In 2001, Zhang Xueliang died of illness at the age of 101, and his estate was made public, as high as 600 million US dollars. And it is surprising that such a person who has been imprisoned for half a century has such a huge inheritance.
His life originated from his father Zhang Zuolin. Since his birth, Zhang Xueliang's starting point has far surpassed that of ordinary children. His father, Zhang Zuolin, was the "King of the Northeast", the leader of the Feng warlords, with an army of 400,000 at its peak, and its financial resources were the first in the Beiyang period.
How amazing is his family's wealth? According to the 1926 edition of Mintv**, the total assets of the 71 warlord bureaucrats at that time were as high as 6300 million, Zhang Zuolin dominates with assets of 50 million.
But this is only his public property, and his private residence "Dashuai's Mansion" occupies an area of 3At 60,000 square meters, the kitchen could accommodate hundreds of people, equipped with a refrigerator and running water, which were rare at the time.
He also bought a number of villas and mansions in Beijing and Tianjin, including the famous Shuncheng County Palace, a building that originally belonged to the last prince of the Qing Dynasty, which Zhang Zuolin bought in 1924 for 75,000 oceans.
This is simply a lot of money, you know, in the same year in North China to buy a cow only need 5 oceans, and at that time the monthly income of ordinary people was about 15 to 20 oceans, Mr. Lu Xun's monthly income is about 400 oceans, which is already the top level in the country, but compared with Zhang Zuolin, it is just a drop in the bucket.
Zhang Zuolin revealed in his conversation with American professors that his monthly salary is 3,400 oceans, and at the same time, he has accumulated a wealth of 5 million oceans without touching a penny.
In addition, Zhang Zuolin is also the largest landlord in Northeast China, and his fields are all over Tongliao, Heilongjiang and other places, with a total value of more than 10 million oceans. It is said that Zhang Xueliang had already rented out his land through a housekeeper when he was young, and he could get thousands of oceans of pocket money every month.
For as long as Zhang Xueliang can remember, he has never had the trouble of food and clothing, and he already has a number of industries under his name, including banking, textiles, steamships and coal mines. There are countless enterprises in which Zhang Zuolin has shares, many of which are directly under Zhang Xueliang's name.
It is said that Zhang Zuolin is very fond of Zhang Xueliang, in addition to public property, he handed over almost ten percent of his property to Zhang Xueliang, while his other children did not have such treatment.
Zhang Zuolin loved his eldest son Zhang Xueliang and attached more importance to his education. Not only did he invite the great Confucianism in the academic circles to teach him traditional culture, but he also specially arranged for the head of the English section of the Provincial Foreign Affairs Office to teach English.
Since the age of 15, Zhang Xueliang has been learning to do business and getting to know people from all walks of life. At the age of 16, he entered the army academy for training, and gradually integrated into military life from an ordinary soldier.
Zhang Zuolin warned him: "If you want to be a soldier, you must be ready to sacrifice at any time." After years of hard work, Zhang Xueliang has full wings and has shown outstanding military leadership.
In 1922, the first war broke out. Zhang Xueliang, who was only 21 years old, commanded the troops to fight bravely. However, a misunderstanding reached the ears of his father Zhang Zuolin, saying that Zhang Xueliang fell from his horse during the battle, and his life and death were uncertain, which made Zhang Zuolin terrified.
He hurriedly ran to a lieutenant colonel staff officer who was proficient in numerology, fell to the ground with weak legs, and kowtowed again and again to pray: "Please calculate quickly, how is my son!" Flattered, the lieutenant colonel immediately knelt down in response.
As a result, it turned out to be a false alarm, although the Feng army was defeated, but the three brigades commanded by Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling retreated and successfully beat Wu Peifu back to his hometown. This was Zhang Xueliang's first time participating in a large-scale battle, and it was also the starting point of his title of "young marshal".
