Nie Rongzhen was a hero in the history of the Chinese nation's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression; he fought with Chairman Mao since the period of the agrarian revolution, participated in the Long March, and killed senior generals of the Japanese army during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Although Nie Rongzhen did not perform well during the later Liberation War, at the 1955 award ceremony, Nie Rongzhen was listed as one of the ten founding marshals and was called "Confucian General" by Chairman Mao.
Nie Rongzhen ranked ninth among the ten marshals, not very high, however, many netizens believe that this ranking is high, Nie Rongzhen's military ability is far inferior to Su Yu, and should not be rated as a marshal.
Is Nie Rongzhen really as unbearable as netizens say, what is his military strength, and is he really eligible to be awarded the rank of marshal?
In 1955, in Zhongnanhai, Beijing, the third grand awarding ceremony of the Chinese People's Liberation Army began vigorously.
This award is not simply a matter of seniority, but is evaluated by strict criteria, and ranks are awarded from the five angles of ability, quality, office, seniority, and military merit.
This time the medal is first awarded the rank of Grand Marshal, which is the supreme commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and there is no doubt that this rank will be awarded to Chairman Mao, chairman of the Central Military Commission, but under Chairman Mao's stern refusal, the rank of Grand Marshal was not awarded in the end.
As a result, the first rank that appeared at the medal ceremony became a general, and Su Yu, Chen Geng and ten others were awarded the rank of great general, and they were the first to wear the new rank.
Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, Liu Bocheng, He Long, Chen Yi, Luo Ronghuan, Xu Xiangqian, Nie Rongzhen, Ye Jianying, these are the ten founding generals of the Republic of China, the absolute trump card of the new Chinese military, and all of them have made outstanding contributions to the people and the revolutionary cause.
However, many people now have questioned the award of the rank of general, and many of them are questioning the "Confucian Marshal" Nie Rongzhen, believing that his military level is average and completely insufficient to be awarded the rank of general, and even the general Su Yu is more qualified than him.
In people's imagination, only people with outstanding military achievements and excellent military ability can be called marshals, and Nie Rongzhen does not seem to have any proud record, most of the time he is the "second in command" in the army, why he will be rated as a marshal, people are very confused.
Then, is the "Confucian general" Nie Rongzhen really not qualified to be awarded the rank of marshal, is his military strength really so unbearable, really not necessarily, judging from Nie Rongzhen's life, he is definitely an undoubted marshal.
Born in 1899, Nie Rongzhen received a good education from an early age, and loved to read, from "Evolution" to "New Youth", Nie Rongzhen's thought was constantly evolving.
Nie Rongzhen had a strong patriotic feeling at a young age, and often told his classmates around him to contribute to the rise of the Chinese nation.
Not only that, Nie Rongzhen was brilliant in literature, and often jumped his patriotic feelings on the paper, and after the teacher saw it, he praised him as "a gift of extraordinary resources, and he is not a thing in the pool."
In 1919, Nie Rongzhen was arrested by the police for participating in the May Fourth Movement in his hometown. After his release from prison, Nie Rongzhen decided to go to France to learn new ideas, and during his work-study days in France, he also actively participated in the patriotic movement of students in France.
After staying in France for three years, Nie Rongzhen transferred to Belgium, came into contact with the Chinese Communist Party in Europe, joined the Communist Party the following year, and under the party's arrangement, went to the Soviet Union to study socialism.
In 1925, Nie Rongzhen returned from his studies and entered the Whampoa Military Academy, serving as the secretary of the Political Department and a teacher, at that time, the later marshals Lin Biao and Xu Xiangqian were just students.
With the outbreak of the "Zhongshan Ship" incident, Nie Rongzhen, who had often opposed Chiang Kai-shek, was expelled from the Whampoa Military Academy, but he still took advantage of various opportunities to return to the Whampoa Military Academy to convey information to the Communists in the school and prepare for the future Northern Expedition.
