months of arduous struggle, Xu Qiangqian instructed his generals to launch a general offensive against the enemy. On August 28, 1934, Xu Xiangqian issued a task to Li Xiannian's 30th Army, asking everyone to march to the enemy garrison. One night soon after, the warriors launched a surprise attack on the cold water pass and broke through the enemy line in one fell swoop. By September 1, our army had successfully attacked the county seat in Bazhong.
In a room in Bazhong City, Xu Xiangqian was planning how to expand the achievements of the revolution, when he saw Li Xiannian sitting on the side and took the initiative to ask for his opinion.
According to the current situation, is it necessary to make a big detour, lead the army to march to the northwest direction of the Yellow Maoya and Wangcangba line, block the enemy's rear road, and then launch a fierce attack to destroy them in a large group? （）
Li Xiannian pondered for a moment: "This is indeed a wonderful move, Commander Xu, give the order!" However, Xu Xiangqian still hesitated.
Li Xiannian said again: "Wherever you let us fight, we will fight to whichever side we want!" ”
Hearing this, Xu Xiangqian was deeply moved, the warriors trusted him so much, what else was there to fear? He stood up and issued an order: "You asked Cheng Shicai to immediately lead the leading troops to march to Huangmaoya, and I led a large army to arrive later." ”
The experience of this battle, Li Xiannian has always remembered vividly, and decades later, he can still recall:
At dawn, Xu Xiangqian instructed Li Xiannian to lead a large army to the destination, and immediately adjusted the combat deployment, ordering the follow-up troops to enter the prescribed position. The soldiers of more than a dozen regiments of the enemy army, who were surrounded by a rain of bullets, launched one charge after another against our army in an attempt to break through the defense and escape.
Seeing that the enemy's war was becoming more and more fierce, Xu Qianqian's brow was also frowning deeper and deeper, and when Xu Xiangqian was angry again, Li Xiannian understood that the war situation could not continue like this. He took off his shirt and rushed to the front line of the war with his gun to direct the battle. As a political cadre, he didn't need to do that, so all the generals were shocked, especially Xu Xiangqian.
Fortunately, the ending was beautiful, after dawn, the enemy launched a large-scale offensive again, for a time the guns and artillery were endless, the heavens and the earth were dyed black, and the crowds continued to pour into the Red Army soldiers, but no one felt afraid. Li Xiannian and the instructors of the Ninety-third Division of the Thirty-first Army held their positions and killed all the enemies who rushed forward. The enemy army was suppressed in the ravine, and it was difficult to cross the thunder pool for half a step. Gradually, the enemy still had a tendency to rout, and they began to wander around like headless flies. Seeing this scene, Xu Xiangqian understood that the time had come and quickly launched a fierce attack horn. The instructors jumped out of their positions one after another and charged down the hill like hungry tigers. The enemy army was divided into several sections under the impact of the generals, and then completely destroyed by our army.
In this battle, our army annihilated a total of 14,000 enemy troops, harvested more than 40 mortars, more than 7,000 guns, tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, and tens of thousands of silver dollars. This was also the biggest victory of the Red Army since the counter-offensive battle was launched.
However, this victory did not last forever.
In October 1936, the first unit of the Red Fourth Front received instructions from its superiors to cross the Yellow River and carry out the plan to capture Ningxia. After some time, the army was renamed the Western Route Army and advanced all the way to the Hexi Corridor. Later, due to the excessive firepower of the enemy's attack, it was defeated in a situation where the enemy was outnumbered.
On March 14, 1937, surrounded by a large enemy force, the Red Army troops who had fought with the enemy for several days and nights were only more than 3,000 soldiers. Unable to resist the onslaught of the enemy, everyone fought and retreated, and eventually they were trapped on a cold stone nest mountain.
In the evening, the enemy's gunfire finally stopped, and the soldiers were able to rest briefly.
At this time, the Western Route Army could be completely annihilated at any time, and in order to preserve the revolutionary fire, Chen Changhao, chairman of the Military and Political Committee of the Western Route Army, convened a meeting of cadres.
