In modern history, the 9/18 Incident is an eternal pain in the hearts of Chinese.
Due to Zhang Xueliang's misjudgment, he ordered the Northeast Army not to resist, so that the Japanese army drove straight in, which eventually led to the northeast land falling into the hands of the Japanese Kou, which made people sigh!
For a long time, there has been a view that the reason why the Japanese dared to launch the 918 Incident was because they had studied Zhang Xueliang thoroughly and were sure that he would not resist, and if Zhang Zuolin was still alive, the Japanese would certainly not be so arrogant.
Indeed, compared with Zhang Xueliang, who has been pampered since childhood, Zhang Zuolin is stronger in both personality and ability, and he does not give in to the Japanese.
For example, as early as the Northern Expedition, the Northeast Army was ineffective in combat, zhang Xueliang persuaded his father to withdraw his army, saying that the Japanese would like us to fight with the south, and when we were crippled, the Japanese would send troops to fight us.
But Zhang Zuolin didn't care, patted the table and said, I have 300,000 Northeast Army, are you still afraid of his more than 10,000 little devils? If they dare to make trouble, I can clean them up in three days!"
This is Zhang Zuolin's domineering spirit, which Zhang Xueliang cannot compare.
So, we can extend another topic: if Zhang Zuolin had not been killed in Huanggutun, wouldn't the situation in the northeast, and even in China, be better?
In Zhang Zuolin's time, the Northern Expedition War was already in full swing, the Nanjing government had ruled most of China, but only the Feng clan in the northeast had always been a difficult bone to gnaw, and although Zhang Zuolin had lost several times to the Northern Expeditionary Army, there was Shanhaiguan as a barrier, and the Northern Expeditionary Army was helpless against Zhang Zuolin.
Zhang Zuolin is a typical grass-fed warlord who attaches great importance to power, and even clearly stated his attitude: Do you want unification? Yes, but I have to be the Fuehrer!
This attitude is undoubtedly unacceptable to the Nanjing government, and it has also caused a confrontation between the northeast and the south.
The most serious consequence of this confrontation is that it is vulnerable to interference by foreigners, especially Japan, which has always been eyeing Tohoku.
Zhang Zuolin also knew that it was impossible to oppose the powerful Nanjing government by relying on only one northeast, so during the Northern Expedition, Zhang Zuolin repeatedly sold many interests such as railway rights and mining rights in the northeast to the Japanese in exchange for Japan's economic and military support for the northeast. Moreover, Zhang Zuolin also introduced a large number of Japanese capital into all aspects of the northeast to compete with the Nanjing government.
Although Zhang Zuolin did many measures to strengthen his absolute leadership over the northeast region, it did not prevent the Japanese from infiltrating all aspects of the northeast region, and the reason why Zhang Zuolin was killed in his own territory was because of the Japanese penetration power in the northeast.
Therefore, even if Zhang Zuolin was not killed, the northeast land would continue to be encroached upon by the Japanese, thus making China's reunification more difficult.
Although Zhang Zuolin has a strong personality and is wary of the Japanese step by step, it is actually difficult to call an opponent in the deliberate contest with the Japanese.
This is from the perspective of the overall situation, so from the perspective of the northeast, if Zhang Zuolin continues to rule, what are the advantages and disadvantages?
Zhang Zuolin was born into an ordinary family, initially as an armed organization to protect the villagers from bandits, and later because the bandits were suppressed too much, he was promoted by the imperial court and became an official.
Zhang Zuolin has a mysterious yearning for power, in order to seize power, you can do whatever it takes, you don't care about anything, for example, in the Russo-Japanese War, in order to obtain the greatest benefits, Zhang Zuolin first helped the Russians, and then helped the Japanese, anyway, who is good for me, I will follow whom, completely no matter who you are right and who is wrong.
During the period of Zhang Zuolin's rule, the northeast actually did not achieve substantial development, and economically, Zhang Zuolin not only changed the salt tax projects originally associated with the central government to autonomy, further severed the ties with the central government, but also introduced a large number of foreign capital, especially Japanese capital, and stationed a large number of them in the northeast, so that the economic control of the northeast region was gradually infiltrated by foreign capital.
Militarily, Yang Yuting bluntly said that Zhang Zuolin was a politician, not a military man. Although Zhang Zuolin made his fortune by military affairs, he did not have much military thinking, or the traditional reckless thinking, blindly expanding the army, believing that many people were powerful, and most of the generals under him were reckless figures, and even many people had become bandits.
Zhang Zuolin had gone south many times to fight against the warlords of his immediate lineage and the National Revolutionary Army, and at this time, the gap in his reckless thinking was reflected, although there were many people, but he still could not defeat a group of young people trained by the Whampoa Military Academy, and repeatedly lost battles.
In short, Zhang Zuolin is not a leader of great talent and greatness, but more like a tyrant in a chaotic world, desperate for power, even disregarding the interests of the people of the northeast, and even disregarding the interests of the people of the whole country.
Therefore, under the rule of Zhang Zuolin, the people in the northeast were not happy at all, but later the northeast fell into the clutches of the Japanese Kou, and people would miss Zhang Zuolin when compared with each other, and imagined a lot of benefits during Zhang Zuolin's reign.
Therefore, Zhang Zuolin is a figure who has been glorified by today's people, in fact, like most warlords at that time, he did not have much ability to govern the country at all, and the northeast was not a "fortunate thing" under his rule, even if there was no Huanggutun incident, the Japanese would not stop encroaching on the footsteps of the northeast, but it was only sooner or later.
(References: "Zhang Zuolin," "Zhang Xueliang's Oral History," "Literature and History Expo," "Qilu Evening News")