The debate between the old marshal Zhang Zuolin and the young marshal Zhang Xueliang about "lao tzu and son who is better" has always been talked about, and most of them believe that Zhang Xueliang is far inferior to his father Zhang Zuolin, and it is precisely because of his "non-resistance policy" that the northeast has fallen, and in terms of political wisdom, it is not as good as his father Lao Spicy, let's talk about these two people.
Want to discuss Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Xueliang, Yang Yuting and Guo Songling are two indispensable figures, and these two have almost become a true portrayal of Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Xueliang's personal preferences, one is a well-deserved political master, and the other is a promising young man who innovates the Army.
Yang Yuting's origins have a lot to do with Zhang Zuolin's personality, Zhang Zuolin's military ability is average, but he is good at sophistication and playing politics, Yang Yuting is also exactly this kind of person, so he quickly grew into a hot core figure in the Fengjun, and quickly formed a Japanese "non-commissioned officer faction" faction with him as the core, in fact, has become the second number two figure of the Fengzhi warlord, if we bring him into the modern national defense system, Yang Yuting is a figure similar to the White House chief of staff and strategic planning bureau. At the same time, it can be responsible for the construction of military equipment.
Guo Songling used to follow Dr. Sun Yat-sen to participate in the Dharma Protection Movement in his early years, after the failure of the Dharma Protection Movement, after being introduced by his classmates to join the Fengtian Eastern Three Provinces Army Lecture Hall, when the young marshal Zhang Xueliang was one of his students, which also became the biggest turning point in his life, he also became the core figure of the Fengzhi warlord "Lu Da Sect", and Yang Yuting, Guo Songling's personality with a little natural idealism, which is very similar to Zhang Xueliang, disdainful of playing with people's political, military ability is outstanding, He is one of the few commanders in the Fengzhi department who can win battles and fight fiercely, and he has a very good set of rules for governing the army and reorganizing the army, and can be a military commander very well, Zhang Xueliang once said: "I am Maochen, and Maochen is me." Properly enshrined as the core figure of the second generation of warlords.
In the Fengjun at that time, in addition to the "Lu Da Faction" and the "Non-Commissioned Officer Faction", there was also an old school, with Zhang Zuoxiang as the core, but the military ability was sparse and enjoyable. However, the contradiction between the Luda faction and the non-commissioned officer faction is actually the reaction of Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Xueliang, two new and old generations; Yang Yuting has formed gangs and factions, drilled into the hearts of the people, and advocated Zhang Zuolin's development toward the Central Plains; Guo Songling was jealous and hateful, narrow-minded, advocated the development of the northeast, and the elite troops were strong, and the two sides did not compromise with each other, and there was no tolerance for water and fire.
When Zhang Zuolin was alive, Yang Yuting was in great power, and the military was subordinated to political needs, although Guo Songling was supported by the young marshal Zhang Xueliang, he was obviously inferior to Yang Yuting and became the actual implementer of Yang Yuting's policy, and these military decisions to attack the Central Plains, Guo Songling was unwilling to obey, which was also an important reason for Guo Songling's later rebellion.
The reasons for the failure can be summarized into two points, one is the infighting between Feng Yuxiang and Li Jinglin, and the other is that after Japan did not succeed in co-opting Guo Songling, it turned to signing a secret treaty with Zhang Zuolin, and it was this secret treaty that led to Guo Songling's failure and Zhang Zuolin's future death.
With Zhang Zuolin's death, although Yang Yuting's actual position was not high, he formed a strong centripetal force, posing a serious threat to Zhang Xueliang, Zhang Xueliang was treated as a child by him, despised to the extreme, opposed Zhang Xueliang's various decisions and the Northeast Yizhi, the lord was less suspicious, coupled with the Japanese use Tokugawa Ieyasu allusions to provoke the relationship between the two, the intolerable Zhang Xueliang was determined to kill Yang Yuting Liwei, which is what we often say "Yang often goes".