In 1926, the Northern Expedition began, and Nie Rongzhen came to work in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, where he was responsible for the management of Communist Party members in the Military Department.
After the end of the Northern Expedition, Nie Rongzhen then participated in the Nanchang Uprising, serving as the party representative of the 11th Army of the rebel army, and followed the commander Ye Ting to launch the later Guangzhou Uprising, but suffered defeat.
When the two men summed up the lessons of the failure of the uprising, Nie Rongzhen said: "We have too few talents, especially in the military field, and we must vigorously cultivate the military quality of party members in the future." ”
Ye Ting thought that Nie Rongzhen was very reasonable and felt that he was a far-sighted person. Later, Nie Rongzhen went to the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base Area and came to work at Chairman Mao's side, because he studied in Russia when he was young, and was elected as an executive member of the Chinese Soviet Republic.
In 1941, Nie Rongzhen participated in the command of the Battle of Zhangzhou by Chairman Mao's side, which was the first time nie Rongzhen directly commanded the campaign, and his calmness and determination left a deep impression on Chairman Mao, praising him as unhurried like Zhou Yu and being a "Confucian marshal".
In this campaign, Nie Rongzhen also constantly drew nourishment from Chairman Mao and learned his strategic thinking, thus laying a solid foundation for future work.
In 1934, Nie Rongzhen followed the Red Army on the Long March, and he came to the Red 1st Army led by Lin Biao, walking in the forefront of the large troops and covering their safety.
Around Lin Biao, Nie Rongzhen learned a lot of tactical strategies, he believed in Lin Biao's ability very much, rarely pointed fingers at him, and only expressed his opinion when Lin Biao asked.
The two Red 1 Corps led the large troops in the rear to rush left and right, constantly shuttling through the Kuomintang blockade line. However, due to the "left-leaning" command error of the Party Central Committee, the Red Army encountered the fiercest interception of the Kuomintang on the Xiang River, and the Long March road was forced to stop.
Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen decided to fight the enemy and cover the continued transfer of large troops, for which the Red 1 Army paid a terrible price, fortunately, their purpose was achieved, and the Red Army was able to continue to advance.
After the Zunyi Conference corrected the "left-leaning" ideology, Nie Rongzhen and Lin Biao followed Chairman Mao across the Chishui River and crossed the Jinsha River skillfully, finally getting rid of the Kuomintang army that was in relentless pursuit.
At this time, Chairman Mao was very realistic about Nie Rongzhen, and felt that he also had the ability to lead his troops to fight, so he wanted to give him a chance to exercise, so that Nie Rongzhen himself tried to lead the troops alone, but he rejected Chairman Mao's suggestion, and he seemed to be willing to play the role of "green leaf" all the time.
In 1935, Nie Rongzhen came to the side of another marshal, Liu Bocheng, and the two led the Red Army's advance team through Daliangshan, and also coordinated the Red Army's battle to seize the Luding Bridge, helping the Red Army complete the great Long March mission.
In 1937, the Outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Nie Rongzhen came to the 115th Division, the ace unit of the Eighth Route Army, and served as the deputy commander of the division under Lin Biao, and the two jointly planned the PingxingGuan Victory, breaking the myth of the japanese army's undefeated.
However, after the Japanese army occupied Taiyuan, it wanted to cut off the connection between the 115th Division and the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and Nie Rongzhen, under the arrangement of the headquarters, created the first anti-Japanese base area with 3,000 people behind the enemy army.
Nie Rongzhen finally led the troops alone in accordance with Chairman Mao's wishes, and his talents were also fully displayed in the process of building the base areas; he centered on Mount Wutai, gave full play to the strength of the people, and established an armed force with considerable strength.
By 1939, the Jin-Cha-Ji anti-Japanese base area established by Nie Rongzhen had become the largest anti-Japanese base area at that time, and he was also praised by Chairman Mao.
