"Wealth is not my wish, and I don't want fame".
In 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, it was decided to hold an award ceremony in 1955 in order to commend the major generals who had contributed to the revolutionary cause.
However, before the award ceremony began, the ** Military Commission found Chen Qihan and gave him a blank letter of appointment and asked him to fill in the military rank by himself. At that time, according to his record, generals, generals, and Chen Qihan could afford it. No one thought that he just filled in a "lieutenant general" on the letter of appointment.
But the ** Military Commission was not satisfied, and at the award ceremony, he was awarded the rank of general, what is going on? And how did Chen Qihan react in the end?
Chen Qihan is an indispensable leader of China's revolutionary cause. In the autumn of 1897, Chen Qihan was born in a family in Zhuba Village, Xingguo, Jiangxi. Although Chen Qihan's family could barely make ends meet at that time, his parents still tried their best to let Chen Qihan go to Beihui Primary School in Xingguo County.
After graduating from primary school, Chen Qihan entered Ganzhou Middle School with excellent results. During this period, Chen Qihan came into contact with progressive revolutionary ideas and came up with the idea of saving the country and the people.
In order to realize his ideals, Chen Qihan was admitted to the Shaoguan branch of the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall in 1919, and it didn't take long for Chen Qihan to go to Guangzhou to study in the Lecture Hall.
At first, Chen Qihan joined the local warlords in Jiangxi, but later, the chaos and corruption of the Jiangxi army disappointed Chen Qihan, who was bent on saving the country, and in order to realize his revolutionary ideals, Chen Qihan joined Sun Yat-sen's National Revolutionary Army and participated in the Northern Expedition. A year later, Chen Qihan came to study at the Whampoa Military Academy, which also became a turning point in his fate.
Here, Chen Qihan got acquainted with the early figures of the Communist Party, such as Chen Geng. It is worth mentioning that Chen Qihan and Chen Geng were of the same age and had similar interests at that time, and soon became close friends. It was also under Chen Geng's introduction that Chen Qihan chose to join the Communist Party of China.
After the breakdown of the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the Kuomintang made a rule at that time that cross-party personnel could only choose one party to join, and Chen Qihan's identity was a major of the Whampoa Military Academy.
During this period, Chen Qihan not only led the Gannan Uprising, the Xingguo Rebellion and other activities, but also actively mobilized the local people, used the "Implementation" he founded to propagate revolutionary ideas, and cultivated more revolutionaries.
From 1930 to 1934, during this short period of four years, Chen Qihan successively served as the chief of staff of the Red 4th Army, the chief of staff of the Red 1st Army, and the chief of staff of the Red 3rd Army, and participated in many anti-"encirclement and suppression" struggles.
In every battle, Chen Qihan rushed to the front line, and his performance was extremely heroic, and he made a lot of contributions. But in the fourth anti-encirclement battle, Chen Qihan was seriously injured and was sent to the hospital in the rear for **. With the start of the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression battle, Chen Qihan couldn't hold back his heart, and returned to the battlefield after only one recuperation.
After the end of the Long March, he served as the chief of staff of the Red 15th Army in northern Shaanxi and participated in the Eastern and Western Expeditions. With the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Chen Qihan, who was deeply trusted, was transferred back to northern Shaanxi as the commander of the garrison area, responsible for protecting the security of northern Shaanxi.
And Chen Qihan did not live up to the expectations of ***, during this period, he smashed the enemy's many attacks, and achieved remarkable results in the defense of the Yellow River and the suppression of bandits. On the eve of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Qihan entered the ** Party School to study, which further sublimated his communist ideas.
In 1945, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War and the start of the Liberation War, Chen Qihan was appointed as the deputy commander of the Jireliao Military Region and commanded the defense of Gubeikou. Under the command of Chen Qihan, our army repelled several enemy charges and annihilated more than 5,000 enemies without dominating the situation.
After that, Chen Qihan served as the commander of the Liaoning Military Region, commanded the capture of Jilin, the siege of Changchun and other battles, and made immortal contributions to the liberation of the northeast region. In the spring of 1949, Chen Qihan returned to his hometown in Jiangxi to engage in the work of suppressing bandits, at that time the banditry in southern Jiangxi was very rampant, and most of the people who rebelled were the remnants of the Kuomintang and the local bandits who had been entrenched for a long time.
Chen Qihan is a native of Jiangxi, and he knows the local customs very well, so under Chen Qihan's governance, all the bandits in Jiangxi have been eliminated, and Chen Qihan is also trusted by the people of Jiangxi. Let him Chen Qihan have also been doing his best to contribute to the people of Jiangxi.