In the Zhifeng War, Zhang Xueliang was able to make many outstanding military exploits, which was inseparable from Guo Songling's assistance. So who is Guo Songling? He was Zhang Xueliang's mentor, and later became an important general under the young marshal, and had a profound influence on Zhang Xueliang's ideology and military talents.
Although Guo Songling is a soldier, he has a strong interest in antique calligraphy and painting, and his hobby has also deeply influenced Zhang Xueliang. Once, wandering around a used bookstore in Tianjin, Zhang Xueliang found a volume of ancient paintings in a messy pile of papers.
The painting is very old, stained with a stain, unsigned, and very unremarkable. However, Zhang Xueliang, with his sensitivity to brush and ink, decided that this painting must have come from a master, so he did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to buy it.
Facts have proved that his judgment is correct, and after the appraisal of professionals, this painting turned out to be the authentic work of Li Tang, one of the four masters of the Southern Song Dynasty, which is priceless and can be called a national treasure.
This experience made Zhang Xueliang have a strong interest in collecting, and his collection covers a wide range, from the Jin, Tang, Southern Song to Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, there are more than 600 pieces of antique calligraphy and painting.
In Zhang Xueliang's collection, "Shenei Ti" is the most difficult one for him to give up. In that year, he spent 30,000 oceans to buy this precious painting and calligraphy work from a painting and calligraphy dealer, which made him one of the top collectors in the ** period.
However, after the September 18 incident, the "Schöneti" and other precious collections of calligraphy and painting were stolen by the Japanese, and they are still lying in the Yokohama Museum in Japan.
On June 3, 1928, Zhang Zuolin was killed by the Japanese, and half a month later, Zhang Xueliang, who was only 27 years old, took over the responsibility of the supreme commander of Northeast China and inherited his father's huge inheritance.
At the same time, the taxes from all over the Northeast go to him personally. Knowing that Zhang Xueliang likes to collect calligraphy and paintings, his friends often collect collections scattered among the people and give them to him, sometimes attaching **100 taels.
In Zhang Xueliang's collection, "Shenei Ti" is the most difficult one for him to give up. In that year, he spent 30,000 oceans to buy this precious painting and calligraphy work from a painting and calligraphy dealer, which made him one of the top collectors in the ** period.
However, after the September 18 incident, the "Schöneti" and other precious collections of calligraphy and painting were stolen by the Japanese, and they are still lying in the Yokohama Museum in Japan.
On June 3, 1928, Zhang Zuolin was killed by the Japanese, and half a month later, Zhang Xueliang, who was only 27 years old, took over the responsibility of the supreme commander of Northeast China and inherited his father's huge inheritance.
At the same time, the taxes from all over the Northeast go to him personally. Knowing that Zhang Xueliang likes to collect calligraphy and paintings, his friends often collect collections scattered among the people and give them to him, sometimes attaching **100 taels.
In 1931, the September 18 Incident broke out, and the three northeastern provinces fell. In the face of the fact that the Northeast officials took refuge in the Japanese, Zhang Xueliang, who was in Beiping, angrily criticized him as a thief.
At that time, Ben Fanzhuang, who was the commander of the Japanese Kwantung Army, had a very good personal relationship with Zhang Xueliang, and loaded the treasures and property in the marshal's mansion and transported them to Beiping by two trains, wanting to return them to Zhang Xueliang.
However, Zhang Xueliang refused to accept it, and angrily accused Ben Fanzhuang of humiliating him, and said that he would burn the train with a fire: "If you want to pay it back, you will return it to the three northeastern provinces!."”
No one is perfect, and no gold is barefoot. In the face of Japanese imperialist aggression, the "policy of non-resistance" made Zhang Xueliang bear the infamy of a lifetime;and Yang Hucheng launched the "Xi'an Incident" and made Zhang Xueliang a national hero.
However, he didn't expect that this action would result in a half-century-long secluded life.