After the Jin-Cha-Ji anti-Japanese base area began to take shape, Nie Rongzhen ushered in a huge challenge. At that time, the Japanese army wanted to carry out a sweep of the Jin-Cha-Ji region, this time, Nie Rongzhen did not have the assistance of Lin Biao, Liu Bocheng and others around him, and the former "Confucian generals" and "Green Leaves" personally led the troops into battle, carried out guerrilla attacks with the enemy army, and annihilated 1500 enemy troops.
Not only that, Nie Rongzhen also killed Japanese Lieutenant General Norihide Abe in the subsequent battle of Loess Ridge, and became famous for a while.
As soon as the news came out, all the friendly troops in the anti-Japanese battlefield cheered and sent congratulatory messages to Nie Rongzhen, but Nie Rongzhen was very modest, saying that it was just a coincidence.
In 1940, Nie Rongzhen participated in the Hundred Regiments War, destroyed multiple transportation hubs of the Japanese army, cut off the supply of the Japanese army, and was the hero behind the Hundred Regiments War.
In 1941, when the Japanese army lost the Battle of the Hundred Regiments, it turned its guns and began a new round of sweeping of the Jin-Cha-Ji base area. This sweep was more violent than the previous one.
Nie Rongzhen's troops were limited and he could not fight head-on, so he led his troops to hide in the deep mountains, find the weak points where the enemy army swept away, and transfer them, and defended the effective forces of the Jin-Cha-Ji anti-Japanese base area.
In 1945, Nie Rongzhen received orders to lead his troops into Beiping and Tianjin to accept the surrender of the Japanese army, and the Chinese won the War of Resistance Against Japan.
From this point of view, although Marshal Nie Rongzhen is called a "Confucian general" and often serves as a green leaf to set off others, he also has considerable military ability, which is enough to be rated as a marshal, so where does the military ability of Nie Rongzhen generally come from?
In fact, many people evaluate Nie Rongzhen's military ability in general, which comes from the period of the Liberation War. In the War of Liberation, Nie Rongzhen's opponent was Fu Zuoyi, a well-known General of the Kuomintang, who was the strongest opponent on the battlefield at that time.
Compared with Zhu De, Lin Biao and other marshals, Nie Rongzhen's military level is indeed not high, and for a long time, he was the "second in command" of the troops, so people would think that Nie Rongzhen's military level was average.
However, Nie Rongzhen also had the proud record of leading his own troops and killing the "flower of the battlefield", and it is not very true to say that Marshal Nie Rongzhen's military level is average.
In addition, there are many criteria for the evaluation of military ranks, if you simply talk about military merit and rewards, then Su Yu is likely to be elected as one of the top ten marshals, and even rank in the forefront.
Multiple evaluation dimensions are also an important reason why Nie Rongzhen can be elected as a marshal, perhaps in terms of military merit, he will be slightly inferior to Zhu De and others, but Nie Rongzhen is quite excellent in other aspects.
In terms of seniority, Nie Rongzhen joined the Communist Party before the Nanchang Uprising and has been following Chairman Mao for many years, which can definitely be regarded as an old Red Army, while Su Yu, the first person under the marshal, was a famous general during the Anti-Japanese and Liberation Wars, which was still far behind Nie Rongzhen.
In terms of ability, China's first anti-Japanese base area was established by Nie Rongzhen, which was very large in scale and was the first base area at that time, and Nie Rongzhen also protected the Jin-Cha-Ji revolutionary base area many times during the encirclement and suppression of the Japanese army, and his ability was absolutely not bad.
In terms of quality, Nie Rongzhen studied in many countries, had a high level of cultural knowledge, and often composed poems, and was called "Confucian Shuai" by Chairman Mao, and was also one of the few people who could exchange literature with Chairman Mao.
In terms of office, Nie Rongzhen held many positions at the corps level in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was also appointed as a member of the Central Military Commission of the CPC, together with several other marshals.
In summary, although Nie Rongzhen lagged behind in terms of the relatively high proportion of military industry, he had considerable advantages in other selection dimensions, and the rank awarded to the general was undisputed.