In the early morning of December 12, 1936, a soldier wearing a military uniform of the Northeast Army violently knocked on the door of the electric material store, waking up the boss.
As an underground member of the Communist Party of China, Liu Ding went to Xi'an City to buy batteries. In the process of dealing with the shopkeeper, the soldier suddenly appeared and raised the ** grid, and the shopkeeper happily sold the battery without saying a word.
Unexpectedly, the day after the battery was sold, the news of Chiang Kai-shek's seizure came out of Xi'an City. The shopkeeper was extremely confused by this sudden coup, but he could not have imagined that the batteries he sold last night were inextricably linked to this incident.
In the middle of the night, General Zhang Xueliang suddenly revealed to Liu Ding the crucial news that his troops were conducting an emergency operation to imprison Chiang Kai-shek. In order to cooperate with the operation, Zhang Xueliang ordered the entire city of Xi'an to cut off power.
After learning of this sudden news, Liu Ding immediately planned to report to ***, but there was no electricity and he could not send a telegram. So he hurriedly bought batteries. When he bought the battery back, Chiang Kai-shek had already been successfully arrested, and he immediately passed the news on.
Early in the morning, guard Liu Jiuzhou pushed open the door of the *** room, but was surprised to find that the prime minister was already sitting at the desk, his face full of joy. He asked suspiciously, "You got up so early, is there anything wrong?" ”
** Calmly replied: "I just learned that Chiang Kai-shek was caught." This astonishing news took Liu Jiuzhou by surprise.
Liu Jiuzhou didn't react yet, so he only responded, "Huh? Immediately afterwards, ** asked: "Chiang Kai-shek was captured, do you think you should kill him?" Liu Jiuzhou thought for a moment, and then replied, "I don't think he should be killed." ”
** Asked suspiciously, "Why don't you kill?" Liu Jiuzhou replied: "We agreed not to kill the prisoners. * laughed and praised Liu Jiuzhou's clever answer.
Although Liu Jiuzhou's suggestion could not influence whether or not to kill Chiang, it undoubtedly embodied the humanitarian spirit of the Red Army soldiers.
Upon learning of this, the leaders burst into laughter and then fell into confusion, and what to do with Chiang Kai-shek became a thorny problem. This sudden good news quickly became a problem on the minds of the CCP leaders, who were troubled by it for a week, and hardly had a good rest.
In the minds of the CCP leaders, Chiang Kai-shek was a villain, he fought against the Red Army for ten years, killed many revolutionaries, and the Red Army hated him to the core.
** In the report, the review and removal of Chiang Kai-shek was clearly proposed, he said: "On the one hand, we should expose Chiang's crimes in front of the people and support the Xi'an Incident; On the other hand, we want to demand that Chiang Kai-shek be removed and brought to trial. ”
* Advocated killing Chiang first, and other leaders held the same position.
By the afternoon of December 13, all the security personnel learned of Chiang Kai-shek**, and several hundred people held a rally to insist on a public trial of Chiang Kai-shek. At the meeting, the crowd was passionate: "Since 1927, Chiang Kai-shek's blood debt to us has been accumulating for a long time, and now it's time to liquidate his crimes and hand him over to the people for public trial!" ”
On the question of whether to execute Chiang Kai-shek, ** and Zhang Wentian remained silent. Zhang Wentian simply said: "We should do everything possible to win the support of Nanking ** and unite with the non-Chiang troops." ”
The reason why he did not express an opinion was because he had other ideas. However, now is not the time to publish these ideas.
On the morning of the 12th, ** and *** already knew the news of the Xi'an Incident, but the Kuomintang in Nanjing did not know about it, and it was not until the afternoon that they learned the news of Chiang Kai-shek's loss of contact from Fan Songfu, the general of the Kuomintang troops stationed in Tongguan, and realized the seriousness of the situation.
The Kuomintang in Nanjing immediately convened an emergency meeting and decided to "crusade against the traitor Zhang Xueliang," and He Yingqin even more resolutely advocated "immediate crusade." However, Nanjing's "rebellion" action aroused Soong Meiling's dissatisfaction, and she immediately rushed to Nanjing from Shanghai to express her opposition to Nanjing's action.
Soong Meiling's ultimate goal was to protect Chiang Kai-shek, but the actions in Nanking could lead to a war with the Northeast Army and the Red Army, which would not benefit Chiang. In order to solve this problem, after expressing her intention for peace, Soong Meiling immediately went to Xi'an with Australian envoy Duan Na to seek a dialogue with Zhang Xueliang.
Duan Na was an old acquaintance of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, and was also Zhang Xueliang's adviser and teacher. Therefore, Rodyk, as a mediator, is in the best position to facilitate the communication between the parties.
Zhang Xueliang finally welcomed Rena's participation, laying the foundation for peace.
On December 14, Zhang Xueliang accompanied Rena to meet Chiang Kai-shek. After talking with Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang, Rena conveyed Zhang Xueliang's intention to Soong Meiling: "His actions were to force Chiang Kai-shek to stop the civil war and unite to resist Japan, not to cause harm." ”
Hearing this, Song Meiling finally breathed a sigh of relief. At a time when the Kuomintang was in turmoil, the Red Army soldiers occupied Fushi bloodlessly, and since then it has been renamed Yan'an.
