Following the Combat Footsteps of Martyr Zhu Rui, Reflecting on Three Choices Weightier Than Mount Tai Made by a Senior PLA Leader

Choices Weightier Than Mount Tai

— A Reporter Follows the Original Aspirations and Journey of Martyr Zhu Rui, Founder of the People's Artillery (Part One)

■ PLA Daily Reporter Du Juan

Cadets of a non-commissioned officer school under the Army Arms University hold a memorial ceremony before the statue of Zhu Rui in the school history museum (archival photo). Photo by Zhou Shiyu.

In early summer, Yan'an, Wangjiaping.

Inside a cave dwelling, a guide tells visitors about a conversation that took place here between Comrade Mao Zedong and Zhu Rui — who had served as Secretary of the CPC Central Committee's Shandong Sub-bureau and Political Commissar of the 8th Route Army's 1st Column — after the closing of the Seventh National Congress of the CPC:

Mao Zedong: "From 'lord of one domain' to a 'schoolteacher' — that's a demotion of three grades or more, isn't it?"

Zhu Rui: "As long as I can work with artillery, rank means nothing to me!"

At the time, the organization had considered appointing Zhu Rui as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Central Military Commission (CMC). Unexpectedly, Zhu Rui politely declined and volunteered instead to serve as an instructor at the newly established Yan'an Artillery School, on the grounds that he had previously studied at the Krassin Artillery School in the Soviet Union.

"I am willing to give the second half of my life to the cannon!" Zhu Rui, who had survived the Long March of ten thousand li, understood deeply the significance of heavy firepower for the PLA's future operations. He first entered the Yan'an Artillery School as acting principal, then followed the main forces into the Northeast, building the Northeast Field Army's artillery from nothing and serving as its commander. During the Liaoshen Campaign's assault on Yixian County, Zhu Rui tragically stepped on a mine and died a heroic death.

Why join the Party? Why serve in the military? Why become a commander? Following the combat footsteps of Martyr Zhu Rui, this reporter reflects on the three choices — weightier than Mount Tai — made by this senior PLA leader.

A Life's Choice: Forgoing High Office to Become an Instructor

Not long ago, this reporter visited a non-commissioned officer school under the Army Arms University. Along a tree-lined road, a reconstructed landscape modeled on the original site of the Yan'an Artillery School came into view. The Yan'an Artillery School is the predecessor of this military academy.

On a drill ground nearby, instructor Sun Hongbo was carefully guiding cadets in training. This artillery company commander — who had been awarded a second-class merit citation and named one of the group army's "Top Ten Vanguards" — had once faced an important choice: his unit intended to promote him to a position in the headquarters operations department, while the artillery school wanted to transfer him laterally to serve as an instructor.

He surprised everyone by forgoing the former and throwing himself into artillery professional instruction, which was urgently needed at the time. Some expressed puzzlement: why leave a command position with broad prospects to endure the austerity of teaching work and the hardship of living apart from one's family?

"That is exactly what our old principal Zhu Rui did back then," said Sun Hongbo, a graduate of the artillery school, with calm composure.

"At the end of June 1945, Zhu Rui was appointed acting principal of the Yan'an Artillery School by the CMC." Wang Zhenkui, a cadet at the artillery school at the time, once recalled the scene of Zhu Rui's first meeting with the school's instructors and cadets: "Zhu Rui was tall in stature, but did not have the image of a fierce warrior. He wore a faded coarse-cloth military uniform — worn but neat and tidy — and yellow-rimmed glasses, looking like a refined and cultured intellectual. He spoke with a heavy Jiangsu accent, but it was not the soft, gentle tones of Suzhou dialect. On the contrary, his words set the cadets' blood boiling."

That day, Zhu Rui conveyed to everyone Chairman Mao's directive that "without artillery there is no victory." Pointing to the dozen or so artillery pieces beside the drill ground, he told the cadets: "Don't underestimate these guns we've captured from the enemy. Small and battered as they are, compared to our millet-and-rifle setup, they are formidable heavy weapons — the treasures of our army. From now on, we will rely on the cannon to achieve victory!" Finally, Zhu Rui declared that he would devote himself wholeheartedly to building the People's Artillery, pledging to "begin here, end here, and grow old here (始于斯，终于斯，老于斯)."

