Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Sha Qianli, former Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Commerce, was appointed Minister of Local Industry. Zhang Jinfu, former Vice Chairman of the Finance and Economics Committee of the East China Military and Political Committee, was appointed Vice Minister of Local Industry and Secretary of the Party Group.

In fact, there is no need to establish a local industrial ministry. But at this stage, we should first place the cadres.

Once stability was restored, local industrial ministries and commissions were quickly abolished. The Sixth Office was responsible for the work of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Grain, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and the People's Bank of China. Ye Jizhuang, former Minister of Foreign Trade, served as Director of the Sixth Office.

Ye Jizhuang's rank is not low, but the reason he was able to serve as the director of the Sixth Office this time is mainly because of his excellent work performance in the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

Whether during the Liberation War or in the years since, the Ministry of Foreign Trade has achieved remarkable results. Whether it's business with the Soviet Union and other countries, it's been exceptional. This has brought valuable foreign exchange to New China, which was desperately short of it.

Moreover, China's foreign trade has been steadily increasing in recent years, and Ye Jizhuang has made a great contribution to this.

Niu Peicong, former deputy director of the Finance and Economics Committee of the Central-South Military and Political Committee, and Duan Yun, former deputy minister of finance of the Southwest Military and Political Committee, served as deputy directors of the Sixth Office. Both were highly educated cadres.

Niu Peicong, an economics graduate from Tsinghua University, participated in the founding of the Shanxi Youth Anti-Enemy Death Squad. Duan Yun, a graduate of Shanxi Law School, studied economics at Meiji University in Japan and was a member of the early propaganda staff of the War Mobilization Association.

The Seventh Office is responsible for the work of the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, and the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Wang Shoudao, former Vice Minister and Party Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, serves as Director of the Seventh Office.

Former Vice Minister of Railways Guo Hongtao and former member of the Finance and Economics Committee Zhang Guojian serve as deputy directors of the Seventh Office.

Guo Hongtao was one of the founders of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia base area, but he had a poor relationship with Gao Gang. During the Yan'an Rectification Movement, Gao Gang criticized Guo Hongtao for being one of the key leaders of the anti-counterrevolutionary movement in Shaanxi and for not welcoming the Central Red Army's presence in the region. These criticisms significantly impacted Guo's political career. Otherwise, with Guo's qualifications, he would have been a member of the Central Committee. Why is he currently not even an alternate member?

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Guojian served as Minister of the Social Affairs Department of the Hebei-Central Military Region and Deputy Minister of the Social Affairs Department of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Central Bureau. Therefore, when the State Council was established, he joined it and later served as a member of the Finance and Economics Committee.

The Eighth Office is responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Water Resources, and the Central Meteorological Administration. Vice Premier Deng Zhihui serves as Director of the Eighth Office, Minister of Agriculture Li Shaocheng serves as First Deputy Director, and Comrade Lai Ruoyu serves as Second Deputy Director.

The Ninth Office was responsible for the socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce. Mao Zemin served as its director.

The directors of the nine offices of the State Council have different ranks.

For example, the Eighth and Ninth Offices were directly headed by Vice Premiers Deng Zhihui and Mao Zemin. Most of the other office directors were administrative level 4 or higher. However, Ye Jizhuang, director of the Sixth Office, and Wang Shoudao, director of the Seventh Office, were currently only administrative level 5.

It can be seen that although the People's Republic of China has been established for four and a half years, the administrative levels of many central agencies have not yet been unified. This is because thousands of cadres have been constantly transferred from the local areas to Beijing, and the administrative levels of various cadres are different.

After being divided into nine offices, Marshal Nie was in charge of the First Office and the Second Office; Wei Hongjun was in charge of the Fourth Office, the Fifth Office, and the Eighth Office; Ji Fuchun was in charge of the Third Office and the Seventh Office; and Mao Zemin was in charge of the Sixth Office and the Ninth Office.

Deng Zhihui not only served as the director of the Eighth Office, but also worked with Wei Hongjun to take charge of the Fourth Office, the Fifth Office, and the Eighth Office.

At this point, the State Council’s general adjustment has been completed.

However, it will still take some time to arrange the staff and cadres in each office.

916 Final Assessment

By the time everyone had adapted to the new changes, it was already the end of November.

Marshal Luo's rank-awarding work was almost complete. He looked at the list of rank-awarding officials and couldn't help but take a deep breath. Just look at the vast number of corps-level cadres from the Jin-Cha-Ji region. There were especially many deputy corps-level and quasi-corps-level cadres.

But Luo Shuai can understand.

During the Liberation War, nine corps were formed in North China, eight of which were originally from the Jin-Cha-Ji region. Looking at Northeast China, not to mention the troops led by Deng Guo and Wang Qiuyun, even the 9th Corps led by Yang Dezhi had two-thirds of its cadres from the Jin-Cha-Ji region.

Of course, Jin-Cha-Ji is a hodgepodge.

In a broad sense, the Jin-Cha-Ji region was incorporated into the former Hebei-Central Military Region and the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army.

Even the narrowly defined Jin-Cha-Ji region, the Beiyue region personally established by Marshal Nie, was not a monolithic entity. Guo Dimin went to the Northwest, and Huang Yong lost the Northeast. Although both had once commanded the Pu-Cha-Ji Military Sub-district, they had already broken away from the Jin-Cha-Ji system. Even when they were in Jin-Cha-Ji, the region was already divided into numerous factions.

But even so, the contribution of Jin-Cha-Ji can be seen from the side.

Marshal Luo frequently consulted with Marshal Nie, Yang Quanwu, and Wei Hongjun in Beijing regarding the rank of Jin-Cha-Ji cadres. He couldn't suppress the rank of Jin-Cha-Ji cadres, but he also couldn't completely follow their current ranks. If he did, who knows how many corps-level cadres would emerge from the Jin-Cha-Ji region.

Fortunately, after the Eighth National Congress, the General Political Department had a sufficient number of cadres, and work progressed much faster.

Now we have almost the result.

But there are still two issues left. One is the rank of marshal, and the other is the rank of general. The General Staff Department can generally decide on generals below the rank of general. However, above that, the rank of marshal and general is not something the General Staff Department can decide.

It needs to be confirmed by the Politburo.

Therefore, Marshal Luo first handed the list of marshals and generals determined by the General Political Department to the Chairman.

The list submitted by Marshal Luo includes 14 marshals and 20 generals.

The list of 14 marshals was simple; Commander Luo simply submitted the list of 13 members of the Central Military Commission. As for the list of 20 generals, Commander Luo was unsure how to proceed, so he included everyone who was possible.

However, among the 20 names on the list, Wang Zhi and Song Renqiong declined, believing that neither of them was qualified to be a general and would rather be a lieutenant general. This was because they were both deputy ministers of the General Cadre Department, which was involved in cadre grading and awarding of titles.

Both of them are qualified to be generals.

Wang Zhi, needless to say, was the political commissar of the Third Jin-Cha-Ji Sub-district during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. During the War of Liberation, he was the political commissar of the First Field Army of the Jin-Cha-Ji Region, commander and political commissar of the Second Jin-Cha-Ji Corps, a standing member of the General Front Committee of the Pingjin Campaign, and director of the Political Department of the Fifth Field Army. After crossing the Yangtze River, he served as a member of the Central China Bureau, deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department of the Fifth Field Army, second secretary and first secretary of the Southeast Bureau, and is currently the first deputy director of the General Thousand Department.

Song Renqiong was a veteran of the war. He participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising, served as political commissar of a main division in the Central Soviet Area, and as political commissar of a regiment in the Qianbu Division during the Long March. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he served as commander and political commissar of the Southern Military Region. During the Liberation War, he served as deputy director of the Political Department of the Pujiluyu Military Region and a member of the Central Plains Bureau. Later, he was promoted to first deputy secretary of the Southwest Bureau and vice chairman of the Southwest Military and Political Committee. After being promoted to the central government, he became second deputy director of the General Qianbu Department.

But they have to avoid suspicion.

So they all declined the rank of general.

However, Luo Shuai did not agree and reported all their names.

After receiving the list, the Chairman did not immediately convene a Politburo meeting to discuss it. He was waiting for outside reactions. In fact, Luo and his team initially considered giving the Chairman the rank of Grand Marshal.

But the chairman denied this.

When the list of marshals was selected later, the Prime Minister, Comrade Xiu Yang, Chen Yun and others were all considered.

The Premier, needless to say, long served as the highest military official in the Communist Party of China, coordinating the Liberation War with the Chairman. For a long time after Liberation, the Premier also oversaw the work of the Military Commission. Comrade Xiuyang, though no longer involved in military work for many years, was once the political commissar of the New Fourth Army.

When Chen Yun was in the Northeast, he was the secretary of the Northeast Bureau, the political commissar of the Northern Military Region, and the secretary of the General Front Committee of the Liaoshen Campaign. He was also qualified enough to be elected as a marshal.

However, the Premier and his colleagues quickly stated that they held no military rank and would not participate in the awarding of ranks. Therefore, Marshal Luo ultimately selected cadres with military rank, or at least those currently holding positions within the Central Military Commission. Shortly after Marshal Luo submitted the list of marshals to the Chairman, Marshal Nie wrote to the Chairman and the Politburo, stating that while he held a military rank, he had no role within the Central Military Commission. His primary work had previously been within the State Council, making him unsuitable for the award of marshal.

Soon Gao Gang, Wei Hongjun, Deng Xixian and Yang Quanwu all wrote letters to the Chairman and the Politburo.

Gao Gang and Deng Xixian declined for the same reason as Marshal Nie: they had no division of labor within the Military Commission, with one in the Secretariat and the other in the State Council, making them unsuitable for the appointment.

Yang Quanwu is different.

Yang Quanwu said directly that he was not qualified to be a marshal. Yang Quanwu was very self-aware.

Although Yang Quanwu's military career had steadily risen since liberation, reaching the status of a member of the Central Military Commission and Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission, he still lacked the experience and experience to truly stand alone in a field marshal's rank. More importantly, while Yang Quanwu's military achievements were remarkable, they were not enough to command the entire army's respect.

Yang Quanwu's current military rank could have culminated in the rank of marshal, but he was proud.

He didn't want to be criticized in the future, saying he was just filling in the numbers to become a marshal. Even if he became a marshal, many people in the army would probably not accept it. This was something Yang Quanwu couldn't accept.

Since being a marshal would be met with skepticism and criticism, why bother? It's better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. If he were a marshal, there would certainly be skepticism, but if he were a general, many would still defend him. So why bother pursuing the rank of marshal?

So Yang Quanwu’s attitude is very clear.

He thanked the General Political Department for putting him among the candidates for marshal, but he believed that he was not qualified to be a marshal.

Wei Hongjun stated that his revolutionary experience was limited, and he had not participated in the crucial military construction work, including the development and construction of the Soviet areas, making him ineligible for a Marshal candidate. He also stated that he had no specific role within the Military Commission, primarily working in the State Council, and therefore should not participate in the awarding of ranks. He expressed his willingness to withdraw from the awarding process.

Wei Hongjun is definitely not being modest; he is telling the truth.

Because the military rank awarding system of New China is different from that of the Soviet Union, or any other country.

The Soviet Union's system of awarding military ranks was actually quite simple. During World War II, those who could fight were awarded ranks based on their military rank. The Soviet generals' mission was clear: to command the troops. The troops were provided by the Soviet government, so the generals didn't need to expand the military themselves or worry about building up the Soviet army. The army was already there. Their mission was accomplished simply by commanding and winning battles.

Therefore, during World War II, those who could win battles were promoted, and those who couldn't were demoted. Ranks changed with job titles. This is precisely why many Soviet generals saw their ranks skyrocket in just a few years during World War II. This was because the Soviet military rank system was simple: those who could win battles were promoted.

It's not just the Soviet Union, it's the same with other countries during World War II.

Generals in the armies of countries like Britain and the United States, like their Soviet counterparts, had the same mission: to lead their troops to victory. Their rank would change as long as they performed well on the battlefield and were promoted.

But the People's Liberation Army is different.

For a general of the People's Liberation Army, it is not enough to just give you an army and tell you to win a battle.

The CCP's military wasn't pre-existing; it conquered its territory through conquest. Starting during the Red Army era, the CCP's military separated from the warlord armies of the Republic of China and became a new type of revolutionary army led by the Communist Party. However, how to organize and develop such a revolutionary army was initially unknown.

And how to conquer the world.

Initially, the Communist Party of China wanted to launch an urban revolution, but after experiencing a bitter defeat, it accepted Chairman Mao's strategy of surrounding the cities from the countryside.

But how to surround the cities with the countryside.

This requires rural bases. But how to open and develop them? We all lack experience, so we need to explore and summarize. Only by successfully opening and developing rural bases can we meet the army's logistical needs, provide recruits, and expand its size. Therefore, in the history of the Chinese Communist Army, there are two things that cannot be overstated. They are the foundation for the Chinese Communist Army to achieve victory on the battlefield and conquer the world.

One is the CCP’s army-building principles, and the other is the development and construction of rural bases.

The principles of military construction ensured that the army was led by the Party, ensuring that officers and soldiers understood why they were fighting and infusing the army with a new spirit and a new military spirit. They distinguished this army from the warlord armies of the Republic of China, establishing it as a new type of revolutionary army. They ensured a strong revolutionary will, enabling the troops to persevere even in dire circumstances. Many of the principles established during the Red Army era were still in use during the War of Liberation. In other words, during the Red Army era, the opposing Communist Party army had already laid a solid foundation in terms of policy, organization, and beliefs.

The Red Army's base area construction policies also persisted throughout the revolutionary era. While base area construction policies differed during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, they remained fundamentally the same. The principles for building some base areas were already relatively fully formulated during the construction of Soviet areas during the Red Army era. Later, some changes were made based on these principles.

Of course, this only refers to base area construction and the military. For the CCP, there's something even more important: Party building, because it's the Party that leads the military and the revolution.

The success or failure of the Chinese revolution is directly determined by Party building. Therefore, when conferring titles in New China, you cannot ignore qualifications.

Qualifications actually represent your contribution to the Chinese revolution.

Marshal Luo, for example, personally participated in the Three-Way Reorganization, which established the most fundamental principles of the Chinese Communist Army's military construction, and was also personally involved in the subsequent formulation of the "Three Days of Discipline and Eight Points of Attention." These are invaluable principles of military construction. Many other marshals also participated in the Gutian Conference, a pivotal event in the history of the Chinese Communist Party, which truly established the principles of military construction.

It can be said that they were all cadres who established the principles of the CCP's military construction. Can you compare with them?

No matter how well you fight in the future, can you compare with those who participated in the establishment of the army's principles, and participated in the exploration and formulation of food bases and development policies? This is the special history of the Chinese army.

You can't avoid this history.

Because the entire CCP revolution was continuous, not interrupted. Since it's a continuation and inheritance, we must consider it comprehensively, taking into account all of the revolutionary history. No matter how well many of the Chinese people performed during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, especially how well they fought, they were all based on this foundation.

The same is true for Wei Hongjun.

When Wei Hongjun was still a teenager herding cattle for his landlord, many Party cadres had already participated in the Sanwan Reorganization and the establishment of the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base. Here, they explored a new set of principles for building new military units and establishing rural bases. They also began experimenting with the new grand strategy of encircling the cities from the countryside for the Chinese revolution.

By the time Wei Hongjun joined the Red Guards, bearing his red tasseled spear, the Fourth Red Army had already convened the famous Gutian Conference, which established the key principles of our Party and Army. By this time, the core spirit and framework of the Chinese Communist Army had essentially been established.

When Wei Hongjun had just gotten rid of his illiteracy and became a grassroots commander in the Red Army, the cadres of the Central Red Army had already begun to establish the Chinese Soviet Republic and the Central Soviet Area and began to build the political power.

When Wei Hongjun first joined the Long March as a battalion instructor, many of our army's commanders participated in the Zunyi Conference and in our independent and autonomous decision-making with the Party. When we joined forces with the Fourth Front Army, they participated in the struggle against Zhang Guotao.

Look, these are the qualifications.

They served in the Central Committee, when the Red Army was still in its infancy and many needed to explore step by step, and they made great contributions. Can you say that the Central Committee's consideration of seniority and giving them more preferential treatment is problematic?

This kind of experience is the contribution to the Chinese revolution. You can ignore this history and only consider the performance of the Liberation War.

After receiving these letters, the Chairman considered them for a long time. He then discussed the list with the Commander-in-Chief and the Prime Minister. The awarding of titles took into account both the overall revolutionary qualifications and the current military rank, as well as the balance of power within the faction.

The military attaches the most importance to inheritance.

So the hill factor is very important.

Recognize factions, take care of factions, and eliminate factions. Therefore, when it comes to the issue of military rank, we must recognize factions and take care of them. Some factions may not develop well, but we cannot ignore them.

Also, some hills are small hills, but you can't bully them just because they are small hills.

The list of marshals was finally stuck on the hill of Jin-Cha-Ji.