Jiang's last words**, the reason for refusing to release Zhang, Song Meiling burst into tears.
Have you ever wondered why a man of great stature and a first-class army general could be imprisoned and possibly even lose his life? It all stemmed from the Xi'an Incident in 1936.
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Although the Xi'an Incident was eventually resolved peacefully, Chiang Kai-shek was never able to escape the threat posed by Zhang Xueliang. He also left his last words before his death, warning Chiang Ching-kuo: "Don't let go of the tiger." ”
And when Chiang Kai-shek revealed the reason for not letting Zhang Xueliang go, Song Meiling couldn't help but burst into tears. It turned out that at the beginning of the Northeast Issue, Zhang Xueliang did not rely on the warlord forces or the remnants of his father Zhang Zuolin, but chose to cooperate with Chiang Kai-shek.
However, the biggest influence on his decision-making was the death of his father Zhang Zuolin. In 1928, the Japanese secretly buried explosives on the road that Zhang Zuolin had to pass through in an attempt to assassinate him.
In the early morning of June 4, Zhang Zuolin's train was bombed at Huanggutun Station, causing him to be seriously injured during emergency treatment in Shenyang, and unfortunately died at 9:30, which was the "Huanggutun Incident" that shocked China and foreign countries.
Zhang Zuolin's death made Japanese militarism even more brazen in its attempt to invade China. For the revenge of killing his father, Zhang Xueliang was determined to take revenge, but at that time, the National Revolutionary Army was like a rainbow, and the Feng army was in an isolated and helpless situation.
In order to protect the Northeast, Zhang Xueliang advocated an armistice with the Kuomintang and began to make contact with the people of Nanjing. However, the Japanese did not give up, and they tried to make Zhang Xueliang their puppet through coercion and lure.
In the face of the Japanese delegates sent, Zhang Xueliang was furious and directly accused them of bad intentions.
After the departure of the Japanese representatives, Zhang Xueliang made up his mind and decided to announce the change of banner in the Northeast under threat. On December 29, 1928, Zhang Xueliang announced the change of national flags, which made the Kuomintang formally unified and strengthened the military strength of the Kuomintang.
Despite Zhang Xueliang's support, Chiang Kai-shek did not fully trust him. After all, Chiang Kai-shek had such a personality and was very vigilant, and when he saw Wang Jingwei trying to win over Zhang Xueliang, he took the opportunity to persuade Zhang Xueliang to take back the Soviet Union's privileges in the northeast.
Zhang Xueliang followed Chiang Kai-shek's advice and fought a small war with the Soviet Red Army, which resulted in serious injuries to his own army, and brigade commander Liang Zhongjia and other generals also died in this battle.
During the Great War of the Central Plains, Chiang Kai-shek tried to lure Zhang Xueliang's army into the pass to help him. After careful consideration, Zhang Xueliang decided to send troops later in the war. Due to the right timing, the Northeast Army successfully occupied the Pingjin area in just over 10 days, and Yan Xishan and others also surrendered.
Zhang Xueliang became the biggest winner in this war, not only obtained a large amount of military spending, but also occupied several important cities, and was promoted to deputy commander-in-chief of the Chinese army, navy and air force.
However, the impact of this war on the Northeast Army was also far-reaching. The Northeast Army was sent to various places in large numbers, resulting in a shortage of defenders in the three northeastern provinces. The Japanese military has always been eyeing this opportunity, taking advantage of the weakness to launch the "September 18 Incident."
The land of the Central Plains was about to fall, but Chiang Kai-shek advocated that the whole team avoid conflict with the Japanese army. ** and others are actively resisting Japan across the country, and Yan Xishan and others are secretly planning.
If Zhang Xueliang was distracted to fight the Japanese army again, Chiang Kai-shek was worried that after he left, there would be another internal turmoil in Nanjing. Therefore, he tried his best to persuade Zhang Xueliang to calm down the civil strife first and then consider other things.
Even, Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek pinned their hopes on the League of Nations at that time, trying to resolve the dispute with Japan through international forces.
Chiang Kai-shek had tried to weaken Zhang Xueliang with the help of the Japanese army, so that Nanjing** could directly control the northeast. However, due to the betrayal of various forces, the Tohoku eventually fell into the hands of the Japanese.