"Zhu Rui said this, and he did exactly this," the school history museum guide told this reporter. At the time, the Kuomintang was imposing an economic blockade on the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and the artillery school suffered severe shortages of teaching equipment and training materials — even chalk was in short supply. Zhu Rui called on everyone to make their own substitute observation instruments, draw anatomical diagrams of artillery shells, and craft gun sights from yellow clay and wood. In teaching, Zhu Rui devised many methods suited to the cadets' generally low level of education. For range estimation, for example, many cadets had no concept of metric units, so he converted measurements into "paces" — calculating how long an adult's stride was, how long a child's stride was, how tall a house was, how tall a tree was, how tall a cow was, how tall a sheep was…

One day, Zhu Rui invited the celebrated combat hero and "divine gunner" Zhao Zhangcheng to the training ground. Zhao Zhangcheng rested the mortar base on his leg and fired several shells in succession — not a single one missed, every round hit its mark. Zhu Rui called out loudly: "Comrade Zhao Zhangcheng's mortar fire hits one hundred out of one hundred shots, and everyone calls him the 'divine gunner.' The most important reason is that he holds a heart of undying loyalty (赤胆忠心) to the revolutionary cause of the Chinese people!"

"That heart of undying loyalty beat equally in Zhu Rui's own chest. Rank and personal gain weighed lighter than a feather in his mind; the Party's cause and the future of the artillery were his weightiest concern." Standing before the statue of Zhu Rui, members of the school's Party committee standing committee fell into long, silent reflection: "If a leading cadre cares more about personal advancement than the prospects of the cause, his view of political achievement (政绩观) will become distorted, and his very life may go off course."

"The most important legacy Old Principal Zhu Rui left us is passing down from generation to generation the red roots (红色根脉) of the People's Artillery's single-minded orientation toward war," said Professor Sun Baojing, who has been rooted in the teaching post for 37 years.

A Battlefield Choice: Building Artillery from Nothing

At a location in eastern Liaoning, a combined-arms live exercise of a brigade under the 79th Group Army got underway, with hundreds of pieces of equipment maneuvering over a thousand li across day and night.

At the exercise site, multiple new-type artillery pieces stood in formation with barrels raised. At the commander's order, shell after shell screamed from the muzzles, piercing the morning mist and striking target areas dozens of kilometers away, giving full expression to the qualities of "fast, accurate, and fierce (快、准、猛)."

"Fast, accurate, and fierce" — these were the artillery tactical principles Zhu Rui established on this northeastern land more than 70 years ago, and they were also the mission pursuit that drove him to perceive the urgent needs of the battlefield and build the People's Artillery.

Following Zhu Rui's footsteps, this reporter revisited the pioneering path of "building from nothing (白手起家)" out of a desperate situation.

Shenyang — the transportation hub of the Northeast. In September 1945, Zhu Rui led the faculty and students of the Yan'an Artillery School in advancing into the Northeast, selecting this city as the first site for establishing the school. Reality, however, was far from what had been imagined — for various reasons, the original plan to receive Japanese military equipment fell through.

"We must carry forward the spirit of 'self-reliance (自力更生)' — relying on no one else for anything, depending entirely on ourselves!" Zhu Rui's words at the mobilization meeting rang with conviction. He immediately set down a sixteen-character guiding principle for the early period of artillery construction: disperse the cadres, collect weapons, develop the forces, and build up the enterprise (分散干部，搜集武器，发展部队，建立家业).

"In Zhu Rui's heart, the enterprise of the People's Artillery was never something to be waited for, relied upon, or asked for," said the commander of an artillery battalion in a brigade under the 79th Group Army with deep feeling. "It was something the predecessors dug out pick by pick and chisel by chisel, fought for gun by gun and cannon by cannon, and accumulated drop by drop."

