"Don't let the tiger go. Song Meiling burst into tears after hearing this.
The legend of "Young Marshal": Wandering Away ** Student, 27-year-old at the helm of the Northeast Gateway Zhang Xueliang, a famous figure in modern Chinese history, his life has been concerned and studied by countless scholars and researchers.
However, few have been able to summarize his life in its entirety. On June 4, 1901, Zhang Xueliang was born in Tai'an County, Liaoning Province, which was still called Octagonal Terrace at that time.
His father, Zhang Zuolin, was not a Beiyang warlord at that time, but just a regimental training commander who collected "protection money" in the mountains. Zhang Xueliang's mother, Zhao Chungui, gave birth to him on the way to escape and gave him a milk named "Little Liuzi".
After the sixth son grew up in the family of his cousin Zhao Mingde until he was 5 years old, his father Zhang Zuolin returned to the Qing court, and he followed his mother to move to Xinmin Mansion, where his father was stationed. The following year, Zhang Xueliang took Cui Mingyao as his teacher and studied classical Chinese works such as the Four Books and the Five Classics.
All this laid the foundation for his later glory. At the age of 27, Zhang Xueliang took over the Northeast Gateway and became an important figure in China's modern history. His life is full of legends and stories that are worth studying and exploring.
Xiao Liuzi was officially named "Xueliang" during this period, and the word Hanqing. He has a stubborn and lawless personality that scares those around him. However, he himself didn't care about this, and instead played crazy all day long.
* After its establishment, Zhang Zuolin served as the commander of the 27th Division and was stationed in Mukden, which later became Shenyang. Under his father's arrangement, Zhang Xueliang successively worshipped Yang Jingzhen, Jin Liang, and Bai Yongzhen as teachers, and studied both Eastern and Western cultures.
When Bai Yongzhen resigned, he once persuaded Zhang Zuolin to let Zhang Xueliang do what he wanted, because Zhang Xueliang is not a person who likes to sit in a house and study. In 1919, Zhang Zuolin reopened the Northeast Army Lecture Hall, and Zhang Xueliang was officially enrolled.
He graduated with honors and was awarded the rank of artillery major, entering the Northeast Army units. Within a year, he was promoted to colonel.
Zhang Xueliang continued to work hard in the army, and by the time of the Central Plains War, he had been promoted to the general of the Northeast Army and became the right-hand man of his father Zhang Zuolin. During this period, he got acquainted with his mentor Guo Songling, his best friend Pan Youyu and others.
Under the leadership of Zhang's father and son, the Northeast Army formed three major forces: the local faction, the Japanese faction, and the Jiangwutang faction. Zhang Xueliang became the leader of the Jiangwutang faction, and also laid the groundwork for the later civil strife in Northeast China.
In 1925, Guo Songling opposed the signing of a secret treaty with Japan and raised troops to crusade against Zhang Zuolin, but was finally defeated by Zhang Xueliang and died in the calculation of Yang Yuting, the Japanese faction.
Guo Songling and Pan Youyu were executed by Zhang Zuolin on orders for their involvement in communist activities. In desperation, Zhang Xueliang personally executed Pan Youyu's execution. In 1927, Zhang Zuolin established an *** in Beijing and proclaimed himself the generalissimo of the army, and Zhang Xueliang followed left and right as an army general"Young marshal"The fame spread across the country.
By this time, Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing had basically grasped the military and political power, and launched the Northern Expedition again in 1928. The Feng army was defeated in the war, and Zhang Zuolin was afraid that he would be regarded as a thief by later generations, and refused to implement the secret agreement signed with Japan.
On June 3, 1928, he left Beijing. However, on the way back to Mukden, he was wounded by the Kwantung Army and eventually died after barely returning to the Grand Marshal's Mansion. Since then, Zhang Xueliang's birthday has become the death date of his father Zhang Zuolin.
On June 18, 1928, General Zhang Xueliang's father, Zhang Zuolin, was attacked by assassins and died after being seriously wounded. During this period, Japan sent Lin Quanzhu and others to investigate the situation many times, but they were all stopped by Mrs. Zhang Zuolin and Yu Fengzhi, the daughter-in-law of the long house.
When General Zhang Xueliang learned of this, he immediately rushed back to Mukden from Beijing, where he disguised himself as a cooking soldier to stabilize the hearts of his subordinates, and when everything was properly resolved, he released Zhang Zuolin's obituary on June 21.
