When we mention the Xi'an Incident, everyone must first think of General Zhang Xueliang, and then think of another person, Yang Hucheng, perhaps because Zhang Xueliang's own reputation is relatively high, so people are the first to think of him. However, we don't know much about Yang Hucheng.
After the Xi'an Incident, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng were severely punished by Chiang Kai-shek. Zhang Xueliang was subsequently detained by Chiang Kai-shek and has been imprisoned ever since. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Xueliang was finally placed under house arrest in Taiwan for more than fifty years. It can be seen that Chiang Kai-shek's punishment of Zhang Xueliang was indeed not light. Zhang Xueliang, after gaining his freedom, told a secret about why Yang Hucheng was killed.
Compared with Zhang Xueliang, Yang Hucheng was also the initiator of the Xi'an incident. After the incident, Chiang Kai-shek cut off his military strength and sent him abroad. Later, when the War of Resistance Against Japan broke out, he insisted on returning to China. After many requests to Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek finally agreed to his return to China. Just as he was preparing to formally participate in the War of Resistance Against Japan, he was suddenly tricked into entering nanchang prison, where he was imprisoned from then until the victory of the Liberation War.
Later Chiang Kai-shek went to Taiwan. He took Zhang Xueliang with him. But Chiang Kai-shek seemed to hate Yang Hucheng even more, and just before Chiang Kai-shek flew to Taiwan, he had Yang Hucheng killed in prison. Since then, the two initiators of the Xi'an incident have only survived, Zhang Xueliang. Why is that?
Chiang Kai-shek's approach makes it difficult for us to understand why he killed Yang Hucheng instead of Zhang Xueliang, who is known as the mastermind. Later, Zhang Xueliang was interviewed by media reporters after gaining freedom of life. According to the secret he revealed, the real cause of the incident is finally known to us. Zhang Xueliang explained in the interview that Yang Hucheng was the real initiator in the Xi'an incident, and he was only the nominal mastermind.
Zhang Xueliang may be modest, but what he says may also be true, but no matter what the situation is, at least one thing can be said that Yang Hucheng's contribution to the Xi'an incident will definitely not be lower than Zhang Xueliang's contribution, and Chiang Kai-shek's nature is clear. Zhang Xueliang was only an "accessory", so he was given a light sentence and at least did not go to prison.
Of course, there are many different theories that Chiang Kai-shek did not kill Zhang Xueliang, some saying that Chiang Kai-shek deliberately released him, others saying that Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek were brothers in hardship and coexistence, and Chiang Kai-shek could not bear to kill him, and some saying that Chiang Kai-shek was under pressure exerted by the Communist Party at home and did not dare to kill Zhang Xueliang. As the real mastermind of the Xi'an Incident, this is also the reason why Yang Hucheng was killed.