From Suifenhe in the east to Manzhouli in the west, from Changchun in the south to Hulin in the north — across the vast expanse of the Northeast, this reporter followed the trail of Zhu Rui leading officers and soldiers to "scavenge for guns (捡炮)," learning that a song called "Song of Collecting Weapons (收集武器之歌)" once rang out across the white mountains and black waters, through the forests and snowfields: "We go to collect weapons, to arm ourselves with our own hands. We will not rest until we reach the Yellow River; we will not return without getting our hands on cannon! Comrades, ask everyone you meet, chase every shadow you see! Chase! Chase! Chase! Chase! Chase into the deep mountains, chase into the forests…"

Gao Penghua, a 99-year-old veteran of the Northeast Field Army, has never forgotten those days of chopping through ice at Mirror Lake to fish out guns.

"In the winter when heavy snow sealed the mountains, Zhu Rui took the lead, hacking at the hard ice layer with a pickaxe, stroke by stroke, to salvage artillery pieces that Japanese troops had thrown into the water when they surrendered. Many of the guns pulled up were damaged goods — some missing wheels, some lacking gun sights — and had to be cobbled together from parts."

"Scavenging junk" in the frozen wilderness to build up an enterprise — at the time, many people thought it would be good enough to "scavenge" a few guns and form a dozen or so artillery companies. But the results far exceeded expectations:

In just half a year, Zhu Rui led officers and soldiers to collect a cumulative total of more than 700 artillery pieces of various types and more than 500,000 artillery shells. Relying on this "scavenged foundation," by the time the Liaoshen Campaign opened, the Northeast Field Army's artillery had grown into a major branch of service comprising 16 main-force artillery regiments, 2 anti-aircraft artillery regiments, dozens of divisional mountain artillery battalions, and more than 4,700 artillery pieces of various types.

This reporter drove two hours northeast from Mirror Lake to reach Muling City. Here was born the PLA's first heavy mechanized artillery unit — the Northeast Democratic Allied Army's Heavy Artillery 3rd Regiment.

"When we attacked Jinzhou during the Liaoshen Campaign, over a thousand artillery pieces fired simultaneously and blew gaps in the city walls!" recalled Yang Zhenguo, a 96-year-old veteran who participated in both the War of Liberation and the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, with pride. "Later, on the Korean battlefield, facing an enemy armed to the teeth, our artillery could sometimes still suppress them and fight on the offensive. Without the artillery opening the way, who knows what sacrifices the comrades charging forward would have had to make… The cannon was our iron fist that 'settled the matter with a single blow (一锤定音)'!"

A Far-Sighted Choice: Laying the Foundation for a Strong Nation and Strong Military

"Zhu Rui was killed on October 1, 1948. Exactly one year later came the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China!"

In the memorial hall in Zhu Rui's hometown of Suqian, Jiangsu, a guide pointed to an old photograph and told this reporter a little-known story:

In September 1949, in preparation for the founding ceremony, a portrait of Chairman Mao was to be hung on Tiananmen. Previously, photographers had taken several frontal portraits of Mao Zedong, but he was not satisfied with any of them. In the end, Zhou Enlai found several candid photographs of Mao Zedong taken during the Yan'an period and selected an image of Mao Zedong from a group photo. Mao Zedong studied it carefully and nodded solemnly.

The other person in that group photo was Zhu Rui. Yet when the ceremonial cannon salutes of the founding ceremony rang out over Beijing, when the armored vehicles of the new China's People's Artillery rolled in grand procession past Tiananmen Square, Zhu Rui — who had once pledged to Mao Zedong "I am willing to give the second half of my life to the cannon" — could never return to his leader's side.

The leader, in this way, gazed upon his beloved general. How did Zhu Rui repay the leader's trust?

South of Yixian County in Jinzhou, the Zhu Rui Martyrs' Cemetery, surrounded by pines and cypresses, stands in solemn stillness. Officers and soldiers of a battalion of a brigade under the 80th Group Army, conducting training exercises nearby, carried out an on-site education session.

"The land beneath our feet is the battlefield that Martyr Zhu Rui defended with his life more than 70 years ago. The artillery in our hands today is the continuation of the 'god of war' he built with a lifetime of effort, and we will set out from here to the battlefield." The battalion commander's voice was steady and powerful, each word striking the chests of the officers and soldiers.