In fact, Yang Yuting and Guo Songling are basically the embodiment of Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Xueliang, and the contradiction between the two is also the contradiction between Zhang Zuolin's father and son, as an authentic patriotic youth, Zhang Xueliang's view of the nation and the country is completely different from his father, Zhang Zuolin is more inclined to regard himself as the supreme ruler of a country, similar to the emperor, based on this, he reuses Yang Yuting, because Yang Yuting caters well to his goals.
What is the emperor, the imperial authority is all in the hands of one person, judging every step of the decision by his own likes and dislikes and losses, so that politics has become a flexible means, so Zhang Zuolin and the Japanese maintain a rather ambiguous and extremely dangerous relationship, this relationship can be symbiotic in the absence of major changes, but once a major problem occurs, it will become a hot potato, so Zhang Zuolin's bandit style, capricious, swinging between the forces of all sides to seek the maximization of self-interest.
However, Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling are very similar, with a strong sense of the state, but also full of idealism, he has no interest in playing with people's political tricks, when Zhang Zuolin was killed, Zhang Xueliang quickly made a decision to change the northeast and promote the reunification of the country, but an idealized person, there will always be some rigidity, unwilling to compromise, which is undoubtedly painful for a dual commander of politics and military.
After the deaths of Guo Songling and Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Xueliang was devastated and also contracted the habit of drug addiction, and Yang Yuting, who was facing his face, shouted five or six drinks around him all day, which made him extremely bored, in his heart, all political means should serve the country and jointly resist the ultimate goal of Japan, but Yang Yuting's old handsome style was incompatible with this goal and was eventually killed.
For Zhang Zuolin's evaluation, Zhang Xueliang once said that his father was: "There are heroes, no big plans." This point is a perfect fit for the life of Zhang Zuolin, who did not find a way out for the northeast and the country, but only sought an emperor of the mountain king, and the starting point of all his governance and war originated from this. However, Zhang Xueliang's starting point was not so, which was also the reason why he had the highest official position, the strongest strength and the worst fate among all the warlords, and he was able to abandon his personal selfish thoughts very well and put his starting point on the fate of the country, which was undoubtedly naïve and idealistic for Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang and others who were still in the warlord faction at that time, but in fact it was the most noble.
However, Zhang Xueliang's questionable "policy of non-resistance" has become his eternal pain, and it has also become a clarion call for the fall of the three northeastern provinces, which has also caused many people to have a considerable misreading of history, that is, if Yang Yuting is not killed, the northeast will not fall, at least not so quickly. Similar arguments can also be seen that if the Qing Dynasty did not kill and burn, the Qing Dynasty would not decline so quickly. Here, many people make a typical common sense mistake of overestimating personal ability, ignoring the influence of the general environment and grand strategy, and not comprehensively considering the reasons why Japan launched the 918 Incident, but only a one-sided interpretation of watching too many palace fight dramas and the art of people's hearts and minds.
First of all, the fundamental reason for Japan's acceleration of the war process is not entirely Zhang Xueliang's coming to power and becoming increasingly tough on Japan; in large part, it has encountered a serious economic crisis at home.
In 1927, before the "Great Depression era", the financial crisis in Japan led to political turmoil in Japan, the rise of militarism, and the cabinet of Yoshiichi Tanaka, who came to power.
In 1928, his father Zhang Zuolin was attacked in Huanggutun and sent back to the official residence in Shenyang for his life. At that time, Zhang Xueliang, a 27-year-old young marshal, became the successor of the Fengzhi warlords.
The controversy between the magnates has always been the focus of historians' talks, and in ancient times there were disputes between foreign relatives and imperial power, military power and imperial power, phase power and imperial power. Zhang Xueliang's great cause of warlords inherited from his father naturally inevitably suffered this fate.
Like most of the disputes over power and imperial power in history, Zhang Xueliang eliminated Yang Yuting and Chang Yinhuai, and cleared the way to consolidate his rule.
