On the eve of the great conferment of the title in 1955, when the list of general ranks was handed over to Chairman Mao, the chairman saw Wang Jian'an's name on the list and directly crossed out Wang Jian'an:
This person is proud and complacent, and it is advisable to confer a lieutenant general!
It should be known that the list of titles has been strictly reviewed, and Wang Jian'an's seniority and military merits are definitely low.
At this time, Wang Jian'an was also in the hospital because of hypertension, so Wang Jian'an's title was shelved, what did Wang Jian'an do? Why did Chairman Mao specifically point out that he was prone to pride, and that because he was proud and complacent, he wanted to lower Wang Jian'an's rank?
Chairman Mao said this for a reason, Wang Jian'an has a somewhat fiery personality, and has always been outspoken and does not like to hide, otherwise he would not have called Xu Shiyou and Shandong Shuangxiong, Xu Shiyou once said Wang Jian'an:
At the meeting, the table will be slapped and scolded, but the old king will never dismantle the stage!
Indeed Wang Jian'an and Xu Shiyou are all fierce generals on the battlefield, as the saying goes, Ci does not control the soldiers, they have been in the front-line battlefield for many years, how can they talk to Yan Yuexi, what is to say clearly in person, after clearly carrying out the order, they will never steal and slip, there was a meeting, Wang Jian'an was dissatisfied with the suggestions made by Chen Yi, the two had a dispute, and finally they still couldn't make sense, Wang Jian'an slapped the table in one breath and left, originally this kind of dispute was very normal, but this matter reached Chairman Mao's ears. Then the nature is different, and Chairman Mao labeled Wang Jian'an as disobedient to orders.
Moreover, after Su Yu fought the seven battles and seven victories in the Soviet Union, Wang Jian'an said that this battle was not representative, so the merits of this battle could not be expanded, who was Su Yu, his merits in the Liberation War were not weaker than Lin Shuai's, which made people feel that Wang Jian'an had some eyes on no one, Chairman Mao also felt that Wang Jian'an was too reckless, in fact, Wang Jian'an was not blind, but his personality was more impulsive, if Wang Jian'an had no one in sight, then why would he be willing to serve as Xu Shiyou's deputy post? And it was also when the two had a conflict.
It was after the end of the Battle of Eastern Henan in 1948 that the Central Committee wanted to take Jinan as soon as possible, and when Chairman Mao entrusted Wang Jian'an with the task of attacking Jinan, he returned without hesitation, obeyed the decision of the Central Military Commission, and saw that Wang Jian'an agreed without hesitation, and Chairman Mao was also very happy in his heart, but then explained:
"There are many shandong people in the Shandong Corps, Xu Shiyou is very prestigious in the Jiaodong army, and you are also quite famous in Luzhong and Lunan, once you are not worse than Xu Shiyou, you two are Shandong shuangxiong, others say that it is difficult for two males to stand together, and I say that it is difficult to sound alone, and you two must strike together with one heart."
Wang Jian'an heard chairman Mao's words and meant unity, and he knew that the chairman was afraid that he and Xu Shiyou would delay the attack on Jinan City because of contradictions.
The contradiction between Wang Jian'an and Xu Shiyou should start from the Red Army period, during the Red Army period, the relationship between Wang Jian'an and Xu Shiyou was very good, but when Zhang Guotao made a mistake, Xu Shiyou, who had a straight personality, loudly said his dissatisfaction, so Xu Shiyou was also criticized, and the feeling of dissatisfaction grew in Xu Shiyou's heart, he made a plan to leave Yan'an with a gun and go to other places to fight guerrillas, in terms of Xu Shiyou's character, he can really do this kind of thing, he is certainly not alone, Xu Shiyou also found several generals to accompany him, including Wang Jian'an.
Although Wang Jian'an is also very upright, but he thinks that it is not good to do so, this is against discipline, and finally Wang Jian'an also reported Xu Shiyou to them, and although Xu Shiyou also realized that he was wrong afterwards, he still refused to forgive Wang Jian'an, because he thought that Wang Jian'an was a betrayal, and the relationship between the two has been very stiff since then, so Chairman Mao will ask this.