Turning over any page of Chen Qihan's resume, we can see Chen Qihan's immortal contributions to the Chinese revolution, which is also the reason why the ** Military Commission asked him to fill in the military rank he wanted.
But Chen Qihan is not a person who covets fame, he has always maintained a modest mentality, so he only filled in the rank of lieutenant general in the letter of appointment.
After the founding of New China, our army has not carried out the award ceremony, at that time because we have not determined the system of military ranks, and in addition to the organization is unwilling to let the people think that they want to be rewarded, so the award work has been shelved.
Until 1952, considering the reality of the army, Mr. Peng reported to *** the importance of the military rank system, therefore, after the meeting, it was decided to hold the first award ceremony of New China in 1955. Since our country and the Soviet Union were in a "honeymoon period" at that time, the practice of the Soviet Union was also referred to in the awarding of military ranks.
At that time, Chen Qihan was the president of the Military Court of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and also served as a national defense commissioner for three consecutive terms; Chen Qihan's qualifications fully met the selection criteria for the rank of general; moreover, Chen Qihan himself was very prestigious in the whole army, and Chen Qihan also brought out many Jiangxi generals who could fight well.
Therefore, considering that Chen Qihan's situation is relatively special, before the title was conferred, the ** Military Commission found him and asked for his opinion, but Chen Qihan didn't care about these false names at allWith a wave of his hand, he wrote the title of lieutenant general on the letter of appointment, and said: "My evaluation of myself in the past few decades is: incompetence, but ability."
In just one sentence, Chen Qihan's open-mindedness and indifference to fame and fortune are vividly displayed. Moreover, Chen Qihan also wrote such a touching sentence on the military rank list: "China's revolutionary cause has been victorious and successful under the leadership of the party and the party, and for me personally, the level of status and gains and losses are a very small matter. ”
Chen Qihan's original intention to participate in the revolution was to enable the oppressed and exploited Chinese people to live a good life, and now after years of struggle by the Communists, this ideal has been realized, so for Chen Qihan, no matter what military rank he is awarded, he can accept it, because it is the recognition of the party and the state as a soldier.
Of course, Chen Qihan has made a lot of military achievements for the Chinese revolution, ** and *** are all remembered in his heart, so he must not be awarded the rank of lieutenant general, after all, if Chen Qihan is only awarded the rank of lieutenant general, how should the ranks of other generals be awarded?
Therefore, after careful consideration, it was decided to award the rank of general to Chen Qihan.
After Chen Qihan learned the news, he was greatly moved, and after that, he devoted all his energy to the construction of the military court. During his work in the court, Chen Qihan judged cases like a god and was fair and clear. Two years later, Chen Qihan retired from his post and recommended the capable Zhong Hanhua to take his place.
Chen Qihan's noble demeanor and selfless character are not only reflected in himself, but also in his relatives. In 1954, Chen Qihan returned to his hometown of Xingguo after a long absence, and since Chen Qihan left his hometown in 1934 with the Long March team, decades have passed in the blink of an eye.
And when Chen Qihan was running everywhere for the party's cause, several of his relatives also sacrificed their precious lives for the revolution.
For this reason, when the local people of Xingguo heard that Chen Qihan had returned to his hometown, they were even more eager to pick up the wind and dust for him, and immediately wanted to kill pigs and sheep, but after Chen Qihan heard about this incident, he immediately declined the kindness of the villagers and returned home silently. Chen Qihan said to the villagers: "No matter how big our communist party is, it is also to serve the people."
The local people of Xingguo applauded. And when someone proposed to let Chen Qihan arrange a job for his nephew, who was a chef, Chen Qihan refused without hesitation, he did not allow anyone in the family to use his name to make special, he often warned the people in the family to be down-to-earth, and to be a low-key person.
Under Chen Qihan's education, the sons and daughters of the Chen family are very competitive, and they all shine in their posts. After that, Chen Qihan returned to his hometown twice and was very concerned about the local development of Xingguo.
Especially in 1961, Chen Qihan heard that there were floods in Ba Nan for many years, and the lives of the people were greatly affected, Chen Qihan personally proposed a solution for the cadres of Ba Nan, and after learning of the problem of shortage of funds, Chen Qihan personally raised 200,000 yuan and sent it to the cadres of Ba Nan for flood control.
After being away from home for many years, Chen Qihan has always kept his hometown in his heart and broken his heart for the economic construction of his hometown.
Chen Qihan's life is a hero's life, and it is also a life worthy of our admiration.
In February 1981, General Chen Qihan passed away in Beijing, completing a glorious life. He did not leave any inheritance to his descendants, and came into the world empty-handed, leaving with a clean breeze on his sleeves.
His contributions to the country and the people will always be remembered by generations of Chinese people.