According to the civil affairs department, China has approved 2.01 million martyrs over the years, of which 1.75 million are martyrs with names and surnames.
Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square
But if you think that 2 million is all the martyrs who died for the victory of the new China, you are very wrong.
In fact, due to the special history of the Republic of China period and the cruelty of war, most of the martyrs who died on the battlefield or were killed by the enemy did not even have their names left.
According to incomplete statistics, if you count from the founding of the Communist Party of China in 1921 to the founding of New China in 1949, in the 28 years, the number of Communist Party members and revolutionary benevolent people who sacrificed for the revolution was as high as 21 million.
Monument to the Martyrs of the Revolution
Taking the Long March of the Red Army as an example, according to Chairman Mao's many times after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the number of Red Army troops in the whole country before the Long March was about 300,000, but after the real victory of the Long March, the number of the Red Army was less than 30,000.
The sacrifice rate of the Red Army during the Long March period was as high as 90%, and this is not counting the expansion of the Red Army during the Long March. It can be said that it was precisely by relying on the predecessors and successors of countless revolutionary benevolent men, including the officers and men of the Red Army, that the founding of New China was born.
Among the countless benevolent men who sacrificed their lives for the revolution, many were unsung heroes, many were revolutionary masses, and at the same time, many were senior generals of our army, and even some were called uncrowned marshals.
That is to say, if they had not sacrificed themselves on the battlefield, they were considered to be likely to be rated as marshals, and among these people, the most famous and the most vocal were Zuo Quan and Ye Ting.
Left right
The military talents of these two men have long been recognized, and the names of Ye Ting and Zuo Quan are prominently listed in the list of 33 military experts (later added 3 to a total of 36) approved by the Central Military Commission in 1988.
By what criteria were the 33 military men selected? It can also be seen from the list of military experts that they are actually 5 state leaders, including Chairman Mao, and the top ten generals and ten marshals, and the remaining 8 are senior generals of our army who sacrificed their lives for the cause of the liberation of New China.
Therefore, the ranks of these 33 military experts are actually based on the qualifications of the founding generals of new China, and only at the level of military contributions and military capabilities at the level of generals and above will they rank among military experts, and thus the status and talent of Zuo Quan and Ye Ting in the military field can also be seen.
So, if Zuo Quan and Ye Ting did not sacrifice, but lived to the founding of New China, when they were awarded the rank of marshal in 1955, is it possible that they will be awarded the rank of marshal? Is it possible for the 10 Grand Marshals to become 11, 12 or even more?
Ten Marshals
First, let's talk about the left.
At the time of Zuo Quan's death, he was the deputy chief of staff of the Eighteenth Group Army (Eighth Route Army), at that time, Zuo Quan had been located behind enemy lines, cooperating with Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai to command the Eighth Route Army in the North China Battlefield.
Moreover, because Zhu De, the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, and Ye Jianying, chief of staff, were not in the battlefield behind enemy lines at that time, the actual commanders of the More than 300,000 troops of the Eighth Route Army were Peng Dehuai and Zuo Quan.
How high is the credit for the left power? In 1942, the writer Liu Baiyu said in his article:
In the General Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, which controlled half of the Chinese battlefield, Comrade Zuo Quan was indeed the busiest person, and except for major matters decided by Commander-in-Chief Zhu De and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai, the general work was handled by him. His military theoretical accomplishment, combat experience, and command ability are all rare talents in the work of our troops' staff officers.
Zuo Quan was one of the few senior generals in our army who received formal military education in both China and foreign countries. Zuo Quan first graduated from the first phase of the famous Whampoa Military Academy.
Subsequently, Zuo Quan was sent to the Soviet Union during the Agrarian Revolutionary War to study at the Frunze Military Academy in the Soviet Union. The most rare thing is that Zuo Quan also digested and absorbed all the military education received by China and foreign countries, and formed his own set of military command styles.
Chairman Mao spoke highly of this, saying in the "Military Anthology of Zuo Quan": Zuo Quan has digested all the foreign bread he eats, and this man is a general who has both poles hard.
On October 21, 1950, the People's Daily commented on Zuo Quan's military talent as:
Zuo Quan combined the most advanced tactics of the Revolution era, the Civil War era and the Soviet Red Army from 1925 to 1927, and was one of the famous creators of guerrilla tactics in China. He had his immortal merits in persisting in the War of Resistance Behind Enemy Lines in North China.
Zuo Quan and his wife and daughter
So, if Zuo Quan did not die on the battlefield in 1942, when he was awarded the title in 1955, was it possible for Zuo Quan to become one of the founding marshals of New China?
Personally, I think the possibilities are slim. Why?
First of all, although the status of the deputy chief of staff of the left power is high, he is not a strategic general on his own, which is very unfavorable to his selection of marshals.
Although the post of chief of staff is very important and indispensable among the troops at all levels, in terms of its status, it is inferior to that of the strategic generals who are on their own, which can also be seen from the award of the title of chief of staff at all levels in New China.