Compared with the security guard, Yan'an is larger and the most important city in northern Shaanxi, which is a major victory for the CCP in the Xi'an incident. After occupying Yan'an, Zhang Xueliang couldn't wait and sent a special plane to Yan'an to greet *** and return to Xi'an together.
On the way to Xi'an, ** had already learned about the specific situation of the Xi'an incident from Liu Ding's mouth. When he heard Liu Ding say that Zhang Xueliang repeatedly emphasized that he wanted to capture Chiang Kai-shek when he sent troops to detain him, he understood that Zhang Xueliang had never intended to kill Chiang Kai-shek.
After arriving in Xi'an, ** lived in the residence of Tu Zuochao, an underground member of the Communist Party of China, and shaved off his beard by the way. When he met Zhang Xueliang, Zhang Xueliang's first words were: "Beautiful beard, where is your beard?" ”
** Smiled and replied, and the atmosphere instantly became light-hearted and pleasant. After sitting down, Zhang Xueliang and *** began an in-depth conversation. At the beginning, ** praised the heroic act of the Xi'an Incident, and then moved on to the discussion of the crucial issue, that is, how to deal with Chiang Kai-shek.
**After pondering for a moment, he motioned for Zhang Xueliang to give his opinion. Zhang Xueliang suggested that Chiang Kai-shek be persuaded to resist Japan, but ** deeply agreed, expressed his agreement and said: "What the general said is extremely true, if Chiang Kai-shek can be persuaded to resist Japan, the prospects of our country will be bright."
However, if he was killed, not only would it not end the civil war, but it would give the Japanese an opportunity to destroy China. "After all, Chiang Kai-shek had a military advantage, and killing him would lead the Northeast Army and the Red Army to oppose Nanjing, contrary to the original intention of the Xi'an Incident.
In addition, the pro-Japanese faction such as Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Ching-wei would be very happy to kill Chiang Kai-shek. Therefore, the opinion of ** is: "Don't kill Chiang." ”
After careful consideration, ** and Zhang Xueliang reached an agreement on a peaceful settlement of the Xi'an incident. After the talks, ** reported the results of the discussion with Zhang Xueliang to ***, saying that if Chiang Kai-shek's safety was guaranteed, it must be stated that if Nanking took military action, Chiang's safety could not be guaranteed.
In this way, the Nanjing side naturally cannot act rashly. When *** saw the telegram from *** in the Yan'an cave, he breathed a sigh of relief. After having an in-depth exchange with Zhang Xueliang, he went to see Yang Hucheng the next day.
Yang Hucheng was surprised by the CCP's decision, he originally thought that there was a deep contradiction between the CCP and Chiang Kai-shek, and he would not let Chiang go easily.
** Impassionedly: "For the sake of national righteousness, we can temporarily put aside our hatred with Chiang Kai-shek." Yang Hucheng shook his head helplessly and said, "Since Deputy Commander Zhang and the CCP have reached an agreement, I have no objection. ”
During the lively Xi'an Incident, there was a fierce dispute between Japan and the Soviet Union. Japan claimed that "Moscow was behind the Xi'an Incident", while the Soviet Union insisted that "the Xi'an Incident was a political conspiracy orchestrated by the Japanese".
The two sides do not give in to each other and are-for-tat. Japan's ultimate goal is to use this to create ** and force Zhang Xueliang to kill Chiang Kai-shek so that he can profit from it. And the real intentions of the USSR are elusive.
When revealing the news of the Xi'an incident to Moscow, Stalin clearly opposed the "overthrow of Chiang" and opposed the conduct of the incident. In Stalin's view, as China's anti-Japanese leader, Zhang Xueliang's position was not stable enough, and the CCP's strength was too weak, and only Chiang Kai-shek could lead China's various forces to resist Japan.
Despite this attitude of the Soviet Union, as time went on, reactions from all sides followed, and ** began to think calmly about what to do with Chiang Kai-shek. He repeatedly studied the telegram sent by *** and thought that *** was very reasonable.
Finally, ** sent a telegram: "Our party believes that if your party can meet the urgent needs of the people of the whole country, not only will the country and the nation be saved, but even the security of Chiang will no longer be a problem." ”
In this telegram, the attitude of ** underwent a change from "public trial of Chiang Kai-shek" to "forcing Chiang Kai-shek to resist Japan". In the end, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to fight against Japan together, and Zhang Xueliang also released him.
Many people are puzzled by the failure to kill Chiang Kai-shek. One of the cadets said in tears that Chiang Kai-shek had killed many comrades, so why should he be released. ** Responded rationally: "National affairs, you can't be rash." ”
Some people asked, is it afraid that Chiang Kai-shek will regret it? To put it figuratively: "Dealing with Chiang Kai-shek is like driving a donkey up the mountain." When the donkey is not willing to go, the farmer has to pull, push, and beat.
However, donkeys can kick people, so we have to be careful. ”