After the death of Zhang Zuolin, General Zhang Xueliang officially took over the military and political affairs of the three northeastern provinces and assumed the leadership responsibility of the three northeastern provinces. The first problem he faced was how to resolve the privileges of Japan and the Soviet Union in Northeast China.
General Zhang Xueliang did not succumb to the pressure, but actively took measures to strive for the independence of the northeast region. His efforts and decisions have had a profound impact on the course of China's history.
During his tenure as security commander of the three northeastern provinces, General Zhang Xueliang successfully resolved the security problems in the northeast region through a series of measures, stabilized the military and political situation, and laid a solid foundation for China's economic development and modernization process.
At historical turning points such as the China Eastern Railway and the Xi'an Incident, General Zhang Xueliang's wisdom and courage demonstrated his leadership ability and personality charm, which had a profound impact on China's historical process.
Through a series of actions, Zhang Xueliang successfully formed a modern army in the northeast, and at that time, he was the only one in China except Chiang Kai-shek who had such an army.
In the face of the situation that Japan was pressing step by step, in order to prevent the Northeast from falling into the hands of Japan, he decided to obey Chiang Kai-shek's Nanjing people**, obey the deployment, and announced the change of banner in the Northeast.
First of all, he designed to execute Yang Yuting, Chang Yinhuai, and other old-school veterans who conspired to seize power in Northeast China and colluded with Japan to betray the interests of Northeast China, and then personally established the Northeast Air Command, served as the commander of the air, and reorganized the Northeast Air Force into five aviation groups.
In just a few years, the northeast has possessed a modern army with a complete range of navy, army, and air force, as well as a number of arms that coordinate operations, such as infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineering, armor, automobiles, and communications.
General Zhang Xueliang boldly ordered the army to replace the five-color national flag of Beiyang and raise the blue sky and white sun flag of the Kuomintang, completing the formal reunification of China and smashing Japan's conspiracy against China.
In recognition of Zhang Xueliang's outstanding contribution in the Northeast Banner, Nanjing appointed Tang Yulin, a general of the Northeast Army, as the chairman of Rehe on December 30, 1928, and appointed Zhang Xueliang as the commander of the Northeast Frontier Army of the National Revolutionary Army the next day, and the whole army was incorporated into the National Revolutionary Army.
What made Chiang Kai-shek quite jealous was that Zhang Xueliang's troops did not appear out of thin air. The Zhang family and his son have been operating in Northeast China for many years, establishing a sound transportation system, industrial and commercial system and military industrial system, and the people's lives are relatively stable.
Despite Japan's watchful eye, Tohoku remains relatively peaceful.
The Soviet Union's railway privileges in northeastern China had always been a major concern for Chiang Kai-shek. As a result, he lobbied Zhang Xueliang in the hope that he would take back this privilege in order to weaken his control in the northeast.
Zhang Xueliang, on the other hand, resolutely rejected the proposal, because he insisted that all secret agreements that had not been put on paper would not be recognized. At the same time, Zhang Zuolin also resolutely opposed the Soviet Union's retention of relevant privileges such as the Eastern Railway, and resolutely refused to recognize it.
After the death of Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Xueliang took over the position of the old marshal, who was young and vigorous, and was encouraged by Chiang Kai-shek to decide to retake the Eastern Railway. So on August 18, 1929, he and the Soviet Union broke out in the vicinity of the Black Blind Island, which lasted more than 100 days.
This incident was known as the "Middle East Road Incident" and attracted wide attention at home and abroad at the time.
The Northeast Army paid a heavy price in this battle, they ** nearly 10,000 people, while the Soviet army ** less than 1,000 people. On December 20, Zhang Xueliang, under the mediation of the United States, was forced to sign the "Protocol of the Sino-Soviet Boli Conference" with the Soviet Union, and recognized the Sino-Soviet cooperation of the China Eastern Railway.
The Black Blind Island was thus owned by the Soviet Union. This battle not only caused losses to the Northeast Army, but also affected Zhang Xueliang's personal reputation. In addition, the base camp of the Kwantung Army stationed in the northeast also took the opportunity to provoke the Northeast Army and frequently caused incidents.