Taking the chiefs of staff of the major field armies during the Liberation War as an example, during the Liberation War, the major field armies were veritable strategic fronts, and even the relatively small Northwest Field Army had more than 300,000 troops, and the Fourth Field Army, with the largest number of troops, even exceeded one million.
Liberation
However, the generals who served as chiefs of staff of the various field armies were only awarded the highest rank of general, for example, Liu Yalou and Xiao Ke, who successively served as chiefs of staff of the Fourth Field Army, were both awarded the rank of general in 1955. Li Da, chief of staff of the 2nd Field Army, was also awarded the rank of general.
Yan Yuyao, who served as chief of staff of the First Field Army, and Zhang Zhen, chief of staff of the Third Field Army, were even only awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
The chief officers of the major field armies were basically marshals, and even Su Yu, who actually commanded the Third Field Army, was only a general and ranked first general, which was a huge difference with the rank of their chief of staff.
Therefore, since they are not independent generals, although the chief of staff is usually regarded as equal to the next level of military chief, the rank of the chief of staff at all levels is often not as high as imagined.
Left-hand sacrificial place
Secondly, Zuo Quan's seniority was not enough to make him an ordinary marshal. As we all know, when the rank was evaluated in 1955, the selection criteria were not only for military merit, but also for seniority, balance and many other issues. In this regard, the qualifications of the left power are not "hard" enough.
In the era of the Red Army, the highest position of zuo quan was the chief of staff of the Red First Army, neither the founder of a certain red base area, nor the commander or commander of the regiment (referring to the commander of the Red Fourth Front). This is obviously still a big gap with the qualifications of the 10 marshals.
Finally, in the "hilltop" aspect, because Zuo Quan was born in the Red Army and had not been a regimental commander, it was difficult for him to be awarded the rank of marshal as a representative of the Red Army.
As we all know, when awarding titles, the representatives of the various units and the issue of the top of the hill are also fully considered, so that among the ten marshals, the Red Army, the Red Second Front, the Red Fourth Front, and the Southern Red Army guerrillas all have their own representatives.
Ten Marshals
Among them, the most marshals from the Red Army, Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, Liu Bocheng, Luo Ronghuan, Nie Rongzhen, Ye Jianying and other 7 marshals were all from the Red Army, and Marshal Chen Yi, who represented the southern guerrilla group of the Red Army, was actually from the Red Army, but he failed to participate in the Long March.
Thus, the Red Army already had enough representatives of marshals with profound qualifications and merits, and due to the factors of position and numbers, it was neither possible nor necessary for the Left To be appointed as marshals on behalf of the Red Army.
In fact, the people's standard for the surrender of marshals has always had a more recognized concretization of interpretation, that is, if you want to be awarded the rank of marshal, you must meet 5 conditions:
First, the participating founders of the revolutionary base areas;
Second, the leadership position of the regiment or military rank during the Red Army period;
Third, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the eighth route army at the division level and the New Fourth Army, and the leading positions of the first-level military districts of the base areas of a considerable size;
Fourth, the leadership of the Front during the War of Liberation;
Fifth, he served as Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission at the time of the award.
The Red Army marched
Article 1 Is obviously not satisfied, because the Left Right, after returning from the Soviet Union in 1930, left power directly entered the central Soviet region that had been built, and was not the founder of the revolutionary base area of the Red Army.
Article 2 Left right still fails to meet the conditions. During the Red Army era, his highest position was only the chief of staff of the Red Army, and did not reach the rank of corps or army (referring to the level of the Red Fourth Front, the Red Fourth Front army did not have a corps, and its army was consistent with the regimental level of the Red Front).
Article 3: Zuo Quan, who served as deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army during the Anti-Japanese War, could theoretically reach the level of deputy division of the Eighth Route Army, but because Zuo Quan was not a general on his own, he was still reluctant in this regard.
Articles 4 and 5, because the left power had already been sacrificed at that time, is not easy to discuss, but even if it is assumed that the left power has not been sacrificed, judging from the seniority of the left power who has never served as a general in a certain front, the position of the left power is more likely to be the position of chief of staff or deputy chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army, and the possibility of holding the leadership position of the field army or front army is very low.
ZuoQuan Martyrs Cemetery
What's more, none of the commanders of the five field armies in the country at that time could be easily replaced. The commander of the 1st Field Army is Peng Dehuai, the commander of the Second Field Army is Liu Bocheng, the commander of the 3rd Field Army is Chen Yi and Su Yu, the commander of the Fourth Field Army is Lin Biao, and the North China Field Army is directly under the PLA Headquarters.
So, who can the left power replace as the commander of a field army? Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, and Liu Bocheng all had deeper seniority and more prominent battle achievements, which was obviously impossible. Su Yu, who had the most junior qualifications, had been fighting the "Immortal War" in the heart of the enemy, and his performance was a bug, and it was obvious that zuo quan could not replace him. Even the North China Field Army, which was directly subordinate to the headquarters, had Xu Xiangqian sitting in the seat.
Therefore, during the Liberation War, the possibility of Zuo Quan serving as the military commander of any field army was very small.
