On December 12, 1936, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng launched the Xi'an Incident in order to promote the national united anti-Japanese front, which was extremely dangerous and fortunately finally resolved peacefully.
Although Chiang Kai-shek was very reactionary, he could not die for China at that time, and if he had an accident, China would immediately become more chaotic, which would only benefit Japan.
The reason why the incident could be resolved peacefully was thanks to Zhang Xueliang's pressure to personally escort Chiang Kai-shek back to Nanjing, and as a result, Zhang Xueliang was immediately placed under house arrest as soon as he arrived in Nanjing, and began a career of 54 years of captivity.
There is a question here, at the beginning of Zhang Xueliang's detention, the Northeast Army still had 5 armies with about 250,000 people, so why did not a single person come to rescue Zhang Xueliang?
This question is actually clear from some of the performance of the Northeast Army after he left.
Zhang Xueliang left a warrant before escorting Chiang Kai-shek: During my visit to Nanjing, the Northeast Army was handed over to Xue Zhong's command, and everything was under the command of Yang Hucheng. Then boarded the plane and never returned.
He also thought that he might not be able to come back, so he made some arrangements, but what he thought was still too simple, if nothing else, how could the Northeast Army obey Yang Hucheng's command? It should be known that the Northeast Army has 250,000 people, while Yang Hucheng's Northwest Army is only 60,000 people, and Yang Hucheng is completely unable to convince the public. What's more, the Northeast Army is basically the private soldier of the Zhang family, and no important figure of the Northeast Army has stepped forward to support Yang Hucheng, and letting Yang Hucheng command is a fantasy.
Yu Xuezhong was the same, his prestige in the Northeast Army was not enough, from 1917 to 1927 a full decade under the direct line of Wu Peifu, until the end of 1927 transferred to the Northeast Army, so the Elder Faction did not buy his account at all. In addition, at that time, Yu Xuezhong was not in Xi'an at all, but in Gansu.
In this way, Zhang Xueliang's arrangement was completely useless.
The news of Zhang Xueliang's detention reached Xi'an, and the Northeast Army immediately went into chaos, and because the dragons were leaderless, no one could decide whether to make peace or war. The Elders faction and the Young Zhuang faction fought the main battle, and a big split came, and each of them began to make plans for their own future.
Liu Duoquan, commander of the Independent 105th Division, Feng Qinzai, commander of the 7th Army, and Miao Liliu, commander of the 57th Army, were sent to the east of Xi'an to prevent the Central Army from attacking west along the Longhai Road via Tongguan; Yu Xuezhong, commander of the 51st Army, and Wang Yizhe, commander of the 67th Army, were preparing for the Lanzhou, Pingliang, and Xianyang highways in Gansu and Luochuan, respectively. The Northwest 17th Route Army also strengthened its defenses northeast of Xi'an
This arrangement seemed solid, but when it was fought, it was fragile. Before the outbreak of the Xi'an Incident, the Central Army was already approaching, Hu Zongnan's troops in Gansu had moved eastward, and Wan Yaohuang's 25th Army had arrived in the Xianyang area, and was in a vague offensive. When Chiang Kai-shek was in Xi'an, the two departments did not dare to act, and as soon as the incident was resolved, the two departments began to act again. Liu Zhi and Gu Zhutong were also appointed commanders of the East and West Road Group Armies, each with 10 divisions under their jurisdiction, approaching Xi'an.
Faced with such a situation, the Northeast Army, which had no commander, had many defections: Wan Fulin, commander of the 53rd Army, not only did not obey Zhang Xueliang's orders, but also detained Huang Xiansheng, a deputy commander who was preparing to lead his troops to control the Longhai Railway; Huang Yong'an, who was stationed in Luoyang, also ceded Luoyang to the Central Army; Feng Qinya, commander of the 7th Army, issued a statement that "one will not be a communist, the second will not support Xiao Zhang, and the third will not fight with the central army", and then give up the defensive area, and the central army can drive in from Tongguanchang.
In this way, the Central Army in the direction of Henan reached the area around Xi'an without firing a single shot, and the Northeast Army also had extremely bad infighting.
The Young Zhuang faction was determined to rescue Zhang Xueliang, and for this reason they did not hesitate to fight a war, while the Elder Faction hoped for a peaceful settlement, and the two sides did not compromise with each other and did not back down.
The main figures of the Elder Faction, Wang Yizhe and He Zhuguo, secretly asked Liu Duoquan and Miao Liliu to withdraw their troops and not confront the Central Army.
Shen Ke, commander of the 106th Division of the Northeast Army, Tan Zixin, commander of the 10th Cavalry Division, and Sun Youren, brigade commander of the 3rd Brigade of the Northwest Army Garrison, even sent a direct telegram to Nanjing to surrender, and the army's morale was scattered beyond measure.
In the end, Sun Mingjiu, Ying Detian, Miao Jianqiu and other young zhuang factions, believing that those elders had betrayed Zhang Xueliang and the Northeast Army, made a radical move, and they sent people to rush into the home of Wang Yizhe, the commander of the 67th Army, and shoot and kill the highly respected elder.
After hearing the news, the 67th Army, which was still stationed at the front, rushed to Xi'an, claiming that it would execute Sun Mingjiu and others, and sacrifice Wang Yizhe in blood.
Seeing that a bloody battle was about to happen, Yang Hucheng, who was still sober, could only compromise with the Central Army, and the Northeast Army and the 17th Route Army accepted the change.
The 51st Army of the Northeast Army was first transferred to Anhui and then to Jiangsu; the 53rd Army was transferred to Hebei; the 57th Army and the Cavalry Army remained in Shaanxi; the 67th Army was transferred to Anhui; and the 105th Division was transferred to Henan.
Moreover, no one with prestige could coordinate the Northeast Army, and under such circumstances, everyone was eating Chiang Kai-shek's meal, and naturally no one risked his life to save Zhang Xueliang.