When the New China first awarded its rank in 1955, 10 senior generals were awarded the rank of general. Interestingly, only 8 of the 10 founding generals enjoyed the treatment of general.

When the New China first awarded its rank in 1955, 10 senior generals were awarded the rank of general. Interestingly, only 8 of the 10 founding generals enjoyed the treatment of general.

Normally, the marshal is at the third level of administrative level and enjoys the treatment of a member of the Politburo; the general is at the fourth level of administrative level and enjoys the treatment of a vice premier; the general is at the fifth level of administrative level and enjoys the treatment of a secretary-general of the State Council. Among the 10 founding generals, one enjoys the treatment of the general and one enjoys the treatment of the marshal.

Xu Guangda

At that time, the founding general Xu Guangda was very uneasy when he learned that he was awarded the rank of general. He felt that it was acceptable to be awarded the general with his qualifications and military achievements, but it was not possible to be awarded the general, so he found the old leaders Peng Dehuai and He Long to "go to the back door".

Hearing that Xu Guangda took the initiative to request "reduce his military rank", the two old leaders were very pleased, but neither agreed.

Xu Guangda had no choice but to write a letter to Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao was very happy after seeing the letter and bluntly said that Xu Guangda was a "glider of the Communists", and then decisively refused.

Seeing that the Central Military Commission insisted on granting it the rank of general, Xu Guangda never gave in, but he asked for a reduction in treatment, and Chairman Mao agreed. Therefore, the treatment enjoyed by the founding general Xu Guangda was at the fifth level of administrative level, at the same level as the founding general.

, the founding general who enjoys the treatment of a marshal, is named Zhang Yunyi . Unlike Xu Guangda who took the initiative to ask for surrender, Zhang Yunyi's treatment was promoted by the Central Military Commission. At that time, after the Central Military Commission awarded Zhang Yunyi the rank of General, it felt that it was inappropriate because Zhang Yunyi's qualifications were too high.

In this case, the Central Military Commission held a special meeting for him. After some discussion, it was decided to still award Zhang Yunyi the rank of general, but he could enjoy the treatment of marshal.

General enjoys the treatment of a marshal. Even the leader of the general Su Yu does not have this honor. So, how high is Zhang Yunyi's qualifications and why can the Central Military Commission make an exception?

Zhang Yunyi was born on August 10, 1892 in Wenchang County, Hainan Province. In 1908, Zhang Yunyi, who was 16 years old, came to Guangzhou and was admitted to the second phase of Guangzhou Huangpu Army Primary School with excellent results. In 1909, he joined Tongmenghui .

1910 and 1912, Zhang Yunyi participated in the Guangzhou New Army Uprising and the Huanghuagang Uprising.

During the Huanghuagang Uprising on February 12, 1912, Zhang Yunyi served as the captain of the bomb team in the revolutionary army. During the uprising, Zhang Yunyi followed Huang Xing and others to attack the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi. Because he was outnumbered, the uprising army was driven to an alley by the Qing army and hid in a private house.

At the morning of the next morning, because he was the youngest, his superiors asked Zhang Yunyi to go to the streets to investigate the situation under the name of buying vegetables. When Zhang Yunyi came back, the house had been broken by the Qing army. All the colleagues of the rebel army, including Lin Juemin, Fangshengdong , and Li Wenfu , had all been shot and killed by the Qing army at the intersection.

Seeing this, Zhang Yunyi hurriedly hid in the crowd. He was less than 20 years old at this time. Because he was young, short and kind-hearted, Zhang Yunyi escaped by chance.

Later, the people of Guangzhou buried the remains of these martyrs in Huanghuagang, which is known in history as the 72 martyrs of Huanghuagang. If Zhang Yunyi had not gone out to buy vegetables at that time, or had gone out a little later, he would have become the "73 martyrs of Huanghuagang".

The elder of the Tongmenghui, the pioneer of the Guangzhou New Army Uprising, and the righteous man in Huanghuagang, these three identities are combined, which shows how profound Zhang Yunyi’s qualifications are. You know, Zhu De also participated in the Tongmenghui in 1909, but Zhang Yunyi was a little earlier than him.

Among the founding generals, Zhang Yunyi ranked first in terms of qualifications and Zhu De ranked second in terms of qualifications, which shows how amazing his qualifications are.

1912, Zhang Yunyi participated in Xinhai Revolution , and then served as a staff officer in Sun Yat-sen's Grand Marshal 's mansion. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek also happened to be a staff officer in it, and the two were on the same level.