Eventually, the Kwantung Army created the Wicker Lake Incident on September 18, 1931, which was used as an opportunity to occupy the entire Tohoku region within six months. Zhang Xueliang obeyed Chiang Kai-shek's order of non-resistance and led 300,000 Northeast Army troops to retreat into the pass, a decision that made him widely reprimanded at home and became known as the "general of non-resistance".
At the behest of Chiang Kai-shek, in April 1933, Zhang Xueliang announced that he would leave his post and go to Europe for an investigation. During this time, he felt deeply that he had been deceived and wronged countless times, and finally decided to quit his addiction as a way to show his resolve.
After Zhang Xueliang left, the 300,000 Northeast Army he led expressed strong anger and denounced Chiang Kai-shek's ruthlessness. They said that Chiang Kai-shek would only take advantage of others and abandon them if they were not needed, a behavior that completely betrayed the trust of his friends.
Therefore, under such circumstances, Chiang Kai-shek's orders to the Northeast Army were often ignored, and Zhang Xueliang's subordinates, such as Yu Xuezhong, He Zhuguo, Wan Fulin, and Wang Yizhe, refused to obey the deployment for various reasons, which made Chiang Kai-shek very dissatisfied.
Against this background, Chiang Kai-shek was forced to reactivate Zhang Xueliang. At the end of 1933, he recalled Zhang Xueliang and asked him to continue to command the Northeast Army to the northwest to fight the Communists.
However, to Chiang Kai-shek's disappointment, although Zhang Xueliang took over the Northeast Army, the Red Army in northern Shaanxi became stronger and stronger, and the Northeast Army suffered successive crushing defeats in Laoshan and other places, which made Zhang Xueliang begin to have deep doubts about Chiang Kai-shek's theory of "first securing the interior before opening up the outside" and no longer trusted it.
In order to better deal with the Red Army, Zhang Xueliang began to secretly read books and theoretical works related to communism, and became acquainted with some Kuomintang officers who were connected to the Communist Party.
At the same time as Zhang Xueliang "suppressed bandits" in the northwest, the situation in North China became increasingly tense, and the Japanese army went all the way south, frantically attacking cities and plundering land, carrying out brutal strikes, and the strike movement of workers in various places was in full swing.
Although the call for the United Communist Party to resist Japan was growing louder and louder, Chiang Kai-shek still resolutely resisted, and after quelling the Liangguang Incident, he personally flew to Xi'an to supervise the war. Under these circumstances, Zhang Xueliang of the Northeast Army, Yang Hucheng of the Northwest Army and the Communist Red Army reached a secret agreement to jointly resist Japan, forming a powerful force throughout the northwest region, which frightened Chiang Kai-shek.
He constantly urged Zhang Xueliang to send troops to suppress the Communists, and threatened that if Zhang Xueliang did not obey the order, he would transfer the Northeast Army to Anhui and Fujian, and send the ** Army to fight.
Despite Zhang Xueliang's repeated persuasions, Chiang Kai-shek was still furious and had the idea of replacing Zhang Xueliang and dismantling the Northeast Army. At this time, Yang Hucheng found Zhang Xueliang and reminded him that time was pressing, and if it dragged on any longer, the angry Northwest Army might mutiny, and then the situation would be even more difficult to control.
In the early morning of December 12, 1936, on the shore of Huaqing Pond in Lintong, the sound of gunfire broke the silence. The Xi'an Incident broke out, and the sadness of the hero's end coexisted with the historical achievements without regrets.
Representatives of the Nanjing Nationals**, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region**, the Soviet Union, the United States, and other parties rushed to Xi'an to try their best to protect Chiang Kai-shek and prevent a greater political crisis. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek still had a high prestige in the country, and the ordinary people were still confused about this matter, mistakenly believing that Zhang Xueliang was detaining Chiang Kai-shek for his own selfish interests.
In the month after the incident, Zhang Xueliang endured an unprecedented ** attack. Internationally, the Soviet Union and the United States expressed disapproval of Zhang Xueliang's actions. At this critical moment, Zhang Xueliang finally waited for the representative from Yan'an to enter Xi'an.
Subsequently, ** met with Soong Meiling, the representative of Nanjing, Duan Na, the representative of the United States, and others, and after tripartite consultations, Chiang Kai-shek finally agreed to stop the civil war and unite against Japan.
