Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Jin-Cha-Ji is a large mountain range formed during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. To the front lies the mountain range belonging to the 115th Division and the First Red Army Corps. To the back lies the mountain range of all of North China. Currently, the First Red Army Corps and the 115th Division's mountain range already has two Marshals, Lin Biao and Luo Yonghao.

Marshal Xu is on the hilltop in North China.

But they have nothing to do with Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

Jin-Cha-Ji made great contributions to the revolution, which is why three Jin-Cha-Ji Qianbu appeared on the list of candidates for marshals. But it is impossible for Pu-Cha-Ji to produce three marshals.

Normally, during the Anti-Japanese War, the major factions formed, Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan, Pusui-Suiyuan, Shandong, and the New Fourth Army each had a representative marshal. Marshal Lin was more representative of the First Red Army and the 115th Division, while Marshal Xu was more representative of the Fourth Front Army, rather than the North China faction.

Therefore, the marshal representative of Jin-Cha-Ji should also be one person, or two people are also acceptable.

Because Jin-Cha-Ji made great contributions. However, for the sake of balance, it would be more appropriate for Jin-Cha-Ji to produce a marshal. However, the current situation is quite troublesome. Nie Shi is already a member of the Standing Committee. Wei Hongjun, as he said, had almost no presence during the Red Army period and the early stages of the War of Resistance Against Japan. Yang Quanwu lacks any military achievements that truly surpass the entire army.

Moreover, Yang Quanwu is more representative of the Jin-Cha-Ji faction than Wei Hongjun. Speaking of Jin-Cha-Ji, Nie Shuai is undoubtedly the first, followed by Yang Quanwu. Although Wei Hongjun is also a representative of Jin-Cha-Ji, his representativeness is not as good as Nie Shuai and Yang Quanwu.

These three people put the chairman in a difficult position.

However, after comprehensive consideration and discussions with the Commander-in-Chief, the Premier, Comrade Xiu Yang, and Comrade Chen Yun, a final decision was reached. The Chairman made the final decision: All the Thousand-Branch Officers already serving in the localities would not be awarded titles, except for those who must represent a particular stage of the revolution and who could not be replaced by others.

917 Awarding of Titles

With this decision, the following work will be much easier.

Jin-Cha-Ji was a headache, so to cut the Gordian knot, Marshal Nie was needed to represent Jin-Cha-Ji to confer titles. Because whether it was Yang Quanwu or Wei Hongjun, they could only represent part of the history of Jin-Cha-Lan.

But after all, they are not the first representatives of Jin-Cha-Ji.

Let's talk about Yang Quanwu. In his early years, he was the commander and political commissar of the First Division of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. Later, when the second-level military region was established in Pu-Cha-Ji, Yang Quanwu was only the commander and political commissar of the new Ji-Zhong Military Region.

During the same period, the Jin-Cha-Ji region also had the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Military Divisions, and even later the Thirteenth Military Division of the Jin-Cha-Ji region. After the establishment of the second-level military region, the Jin-Cha-Ji region also had the Ji-Lu Military Region, the Yanbei Military Region, the Chahar-Suiyuan Military Region, the Ji-Re-Cha Military Region, the Ji-Re-Liaoning Military Region, and so on.

Therefore, if Yang Quanwu were to represent Jin-Cha-Ji as a marshal, many Jin-Cha-Ji officials would certainly disagree. Deng Guo, Huang Yong, and Guo Tianmin, former Jin-Cha-Ji generals, could acknowledge Yang Quanwu's illustrious military achievements as a natural general, but they would not agree to him representing Pu-Cha-Ji as a marshal.

There are many mountainous areas in Jin-Cha-Ji. In such a complicated situation, only Marshal Nie can represent Jin-Cha-Ji.

So the Chairman finally chose Marshal Nie.

But Yang Quanwu was an unavoidable figure in Jin-Cha-Ji. Most of the troops in the region came from Yang Quanwu. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Yang Quanwu trained a number of troops to support the military region and other sub-districts. He sent complete units to Jidong, Rehe, Puchaji-Lanzhou, and the Fourth Military Sub-district. Even Guo Youmin had troops trained by Yang Quanwu. Half of Guo Tianmin's Third Sub-district's base was formed after Yang Quanwu's First Sub-district launched an offensive in Hebei. He transferred his Yanbei base to the Second Sub-district. Half of the Third Sub-district's base was also created by Yang Quanwu and later transferred to the Third Sub-district. It can be said that Yang Quanwu carried half of the power in Jin-Cha-Ji.

Let’s talk about military exploits.