Chiang Kai-shek

When Northern Expedition , Zhang Yunyi had already served as the chief of staff of the 25th Division of the Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army. Later, the famous Ye Ting was only a regiment commander of the Fourth Army at that time; Lin Biao, who commanded the Fourth Field million troops into the pass, was only an inconspicuous company commander under Zhang Yunyi at this time. After the Nanchang Uprising, Zhang Yunyi and Deng Xiaoping led the Baise Uprising in Guangxi, established the Red Seventh Army and the Zuojiang Revolutionary Base. Zhang Yunyi served as the commander of the Red Seventh Army and Deng Xiaoping served as the political commissar. Founding General Li Tianyou, Wei Guoqing , founding Lieutenant General Wei Jie, etc., all participated in the Baise Uprising in Guangxi at this time, and they were all subordinates of Zhang Yunyi. Since joining our party, participating in the Nanchang Uprising and leading the Baise Uprising in Guangxi, Zhang Yunyi stood opposite Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang. Since he was an enemy, he naturally could not show mercy. But strangely, when Zhang Yunyi led his troops to fight the world, Chiang Kai-shek and the various warlords of the Kuomintang dared not arrest him easily, fearing that he would cause trouble if he arrested him.

Chen Geng

In that year, Chen Geng was arrested for being betrayed by a traitor. The spies sent him to Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek admired this one of the three heroes of Huangpu and personally came forward to persuade him to surrender many times, but Chen Geng was unmoved. Chiang Kai-shek was furious and was about to kill him, but Chen Geng and many senior Kuomintang generals were Huangpu classmates. These people couldn't stand the old classmates being killed, so they pleaded with Chiang Kai-shek one after another. This made Chiang Kai-shek very angry. He couldn't kill him and was unwilling to let him go. In the end, he could only turn a blind eye and let our party rescue Chen Geng.

If Chiang Kai-shek arrested Zhang Yunyi, it would be more troublesome than dealing with Chen Geng. Chen Geng was a Huangpu student, and the only one who pleaded for him was the general who came from Huangpu. Chiang Kai-shek still had such a headache.

If a veteran of the Tongmenghui was captured, what would Chiang Kai-shek do? I'm afraid some "adversaries" within the party will jump out to attack Chiang Kai-shek on this ground. For example, Zhuge Bai Chongxi of the Guangxi clan, he respects Zhang Yunyi very much.

Bai Chongxi

In the Anti-Japanese War , Zhang Yunyi was on a mission to Guangxi as a representative of the Communist Party of China. After Bai Chongxi learned about it, he decided to pick him up and accompanied Zhang Yunyi along the way to accept the warm welcome from the local people.

Due to his special identity and high qualifications, when Zhang Yunyi moved to various places, if it were not forbidden to do so, Chiang Kai-shek and various warlords would try his best to avoid him, and would not dare to arrest him easily.

In our party, Zhang Yunyi also has a high status. In addition to leading the Baise Uprising in Guangxi with Deng Xiaoping and serving as the commander of the Red Seventh Army, Zhang Yunyi also made indelible contributions to the establishment and development of the New Fourth Army in .

During the War of Resistance Against Japan, our party quickly reached a consensus with Chiang Kai-shek on the reorganization of the main force of the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army, but Chiang Kai-shek was very hesitant about the reorganization of the Red Army guerrillas in the eight southern provinces.

Because Chiang Kai-shek did not want the Communist armed forces to exist in the hinterland of the Kuomintang's rule, even if this armed force was an anti-Japanese armed force, Chiang Kai-shek proposed that the general of the National Army should serve as the commander of the New Fourth Army, and he wanted to control this armed force.

Zhang Yunyi

Faced with the principled issue, our party naturally refused to give in. Seeing that the negotiations were deadlocked, Zhang Yunyi disguised himself and ran to Macau. He asked Ye Ting to come out of the mountain as an old superior and old comrade-in-arms to let him be the commander of the New Fourth Army, and Ye Ting happily agreed.

Chiang Kai-shek believed that Ye Ting had been away for a total of ten years and might be used by him, so he agreed to let Ye Ting be the commander. But what he didn't expect was that Ye Ting not only agreed to Zhang Yunyi as the commander of the New Fourth Army, but also promised to accept the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

After the establishment of the New Fourth Army, Zhang Yunyi served as Chief of Staff of the New Fourth Army and Commander of the Third Detachment. After the Southern Anhui Incident, he served as deputy commander of the New Fourth Army, commander of the Huainan Military Region, and commander of the th Division of the New Fourth Army 2nd Division of the . At that time, Zhang Yunyi's soldiers were fighting the Japanese while refining land and planting, and were self-sufficient.