Therefore, judging from the 5 conditions listed by the people, even if General Zuo Quan did not sacrifice, the possibility of him being rated as a marshal was still not high.
Commemoration of the sacrifice of Zuo Quan
In fact, whether Zuo Quan can be rated as a marshal can also be seen by looking at the ranking of Marshal Ye Jianying. Among the ten marshals, Marshal Ye Jianying ranked tenth, that is, the last.
Ye Jianying's position in the Eighth Route Army was that of chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army, and Zuo Quan was only his deputy. Ye Jianying, whose position was half a level higher than Zuo Quan's, was still the last rank among the 10 marshals, so how could Zuo Quan cross Ye Jianying and rank among the marshals?
Therefore, I personally believe that if General Zuo Quan lived to the founding of New China, the probability of him being awarded the rank of Grand General was much higher than that of Marshal. With the outstanding military talent of the left power and the historical contribution to the revolution, it is naturally more than enough to become a founding general.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > leaf ting</h1>
In fact, compared with Zuo Quan, the controversy over Ye Ting's ability to be rated as a marshal seems to be smaller. Because, just after the 10 grand marshals were awarded the title in 1955, when the marshals in the lounge talked about Ye Ting, they mentioned that "Ye Ting could be awarded the rank of marshal if he lived".
Members
At that time, Marshal Ye Jianying said to Marshal Chen Yi: If Commander Ye was still in your army, two marshals of the New Fourth Army would appear, wouldn't they? Marshal Chen Yi's reply was: If Commander Ye Ting is still alive, I will give him the laurel of this marshal, at that time, two of the 10 marshals Ye Shuai are real!
Therefore, it is obvious that in the minds of the marshals, Ye Ting's status is very high, enough to be juxtaposed with these founding marshals. So, is it possible to assume that if Ye Ting had not been killed in a plane crash, he would have been awarded the rank of field marshal when he was awarded the rank in 1955?
In terms of seniority, there was no problem with Ye Ting being rated as a marshal, and Ye Ting's seniority was even deeper than most of the ten marshals.
As early as the period of the Great Revolution, Ye Ting became the leader of the Ye Ting Independent Regiment, a regular revolutionary armed force directly led and controlled by the Communist Party of China, and became a famous general of the Northern Expedition. After the defeat of the Great Revolution, Ye Ting led the second of the three major uprisings- the Nanchang Uprising and the Guangzhou Uprising.
However, after the two uprisings, for various reasons, Ye Ting chose a very different path from the others. Due to the unfair treatment, Ye Ting chose to quit the party and began a wandering life that lasted for 10 years.
After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance, the guerrillas of the Southern Red Army were reorganized into the New Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and Ye Ting was appointed as the commander of the army, but the position of commander of the New Fourth Army was itself the product of a compromise between Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists, and because Ye Ting was not a member of the Communist Party at that time.
Therefore, although he became a military commander, he did not have much power in the New Fourth Army, and he was even less able to command the New Fourth Army. Therefore, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it was difficult for Ye Ting to have any achievements or achievements to speak of, and after the Anhui Incident in 1941, Ye Ting was directly imprisoned by Chiang Kai-shek and was not released until 1946 during the negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communists.
On the way to Yan'an by plane leaving the cage, due to a plane crash, many people, including Ye Ting, were killed, and Ye Ting's life came to an abrupt end.
Therefore, it can also be seen from Ye Ting's qualifications that although in the early days of the revolution Ye Ting's seniority was extremely deep and his position was also very high, after that, whether it was during the agrarian revolution or the war of resistance, Ye Ting did not have much merit to speak of, and it was difficult to meet the few conditions for evaluating marshals as said by the people.
What is more crucial is that after leaving the party in 1927, during the 10-year period of leaving the party, Ye Ting neither participated in the agrarian revolutionary war nor made much contribution to the revolution.
Even after serving as commander of the New Fourth Army, he was still not a member of the Communist Party, which is why after Ye Ting's release in 1946, he requested to rejoin the Chinese Communist Party and was approved by Chairman Mao.
Although Ye Ting left the Party in 1927 for various reasons, as a member of the Communist Party, it was obviously inappropriate to leave the Party during the most difficult period of the revolution, and of course he could not be awarded the rank of Marshal.
What's more, even from the perspective of balance and mountaintops, the possibility of Ye Ting being named a marshal on behalf of the New Fourth Army was very small. Because during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it was not the commander Ye Ting who really mastered and contributed to the New Fourth Army, but Xiang Ying, who actually commanded the New Fourth Army, and even after Xiang Ying's sacrifice, the representative of the New Fourth Army would only be Chen Yi or Su Yu.
Therefore, no matter from any point of view, even if Ye Ting lived to the founding of New China, the possibility of being awarded the rank of marshal in 1955 is not high.
Premier Zhou and Ye Ting
Of course, because of Ye Ting's extremely deep qualifications and early revolutionary contributions, it is obviously not appropriate for him to be rated as a general, so I personally believe that if Ye Ting is still there, he will be like Deng Xiaoping and others from the military to the government, and it is more likely and more advantageous not to grant military ranks at all.