He refused to be awarded the rank of general, and only accepted the rank of general, which lasted five years
In 1949, the Chinese nation ended its century of humiliation and the People's Republic of China was formally established. At the first award ceremony in 1955, many of the most distinguished generals received due honors.
However, there are also some heroes who are unable to attend the award ceremony for various reasons and do not receive the corresponding ranks. Three years later, the state planned to make up for these generals who had not received military ranks, and the original number of founding generals was ten, but this time the plan added one more seat, and the candidate was Li Jukui.
However, after Li Jukui learned that he would be awarded the rank of general, he took the initiative to request a demote and only accepted the rank of general. Why did Li Jukui make such a decision?
Although the ** Military Commission believed that his military merits were enough to be awarded to generals, he insisted on accepting only generals.
In 1955, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was coming to an end, and the three major transformations of New China were about to be completed. At that time, there was still a big gap between China's industrial level and that of western developed countries.
In the world after the baptism of World War II, many countries used a strong industrial system to restore their economies, but our country not only has a backward industrial level, but also extremely scarce oil resources. China urgently needs someone responsible for finding and exploiting underground oil resources, and after discussion, the candidate was finally determined: Li Jukui.
Although Li Jukui was a state civil servant, the award was aimed at the military, so he missed the award at the 1955 award ceremony. * Issued a document giving Li Jukui full responsibility for oil exploration and exploitation in China.
He was a little apprehensive that he had not been exposed to this kind of knowledge before, and he was afraid that he would not be able to complete such an important task. However, he decided to prove himself with his actions. He actively consulted technicians about petroleum and was always the first to arrive at the site for any exploration mission.
Li Jukui has been committed to contributing to the country's industrial development in the land of the great northwest, and has helped China's petroleum industry achieve a zero breakthrough. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was an extreme shortage of talents in the oil industry in China, and neither the low-level mining personnel nor the management, including Li Jukui, knew anything about oil exploitation and other technologies.
But they are determined to get the job done. Lacking knowledge, they invest time in learning. The conditions for oil extraction are difficult, but they are confident and continue to advance. During Li Jukui's tenure, he resolutely did not engage in specialization and shared weal and woe with the workers.
When the accommodation conditions were tight, he took the initiative to give up good houses to the workers, while he lived in leaky rooms everywhere. Under Li Jukui's leadership, the oil industry flourished, laying a solid foundation for those who came after him.
Three years later, Li Jukui's term of office ended. It was decided to issue him a retroactive rank in recognition of his outstanding service to the country.
* There is a high degree of recognition for Li Jukui's achievements over the years, believing that he deserves a higher military rank. However, since ten generals were planned for the first time and all of them were arranged accordingly, if one more is added now, it will undoubtedly bring about big changes.
If it is only awarded the rank of general, it is not appropriate, because Li Jukui's military exploits are not inferior to other generals, and many of his old subordinates have also been awarded the rank of general.
*I am very troubled by this and do not know how to make a decision. However, when Li Jukui learned that ** was worried about his military rank, he showed the qualities of a great proletarian revolutionary, did not embarrass the party and the country, and took the initiative to apply for the award of himself the rank of general.
This move fully demonstrated his selfless spirit and indifference to personal honor. In the end, the organization took into account Li Jukui's personal opinion and awarded him the rank of general. ** He once spoke highly of Li Jukui, believing that without him, New China might not have been established in 1949, but in 1959 or 1969.
Li Jukui was born into a peasant family in Hunan, and although the family was poor, they were not overly oppressed by the landlords and were able to barely make ends meet. Therefore, Li Jukui has the opportunity to receive an education and has a certain amount of knowledge.
In 1926, revolution broke out in various parts of China, and the atmosphere of new ideas prevailed. Influenced by this, Li Jukui joined the wave of revolution, initially joining the Kuomintang army and participating in the Northern Expedition.
After the end of the Northern Expedition, the Kuomintang became the largest party in China, and Chiang Kai-shek held the highest right to speak. However, as the Communists grew stronger, Chiang Kai-shek saw them as a threat and staged a counter-revolutionary coup d'état to hunt down the Communists.
Li Jukui was very disgusted by this, and decided to break away from the Kuomintang and officially joined our party in 1928, becoming a member of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. With his exploits and outstanding performance in the Northern Expedition, he served as a division commander during the Long March.
In 1935, the troops led by Li Jukui played a vanguard role in the Long March, like a sharp knife, breaking through the enemy's multiple blockade lines. While passing through the Sichuan region, he received an important task: to break through the enemy's resistance and cross the Dadu River, a battle that is widely known, but often overlooks the most prominent of them, Li Jukui.
He was the protagonist of the battle, leading his troops to a heroic performance that bought precious time for the fraternal troops to cross the river. After that, his unit was rated as the 1st Regiment of the Red Army.
This river crossing is very well-known, and more than half a century ago, Shi Dakai, a member of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, went here with hatred. If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had not been hit by this blow, the prospect of the fall of the Qing Dynasty would not have been able to be said, but it would not have been so easily wiped out by the Zeng Dynasty.
Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek once said harshly that he wanted the Red Army to follow the old path of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and make this Dadu River the cemetery of the revolutionary team, and his viciousness was obvious.
Li Jukui and his subordinate Yang Dezhi came to the bank of the Dadu River, and the two of them reconnoitred the surrounding terrain and enemy traces on the distant mountains. They found two large boats on the bank of the river, and it was like a godsend.
Li Jukui immediately thought about how to capture the two ships quietly so as not to alarm the enemy. However, under the order of the Military Commission, he could only act quickly. As night fell, he led his troops to seize the ships and gathered dozens of local boatmen and death squads to prepare for the forced crossing.
On the eve of the operation, he personally gave instructions to the death squads to give them a good rest and recharge their batteries. When they forced their way the next day, they braved the rain of bullets and bullets to open up a way for the Red Army's tens of thousands of troops.
The river was turbulent and the Red Army had limited boats to cross the river, and if they all gathered together and waited to cross the river, it might give the enemy an opportunity. Li Jukui made a quick decision and decided to divide his troops into two routes, retaining a large number of vital forces for the Red Army.
Although most people praise the death squad and the commander***, few people know that it was Li Jukui who planned all this.
After the founding of New China, the domestic war came to an end temporarily, and Li Jukui switched from the front line to logistics, cultivating many outstanding logistics personnel. During the period of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, the conditions of the volunteers were difficult, not only to deal with bad weather, but even to starve, which made Li Jukui feel very sad.
In order to solve the problem of hunger of the volunteers, he invented a food with a unique vision and encouraged the people of the whole country to plant it, which successfully alleviated the hunger problem of the volunteers. The light on Li Jukui is the brilliance of his selfless dedication to the country and the people.
Whether on the front line or in the rear, he is the mainstay, and his exploits are rarely matched, but he is willing to be indifferent to fame and fortune, and hide his merits and fame. His deeds deserve to be admired and learned by future generations.