Why did Zhang Zongxun, who had served as a military commander in the Autumn Harvest Uprising and the Red Army, not have the rank of grand general?

When Zhang Zongxun was the commander of the Twelfth Army of the Red Army in 1930, Tan Zheng, one of the ten generals, served as director of the political department of the Twelfth Army and political commissar of the teaching brigade, Xiao Jinguang served as chief of staff of the Twelfth Army, Su Yu served as the commander of the Sixty-fourth Division of the Twelfth Army, Xu Haidong served as the commander of the Supplementary Sixth Division of Huangpi County in the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District, Chen Geng engaged in secret work in the Shanghai Central Special Branch, Huang Kecheng served as the political commissar of the second detachment of the Red Third Army of the Red Army, and Luo Ruiqing served as the political commissar of the Eleventh Division of the Red Fourth Army of the Red Army. Xu Guangda served as the commander of the 17th Division of the Second Red Army, Wang Shusheng served as the commander of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division of the 1st Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in the Eyu-Anhui Su District, and Zhang Yunyi served as the commander of the 7th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in the Jiangsu District around Guangxi. Therefore, looking at the positions at the beginning of the Red Army, Zhang Zongxun was even higher than most of the ten generals.

At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Zongxun served as the brigade commander of the 358th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Su Yu, one of the ten generals, as deputy commander of the Second Detachment of the New Fourth Army, Xu Haidong as the commander of the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Chen Geng as the brigade commander of the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Huang Kecheng as the political commissar of the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Tan Zheng as deputy director of the General Political Department of the Central Military Commission, Xiao Jinguang as the commander of the Left Behind Corps of the Eighth Route Army, and Luo Ruiqing as the vice president of the General School of the Chinese Min Anti-Japanese Military and Political University. Xu Guangda was appointed director of the Training Department of the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, Wang Shusheng was appointed deputy commander and acting commander of the Jinji-Hebei Yu Military Region, and Zhang Yunyi was appointed chief of staff of the New Fourth Army and commander of the 3rd Detachment. It is not difficult to see from this that Zhang Zongxun's position during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was on an equal footing with that of the Ten Generals.

In the later period of the Liberation War, Zhang Zongxun's position was deputy commander of the First Field Army, Zhongsu Yu, the tenth general, was the deputy commander of the Third Field Army, Xu Haidong had no military position while recuperating from illness, Chen Geng was appointed commander and political commissar of the Fourth Corps of the Second Field Army, Tan Zheng was appointed deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department of the Fourth Field Army, Luo Ruiqing was appointed director of the Political Department of the North China Military Region and commander of the Nineteenth Corps, Xiao Jinguang was the commander of the Twelfth Corps of the Fourth Field Army, Xu Guangda was the commander of the Third Army of the First Field Army, and Wang Shusheng was the deputy commander of the Hubei Military Region. Zhang Yunyi was appointed commander and political commissar of the Guangxi Military Region. At this time, Zhang Zongxun's position was no less than that of the Ten Great Generals.

In 1955, when the whole army conferred the title, Zhang Zongxun's posts were deputy chief of general staff and director of the military academy department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Zhongsu Yu, ten generals, was appointed chief of the general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Xu Haidong was appointed member of the Central Military Commission, Chen Geng was appointed dean of the Military Engineering College, political commissar, secretary of the party committee of the academy and deputy chief of the general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Tan Zheng was appointed first deputy director of the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Luo Ruiqing was appointed minister of public security, commander and political commissar of the public security army, and Xiao Jinguang was appointed commander of the Navy and vice minister of national defense. Xu Guangda was appointed commander and political commissar of the armored corps of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Wang Shusheng was appointed vice minister of national defense and director of the General Ordnance Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and Zhang Yunyi was appointed as a member of the National Defense Commission. Looking at the position at this time compared with the ten generals, Zhang Zongxun obviously did not have the advantage, because the evaluation of military ranks depended on both seniority and battle achievements, and also looked at the military position at that time, from Zhang Zongxun's military career, it was a bit high and low, and the defeat in commanding the Battle of Datong Jining in July 1946 also affected his promotion to some extent. Although Zhang Zongxun was not rated as a general, he ranked third in the ranking of generals, which fully demonstrated his important position in our army.