Tens of millions of people in Tohoku began to suffer from Japanese plundering that lasted for 14 years. In the absence of political sensitivity, Zhang Xueliang was repeatedly deceived by Chiang Kai-shek into using the Northeast Army for civil war, which eventually led to the fall of the Northeast.
Although Zhang Xueliang said in his memoirs in his later years: "It was our Northeast Army that chose not to resist", Chiang Kai-shek, as a careerist, tried to divide the Northeast and achieve his own ambitions.
Zhang Xueliang also saw Chiang Kai-shek's true face in one dispute after another. Direct conflict: The Xi'an Incident forced Chiang Kai-shek to resist Japan. After the "September 18 Incident," the Japanese invaders invaded and occupied the vast territory of Northeast China at an extremely rapid pace, and then unscrupulously spread the evil of war to North China.
The Chinese nation was at a critical juncture, but Chiang Kai-shek insisted on passively resisting Japan and ordered Zhang Xueliang to encircle and suppress the Red Army. This act angered countless patriots, who took to the streets, held anti-Japanese patriotic marches, and severely condemned Zhang Xueliang, calling him a "general of non-resistance."
Seeing that the mood of the people could not be calmed, Chiang Kai-shek forced Zhang Xueliang to give up the post of deputy commander-in-chief. Zhang Xueliang resolutely opposed the charge of carrying **, and he repeatedly asked Chiang Kai-shek to go to war when the Japanese army attacked Qinhuangdao.
However, Chiang Kai-shek's tactics led to repeated defeats for Zhang Xueliang's army, and he finally had to resign and leave China for about a year. At this time, Zhang Xueliang no longer fully recognized Chiang Kai-shek's decision, and the contradiction between the two gradually emerged.
Zhang Xueliang once fought bloody battles with the Japanese in the national disaster, but he knew very well that his dead brothers did not fall on the battlefield to defend their homeland, but died in the civil war, which he could not accept no matter what.
Therefore, he began to make private contact with Communist Party personnel and try to avoid the front of the other side on the battlefield in order to achieve peaceful coexistence between the two sides. However, this undoubtedly touched Chiang Kai-shek's bottom line, and he immediately went to the northwest and threatened to remove Zhang Xueliang from his post and take away his military power.
Although Zhang Xueliang shouldered the heavy responsibility of avenging his father and had a deep hatred with the Japanese, he did not easily back down on the Northeast issue. However, under Chiang Kai-shek's obstruction, his anti-Japanese actions gradually became a kind of heart disease.
In the face of Chiang Kai-shek's pressing step by step, Zhang Xueliang's heart was also full of anxiety, but he was still convinced that Chiang Kai-shek had a firm determination to resist Japanese aggression. In order to allow him to participate in the War of Resistance Against Japan, Zhang Xueliang adopted various ways to contact Chiang Kai-shek, including face-to-face conversations, fighting **, etc.
However, Chiang Kai-shek always resolutely refused, and even accused Zhang Xueliang of not understanding his painstaking efforts. This made Zhang Xueliang feel very disappointed and frustrated, like being doused with cold water.
Unable to convince Chiang Kai-shek, Zhang Xueliang finally decided to launch the Xi'an Incident with Yang Hucheng. Zhang Xueliang was imprisoned for half his life until 1991, when he was able to regain his freedom.
On December 12, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng took military action in Lintong and launched the world-famous Xi'an Incident. Their goal was to limit Chiang Kai-shek's personal freedom, so as to force him to change his mind about civil war and mobilize the whole country to resist the Japanese invasion.
In order to dispel the public's misunderstanding, Zhang Xueliang immediately issued a statement to the whole country after the outbreak of the Xi'an Incident, explaining that his actions were for the purpose of resisting Japan and saving the country, and expressing his hope that all parties would be able to sit down and have a dialogue.
After receiving the news of Zhang Xueliang's release, Song Meiling immediately rushed to Xi'an and saw Chiang Kai-shek, who had not eaten for many days. In order to ensure that all domestic forces can unite and jointly resist Japan, the chairman and others sent the prime minister to persuade them, hoping to promote multi-party cooperation.
