Zhang Zuolin was only 53 years old when he was killed by the Japanese. At that time, this age was definitely not too big or even the time to make a career. Originally, he got along well with the Japanese in the northeast, and did not dare to infringe on the interests of the Japanese in Manchuria.
However, why was Zhang Zuolin, a cautious and cautious person, killed by the Japanese?
Speaking of which, we have to say that Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition, in early June 1928, the Northern Expedition army captured Beijing, which marked the end of the Beiyang warlords and the National Revolutionary Army.
The National Revolutionary Army occupied Beijing, and Zhang Zuolin had to leave Beijing by car, and it was as he was leaving that the special train he was riding exploded at 4 a.m. on June 3.
In this way, Zhang Zuolin, a tyrant of the generation, returned to the west in advance.
In fact, the Japanese have long wanted to assassinate Zhang Zuolin. It should be known that the slogan shouted by the Northern Expeditionary Army was to overthrow imperialism, and the Northern Expeditionary Army fought bravely and broke through, and at that time it rarely encountered opponents who could match them. If they attacked the northeast, the Japanese would certainly not gain much.
In other words, the Japanese were jealous of such a Northern Expeditionary Army. Otherwise, they would not have created the Jinan Massacre and stopped the Advance of the Northern Expeditionary Army.
In the eyes of the Japanese, if they want to completely prevent the Northern Expeditionary Army from attacking Beijing and other vast northern regions, it is necessary for Zhang Zuolin to lead the Northeast Army to meet the battle.
However, Zhang Zuolin was not stupid, he also saw the heroism of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang were both killed by the Northern Expeditionary Army. If Zhang Zuolin had taken the troops, he would not have left the northeast to find death.
Whether he could defeat the Northern Expeditionary Army was difficult to say, but it was not so easy for him to go back after leaving the northeast.
For the Japanese, if Zhang Zuolin led the army out of the northeast, it was a strategy of killing two birds with one stone. These departing troops could not only prevent the Advance of the Northern Expeditionary Army, but also create an empty situation in the northeast, which was more convenient for the Japanese to rule the northeast.
Zhang Zuolin did not know that the Japanese had made a wishful thinking, and he would never be able to leave the northeast, so Japan's plan to use Zhang Zuolin was in vain.
At this time, for the Japanese, keeping Zhang Zuolin is useless, there is no use value, they can find a reason to kill Zhang Zuolin.
If Zhang Zuolin is killed, it is still possible to find new flaws and find a more obedient person to be at their mercy. Therefore, Zhang Zuolin got on a death train.
After Zhang Zuolin's death, the Japanese hoped to create chaos in the northeast. However, this scene did not happen.
In the eyes of the Japanese, at least many people will be interested in the position of King of the Northeast. If everyone fights with each other, or even fights, if there is a request for the Japanese, the Japanese will have new puppets to use.
In fact, at that time, there were two people who were eligible to inherit Zhang Zuolin's position, and the others were still self-aware, one of these two people was his son Zhang Xueliang, and the other was Yang Yuting.
Yang Yuting must be capable, senior, and have a high prestige in the army, and he is also the second in command after Zhang Zuolin, at least in his opinion, he is capable of this job.
In fact, Zhang Xueliang's style at that time was really not very good. However, Zhang Xueliang seems to have more advantages than him, after all, he took over Zhang Zuolin's position, which is considered to be the class of his father.
However, in the end, who can win depends on who the elders sent to vote for, and as a result, they voted for Zhang Xueliang.
There are two reasons for this:
1, Yang Yuting is too fierce, if you let him be the boss, everyone basically has no good fruit to eat. In turn, zhang Xueliang was chosen, and their life was better.
This is the same as the old emperor who died and chose a successor, who would not want to choose a soft persimmon to pinch?
2. The Elder Sect is basically Zhang Zuolin's brother-in-law, and if they can choose Zhang Zuolin's son, of course, they will choose Zhang Zuolin's son.
In this way, the 27-year-old Zhang Xueliang became a "young marshal"!
After he took over from the Northeast Army, the Japanese also came to the mouth and wanted Zhang Xueliang to continue to be their puppet. However, Zhang Xueliang chose to change his post in the northeast and was placed in the National Government.