In the face of a group of tired soldiers, Chen Changhao choked and announced to everyone the decision made by the Military and Political Committee:
1. Order Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao to take the lead in leaving the army and reporting the current situation to the Party Central Committee;
2. Li Zhuoran, Li Xiannian, Cheng Shicai, and eight other comrades formed the Working Committee of the Western Route Army and commanded the troops to fight together, of which Li Xiannian was responsible for military issues;
The remaining strength of the whole army was divided into three detachments to carry out guerrilla warfare and wait for reinforcements to arrive. Li Xiannian and Cheng Shicai led a left detachment of more than 1,500 people, including the remaining units of the Red Thirty Army and the units directly under the headquarters, to the western dashan to carry out a guerrilla attack; Wang Shusheng and Zhu Liangcai led the remaining troops of the Red Ninth Army to form a right detachment of more than 700 people to go to the southern mountains to carry out a guerrilla attack; Bi Zhanyun led the remaining thousand wounded, women, and other people to form a detachment and immediately transferred.
For this sudden decision to leave the team, Xu Xiangqian was unprepared, and he could not accept it: "I will not leave!" The army has lost the battle, what are we going to do back? Everyone came together, and if I want to die, I will die with everyone! ”
Pictured| Chen Changhao
Chen Changhao tried his best to persuade Comrade Xu Xiangqian: "Comrade Xu Xiangqian, this decision was made by the Military and Political Committee, if you stay here, the goal for the troops is too big, and individuals must obey the organizational arrangements and not continue to talk about it." When he finished speaking, the rest of the comrades also came forward to admonish him.
After the meeting, Li Xiannian walked over to Xu Qianqian. Xu Xiangqian said with a pained face, "I really don't want to leave!" ”
Li Xiannian was also very reluctant to him: "Commander-in-Chief, we don't want you to leave, don't worry, I'll go and intercede with you later." ”
After that, Li Xiannian found Chen Changhao and said to him: "Comrade Changhao, Commander Xu does not want to leave, or leave him to fight guerrillas with us!" ”
Chen Changhao did not hesitate to directly refuse.
There was no way, Li Xiannian could only inform Xu Xiangqian of this news. After Xu Xiangqian listened, he took Li Xiannian's hand and instructed with tears in his eyes: "First read, after I leave, these three thousand or so people will be handed over to you, and you must take them out of the siege." If you can get out one more, you can keep one more revolutionary fire, and your burden is very heavy! ”
Looking at xu xiangqian with a haggard face in front of him, Li Xiannian solemnly promised: "Commander Xu, you can rest assured, I will do my best to lead them to rush out, and I can take one more one!" ”
In fact, as to whether he can highlight the siege, Li Xiannian has no bottom in his heart. Although there are still more than 3,000 people left, the wounded and women and other non-combatants account for more than half of the total number of the team, and the soldiers who can fight have only a few bullets left in their hands.
That night, Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao left the army with an unwilling mood, and Comrades Li Xiannian and Li Zhuoran went to see them off, and seeing the worried eyes of the remaining soldiers, Li Xiannian delivered a speech: "Comrades-in-arms, although our current situation is extremely difficult, it is not without room for change. Our way out is to quickly move forward and escape from the enemy's encirclement, as long as we escape, we have a way to think! The battle of the Western Route Army was lost, but the Soldiers of the Red Army in Hedong were still fighting, we still had the Party Central Committee troops stationed in northern Shaanxi, our revolution had not yet failed, the temporary defeat was not enough to overthrow us, and the great difficulties could not bend our backbone. The final victory will be ours, for the Red Army! Li Xiannian's words made the soldiers become enthusiastic, and everyone had the determination to continue the war of resistance!
After boosting the morale of the soldiers, the detachments began to set out in different directions. After some thought, Li Xiannian and Cheng Shicai decided to lead their troops to the west of the Qilian Mountains. At that time, there were often Majia troops in the east and north directions, and the south was garrisoned by Ma Bufang, and once the Red Army troops marched to those places, they were likely to be attacked by the enemy. Although the West is a piece of ice and snow, at least it is not guarded by the enemy's heavy troops, and if you advance to that side, the possibility of survival will be greater. In the end, it turned out that things were indeed as he expected.
