On September 27, 1955, our army held an award ceremony in Beijing, conferring the corresponding military rank on the founding generals in Beijing.
However, there are not many founding generals in Beijing, and several marshals were sent to various military regions across the country to preside over the award ceremony, such as in the Nanjing Military Region, which was presided over by the two marshals *** and **.
On November 29, in the auditorium of the Nanjing Military Region, a total of more than 100 generals were awarded, including 8 generals, including Xu Shiyou, Tang Liang, and Ye Fei of the Nanjing Military Region, as well as Yang Dezhi, Han Xianchu, Li Tianyou, and Liu Zhen, who are studying at the Nanjing Military Academy.
After the ceremony, everyone put on a straight general's dress, very energetic and very happy, but the next day, everyone encountered an embarrassment.
Actually, there is still a little discrepancy in this matter, I have checked a lot of information, all show that Indonesia's ** Sukarno visited China for the first time in September 1956, but Lieutenant General Zeng Siyu and Major General Liu Maogong have recorded that this incident happened shortly after the award of the title in Nanjing, and General Zeng Siyu also made it clear that it was the day after the award, that is, on November 30, 1955.
We won't discuss this detail, let's follow the time that General Zeng Siyu said for the time being.
On November 30, the cadets who were studying at the Nanjing Military Academy received a notice: all the cadets gathered outside the auditorium of the academy and lined up to welcome Sukarno, Indonesia.
It turned out that when Sukarno came to visit China, he specially arranged for him to visit the Nanjing Military Academy, and ordered all the students to come out in a queue to welcome them, especially the generals who had just been awarded the title, and they all wore their newly issued general uniforms.
According to the recollection of Major General Liu Maogong, there were more than 200 generals studying and working at the Nanjing Military Academy at that time, and there were even more colonel-level officers.
Unfortunately, it suddenly rained in the sky, and it was only a light rain at first, so I asked everyone to hold on, but soon the rain became heavier, and Sukarno probably didn't want Sukarno to see the panicked appearance of our army, so he continued to let everyone stand up, and no one was allowed to move.
In this way, in the heavy rain, everyone stood for a long time, and it was not until Sukarno finished the review that everyone hurried to the auditorium, and their bodies were already drenched!
General Zeng Siyu recalled:"Everyone is complaining about God, why is it so unbeautiful, the general's dress that I wore for only one day was drenched, and I had to go to the clothing store to iron and have plastic surgery. ”
Major General Liu Maogong also said later"I haven't worn my dress a few times since I was conferred the rank, and this unforgettable first baptism has made this beautiful dress drenched!”
See?There is also a small discrepancy here, Zeng Siyu said that his general's dress "was only worn for one day", and he also specially explained that it was the day after the award, but what Liu Maogong said was "After the award of the military rank, my dress has not been worn a few times", indicating that it was still worn a few times, and it should not be the next day after the award.
History is like this many times, even if you have experienced it yourself, there will be some errors in memory, and you don't know who to believe.
Moreover, many authoritative sources show that Sukarno only visited China for the first time in September 1956, but these two generals said that it was at the end of 1955, so who should be believed?
Even the memories of the parties involved are so inaccurate, how many of those hearsay records can be trusted?
This is the helplessness of history, a lot of information is ambiguous, the public says that the public is reasonable, and the mother-in-law says that the mother-in-law is reasonable.