But because the base area is too poor, even if you work hard to cultivate and plant, you can only barely maintain the problem of food and clothing.In this case, Zhang Yunyi boldly took the risk and founded a tobacco factory himself to produce the famous "Peak Horse brand cigarettes", which turned the tide, not only satisfying the smoking addiction of the New Fourth Army soldiers, but also exchanged Pegasus cigarettes for a large amount of military supplies.

When New China was first awarded the title, there were several important criteria for the rank of the marshal: First, Zhang Yunyi, the leader of the important armed forces during the founding period of our army, was just enough to meet this point. Second, he served as the position of division commander or deputy division commander or above in the Anti-Japanese War. The deputy commander of the New Fourth Army was equivalent to the deputy commander of the Eighth Route Army, so Zhang Yunyi, deputy commander of the New Fourth Army, also met this standard.

Zhang Yunyi

Among the top ten generals, there are two special extremes. One is Su Yu, who has high military achievements but insufficient qualifications; the other is Zhang Yunyi, who has high qualifications but not as good as other marshals.

Because when evaluating the two top military ranks of marshal and general, there was a limit on the number of people, and each top military rank had to take into account all aspects. In addition to experience military achievements, the balance of major historical periods must also be considered.

Due to these factors, Zhang Yunyi was ultimately unable to be awarded the rank of marshal. Later, the Central Military Commission held a special meeting to discuss this matter. Considering that Zhang Yunyi's qualifications were too high, the Central Military Commission decided to improve his treatment so that he could receive the marshal-level salary with the rank of founding general and enjoy the marshal-level treatment. Among the top ten generals, this one is the only one.

In July 1965, Li Zongren returned to China.

Li Zongren was the last president of the Republic of China. His return was of great help to cross-strait reunification, so Premier Zhou wanted a general with relatively high qualifications to greet him. After choosing

, Premier Zhou found that Zhang Yunyi was the well-deserved best candidate because he had higher qualifications than Li Zongren.

That day, Zhang Yunyi suddenly received a call saying that he would go to the Prime Minister's Office. Zhang Yunyi did not dare to neglect and quickly took the car to Zhongnanhai . At this time, Zhang Yunyi was already 73 years old. When he walked into the Prime Minister's office with a cane, Premier Zhou, who had been waiting for a long time, asked with concern: "We haven't seen each other for a long time, are we in good health?"

After hearing Premier Zhou's concerning words, Zhang Yunyi felt warm in his heart. He looked at Premier Zhou's thin face and said with equal concern: "Okay, okay, you have lost a lot recently, so you should pay attention to rest. Take care of your health!"

Prime Minister smiled and said, "It's okay, don't worry, Marx is not going to see me yet!" The Prime Minister took Zhang Yunyi's hand and walked to the sofa in the office. After sitting down, he said straight to the point: "I invite you here this time. There is an important thing to discuss with you. An old friend is coming."

"Oh, which old friend is he?" Zhang Yunyi was puzzled.

"Former Kuomintang President Li Zongren, he is coming back from overseas. The central government plans to ask you to pick him up at the airport."

Li Zongren

"Is Li Zongren going back to China?" Zhang Yunyi was a little surprised.

"Yes, after the collapse of the National Government, Li Zongren fled from the mainland, but because of being excluded by Chiang Kai-shek, he has been living in a foreign country and wandering for so many years. He is old and misses his hometown and has deep love. Li Zongren is very eager to return to the mainland of the motherland. Under the patient and meticulous work of our party, he finally relieved his psychological concerns, resolutely broke through the resistance, and returned to the mainland of the motherland." Premier Zhou explained.

After hearing Premier Zhou's words, Zhang Yunyi realized the importance of this task. He happily accepted the order and then took a bus to the airport to welcome Li Zongren back to China. Li Zongren was very calm when he got off the plane, but when he saw Zhang Yunyi picking up the plane in person, he was deeply moved.

Zhang Yunyi

Because Zhang Yunyi's qualifications are not only higher than Li Zongren, the two are old comrades and good partners, but they parted ways because of different positions. I have lived in a foreign country for many years, and now I see my old comrade-in-arms who fought side by side, even Li Zongren, who was unable to keep his inner peace at this time.

He walked towards Zhang Yunyi and bowed deeply.

Later, Li Zongren was always thinking about this old comrade-in-arms, so he came to visit him in person, and the two had a great time talking.