Welcome to The History Column No. 2532. There are a number of general counties in China, among which the largest number of generals and the most famous are Hong'an County in Hubei Province, with a total of 8 generals, and the total number of generals has reached 223. Among the eight generals, Chen Xilian, Han Xianchu, Guo Tianmin, Zhou Chengquan, Wang Jian'an, and Xie Fuzhi were all founding generals in 1955, while Qin Jiwei and Wang Chenghan were also awarded the rank of general in 1988. But in fact, there were two "not generals" in Hong'an County, whose status was higher than all the generals in Hong'an County, including the founding general. These two men were once the leaders of the new China at the level of the state.
The first is Dong Biwu. Dong Biwu is the elder and important founder of our Party, and a major representative of the Communist Party of China in 1921. Elder Dong is a highly respected elder in the history of our party, and like the chairman, he was one of the members of the first generation of leading collectives in New China. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Elder Dong once served as the acting chairman of the republic and was a cadre at the level of the state. The creation of political parties, the united front work in the war years, and the building of the legal system in peacetime are his three main achievements. Elder Dong's influence in both military and political circles and at home and abroad is enormous, and it is not something that one or two founding generals can simply compare. The generals were one of the creators of the army, and Dong Lao was the main founder of the republic. Although Dong Biwu did not directly lead the army, the marshal-level figures in 1955 may not be able to compare with Dong Lao, let alone the general, who has always been the pride and banner of Hong'an County.
The second is Li Xiannian. Li Xiannian became a member of the Politburo Standing Committee in 1977, already a leader at the level of a state minister, and was elected president in 1983. During his military and political career, Li Xiannian participated in leading the jute uprising in 1927, was one of the important leaders of the Red Fourth Front, and served as deputy secretary of the Central Plains Bureau during the Liberation War. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Li Xiannian gradually broke away from the military system and served as the secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and the deputy secretary of the Central and Southern Bureau, and was transferred to the State Council in 1954 to become vice premier. Li Xiannian's position in the history of New China is very high, although he missed the opportunity to obtain a military rank because he had not worked in the army for 55 years, but his personal status far exceeded the level of founding general.
Since Li Xiannian is not the front-line leader of the various field armies, some friends may not know much about him. Especially after the founding of the country, he mainly worked in the government, not as conspicuous as some founding generals. Li Xiannian was a leader with extremely strong willpower, and the famous Incident of the Red Army's West Road Army, our army was able to retain a certain amount of living strength, and it was under the leadership of Li Xiannian that more than 400 people rushed to xingxing gorge in Xinjiang, which can be called a miracle. Not only that, in the Central Plains Breakthrough Battle in the early stage of the Liberation War in 1946, the Central Plains Military Region, under the correct leadership of Li Xiannian and others, successfully preserved more than 40,000 main troops, which is another miracle. In the face of major changes in the country in the 1970s, Li Xiannian, together with other outstanding leaders, made key and correct decisions, protected the regime and social stability, and made great contributions.
Then again, why are there so many founding generals and state leaders in Hubei Hong'an? In November 1927, the famous Jute Uprising broke out, when Hong'an was still called "Huang'an", and "Ma" referred to Macheng. More than 30,000 people from Huang'an and Macheng took part in the uprising, and after that, the Eyu-Anhui base area was established, where the Red Fourth Front army began. During the Red Army period, the Red Fourth Front was a large army second only to the Central Red Army in strength and status, with more than 80,000 troops at its peak. Therefore, in the process of continuous fighting and growth, there are many generals trained here, and they have deep historical roots. After many years of experience in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, these generals gained high military ranks after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Because it was a "red base area", a large number of generals of the people's army were born, and Huang'an was renamed Hong'an and became the most famous general county in the country.
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