After the Xi'an Incident, Zhang Xueliang decided to release Chiang Kai-shek and personally send him to Nanjing, despite fears of reprisals. Since he has a deep friendship with the Song Meiling siblings, he hopes to make up for their relationship through this move.
On December 26, 1936, Chiang Kai-shek escaped from Xi'an, was picked up by Ning Chengen, and rode with Zhang Xueliang. In the car, Zhang Xueliang asked a question: "How is Nanjing?"”
Ning Chengen thought for a while and replied: "Nanjing is not our territory. This sentence implies that Zhang Xueliang is stepping into a dangerous situation.
Sure enough, not long after the military court trial, Zhang Xueliang was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Soon after, he was pardoned, but he was still under the strict control of the Military Commission. Since then, Zhang Xueliang has been imprisoned by Chiang Kai-shek.
Initially, he was resettled in Fenghua, Zhejiang, and later due to the approach of the Japanese invaders, he was successively transferred to Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Chongqing and other places. Although he has been displaced for many years, Zhang Xueliang has no worries about food and clothing most of the time, and even can be called luxury.
Chiang Kai-shek would give him a large sum of money every month for living expenses, and at the same time, Chiang Kai-shek did not deduct his property and interest from banks in various parts of the country, and could use it at will. At that time, Zhang Xueliang had more than 20 guards around him, as well as more than 20 handymen such as cooks and palanquin drivers, and a military police company was stationed nearby.
Zhang Xueliang was in a bad mood at the beginning and was silent all day. But with the company of his wife Yu Fengzhi, his brows finally relaxed. Later, at his repeated requests, Chiang Kai-shek allowed Zhao Yidi and Yu Fengzhi to take turns accompanying Zhang Xueliang.
Zhao Yidi is Miss Zhao Si, who met Zhang Xueliang after he got married. At first, Yu Fengzhi resolutely refused to accept her husband's concubine, but when the couple were arguing, Zhao Yidi knelt down to Yu Fengzhi and said that she didn't want to be famous, and she just wanted to stay by Zhang Xueliang's side.
Yu Fengzhi made a compromise, but she proposed three rules: Zhao Yidi cannot have a clear identity to the outside world;In front of foreigners, Zhao Yidi is called a secretary;In front of the Chinese, Zhao Yidi is called a servant.
These two women, who were originally rivals in love, gradually disappeared after a long time together, and even reached a sisterly relationship. In October 1946, Zhang Xueliang was transferred to Taiwan.
At first, the residence arranged for him by Chiang Ching-kuo was close to the Yangmingshan No. 1 Cemetery, but when Song Meiling learned about it, she reprimanded Chiang Ching-kuo and said, "How can you let him live in such a dilapidated place?".”
Soon after, Zhang Xueliang was moved to a new residence in Beitou Mountain. Here, Zhang Xueliang has a special chef to prepare three meals for him every day, and there are ** dishes for dinner, and there are fresh fruits after the meal.
Every time his staff went shopping, they would buy a truckload of vegetables, a cage of chicken, boxes of fish and dozens of dozen cans. In his daily life, he enjoyed playing chess, fishing, and golfing with the gendarmes, and his favorite sport was swimming, so his men dug a small pool for him.
Zhang Xueliang also had a shortage of money, most of his savings were frozen in the United States, and his previous cash had been used up. So, he wrote a letter to Song Ziwen, saying that prices were skyrocketing, and he and Zhao Yidi needed 10,000 yuan a month to buy cigarettes and pocket money.
In addition, magazines, clothing, shoes and socks cost thousands of dollars a month. He and Zhao Yidi just brushed their teeth, and it cost 500 yuan. After all, he needs at least 20,000 yuan a month.
Zhang Xueliang sighed: "Now money is too much money. "Before the war, 10,000 yuan was equivalent to a few hundred yuan now. In desperation, he had to write a letter to borrow hundreds of thousands of yuan from the bank or Song Ziwen.
