Who was the real mastermind of the Xi'an Incident? Yang Hucheng's grandson told the truth
Yang Hucheng was born in Pucheng, Shaanxi Province, and naturally did not belong to Chiang Kai-shek's Zhejiang hometown circle. He was born in the jianghu and did not belong to the Baoding Military Academy circle of Chiang Kai-shek's concubines, the Circle of Japanese Non-Commissioned Officers School, and the Huangpu Military Academy.
In August 1949, in a secret courtyard in the Qilin Cave under Guiyang Qianling Mountain, General Yang Hucheng hunkered down, embraced the young girl, walked to the courtyard in an old manner, and then leaned close to a stone case, slowly put on reading glasses, slowly unfolded the newspaper in his hand, and silently read it. He had been imprisoned by Chiang Kai-shek for 12 years, but he never thought that the claws of evil were reaching out to him...
On September 17, 1949, at the gloomy Dai Mansion in Chongqing (an anti-aircraft villa built by Dai Kasa to curry favor with Chiang Kai-shek), a bloody massacre was underway. Yang Hucheng was ushered into a room by the executioner Zhang Hu, holding the ashes of his mother (Yang Baozhen's young son Yang Zhengzhong was killed in prison in 1947) and stabbed in the waist, Yang Zhengzhong screamed: "Dad! ...", he fell. Yang Hucheng, who turned back sharply, had not yet seen the tragic situation of his younger son's assassination, and he was also stabbed by the executioner's sharp blade, and the father and son fell to the ground at the same time and died. At the same time, Yang Hucheng's young daughter Yang Zhengguo was also brutally killed. Yang Hucheng's secretary Song Qiyun and his wife, their children Song Zhenzhong, aide-de-camp Yan Jiming, and subordinate Zhang Xingmin were also brutally killed. Eight lives, all suddenly collapsed in a pool of blood. At this time, it was only more than twenty days away from the founding of New China. Dawn was in sight, but they were swallowed up by darkness.
76 years have passed since the Xi'an Incident, but there are still many unspecified questions: How much role did Yang Hucheng play in the "Xi'an Incident"? Why did Chiang Kai-shek kill him instead of the young marshal Zhang Xueliang?
In the decades after the "Xi'an Incident", the Zhang and Yang families never met again, and Yang Han, the grandson of Yang Hucheng, held the idea of his father's last wish and went to the United States twice to visit General Zhang. But to his surprise, Zhang Xueliang did not mention anything about the "Xi'an Incident".
In order to solve the mystery, Yang Han spent many years collecting and sorting out a large number of declassified archives and private documents of the parties.
So why did Chiang Kai-shek kill Yang Hucheng, his children and his entourage in such a brutal way?
People naturally think that Yang Hucheng was one of the main initiators of the "Xi'an Incident" that occurred on December 12, 1936. Together with Zhang Xueliang, he imprisoned Chiang Kai-shek in Xi'an on the basis of national righteousness after repeatedly defaming Chiang Kai-shek to stop the civil war and unanimously resist japan without results. He was forced to agree to the "Eight-Point Proposal" with the main content of ending the civil war and jointly resisting Japan. How can Chiang Kai-shek not resent this? He not only believed that Zhang and Yang had "betrayed the party-state," "hijacked the leader," and "rebelled against the great rebellion," but also blamed them for falling over the wall and injuring his waist when he escaped from Huaqingchi. Chiang Kai-shek's murderous will arose at that time, but he was only afraid of public opinion and afraid of retaliating against the notoriety, that he had been hiding until now. At the time of the collapse of the Chiang family dynasty, Chiang Kai-shek personally ordered Mao Renfeng, the head of the military command, to kill Yang Hucheng in Chongqing, which showed how deep the resentment against him was.
When it comes to Yang Hucheng, the topic that cannot be avoided is Zhang Xueliang.