Not to mention the successive victories during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the establishment of numerous bases. During the Liberation War alone, he liberated Hebei, served as the frontline commander in the Pingjin Campaign, captured Tianjin, and forced the peaceful liberation of Beijing. Later, he traveled south to participate in the Tianjue Battle in the Central Plains and the Crossing the Yangtze River Campaign, demonstrating his remarkable military achievements.

That's why Yang Quanwu has reached his current position and can even be included in the candidates for marshal.

You can't ignore Yang Quanwu like this.

Finally, the Prime Minister came up with a solution: Yang Quanwu could be promoted to general, but he could enjoy the "marshal treatment."

Of course, within the Jin-Cha-Ji region, Wei Hongjun was the biggest and most troublesome problem. Given his high rank and impressive military achievements, any rank awarded to Wei Hongjun would inevitably be Grand Division. Given Wei Hongjun's current rank and achievements, it's impossible to offer him anything less than the rank of Marshal. Wei Hongjun truly deserved the rank of Marshal, but it felt like something was missing. But not giving him the rank of Marshal would be unacceptable.

So in the end, the Chairman circled Wei Hongjun's name and talked to him personally.

Wei Hongjun said that he was already in the local area and therefore did not want to participate in the awarding of titles. The Chairman discussed a lot of work with Wei Hongjun and finally decided that Wei Hongjun would not participate in the awarding of titles.

The Chairman also sought out Deng Zhihui, Zhang Dingcheng, and others to ask them what they thought of the promotion. If they were to be promoted, they would at least be promoted to general.

But their answers were the same.

Not participating in the awarding of titles.

Actually, it's a good thing they didn't participate in the conferment of titles. Deng Zhihui, Zhang Dingcheng, Li Xiannian in Hubei, and Tan Zhenlin in Zhejiang are all already rank 3rd level officers, the same administrative rank as a marshal.

It doesn’t matter whether it is given to the general or not.

For them, their current work in the local area is going smoothly. Whether they participate in the awarding of titles or not, it will be of no use to their opponents.

The Chairman also sent a telegram to Luo Qirong in Guangdong.

Ask for his opinion.

Luo Qirong understood the Chairman's intentions and replied by phone, stating that while he held a military rank, he had now transferred to a local position and was not involved in military affairs, so he would not participate in the awarding ceremony. The Chairman had previously visited Guangdong, and after speaking with Luo Qirong, Luo Qirong understood the Chairman's intentions. The Chairman wanted him to learn from Deng Zhihui and others. In the future, he would visit the State Council instead of the Military Commission in Beijing.

The Chairman spoke to each of the cadres who were not involved in the awarding of titles one by one, and this matter was dealt with throughout December.

The Politburo and the Military Commission were planning to complete the awarding of titles before the Spring Festival of 1953. The final list of marshals remained unchanged, but this was normal, as the formation of a marshal is not determined by a specific period of time, but rather by the entire revolutionary career.

The Central Military Commission, formed at the Luochuan Conference in 1937 before the War of Resistance Against Japan, consisted of 11 members. Besides the Chairman, the Premier, and Ren Peiguo, seven of the marshals were already members. The only three missing were Nie Shi, Luo Shuai, and Chen Shuai. By the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, all ten marshals were members of the Central Committee. Nine members of the newly formed Central Military Commission, formed after the Seventh National Congress, were members, with Luo Shuai missing.

The Central Revolutionary Military Commission was established after the founding of New China, and the ten marshals were all vice chairmen of the Military Commission.

Therefore, the only person who was uncertain about the awarding of the title of Marshal this time was Marshal Nie, as he was already a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.

However, Jin-Cha-Ji did need Marshal Nie to represent them, so the Chairman still chose Marshal Nie, who was in the same situation as Marshal Chen representing the Three-Year Guerrilla War and the New Fourth Army. According to the Prime Minister, the title can be awarded as long as he does not wear the marshal's uniform in his daily work.

Then comes the general.

The list of 20 generals submitted by the Military Commission and the General Political Department was narrowed down to 17. The Central Committee's final selection of the list of generals was Yang Quanwu, Su Yu, Xu Haidong, Deng Guo, Chen Geng, Huang Kecheng, Tan Zheng, Zuo Quan, Xiao Jinguang, Zhang Yunyi, Zhu Shusheng, Wang Zhi, Zhu Qiuyun, Xu Guangda, Zhao Lu, Zhang Zongsun, and Song Renqiong.

Initially we wanted to select 15 people, but later we added two more, making it 17 people.

This is mainly because there are too many generals in Shanxi, Chahar, Hebei and Northeast China.

For example, the commander of the First Division of the Jin-Cha-Ji region was Yang Quanwu, the political commissar of the Third Division was Wang Zhi, the commander and political commissar of the Fourth Division was Zhao Lu, the commander and political commissar of the Fifth Division was Jiao Guo, and the commander of the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region was Wang Qiuyun.