But it took many times for this letter to reach Song Ziwen's hands, and half a year had passed. The content of the letter made Song Ziwen sigh. He recalled Zhang Xueliang's brilliance when he was in the Marshal's Mansion, but now he is "reluctant to throw away cigarette butts, and he has to walk softly, for fear of spending shoes".
In 1940, breast cancer forced Yu Fengzhi to leave Zhang Xueliang and go to the United States alone for medical treatment. After the successful operation, although her life was saved, she found that her family's savings were getting smaller and smaller, and her husband Zhang Xueliang was still in solitary confinement.
At this point, she showed great business talent and began to invest in the United States.
Yu Fengzhi, a woman known as the "Oriental female stock god of Wall Street", her success is not accidental. When a friend told her the secret of making money, she didn't get into it right away, but patiently studied it for months.
After picking a sluggish ** and buying 500 shares, she was in a good state of mind and still believed that this was an opportunity to learn in the face of losses. And this mentality also helped her turn to investing in real estate when she was at her worst.
She believed in her vision and seized the opportunity, which led to great success. But Yu Fengzhi does not pursue wealth, she believes that money is just something outside the body, and her success comes from a thirst for knowledge and a keen grasp of opportunities.
In order to free Zhang Xueliang, she traveled around the United States to exert pressure on the Taiwan authorities. However, when she realized that all her efforts could endanger her husband's life, she decisively opted for divorce.
Taylor's former residence has been vacant, although many people are willing to buy, Yu Fengzhi has never been. She asked people to raise orchids in the room, which was Zhang Xueliang's favorite flower, and she even looked forward to the day when Zhang Xueliang and Zhao Yidi could enjoy their old age in the United States.
After Chiang Ching-kuo's death, Zhang Xueliang finally gained freedom, but Yu Fengzhi's life came to an end. She left a huge amount of property, including bank deposits, ** real estate, etc., except for a few left to her children, the rest were all in Zhang Xueliang's name.
Zhang Xueliang: Patriotic donation of $600 million to American universities In 1990, Zhang Xueliang was finally released after Chiang Ching-kuo's death, and left Taiwan with Zhao Yidi to settle in Hawaii.
Zhang Xueliang's collection is very precious, and coupled with his personal history, the reserve price given by the auction house is very high. In the end, more than 200 pieces of his collection were sold for about 132.9 million yuan.
After Zhang Xueliang's death, he left behind a rich family foundation, a large amount of property earned by his ex-wife, and the support of friends, totaling an inheritance of up to 600 million US dollars. Before Zhang Xueliang died, he instructed his son to donate all the assets in his name to Columbia University in the United States, including valuable collections and many precious historical materials.
The decision caused an uproar at the time, with some asking why they didn't leave the legacy to their descendants. Zhang Xueliang said that his children grew up abroad and did not understand Chinese culture at all, and it was a waste to leave these legacies to them, and they did not know how to cherish them.
Zhang Xueliang once said that he was "patriotic", so why not donate these to China? Later, according to Zhao Yidi, because of the "non-resistance policy" back then, he had no shame to see his hometown fathers again, so they finally chose to donate to Columbia University in the United States.
Tang Degang, the director of the university's Chinese library, compiled and published Zhang Xueliang's Oral History, and the university has a special historical research institute that has collected a lot of modern Chinese history documents, which are still very well preserved.
Zhang Xueliang is an important figure in modern Chinese history, and his life is full of legends. When he was young, he set up the "Yi Di Study" at Columbia University, displayed his treasured cultural relics, and inscribed the name of the museum with his own handwriting.
In his later years, he always longed to return to the mainland and admit his mistakes for his fathers and fellow villagers in the Northeast. But due to physical reasons, he was unable to fulfill this wish, and he spent 54 years of his life in solitary confinement, only to be freed at the age of 89.
He was free for the rest of his life, but he could no longer make a difference. Zhang Xueliang once said with emotion: "From 21 to 36 years old, this is my life." His life and merits will be left to future generations to comment.