March is the coldest time in the Qilian Mountains, and there is not a trace of human habitation in the ice and snow. In this environment, more than 1,500 Red Army soldiers braved the cold of more than minus 30 degrees, stepped on the snow that did not pass their knees, and walked with difficulty with their guides. The cold wind turned into a sharp blade and a knife to blow towards the crowd, and the guide looked at the Red Army soldiers who were yellow-skinned and unclothed, and it was difficult to believe that everyone could walk out of the mountain. In order to increase the enthusiasm of the guide, Li Xiannian told him from time to time: "Our Red Army is a very special unit, and the soldiers are strong-willed and hard-working, and they will certainly be able to get out of the Qilian Mountains. ”
Flying snow kept flying above everyone's heads, and the warriors crossed a cave step by step, ready to stop and rest for the night. In order to better absorb the warmth, the cadres and soldiers sat back-to-back next to the stone cliffs and dead trees, and then a piece of wool felt on their heads, thus spending the long night in the blizzard.
The next morning, the wind and snow stopped for a moment, and Li Xiannian and Cheng Shicai hurriedly led the troops to continue westward. As the crowd walked to the foot of a steep cliff 200 meters away, they suddenly saw two Red Army soldiers.
They were supposed to be sentries in the army, one standing against the cliff with a gun, one sitting directly on the ground, holding the gun across his knees, and they looked forward motionlessly and vigilantly, and the crowd looked in that direction, but did not see anything unusual.
The large army moved closer to their direction, and Cheng Shicai asked, "Why are you still standing here?" Which company? ”
Figure | Cheng Shicai
The next second, however, the crowd stopped sounding. What came close to everyone's eyes were two frozen bodies, like two sculptures, standing on the cliff waiting for their leader to go to Chagang.
Li Xiannian reached out and touched the cheek of a warrior, the touch of his hands was exactly the same as the rock, he closed his eyes in pain, took off the broken military hat on the top of his head, and the soldiers behind him also took off their hats together to pay tribute to the two martyrs
One of the soldiers said involuntarily, "Commissar, let's bury them!" ”
"Just let them stand here and send us out on the expedition!" Li Xiannian understood that the hard land of this land boundary could not bury the two people.
Cheng Shicai instructed the guards: "Take the guns from their hands, and leave them to the enemy." ”
The guards hurried forward, but the gun was already condensed with the two sentries, and it took a lot of effort to get the gun out. Cheng Shicai opened the chamber of the gun, there was a bullet in each of them, he took the bullet out and swept it, quickly put it in, and then raised the gun and fired two shots into the sky, using these two precious bullets to mourn the dead heroes, and the deafening gunshot sounded throughout the valley, and the soldiers all blushed.
Li Xiannian and Cheng Shicai continued to lead the crowd forward, and the two sentries still stood behind the crowd with their eyes open, as if they were really sending their comrades on the march, and as if they were expecting everyone to return triumphantly...
After more than ten days of arduous struggle, the left detachment of the West Route Army successfully crossed the snowy ridge of the Qilian Mountains at an altitude of about 5,000 meters and completely got rid of the enemy's pursuit. In late March 1937, when the warriors came to the valley area under the mountains on the west side of Qilian Mountain, there were only more than 900 people left in the army.
On March 23, the radio staff replaced the gasoline engine in the only remaining radio station with a hand-cranked engine, and after some exploration, they unexpectedly contacted the Party Central Committee. Upon hearing the news, Li Xiannian was ecstatic and immediately wrote a telegram to the Party Central Committee to report on the current situation of the troops: "The Western Route Army has broken away from the enemy's encirclement and has stayed in the snow of the Qilian Mountains, and the army is short of food, and can only rely on some cattle and sheep operating in the vicinity to fill the hunger, and the situation is very difficult. However, we are not discouraged, and in accordance with the instructions of the Party Central Committee, on the road of independence and self-reliance, we have overcome all difficulties and obstacles and won the final victory. ”
After the telegram was sent, the Party Central Committee responded quickly: "The army preserves its strength and unites as one." The first direction is Xinjiang or Mongolia, and the direction is up to you. Remember, no matter where you are, the Central Committee will send Comrade Chen Yun and Teng Daiyuan to meet you. ”
The call from the Party Central Committee was like a beacon, pointing the way for the confused soldiers. Li Xiannian immediately decided to follow the instructions of the Party Central Committee and move forward in the direction of Xinjiang.
