More than eighty years have passed since the Xi'an Incident, and the two protagonists of the Xi'an Incident, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng: one imprisoned for a long time and one assassinated, have become tragic heroes.
A British journalist Beitland once commented that the biggest winners of the Xi'an incident were the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and the biggest losers were Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng. Judging from this evaluation alone, it is clear that this British man does not understand China's national conditions and Chinese culture, but more from the perspective of Western liberal values, he believes that zhang and Yang's sacrifice is not worth it.
However, those who know Chinese history should remember that at that time, the Chinese nation had reached a situation where it was imminent, and countless people in china demanded resistance, while Chiang Kai-shek still "slapped the table" on Zhang and Yang: Even if I were killed now, I would not stop "suppressing the Communists."
Yang Hucheng
In the Xi'an incident, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng were willing to sacrifice themselves, one is not for money, two is not for fame, three is not for a certain party, but for the future of the Chinese nation, they are the most remarkable patriots, can be called national heroes.
But unfortunately, neither of them had a good ending, especially Yang Hucheng, and the ending was even more tragic. Although Yang Hucheng gained his rightful position and honor on the mainland, in Taiwan, this was still hidden underground, so more than half a century later, in order to justify Yang Hucheng's name, Yang Hucheng's grandson took the initiative to write a letter to the Taiwan authorities, asking to investigate the truth of Yang Hucheng's assassination and at the same time to "rehabilitate Zhaoxue" for General Yang Hucheng.
How did this go about? What was the truth about Yang Hucheng's assassination that year, and how to evaluate his "win or lose"?
Imprisoned, assassinated
In June 1937, he took his wife Xie Baozhen, his second son Yang Chengzhong and his secretary and six people to leave China on an American passenger ship and traveled to the United States, Britain, France, Germany and other countries to publicize the anti-Japanese ideas.
Why did Yang Hucheng go abroad? According to Yang Hucheng's grandson, it was because at that time "his entire army and entire political force were gone, and psychologically speaking, he had great regrets and a great sense of success." For the sake of the country and the nation, this thing has been done, and the goal has been achieved. ”
Obviously, Yang Hucheng's going abroad was not Yang Hucheng's original intention; after the outbreak of the "July 7 Incident," he was extremely anxious abroad, sending telegrams to Chiang Kai-shek many times and asking to return to China to resist Japan, but he was rejected. In desperation, he even contacted the Soviet Union through the Chinese Communist Party, hoping to return home by road from the Soviet Union.
This was a very confidential event, but unexpectedly, the news was later learned by Chiang Kai-shek. At first, Chiang Kai-shek did not want Yang Hucheng to return to China, because he was worried that his return to China would disturb the hearts of the army, and at the same time, he also had his own face psychology, but after this news, he changed his mind and agreed to Yang Hucheng's return to China under Song Ziwen's arrangement.
What Yang Hucheng did not expect was that this was actually a trap plan, the first step was Song Ziwen's power generation, luring Yang Hucheng to "automatically return to China"; the second step was that after Yang Hucheng "automatically returned to China", Song Ziwen personally went to Hong Kong to pick him up, and after being transferred to Nanchang, he was detained by Dai Kasa.
Yang Hucheng was very careful in his work, he knew when he was in Hong Kong that he might have been deceived, but it was too late, and in the hands of Dai Kasa, he was lured to Nanchang, and then secretly arrested on the spot. After that, he was first imprisoned in a villa, and after the Battle of Wuhan in the winter of 1938, he was secretly transferred to Xuantian Cave in Guizhou, where he began a formal long-term captivity.
Xuantian Cave
Here, Yang Hucheng was imprisoned for 8 years, only able to walk around the door during the day, and completely grounded at night, when a platoon of gendarmes and more than 20 agents took turns to guard day and night, and the attention even exceeded Zhang Xueliang.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1945, Yang Hucheng originally expected the joy of victory in the war and could dilute the "resentment" in Chiang Kai-shek's heart, but what he did not expect was that Chiang Kai-shek not only did not intend to release him, but secretly assassinated Luo Shiwen, Che Yaoxian and other CCP members.
After 8 years of detention, ordinary people have long been unable to bear it, and later Yang Hucheng's wife died because of long-term depression, which led to Yang Hucheng's more unattainable freedom, not only began to become emaciated, but also in 1948, he was hospitalized for surgery because of gallstones.
After Li Zongren became president in 1949, he once ordered the release of Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, but what he did not expect was that Yang Hucheng waited for a more brutal assassination plan.
On August 24, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek personally flew from Guangzhou to Chongqing to hold a meeting and decided to kill Yang Hucheng in Chongqing, and the person who carried out this assassination plan was Zhou Yanghao and Xu Yuanju.
At that time, Zhou Yanghao went to Guiyang and deceived Yang Hucheng into saying that Chiang Kai-shek wanted to see him in Chongqing, and although Yang Hucheng did not believe Zhou's words, he still calmly agreed to return to Chongqing, and Mao Renfeng had prepared everything in the Dai Gong Ancestral Hall in Chongqing at this time.
Because Yang Hucheng's son Yang Zhengzhong was already in his twenties, the spies were afraid that he would resist and decided to solve him first, Yang Hucheng was supported by two agents and led to the main room on the left side of the Dai Gong Ancestral Hall, while Yang Zhengzhong was led to the right main room.
When Yang Zhengzhong had just stepped into the threshold, the agent who was ambushed behind the door inserted a sharp blade into his chest, and he cried out "Dad" in pain and fell to the ground. Yang Hucheng heard the cry and wanted to look back, but the spies' knives had already stabbed into his abdomen, followed by a flurry of chaotic knives, which did not allow him to resist in any way. Soon, he too fell.
At the same time, Yang Hucheng's daughter and Yang Hucheng's secretary, Song Qiyun's family, were also brutally killed by the agents, and their luggage was also divided among the agents.
As a child, Yang Zhengzhong was imprisoned at the age of 6 and killed with his father at the age of 18
On September 6, Yang Hucheng and his secretary, two families of eight, were assassinated in Chongqing, and on September 27, Chiang Kai-shek rewarded Mao Renfeng and Wu Yuexiang in Taiwan with 11,000 oceans each, for their merits in handling mainland affairs, and this does not include this "merit" of assassinating Yang Hucheng.
Afterwards, the record of Yang Hucheng's assassination in the history of the Kuomintang party is very simple, but it only expresses regret and says that he was killed by bandits on the way to the transfer. For such a evasion of the truth, Yang Hucheng's grandson, decades later, was determined to try to get justice for his grandfather.
Yang Han, grandson of Yang Hucheng
"Lien Chan, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang: Yang Hucheng, my grandfather, a member of the Kuomintang of China, who believed in the Three People's Principles all his life..... In 1936, due to the national difficulties and the peril of the nation, he opposed the central government's policy of 'foreign countries must first be safe inside', he and General Zhang Xueliang launched the 'Xi'an Military Advice', ending the 10-year-long kuomintang-communist civil war, promoting the second cooperation between the two parties, and laying the foundation for the unity of the whole country to resist the war...."
"In September 1949, Yang Hucheng was secretly killed in Chongqing, along with 8 children, guards, and secretaries, who suffered a total of 8 people. A patriotic and suffering soul, now is the time to return to the team. Please listen to the sigh that hovers between the beams and pillars of the party hall, which is the echo of the cry of 'peace, struggle, save China'. You should rehabilitate Comrade Yang Hucheng. ”
This is what Yang Hucheng's grandson, Yang Han, wrote in a letter written in 2005 to Lien Chan, then chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang, and a similar letter, which he also wrote in 2006, was replaced by the new chairman Ma Ying-jeou, imploring him: "I hope that you will stand on the standpoint of the country and the nation and use the boldness of a politician in the 21st century to promote the rehabilitation of General Yang Hucheng." ”
But the fact is that after the two letters were sent, Lian Zhan and Ma Ying-jeou did not give any reply, but Yang Han learned from Shao Minghuang, director of the Kuomintang Party History Museum in Taiwan, that Ma Ying-jeou had raised two questions about this: First, why did Yang Hucheng suddenly return to China when he visited Europe? Is there a clear record in the collection archives? In 1949, did Chiang Kai-shek order the killing of Yang Hucheng? He also asked Shao Minghuang to consult the relevant archives at the Kuomintang Party History Museum in Taiwan.
Ma Ying-jeou's reaction made Yang Han feel very pleased, at least it showed that he had taken action. Although his two questions cannot be found in the currently public archives, in Yang Han's view, the answer is beyond doubt.
First of all, Chiang Kai-shek hated Yang Hucheng very much, and in the discussion of Chiang Kai-shek's release, Yang Hucheng and Zhang Xueliang were different, the former advocating conditional release, because Yang Hucheng did not trust Chiang Kai-shek and was worried that he would rebel. Second, after Yang Hucheng was arrested, Chiang Kai-shek paid great attention to him, and Dai Kasa sent a separate telegram to Chiang Kai-shek reporting Yang Hucheng's performance during his detention, and even how many degrees Yang Hucheng had a fever would be written.
Therefore, Yang Han believes that Chiang Kai-shek will inevitably personally intervene in how to deal with such a figure, and Dai Kasa should also report yang Hucheng's movements and the results of Yang Hucheng's treatment very carefully, but strangely, in the public archives, there is no similar detailed record, Yang Han believes that this is very abnormal.
Third, after Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Taiwan, the Taiwan authorities had a strange propaganda tone about the killing of Yang Hucheng, initially saying that he was assassinated by bandits, but in fact on September 6, the People's Liberation Army had not yet invaded Sichuan, and there was no possibility of social unrest or a great retreat, and later changed his tone, saying that he was killed by the people below, but in fact, the people below had no obvious motive for Yang Hucheng's killing, and even if he was assassinated by the people below, it should not be without records.
Therefore, Yang Han believes that these claims of the Kuomintang are untenable, and he believes that the truth is that Chiang Kai-shek ordered Mao Renfeng to secretly kill Yang Hucheng, and if all the archives in Taiwan are opened, the relevant text should be found.
Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng
But the reality disappointed him, he said: Now the Leadership of the Taiwan side has not yet recognized this fact, "The main thing is the question of whether to dare or not, the facts are very clear, there is a 'Supervisor Yang Scroll' in the Military Intelligence Bureau file of the Taiwan National History Museum, there is a 'Supervisor Yang Scroll', there is a 'Supervisor Zhang Scroll', there must be these situations in it, Mao Renfeng killed Yang, absolutely will not report this matter orally." Not only the text, but also the photos, because the killing of huang Xiansheng has taken pictures. ”
Yang Han had not read these two files, but he insisted, "The Dai Kasa instructions written on the documents that are now taken out are included in the 'Prison Yang Scrolls', so there must be a case against Yang, not without them." ”
However, lian Zhan and Ma Yingjiu took a cold approach to Yang Han's two letters and his claims, and as for the reason, Yang Han believed that it was: "If this is done (rehabilitation), it is a denial of Chiang Kai-shek." So later, Yang Han could only choose to give up and not hold out any hope. At least Yang Hucheng was on the mainland and got the honor he deserved.
Where Yang Hucheng was killed
Yang Hucheng's "Losing" and "Winning"
After the Xi'an Incident, Yang Hucheng was first imprisoned for 12 years, and then brutally killed by agents with his secretary and 8 other people, not only that, after the Xi'an Incident, his troops were also forced to accept Chiang Kai-shek's reorganization, which was very difficult for soldiers to accept.
Judging from this result alone, Yang Hucheng personally seems to have "lost", not only losing his original position, but also losing his life, and even his own family can not die well.
However, at the cost of this, their outstanding contributions to the country and the nation should not be forgotten by each of our descendants. He exchanged his "loss" for the "win" of the country and the nation.
Premier Zhou Enlai once said that General Yang Hucheng is a "hero of the Chinese nation through the ages." The Xi'an Incident was the pinnacle of General Yang Hucheng's life's work and a glorious chapter he and General Zhang Xueliang wrote for the Chinese nation.
Throughout Yang Hucheng's life, there has always been a belief that supported him, when he was young, he opposed the dark rule of the Manchu Qing, then followed Sun Yat-sen's Three People's Principles, opposed the Beiyang warlords, then sympathized with the Communists, opposed Chiang Kai-shek's resistance to Japan, and finally launched the Xi'an Incident.
In Yang Hucheng's own words, he can keep up with the "trend" of the times. So, what exactly is a trend? At least at that time, it was the national belief of patriotism and love for the people. The word "faith" seems very distant to some people today, but at that time, it was the universal support of the vast majority of people in society.