In the Northeast, in addition to Deng Guo and Wang Qiuyun, there are Huang Kecheng, Tan Zheng and Xiao Jinguang.

至于许海东是代表红25军、红15军团,徐光达代表贺老总二军团，王树生代表四方面军。本来程怎华是红25军军长，但他不是红25军的代表,只因为是中央代表所以才担任了红25军。因此在山头平衡的时候,程志华却是挂靠不了在何一个山头。

Because there are too many generals in the Jin-Cha-Ji and Northeast regions, a balance is needed. Increase the number of positions in the First and Second Field Armies.

Zhang Zongsun had been Deputy Commander of the Northwest Field Army, Deputy Commander of the First Field Army, and now Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Commander of the Lanzhou Military Region. Song Renqiong was a member of the Autumn Harvest Uprising and Commander of the Southern Hebei Military Region, a prominent cadre of the Second Field Army.

In fact, the Third Field Army had the fewest ranks awarded.

The heavyweight cadres from East China, such as Deng Zhihui, Tan Zhenlin, and Zhang Dingcheng, who were all senior officers, did not participate in the awarding of titles. Therefore, only Su Yu and Zhang Yunyi were present.

Once the list of marshals and generals is finalized, it will be much easier to determine the following military ranks.

中央决定1953年1月19日14点30分,在中南海紫光阁西边的国务院礼堂进行元帅和大将的授衔仪式。

The ceremony venue was solemn and simple.

The first ceremony was to award the title of general.

Many officials were present at this time, but they were mainly from the Military Commission. Other officers who were to be awarded the title of Marshal, as well as key central government officials, were absent because they wanted to accompany the Chairman to the ceremony for awarding him the title of Grand Marshal.

The rank of general is awarded by the Central Military Commission.

As the name suggests, a general is a general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Therefore, the prime minister is responsible for conferring the title of general.

Yu Xinqing, Director of the Ceremonial Bureau of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, announced the start of the ceremony. Everyone stood up and the military band played the National Anthem of the People's Republic of China. Then, Lin Feng, Secretary-General of the State Council, read out the order from the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China conferring the rank of general on officers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

17 generals, absent Xu Haidong.

Because Xu Haidong is recuperating.

The Prime Minister wore a gray Mao suit, his left hand habitually folded over his chest. When conferring titles, the imperial court was always quite solemn. Marshals and generals were both politically and military-related. If it were purely military considerations, Xu Guangda would never have been here.

Even in the First Field Army, Wang Zhen was more suitable to be a general than Xu Guangda.

But who made Xu Guangda the representative of the Second Corps?

The Premier presented the orders of awarding the rank of general to 16 generals standing in front of the rostrum, including Yang Quanwu, Su Yu, Deng Guo, Chen Geng, Huang Kecheng, Tan Zheng, Zuo Quan, Xiao Jinguang, Zhang Yunyi, Zhu Shusheng, Wang Zhi, Wang Qiuyun, Zhang Zongshun, Song Renqiong, Zhao Lu, and Xu Guangda, and shook hands with them one by one to express congratulations.

After the conferment of the rank of general, the next step was to confer ranks on cadres within the various departments of the Central Military Commission. At the General Staff Headquarters, headed by the Eighth General Staff Headquarters, Chief Su Yu was a general, and Deputy Chiefs of the General Staff Huang Kecheng and Zhang Zhongxun were also generals. Zhang Aiping, Ji Kenong, and He Yi were all promoted to lieutenant generals this year.

Deputy Director of the General Political Department Tan Zhiding, Tian Hua and Zhu Liangcai are all generals.

Deputy Ministers of the General Political Department, Wang Zhi and Song Renqiong, were both senior generals, while Xu Liqing and Gan Weihan were both lieutenant generals. Initially, these generals in the General Political Department had wanted to downgrade their ranks to demonstrate the fairness of the awarding of ranks. However, Wang Zhi and Song Renqiong, representing the Fifth Field Army and the First Field Army respectively, could not relinquish their senior general rank.

With the two of them becoming generals, Xu Liqing and Gan Weihan, who were behind them, were unable to relinquish their titles. After all, if no one else had relinquished their titles, what would happen to the other thousand-man divisions? Therefore, Xu Liqing and Gan Weihan were both promoted to lieutenant generals.

The Chief of the General Logistics Department, Zhao Lu, is a general, the Deputy Chief, Hong Xuezhi, is a lieutenant general, and the Deputy Chiefs, Zhang Lingbin and Qiu Hui, are lieutenant generals.

