During the Red Army period, Ni Zhiliang was the Chief of Staff of the Fourth Red Army. Together with Xu Qianqian, Chen Changhao, and Wang Shusheng, he was known as the Four Giants. Among the following army-level cadres and division-level cadres, 12 generals later emerged: Xu Shiyou, Wang Hongkun, Zhou Chunquan, Lu Zhengcao, Chen Zaidao, Wang Xinting, Wang Jianan, Zhang Zongxun, Chen Xilian, Chen Bojun, Li Jukui, Fu Zhong.

The famous Wang Jinshan was still a division commander under Ni Zhiliang at the time.

During the Anti-Japanese War, Ni Zhiliang served as the chief of staff of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, alongside Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, and Xu Xiangqian. There were also two generals: Chen Geng and Xiao Jinguang, and 8 generals: Li Da, Song Renqiong, Wang Hongkun, Chen Xilian, Chen Zaidao, Wang Xinting, Li Jukui, Xie Fuzhi. Wang Jinshan is a deputy leader below.

It seems that Ni Zhiliang's subordinates have at least two generals and 15 generals, but he himself was only awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

Moreover, when Ni Zhiliang served as the commander of the 11th Division of the Fourth Red Army in his early years, the political commissar was Li Xiannian, later the president of the country.

Therefore, Ni Zhiliang's qualifications are very deep, and it is indeed a bit low to be awarded only a lieutenant general. As for the reason, he was too close to the man named Zhang. Anyone familiar with military history can almost guess it. I won’t go into it here. It’s useless to say more.