Wang Jian'an did not think much about it, directly stood up and expressed his position to Chairman Mao, please rest assured, I will definitely help Xu Shiyou to fight this battle, Chairman Mao laughed after listening to it, and then arranged for Wang Jian'an to go to Premier Zhou to discuss strategic deployment, Wang Jian'an and Premier Zhou talked at night, until the next day when the eastern sunrise was red, Wang Jian'an bid farewell to Premier Zhou, when Wang Jian'an had an extra briefcase in his hand, and when Wang Jian'an saw Xu Shiyou again, the two had a good drink, and then they released their previous suspicions. Wang Jian'an willingly became Xu Shiyou's deputy, and it is not difficult to see from here that Wang Jian'an is not proud and arrogant, otherwise he would not have wholeheartedly assisted Xu Shiyou.
With the full cooperation of Wang Jian'an Xu Shiyou, Jinan was conquered in only 8 days and nights, and Chairman Mao was very happy when the news came, and the victory in the Jinan Campaign proved that no Kuomintang city could resist the attack of the People's Liberation Army, and the Jinan Campaign was not the end but the beginning, he opened the prelude to the strategic decisive battle between the Kuomintang and the Communists, and then Wang Jian'an took part in the Huaihai Campaign and the Battle of Crossing the River without stopping, and after the liberation of Hangzhou, Wang Jian'an did not stop at all, and became the commander of the Zhejiang Military Region.
After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Wang Jian'an's work in the country came to an end, so he once again entered the Korean War and served as the commander and political commissar of the Ninth Corps of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, and in the autumn tactical counterattack operation, Wang Jian'an promoted the playing style of small troop operations, collecting small victories at most into big victories, in order to eliminate the enemy's living forces, and participated in two years of fighting in Korea, because of the long-term conquest, Wang Jian'an finally fell ill, and he was sent back to China for recuperation and treatment.
When Wang Jian'an was still recuperating, the work of awarding titles was already unfolding intensely, and when the awarding group sent the list to Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao saw Wang Jian'an's name, although Wang Jian'an did not perform well in the Jinan Campaign, but Chairman Mao's impression of Wang Jian'an was more of a sight, so Chairman Mao circled Wang Jian'an's name and wrote it down, this person was proud and complacent, and it was appropriate to award lieutenant general, and the Pingding group also felt very difficult, and with Wang Jian'an's qualifications and merits, it was right to be awarded the rank of general. If the lieutenant general is indeed low, but if you directly refute Chairman Mao's decision, it is even more impossible, and it just so happens that at this time Wang Jian'an is now living in the hospital because of his poor health, so the evaluation team suspended this matter and wanted to wait for Wang Jian'an's health to be better before applying for him.
When a year after the title was awarded in 1956, the group once again proposed to Chairman Mao the matter of Wang Jian'an, and explained why Wang Jian'an could be awarded to the general, and after listening to it, Chairman Mao suddenly realized that Wang Jian'an was not proud and complacent, but his personality was too arrogant and his temper was a little hot, Chairman Mao realized that he was careless for a while, and did not expect such serious consequences, in fact, Chairman Mao still liked this kind of soldier, such as General Xu Shiyou, Chairman Mao was very fond of him, although this kind of general was reckless, but he really respected Chairman Mao. In the end, Chairman Mao agreed to grant Wang Jian'an the rank of general, and it was because of this that there was a question of whether the founding general was 55 or 57, Wang Jian'an was the founding general, but not in 1955, but in 1956.
The other is Li Jukui, he and General Wang Jian'an are different reasons, Li Jukui missed the award of the title is that his position at that time was the minister of petroleum industry, not in the army, according to the requirements of military rank evaluation, not in the army can not be assessed rank, the two generals failed to catch up with the 1955 big award, but they are also founding generals, but only later supplemented, the rank of general is also what they deserve, in 1975, Wang Jian'an served as an adviser to the Central Military Commission. Marshal Ye Jianying once said to Wang Jian'an, since the founding of the People's Republic of China, you do not care about the level of your position, it is not easy to work hard and complain, Wang Jian'an has a clean and honest life, and when he was dying, he wanted to follow the example of the premier in the past years to sprinkle his ashes on the mountains, rivers and seas, Wang Jian'an hoped that his bones could be sprinkled with ashes to the hometown where he was born and raised, and hoped that his funeral would not be a big deal, the children obeyed his wishes, Wang Jian'an died of illness in Beijing, and as he wished, the last journey of his life ended simply, and after his death, his ashes were also sprinkled in his hometown Many old comrades-in-arms learned of Wang Jian'an's illness and death after a long time, and asked his children to know that this old comrade-in-arms left silently, and he did not have the luxury of a day in his life of frugality to death.