If It is said that when Yang Yuting was alive, he was still willing to argue with Japan in diplomatic and military terms. Zhang Xueliang, who was flesh and blood, had a self-evident dislike of Japan, and holding high the banner of the Northeast Yi Banner and walking with the National Government in Nanjing completely dispelled the illusions that the Japanese held in Zhang Xueliang.
Historically, whether this order of non-resistance has been issued in explicit form or not, there is no historical record to check. All that can be determined is that both Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek bear certain responsibilities.
There is no doubt that Chiang Kai-shek adopted a policy of passive resistance against Japan. When the September 18 Incident occurred, he was busy killing the Red Army, while Zhang Xueliang was recuperating and watching dramas in Beiping.
Regarding the Japanese attack, Rong Zhen, chief of staff of the Northeast Army who had instructed Zhang Xueliang, issued the following order: "No resistance, no movement, put the gun in the storeroom, stand up to death, everyone admits, sacrifice for the country." ”
The true colors of the state of etiquette are revealed.
According to Zhang Xueliang's recollection, he was in a state of confusion when he watched the drama and received orders from the Japanese army to attack the Northeast Army. Both in terms of strength and hope, he hoped that this was just a false intelligence.
It is also normal to have this kind of thinking. When an eight-year-old child stands in front of an adult man who has practiced fighting, he naturally fantasizes that the other party has found the wrong person.
In the highly restored historical TV series "Young Marshal", Guo Songling has a practical evaluation of Zhang Xueliang: "It is still the same stupid, but there are smart and stupid points." Zhang Xueliang is the smart one.
As a young man with a new education, the concept of sovereignty (which was Chinese not available before the Republic of China) was naturally much stronger than that of his father. So, he hurriedly brought the strongest warlord force to a unified family, fantasizing about resisting Japan's operations in the northeast with the strength of the whole country.
However, at that time, China's strength was too weak, the whole country could not resist the pace of the Japanese army's attack, and there were almost no warlords who had undergone formal training and the baptism of real war, let alone resist.
Chiang Kai-shek understood this, and Zhang Xueliang also understood. The two sides more like a tacit understanding reached a consensus: "passive resistance".
In my opinion, Zhang Xueliang's reluctance to engage in direct conflict with Japan was one of the most important reasons for preserving the strength of the Northeast Army.
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Kuomintang was always in a state of fragmentation and was never monolithic. From Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi's Gui clan, Yan Xishan's Jin clan, Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army, the Nationalist Government's Central Army, and various local armies, various factions fought each other for power and profit.
Retaining the strength of the Northeast Army is equivalent to ensuring that it has become the second person in the National Government.
Despite his many immaturity and selfishness, Zhang Xueliang has made outstanding contributions to China. Among all the factions, Zhang Xueliang always maintained the importance of national interests and sovereignty, abandoning factional struggles, and was a rare ideologically progressive youth (perhaps naïve in the eyes of other warlords).
Many people say that without Yang Yuting's Zhang Xueliang, he cut off his arm, otherwise there would be no tragedy of the 918 incident. This is a very brainless thought.
What Yang Yuting seeks is to ensure that the northeast is self-reliant and more in selfish desires.
At this point, Yang Yuting first of all did not have the general pattern that Zhang Xueliang had (national interests were important), and more importantly, the complex geographical situation and environment of the northeast, and it was impossible to achieve the northeast to maintain self-reliance. The fate of the people of the Northeast and the Northeast Army is only afraid that it will be even worse.
When we consider the Tohoku issue, we should not only limit ourselves to the domestic situation at that time, but also refer to the situation in Japan and the world. From this point of view, since war is inevitable, the fate of Northeast China has long been doomed, but it is only a matter of time sooner or later.
At that time, Tohoku is probably facing real internal and external troubles (the abandonment of the Nationalist government and the all-out resistance of Japan).
Flawed, Zhang Xueliang always kept the national interests in mind, although there was immaturity, but through the launch of the Xi'an Incident, he promoted the second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. As a result, he fell under lifelong house arrest.
In general, Zhang Zuolin is just a warlord commander who plays with power, and Zhang Xueliang is a patriotic young man with a pure heart.