General Wang Zhen was born in Liuyang, Hunan in 1908. His father made a living as a tenant farmer for the landlord's family. Because his family was poor, Wang Zhen had no chance to study and was forced to go out to make a living when he was 14 years old. Later, Wang Zhen came to Changsha and became a railway worker. After the failure of the great revolution, Chiang Kai-shek raised his butcher knife and violently persecuted the revolutionary masses and progressive people. Wang Zhen resolutely joined our party at this time, showing extraordinary courage and firm belief in revolution.
After that, Wang Zhen was engaged in military movement work in Changsha and Wuhan. In 1929, he came to the Hunan-Jiangxi revolutionary base area, joined the Red Army, and served as the acting commander of the 8th Red Army. During his tenure, Wang Zhen led his troops to fight against the enemy many times and won the third-class Red Star Medal. In July 1934, Wang Zhen served as the political commissar of the 6th Red Army Corps and led the troops together with Ren Bishi, Xiao Ke and others. After more than 80 days of hard fighting, Shengli joined forces with the 2nd Red Army Corps led by He Long.
A year later, the 26th Red Army Corps left the base area and began the Long March. After more than half a year of arduous journey, it joined forces with the Fourth Front Army led by Zhang Guotao. At that time, Zhang Guotao tried to win over Wang Zhen, but he flatly refused. After the Anti-Japanese War broke out, Wang Zhen joined the Eighth Route Army's 120th Brigade and led the 359th Brigade to fight against the Japanese and puppet troops in northwestern Shanxi and Yanbei. He won successive victories and dealt a heavy blow to the enemy. He was hailed by the Eighth Route Army Headquarters as the "Invincible Iron Army".
During the War of Liberation, Wang Zhen first assisted Li Xiannian in commanding the breakout of the Central Plains. Later, he joined the Northwest Field Army and served as the commander and political commissar of the First Corps, making important contributions to the liberation of the Northwest. In September 1949, Wang Zhen took the initiative to volunteer and braved the snow and cold to march into Xinjiang. After that, he recruited talents extensively, built coal mines, planted cotton on a large area, and reclaimed wasteland in the Gobi Desert, solving basic problems such as clothing, heating, and food for the people of Xinjiang.
After the founding of New China, Wang Zhen successively served as Commander of the Railway Corps, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, and Minister of Agricultural Reclamation, and made important contributions to the construction and development of New China. During the "Cultural Revolution", Wang Zhen was persecuted by the "Gang of Four" and was listed for criticism. The strong-tempered old general struggled to take off the sign from his neck and broke it in half. Wang Zhen's situation attracted Chairman Mao's attention. On National Day in 1969, Chairman Mao shook hands with Wang Zhen on the Tiananmen Gate Tower and said to him: "Some people want to knock you down, but you can't."
After this incident, Wang Zhen's situation improved a lot. In 1975, Wang Zhen was appointed Vice Premier of the State Council to assist Premier Zhou in economic work. After Premier Zhou's death, the activities of the "Gang of Four" became rampant, and Wang Zhen was very dissatisfied with this. He personally came to Ye Jianying's home and said to him face to face: "Why are they allowed to be so rampant? Can't we solve the problem by striking them first?" Ye Jianying did not answer directly, but made a gesture to Wang Zhen: stretched out his left hand into a fist, raised his thumb and shook it upward twice, then turned his thumb over and pressed down.
Wang Zhen quickly understood that what Ye Jianying meant was that the conditions were not yet mature and he had to wait for the opportunity. Later, Ye Jianying asked Wang Zhen to "liaise" with old comrades such as Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun, Li Xiannian, and Marshals Nie Rongzhen and Xu Qianqian. After that, Wang Zhen went to the homes of these people many times to convey Ye Jianying's message and solicit their opinions and suggestions on solving the "Gang of Four". From this point of view, General Wang Zhen played a very important role in smashing the "Gang of Four".
The morning after the "Gang of Four" was secretly arrested, Ye Jianying's nephew Ye Xuanji came to Wang Zhen's home and told him the news. Wang Zhen was very excited after hearing this. He immediately drove to Chen Yun's home and informed him of the good news. Seeing that Wang Zhen was too excited, Chen Yun was worried that he could not control his emotions, so he gave him two walnuts and asked him to pinch them to calm down. After that, Wang Zhen successively served as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council, and Vice President of the country. In 1993, General Wang Zhen died of illness at the age of 85.
