In 1955, China held a historic ceremony to confer titles, marking the "Top Ten Marshals", "Top Ten Generals" and more than 1,000 founding generals officially entered the annals of the Republic. In the course of this first award, there were some striking episodes.
It is worth noting that before the awarding of the title, ** once faced a general who had been engaged in secret work for a long time and had only 3 years of party experience, and asked an intriguing question: "Do you want a lieutenant general or a general?" This general was Han Liancheng, the first deputy commander of the Lanzhou Military Region at that time and known as the "** general". What exactly did General Han Liancheng contribute? In the end, what rank was he awarded?
Han Liancheng, a native of Guyuan County, Gansu Province, was born in February 1908 (some say 1909). Due to his poor family, after seven years of private school life, he had to herd sheep and do odd jobs for his livelihood. Until the beginning of 1925, 17-year-old Han Liancheng applied for the "Northwest Army Seventh Division Officer Training Team" with Ma Hongkui as the division commander, and began his military career under the name of "Han Guizhang", all the way from ordinary cadet to regiment commander. During his service in the Northwest Army, Han Liancheng had close contact with our party and laid the foundation for cooperation with the party.
It is worth mentioning that during the "Central Plains War" in 1930, Han Liancheng saved Chiang Kai-shek's life. Chiang's army was defeated and retreated under the onslaught of the combined forces of Feng and Yan, while Han Liancheng was ordered to reinforce and successfully repelled many enemy attacks and escorted Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek even thought Han Liancheng was his student and was grateful for his act of salvation.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Han Liancheng established his prestige in the Gui family. Bai Chongxi's trust in him even surpassed that of Xia Wei, and he promoted him to important positions many times. Chiang Kai-shek also favored Han Liancheng, and was concerned about his work many times, and proposed to transfer him to ** work. However, after recognizing Chiang Kai-shek's duplicitous nature, Han Liancheng finally decided to seek out the Communist Party and cooperate with it to contribute to the construction of a new China.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek sent Han Liancheng to lead his army to Hainan Island, one of the tasks of which was to eliminate the local CCP guerrillas. However, Han Liancheng did not carry out this order, but actively contacted the "Qiongya Column" led by the CCP and reminded them to avoid Chiang Kai-shek's blows. Unfortunately, due to the failure of communication, the Qiongya Column misunderstood Han Liancheng's intentions and attacked his troops instead, and Han Liancheng was seriously wounded as a result.
In 1946, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Han Liancheng to participate in the civil war in Shandong. However, Han Liancheng was opposed and cooperated with the CCP many times to support our army's victory on various battlefields. In the Battle of Laiwu, Han Liancheng even left the command position as agreed in advance and faded out of the battlefield. This caused the soldiers to misunderstand him and treat him as a prisoner, but in the end Han Liancheng's true intentions were explained.
However, soon the Kuomintang learned of the evidence that Han Liancheng was "collaborating with the Communist Party" and prepared to arrest him. After learning of this situation, Han Liancheng's family was secretly sent to Hong Kong, while he was sent to the northeast, and finally came to Xibaipo, the seat of the CCP. There, he was received by *** and other ** leaders. After that, he applied to ** to join the party.
In September 1955, Han Liancheng, the first deputy commander of the Lanzhou Military Region, insisted on the rank of lieutenant general according to his position and rank when he joined the party. He was willing to give up fame and fortune and silently contribute to the peaceful construction of China.
General Han Liancheng later held a number of positions, including Deputy Director of the Military Science and Doctrine Department of the Training Directorate, Director of the Military History Department of the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, and Vice Governor of Gansu Province. On February 27, 1984, he ended his illustrious and legendary life at the age of 76.