Zhang Zuolin (19 March 1875 – 4 June 1928), courtesy name Yuting, was a Han Chinese from Majiafang Village, Haicheng County, Fengtian Province . Father of the famous patriotic general Zhang Xueliang. Zhang Zuolin's milk name is old knotty, and he likes to be called "Zhang Dashuai".
Zhang Zuolin was born into a poor peasant family since childhood, participated in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, and then threw himself into the green forest, and his power grew, and the Qing government was unable to recruit and suppress it, so he recruited him. Zhang Zuolin assisted the Qing court in suppressing the bandit forces of Du Lisan and other bandits, and later eliminated the Mongolian plague, maintained the unity of the country, and gradually promoted, successively serving as the overseer of Fengtian and the inspector of the three eastern provinces, known as the "King of the Northeast", and became the leader of the Beiyang Army. The Army Consolidation Office of the Three Eastern Provinces was established.[1] Formed an alliance with Sun Yat-sen, Duan Qirui and Lu Yongxiang[1]. After the victory of the Second Zhifeng War, Zhang Zuolin entered Beijing and served as a grand marshal of the army and navy, exercising his ruling power on behalf of the Republic of China, and becoming the supreme ruler of the country.[2] During his reign, he repeatedly resisted the japanese and refused to sign a traitorous treaty. In 1928, due to the unfavorable war on the front line, Zhang Zuolin was forced to return to the northeast.
On June 4, 1928, Zhang Zuolin was seriously injured by a train by dynamite buried by the Japanese Kwantung Army, known in history as the Huanggutun Incident, and died after returning to the official residence in Shenyang on the same day.
Positive comments about him
As the leader of the important areas of Tongzhen, Zhang's political and military talents are worthy of recognition. He is known as the "Tyrant of the Troubled World". Although Su Ri regarded Zhang Zuolin as a thorn in his eye, he also had to sigh that Zhang was an "insurmountable little man".
Zhang Xueliang commented on his father: there is a great talent, no general plan.
Sun Yat-sen said: "Yuting (Zhang Zuolin) has governed the three eastern provinces very well, but there are External Constraints from Japan, and the situation is also very difficult. If the country is unified and a revolutionary central government is established, local affairs will be much easier to manage. ”
Negative comments about him
As a warlord, Zhang Zuolin repeatedly launched wars, not hesitating to borrow from Japan and other countries and withholding national tax revenues such as salt taxes for war. Moreover, Zhang Zuolin's troops were disciplined and disciplined, and there was often a phenomenon of looting, and the war brought profound suffering to the local people.
Suppression of Democracy: Zhang Zuolin was more conservative in his thinking, and on several occasions opposed democracy, slaughtered revolutionaries, and opposed the Communist Party, arresting and executing Li Dazhao and other Communists.
Wooing Japan: Zhang Zuolin was kind to Japan, especially in the early days, and hired a large number of Japanese military personnel. However, later Zhang Zuolin's general trend was gone, the Kuomintang was about to be unified, and at that time it still controlled the northeast and was not willing to be controlled by Japan, and Japan was planning to invade northeast China, and Zhang's firm rule in the northeast became an obstacle to Japan's invasion of China.
What happens if Zhang Dashuai doesn't die?
1. Zhang Zuolin is a generation of tyrants who started as bandits. Relying on various "conspiracies" and "Yang conspiracies", Zhang Zuolin became a veritable "King of northeast China" for more than ten years, and later became the "Grand Marshal" of the Republic of China. Eventually, Zhang Zuolin died in a Japanese conspiracy. If Zhang Zuolin did not die, the history of the Republic of China would be written in a different way.
2. As we all know, Japan can easily occupy the northeast, and Zhang Xueliang does not resist. Six years after the "918 Incident", the Japanese used the northeast as a "rear base" to invade China in an all-round way. If Zhang Zuolin does not die, he will never fail to resist, not that Zhang Zuolin has a kind of "patriotic spirit", but that the situation forces Zhang Zuolin to resist with all his might.
3. The warlords are divided, and the northeast is Zhang Zuolin's territory. For example, Zhang Zuolin is a "bandit" and the northeast is a "bandit's den". Bandits will never give way to predators when the "bandit den" is invaded by other robbers. If you don't let it, there will be a desperate bloody fight. The Northeast Army has hundreds of thousands. Many of the leaders of the Northeast Army are bandits who can fight and kill. If, at the time of the initial Japanese invasion, the Northeast Army could resist the invading Japanese army with the same full strength as the later Nineteenth Route Army and the Twenty-ninth Army, Japan would probably retreat in spite of the difficulties. This dispelled the intention to invade China.
4. If Zhang Zuolin had not died, Chiang Kai-shek would not have become the "Supreme Leader" of "dictatorial" China for decades. The dragons are leaderless. Chiang Kai-shek relied on various "conspiracy tricks" to co-opt, bribe, and suppress other warlords. In the end, Chiang Kai-shek, who defeated other warlords and crushed Wang Jingwei, became the "supreme leader" . Chiang Kai-shek absolutely could not defeat Zhang Zuolin, who was born as a bandit from the "King of northeast China," and as long as he could not defeat Zhang Zuolin, Chiang Kai-shek would not become the "supreme leader of the Republic of China." Even if Chiang Kai-shek becomes the "supreme leader" by chance, he must not dictate China for a long time.
5. In history, there was the "Great War of Chiang Feng-Yan Zhongyuan", and at a critical juncture, Chiang Kai-shek drew Zhang Xueliang in, and Zhang Xueliang sent troops to help Chiang. As a result, Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan failed. If it were zhang Zuolin instead, not only would he not send troops to help Jiang, but on the contrary, he would "take advantage of the fire and loot" and copy Jiang's back road and cause him to die. In addition to Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan's anti-Chiang Kai-shek, there were also "Gui" Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi anti-Chiang, "Guangdong Army Leader" Chen Jitang anti-Chiang, Li Jishen, Cai Tingkai, and others who opposed Chiang Kai-shek. If Zhang Zuolin does not die, with Zhang Zuolin's strength and cunning, Chiang Kai-shek's decades of "dictatorship" of China's history will certainly be rewritten.
In general, the idea of the marshal is too old, and he only cares about acid and the interests of the northeast. It is not good for national unification. And he will weigh it up, which is good for the status and security of the northeast. Therefore, no matter how it is said, merit is right or wrong, only the person who dominates the country writes the history book. Therefore, the marshal is suitable for development in the warlord melee, but the marshal will never betray the people for the sake of profit, which is very powerful!