Under the attention of all parties, Xi'an gathered representatives from many parties, and Soong Meiling tried to mediate the relationship between Chairman Jiang and Zhang Xueliang, hoping that all parties could take a step back and reach a compromise.
After several rounds of consultation and negotiation, a peace agreement was finally reached, and Chairman Chiang accepted the anti-Japanese conditions. On December 25, Chairman Jiang and Song Meiling prepared to return to Nanjing, and Zhang Xueliang also chose to protect the safety of the chairman throughout the process.
However, because Zhang Xueliang was a confidant of the chairman, his behavior did not impress the chairman.
Chiang Kai-shek was deeply disturbed by Zhang Xueliang's restriction of his personal freedom, and he always believed that Zhang Xueliang, who held military power, posed a threat to him. Therefore, after Zhang Xueliang arrived in Nanjing, Chiang Kai-shek immediately arranged for spies to control him, and through a series of means, Zhang Xueliang was sentenced to many years in prison.
After that, Zhang Xueliang was imprisoned in Fenghua, Guizhou, Chongqing and other places in Zhejiang, and even though the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan, he was not freed and still lived under house arrest.
Although Chiang Kai-shek was very jealous of Zhang Xueliang and even wanted to get rid of him many times, because Song Meiling had a close relationship with Zhang Xueliang and was concerned about her past commitments, she had been secretly paying attention to Zhang Xueliang, so that although Zhang Xueliang was not free, his life was guaranteed.
Yang Hucheng, another initiator of the Xi'an Incident, was brutally killed in 1949. Chiang Kai-shek was narrow-minded, and after imprisoning Zhang Xueliang, he arranged for Yang Hucheng to go to Europe to investigate, intending to disintegrate the Northeast Army.
In December 1937, Yang Hucheng's family was arrested and placed under house arrest after returning to China, and when Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan, he brutally ordered Mao Renfeng to kill Yang Hucheng and others, and destroy the corpses with nitrate water.
Before Chiang Kai-shek died, Soong Meiling burst into tears when she heard about it. And the reason why Zhang Xueliang was not killed also has something to do with Song Meiling. When he was young, Zhang Xueliang and Song Meiling became good friends, and after decades of ups and downs, the two still maintained a friendly relationship.
On the days when Zhang Xueliang was restricted in his movements, Soong Meiling and Chiang Ching-kuo would often send gifts and letters to ease his boredom. Soong Meiling knew that Zhang Xueliang's influence in the army was not as good as before, so she always hoped that Chiang Kai-shek would release him.
Once, Song Meiling even said directly to Chiang Kai-shek: "Don't think about hurting Zhang Xueliang, otherwise I will make some of your past things public." However, despite Soong Meiling's efforts, Zhang Xueliang was still deeply guarded by Chiang Kai-shek, and his daily activities were limited to a small plot of land in front of his home, and he could only walk around the neighborhood at his leisure.
Until Chiang Kai-shek's death, when he left his last words, he still reminded his son Chiang Ching-kuo, saying that Zhang Xueliang's threat was too great to let the tiger return to the mountain. Song Meiling heard his last words on the side, and also understood the reason why he was unwilling to let go of Zhang Xueliang, and couldn't help shedding tears.
At the moment of Chiang Kai-shek's death, she still failed to fulfill her promise to Zhang Xueliang. Although she tried her best to protect Zhang Xueliang's life, the regret of not fulfilling her promise still shrouded her deeply, making Song Meiling burst into tears.
It was not until 1990, two years after Chiang Ching-kuo's death, that Zhang Xueliang finally walked out of the small building where he had been imprisoned for a long time and witnessed the outside world. After a glorious first half of his life and a gloomy life in captivity, this "young marshal" who had been imprisoned for more than 50 years finally got the freedom he dreamed of.
Looking back on Zhang Xueliang's life, he was magnificent, his identity was prominent in his youth, and although he was forced to withdraw from the historical stage due to the "Xi'an Incident" in his middle and later years, he will not be forgotten by history after all.
** once said: "No matter whether General Zhang Xueliang lives or dies, the Communist Party of China will regard him as a national hero and a hero of the ages." And this sentence "Raise the wind and clouds to stay righteous, and remember the general in the white mountains and black waters" is also the most appropriate description of Zhang Xueliang's life.