The Minister of the Armed Forces Supervision Department was Marshal Ye, and the three deputy ministers Zhou Chunquan, Chen Zaidao, and Han Weiguo were all generals, and Yan Kuiyao was a lieutenant general.

Zuo Quan, acting director of the General Training Department, was a senior general, while four deputy directors, Li Da, Peng Shaohui, and Xiao Zijing, were awarded the rank of lieutenant general. Chen Zhonghe, though the third deputy director, ranked higher than Xiao Zijing. However, Xiao Zijing, at the time of his appointment, was at the rank of deputy corps commander, yet still received the rank of lieutenant general. Meanwhile, Chen Zhonghe, though at the rank of deputy corps commander, was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

On the side of the General Armament Department, Minister Yang Quanwu and Deputy Minister Wang Shusheng are both generals, Second Deputy Minister Chen Xilian and Third Deputy Minister Han Wei are both lieutenant generals, and Fourth Deputy Minister Feng Yongshun is a lieutenant general.

The head of the General Finance Department, Yang Lisan, was a general, while the deputy heads, Tang Tianji and Tang Ping, were lieutenant generals. The General Finance Department was the lowest-ranking department among the eight headquarters.

Besides them, several military academies and departments in Beijing were also included in this awarding process. Huang Fa, who had caused Commander Luo considerable trouble, was ultimately relegated to the quasi-corps rank. While the Chairman was annoyed with Huang Fa, he was still a distinguished general, so he approved Commander Luo's decision. Huang Fa also became a lieutenant general at the quasi-corps rank. He was also included in this awarding process.

Maybe it was because he had suffered a lot in recent years. He stopped talking after coming in.

These people all needed the Prime Minister to confer titles on them, so it took more than an hour.

After the Prime Minister's conferment of titles was complete, Chen Geng said with a grin, "Don't underestimate me as just a general. Back then, I was as powerful as a marshal. Among the troops I commanded, besides me, there were three other generals, and a whole host of lieutenant generals below them."

"Who?"

Some people don't believe it.

Everyone who can stand here knows who else. Everyone knows their resume.

They didn't believe Chen Geng's army had ever had three generals. There were only 16 generals in total, and including Chen Geng, that made it four. Aside from the early days of the army where cadres were concentrated, there had never been such a powerful army. Chen Geng's position in the Red Army during the Agrarian Revolution wasn't very high. There were many generals who held higher positions than him in the past, but no one had ever led such a large number of generals.

Chen Geng looked at Yang Quanwu with a smile and said, "Old Yang, don't you agree?" "Yes."

Yang Quanwu nodded.

Seeing that some people still didn't understand, Tan Zheng stepped forward and said, "In 1936, the Central Committee reorganized the Red st Division. At that time, Comrade Chen Geng was the commander of the Red st Division."

"correct."

Only then did everyone suddenly realize.

In 1936, the 115st Red Army Division was reorganized. Chen Geng was the division commander, Yang Quanwu was the political commissar, and Tan Zhenglai served concurrently as director of the st Red Army Division's political department. All three are now considered prominent figures. The th Independent Regiment, formed from the st Red Army Division, was the primary force in establishing the Puchaji base area, and subsequently produced a number of high-ranking officials.

Including Wang Qiuyun, who was very low-key at the scene.

So when Chen Geng said that four generals emerged from the troops under his command, he was not joking. As for the generals below, there is no need to say more.

Too much.

After Marshal Luo determined the ranks and considered the promotion of rank, Zhang Zihua, commander of the Fuzhou Military Region, was also on the shortlist for general. This was due to Zhang Zihua's extensive military achievements, making him a worthy candidate for general. However, Marshal Luo crossed his name out of the list at the last minute. Since there were already enough generals in the Chahar-Hebei region, Zhang Zihua, with one foot in the rank of general and the other in the rank of lieutenant general, had no choice but to be promoted to lieutenant general. Zhang Zihua also served in the Red 1st Division at the time.

"So, was I as majestic as the marshal back then?" Only Chen Geng could make such a joke.

Everyone also smiled.

The Prime Minister couldn't help but laugh. Then he said, "Okay, get ready quickly. Next up is the Chairman's awarding of honors and titles."

Around four o'clock, the Commander-in-Chief, Marshal Nie, General Peng, General He, and General Chen began to enter the Huairen Hall lounge, waiting for the next step of awarding titles. Around half past four, the Chairman appeared.

After the Chairman appeared, Comrade Xiuyang, Song Qingling, Li Jisen, Shen Junru, Guo Moruo, Huang Yanpei, Chen Yun, Gao Gang, Wei Hongjun, Deng Xixian, Peng Zhen, Jiao Zhihui, Li Fuchun, Mao Zemin, Li Weihan, Chen Shutong and others appeared on the rostrum one after another.