In April 1970, Li Desheng was appointed as the director of the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army.
This was nominated by Chairman Mao himself, and Premier Zhou had already talked to Li Desheng half a year ago, which fully demonstrated the importance the two great men attached to Li Desheng.
It is worth mentioning that Chairman Mao once sought Xie Fuzhi's opinions. Xie Fuzhi said: "Li Desheng has been in military work for a long time and has never done political work. I am afraid he is not suitable for this position."
Results, after hearing this, Chairman Mao said angrily: "Li Desheng is not suitable, you are the ones suitable?"
Finally, with the support of Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, Li Desheng became the director of of the General Political Department of and the first founding major general to serve as director of the General Political Department.
Facts have proved that Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou had very accurate vision. After Li Desheng took office, he ensured that the political work of the army was always on the right track, especially in that turbulent era. With strong political work, the army always adhered to the party’s command guns, and always ensured that under the absolute leadership of the party, it can be said that Li Desheng made an indelible contribution!
However, Li Desheng was very modest. In his later years, the media interviewed him. He always said: "The life of working in the General Political Department is very smooth because we have a strong collective, with two deputy directors, both have very strong abilities and qualities, and their revolutionary qualifications are even older than me, but they support my work very much and share a lot of responsibility for me. We have achieved tacit cooperation."
So, when Li Desheng was the director of the General Political Department, who were the two deputy directors?
The first deputy director is Tian Weixin, the founding major general.
Tian Weixin is from Dong'a County, Shandong Province. He is the same age as Li Desheng, both born in 1916.
However, Tian Weixin had never participated in the Agrarian Revolution War and studied in Shandong in his early years. It was not until after the outbreak of the full-scale anti-Japanese war in 1937 that he joined the army and joined the anti-Japanese team in northwest Shandong .
In the fight against the Japanese invaders, Tian Weixin was brave and tenacious, brave and resolute, and soon became a combat hero. In addition, he was educated and became the target of the organization's focus of training. His rise was very fast. By the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he had become the director of the political department of the third division of the Taihang Military Region.
From the War of Liberation to the War of Resistance and Aid Korea, Tian Weixin has been engaged in the political work of the army of , and has successively served as the political commissar of the regiment, the political commissar of the division, the deputy political commissar of the army, and the deputy political commissar of the Shenyang Military Region.
When Tian Weixin was awarded the title in 1955, because he participated in the revolution relatively late, he was only awarded the rank of colonel, and was not promoted to major general until 1964.
In 1969, Tian Weixin was appointed as the deputy director of the General Political Department. After Li Desheng took office the next year, Tian Weixin became his important assistant.
One of the reasons why Chairman Mao let Li Desheng, who has no political work experience, be the director of the General Political Department is that Tian Weixin is here, and he can assist Li Desheng in doing a good job in the General Political Department.
The second deputy director is Huang Zhiyong, founding lieutenant general.
Huang Zhiyong is from Chongyi County, Jiangxi Province. He is two years older than Li Desheng. He joined the Communist Party of China at the age of 16. He is considered an old revolutionary.
During the Agrarian Revolution, Huang Zhiyong served as the political commissar of the regiment. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, he was transferred to the General Staff Department of the Central Military Commission and served as the director of the war room. He was highly valued by the leaders of the Central Military Commission.
During the War of Liberation, Huang Zhiyong was sent to the Northeast, serving as the Chief of Staff of the Hebei-Chahar-Religious Liao Military Region and the Chief of Staff of the 13th Corps of the Northeast Field Army. He participated in important battles such as Liaoshen Battle, Pingjin Battle, , Hengbao Battle, and other important battles.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Huang Zhiyong served as the political commissar of the engineering corps and the political commissar of the armored corps. When he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general, one level higher than Li Desheng.
In 1969, Huang Zhiyong and Tian Weixin were appointed as deputy director of the General Political Department.
Although Huang Zhiyong has a higher revolutionary qualification than Li Desheng and his military rank is higher than Li Desheng, his mind and structure are very large. He does not care about personal gains and losses. He actively assists Li Desheng in carrying out military political work and makes significant contributions to stabilizing the military's thoughts at that time.
Li Desheng later recalled: "Deputy Director Huang is an old comrade. He assisted me in work like a big brother. He never mentioned any conditions and worked hard. Sometimes I was embarrassed to arrange work, but Deputy Director Huang always told me to arrange whatever he should do. And he always called me the director. I have told him many times, just call me Desheng, but Deputy Director Huang never called me that."
General Li Desheng was a general before and had no experience in political work. The reason why he was able to do a good job in the position of director of the General Political Department was because there were revolutionary cadres like Huang Zhiyong and Tian Weixin who did not care about personal interests and jointly did the work of the General Political Department well.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that Li Desheng and Huang Zhiyong died in the same year. Both were in 2011. Li Desheng was 95 years old and Huang Zhiyong was 97 years old, both of which were longevity.
(Reference: "Memoirs of Li Desheng", "Anecdotes of Founding General ", "Great Award")
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