Li Xiannian gathered his troops to convey the news to the crowd. When the soldiers heard that they had made contact with the Party Central Committee, they danced happily in the valley: "This is good, with the instructions of the Party organization, we are not afraid of anything, even if it is climbing, I will climb to Xinjiang." Go and see the representative comrades. ”
The sun rose high again, and the fearless Soldiers of the Red Army embarked on their journey again, this time with a clear goal – to Xinjiang!
The journey since then has been arduous, with warriors losing their lives, but because of the support of faith, the crowd has not been defeated. After 47 days and nights, the Western Route Army finally reached its destination, Xingxing Gorge, at which point only 400 of them were still alive.
May 1, 1937 was the day that Li Xiannian and others remembered the most, they met the representatives of the CPC Central Committee, Comrades Chen Yun and Teng Daiyuan, and they came to greet them with more than 40 cars! Since then, the warriors have finally survived this difficult time.
This battle also allowed the Party Central Committee to discover Li Xiannian's talent in military command.
At the end of 1938, Li Xiannian received instructions to go to the Central Plains to direct the operation. Using his talent in military judgment, he always found a good opportunity to expand his team at the first time. In just a few years, he expanded the contingent of more than 50,000 soldiers into an armed force with more than 300,000 militiamen, established a revolutionary base area in the Eyu Border Region that was located on a key road and isolated behind the enemy, and strategically cooperated with the anti-Japanese actions throughout the country.
After the Surrender of the Japanese Devils, the Central Plains Military Region was established locally, and Li Xiannian served as the commander of the Military Region. In 1946, the Muzzle of the Kuomintang gun was once again pointed at our army, and the Central Plains Military Region became the primary target of the Kuomintang.
After hearing the news, Li Xiannian did not have the slightest timidity, and always calmly and calmly followed the orders of his superiors to make strategic arrangements for the army. When the Kuomintang's 300,000-strong army pressed the border, it personally commanded 60,000 soldiers to break through the siege, and established a base area in the Yu'e-Shaanxi Border Region in the process of turning the battle.
The Battle of the Central Plains kicked off the people's army's battle to liberate all of China, and Chairman Mao spoke highly of Li Xiannian's outstanding performance in the battle.
In May 1947, the party organization established the Central Plains Bureau, with Li Xiannian as the second deputy secretary and deputy commander of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army, and then promoted to the second deputy commander of the Central Plains Military Region by virtue of his military achievements.
In 1955, the Party Central Committee awarded you the title of general, and according to the previous brilliant achievements, Li Xiannian was included in the list of generals.
However, the party organization also has regulations that generals who have already worked in the local areas are not awarded military ranks, but considering the historical situation and actual needs, some people can be awarded reserve ranks. As a result, it became difficult to grant Li Xiannian a military rank.
Chairman Mao approached Li Xiannian to talk to him and wanted to hear his opinion.
Li Xiannian directly refused in this Hubei accent: "I didn't want to be a general, nor did I want to be rated as a general." ”
Then he said, "I don't want any rank, you lead us forward, even if you are a sergeant squad leader, as long as there is a job arrangement for me!" ”
In this way, the hero's name was not on the list of military ranks awarded in 1955.
Of course, the organization did not forget his exploits, and in 1989, the Central Military Commission issued the title of "Chinese Revolutionary Military Expert" to 33 (later increased to 36) generals, and Li Xiannian occupied a place in them.
In addition to his military talents, Li Xiannian's talent in handling political work should not be underestimated. Since May 1949, he has successively served as deputy secretary of the Central and Southern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, vice premier and minister of finance of the State Council, standing member of the Central Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, and standing member of the 12th Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, making great contributions to China's development.
In 1983, he was elected as the third president of the People's Republic of China after Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi!