Among the generals of the Republic, there was one very special. He was an old man with outstanding merits, he was once the commander of the Red First Division, his partners and subordinates became generals, and he was not awarded the title in 1955, it is reasonable to say that he was a general, but he was not awarded the rank of general until the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1958, he was general Li Jukui.
Li Jukui is a native of Huai'an County, Hunan Province, and joined the Party in 1928. During the period of the Agrarian Revolution, he was the commander of the First Main Division of the Red First Army, the chief of staff of the Thirty-first Army of the Red Fourth Front, the chief of staff of the 386th Brigade during the War of Resistance, the chief of staff of the Logistics Department of the Northeast Military Region during the Liberation War, and the director of the Later Stage Department of the Fourth Field Army. Why was he not awarded any rank in 1955? It turned out that in 1955, the central leadership personally ordered Li Jukui to serve as the minister of petroleum industry. After receiving the order from the central authorities, he went to Karamay in Xinjiang and worked for three years, making great contributions to the construction of the Karamay oil field.
According to the regulations of the central government at that time, cadres who left the military system could not participate in the awarding of titles, so Li Jukui lost his 1955 rank. However, in 1958, Li Jukui left the oil front and returned to the army, serving as the political commissar of the General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army, and it was only natural that he should be awarded another rank. But this also created a big problem for the organization, General Tan Zheng was once a subordinate of Li Jukui, who was the director of the political department and political commissar when Li Jukui was the commander of the first division. There was also Chen Geng, who was the division commander who succeeded Li Jukui.
At that time, the people at the headquarters all felt that it was a little low to give Li Jukui the title of general, but the general was ten people, and it could not be added anymore, so the headquarters decided to send someone to do Li Jukui's work, but Li Jukui had already entrusted people to send a message: "If it is low, it is not high, the general will do it." On June 25, 1995, the distinguished general died in Beijing at the age of 91. After his death, many comrades who worked with him for decades praised him as the "general saint" among the founding generals of our army.