Gazing at the Zhu Rui Martyrs' Monument, the officers and soldiers recounted to this reporter the battle to liberate Yixian County:

On October 1, 1948, our forces launched a general assault on Yixian County, and Zhu Rui commanded the artillery in sustained strikes against the enemy. At the time, Zhu Rui insisted on going to the front line: "I must see for myself the effects of the artillery bombardment — see how thick the city walls are, how many shells it takes to blow them open — to prepare for the next battle on an even larger scale."

During the fighting, Zhu Rui tragically stepped on a mine laid by the enemy, and his 43-year-old life was forever frozen on the eve of dawn, just one step away from victory.

Zhu Zhu Xing, Zhu Rui's son-in-law, who came to pay his respects at the grave, stood before the monument for a long time: "When my father-in-law was killed, his blood soaked through an unfinished artillery construction plan. Until the very last moment of his life, what filled his heart was still the future of the artillery."

"People say Zhu Rui was the PLA's 'Father of Artillery.' In fact, beyond the artillery, Zhu Rui was also the founder of our army's armored forces and aviation forces," a military history expert told this reporter. On December 1, 1945, beside tanks obtained by "scavenging foreign castoffs (捡洋落)," Zhu Rui announced the establishment of the Northeast Tank Detachment — the earliest tank unit of the People's Liberation Army was thus born. Under Zhu Rui's direct leadership, the Northeast Democratic Allied Army first established an aviation general brigade, then built the Northeast Old Aviation School; Zhu Rui served concurrently as commander of the former and principal of the latter.

A true battle commander's gaze is always fixed on the mission, on victory, on the future. After the autumn offensive of 1947, Zhu Rui proposed: "For nearly two years, our main approach has been to collect weapons abandoned by Japanese forces and capture enemy equipment — this was entirely necessary in the past. But if we only see that things are still manageable for now, it will impede the growth and development of our combat power." He said: "Our army's artillery has grown up, and it will continue to grow, until victory, until peaceful construction… until the permanent peace of humanity when cannon are no longer needed at all. Perhaps by then we will long be gone, but if we do not start today, when will we?"

"If we do not observe the shell impacts today, how will we know the next war?" It is precisely through this sense of responsibility — "planning for the long term, securing peace for ten thousand generations (为长远计、为万世安)" — that the People's Army advances toward the future. In the military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan, long-range box-type rocket artillery, new-type armored fighting vehicles, new-type combat aircraft, and other equipment made striking appearances, proclaiming to the world the epochal leap of the Chinese military.

The gaze from deep within history continues to fix itself upon today's path of development. The accelerating transformation of the People's Army on the new journey of the new era is the most profound response to that blood-soaked, unfinished plan of Zhu Rui's:

The future that a generation's battle commander once pursued with his life is now becoming reality on an even broader battlefield!

(Reporting received strong support from Zhou Shiyu, Liu Zhishang, Rong Junyun, and Wang Lijun.)

Reporter's Notes

A Battle Commander as a Mirror for Those Who Come After

Following the footsteps of the battle commander Zhu Rui, this reporter feels deep pride that our army once possessed such a senior general — one of pure and loyal resolve (志虑忠纯), undaunted by hardship, courageous in shouldering responsibility, and far-sighted in vision.

A battle commander serves as a mirror for those who come after. Why join the Party? Why serve in the military? Why become a commander? Battle commander Zhu Rui wrote with his life an answer to these questions of military service — an answer in which every word carries a thousand-jun weight and which yields new meaning with every reading.

Today, standing at the new starting point of the military's high-quality development and answering well the "three questions" of original aspiration (初心"三问"), leading cadres at all levels — especially senior cadres — have particular need to take Zhu Rui and other revolutionary predecessors as their mirror, to constantly examine and reflect on themselves, to consciously carry out ideological rectification (思想整风), to deepen political consolidation training (政治整训), to strengthen revolutionary tempering (革命性锻造), and to write with concrete action a new chapter of building a strong military and revitalizing the armed forces — one worthy of the revolutionary predecessors, worthy of the century-long enterprise, and worthy of the great era.

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