Yang Han, the grandson of Yang Hucheng, recalls two meetings with Zhang Xueliang. Yang Han said that Zhang Yang and Zhang Yang once talked about everything, and when grandpa and Zhang Xueliang met, they often took their father with them. Zhang Xueliang is a joker, but his grandfather is a very serious person, and zhang Xueliang often tells stories to his father. Father Yang Zhengmin has always had a wish to meet his grandfather Yang Hucheng's family friends in his lifetime. In addition, my father was doing united front work at the time and always wanted to find out whether Zhang Xueliang wanted to come back.
After Zhang Xueliang was freed in 1994, Yang Han and his father planned to see Zhang Xueliang in 1996, but his father found out that he was ill before leaving, and planned this matter again in 1998.
Yang Han said that his meeting with Zhang Xueliang was to return his father's wish. On June 1, 1999, In Hawaii, Yang Han met Zhang Xueliang, who was 99 years old, in a church. To Yang Han's surprise, Zhang Xueliang's attitude was cold, and he almost didn't say a word. Both sides just politely said, "I've come to see you." Zhang Xueliang said, "Good, thank you." ”
"At that time, I thought it might be that he was old, and I was doing my best to come, and I didn't want anything." That time, Yang Han still had the opportunity to accompany Zhang Xueliang to take a walk at the beach, but Zhang Xueliang also did not say a word.
In the early morning of December 12, 1936, the gunshots of Lintong in Xi'an opened the curtain on the "Xi'an Incident" that the American writer Snow called "a big jump in the Grand Canyon of history" and a "thrilling drama" in modern Chinese history. Zhang Xueliang, then deputy commander of the Northwest "Suppression General," and Yang Hucheng, commander-in-chief of the Seventeenth Route Army and director of the Xi'an Appeasement Office, led the Northeast Army and the Seventeenth Route Army to detain Chiang Kai-shek, chairman of the Military Commission of the National Government, in the form of "military advice."
The "Xi'an Incident" was jointly launched by Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, but who was the leader of Zhang and Yang seemed to be a very clear question, and even Zhang Xueliang's own answer was vague.
On December 15, 1956, when Zhang Xueliang recalled the "Xi'an Incident" on the orders of Chiang Kai-shek, he recalled: "The change in Xi'an, Yang Hucheng was implicated by Liang, and he was just a foil. In his 1957 article "Telling the World about the Painful Lessons of the Xi'an Incident", he also said: "One of my main partners in Xi'an's 'suppression of bandits' - General Yang Hucheng ... He was very keen on resisting Japan and did not want to 'suppress bandits'. ”
However, in his later years, Zhang Xueliang changed his mouth and said: "The 'Xi'an Incident'... It can be said that he (Yang Hucheng) is the protagonist, but the name is me, I am the protagonist. Of course I am responsible. ”
Yang Han said: "In fact, Yang Hucheng is the protagonist. The idea itself was put forward by Yang Hucheng, and the launch process was all done by Yang Hucheng. ”
Then why was Chiang Kai-shek captured by the Northeast Army?
"The task of capturing Chiang Kai-shek was originally undertaken by the Seventeenth Route Army, but my grandfather handed over this task. Because of this incident, the focus was not on capturing Chiang Kai-shek, and the "Xi'an Incident" was launched by the Seventeenth Route Army and the Northeast Army, but only the final arrangement was made for the Northeast Army to capture Chiang Kai-shek. Yang Han explained.
After the Xi'an Incident, both Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng were placed under house arrest by Chiang Kai-shek, and Yang Hucheng was killed after 12 years of house arrest on the eve of the founding of New China in 1949. Yang Han said, "After being imprisoned, Chiang Kai-shek sent people to persuade him many times, hoping that his grandfather could publicly state that he was deceived in launching the 'Xi'an Incident', hoping that his grandfather would admit his mistake, but his grandfather had always preferred to die unyieldingly." ”
Yang Han said: "The central government has rescued Yang Hucheng twice, once in 1942, and one of the materials I found in the United States was a letter written by the central government to Song Ziwen in the name of my father at that time, hoping to release my father. Another time was in 1946, at the Chongqing CPPCC meeting, the chairman proposed the release of Yang Hucheng, but Chiang Kai-shek vetoed it. Yang Han said that unfortunately, for various reasons, both political rescues failed.