After the peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident, Zhang Xueliang felt deeply guilty and decided to send Chiang Kai-shek back to Nanjing. This decision was not communicated to anyone. On the Yan'an side, ** rushed to the airport after getting the news, but could only see the shadow of the plane in the distance.
On December 25, 1936, Zhang Xueliang escorted Chiang Kai-shek back to Nanjing, and as soon as the plane landed, Dai Li sent someone to secretly "escort" him to the mansion. Six days later, the Nanjing Military Court sentenced Zhang Xueliang to 10 years in prison for treason.
Chiang Kai-shek pardoned his crimes with generosity and sent him to Fenghua Xikou to "study". During the Anti-Japanese War and the War of Liberation, Zhang Xueliang never had the opportunity to go to the battlefield to fight against Japan and serve the motherland.
Chiang Kai-shek's capriciousness stirred up the ** of all parties.
On the eve of the liberation of the mainland, ** had planned to exchange Zhang Xueliang's freedom for Chiang Kai-shek's allied brother Zhang Qun, but due to uncontrollable changes, this plan ultimately failed.
Since then, the mainland has never had a chance to rescue Zhang Xueliang. After Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, Soong Meiling took the initiative to take on the responsibility of protecting Zhang Xueliang. Song Meiling and Zhang Xueliang have known each other for a long time, as early as 1925, when Nanjing Road ** caused a national shock, Zhang Xueliang, as the commander-in-chief of the East Route Army, was ordered to be stationed in Shanghai to mediate Sino-foreign contradictions.
At a cocktail party, they met. Zhang Xueliang was deeply attracted by Soong Meiling's intellectuality, gentleness, beauty and erudition, and Soong Meiling was also attracted by Zhang Xueliang's elegance, charm and gentlemanly demeanor.
In the past few months, Song Meiling and Zhang Xueliang have frequently appeared on various social occasions, which has become an eye-catching scenery on Shanghai Tang. When Zhang Xueliang recalled Song Meiling in his later years, he even humorously said that if he didn't have a wife at that time, he would definitely launch a fierce pursuit of her.
In December 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Meiling married in Shanghai, and the husband and wife supported each other, and Soong Meiling also had a deep affection for Chiang Kai-shek.
However, in dealing with Zhang Xueliang's issue, Song Meiling showed a very firm attitude, and she went all out to protect Zhang Xueliang's safety. After the Xi'an Incident in 1936, Soong Meiling assured Zhang Xueliang that as long as he came to Nanjing, she would ensure his safety.
After Zhang Xueliang was detained, Song Meiling felt deeply guilty for her husband's detention of Zhang Xueliang. On the grounds that she knew many secrets of Chiang Kai-shek, she begged her husband to spare Zhang Xueliang's life.
In Zhang Xueliang's most difficult days, Song Meiling has always cared about his safety and provided him with daily necessities in a timely manner. They kept in touch through letters and saw each other as lifelong friends.
Zhang Xueliang has been in Taiwan for many years, and he has always been monitored by spies. The long-term repression made him develop feelings with Miss Zhao Si, and eventually became husband and wife in the 60s. In order to protect Zhang Xueliang's life, his ex-wife Yu Fengzhi, who was far away in the United States, agreed to the divorce agreement.
In 1975, Chiang Kai-shek died of illness in Taiwan. Before his death, he still hated Zhang Xueliang, who had been imprisoned for 39 years. Song Meiling asked him how to deal with Zhang Xueliang, and Chiang Kai-shek, whose life was hanging by a thread, replied resolutely: "Don't let the tiger go." ”
These four words fully show his resentment towards the Xi'an Incident, and he did not really let go of it until he died. Although Chiang Ching-kuo had a favorable impression of Zhang Xueliang, and the two had an in-depth conversation in Xikou, he still followed his father's will and continued to detain Zhang Xueliang for ten years until his death in 1988.
In Chiang Ching-kuo's later years, although Zhang Xueliang was not officially freed, he moved much more freely than before. After 1990, Zhang Xueliang finally regained his freedom.
After the death of Miss Zhao Si, Zhang Xueliang chose to enjoy his old age in Hawaii, USA. His life came to a perfect end in 2001 at the age of 101.
Zhang Xueliang: **Young Marshal", rewrote China's modern history with military advice, leaving countless secrets and a yellowed page of history, and his life is legendary.