Ninety-two years have passed since the 918 incident, and I think about the cause of the incident in that year, some of them are attributed to Chiang Kai-shek's non-resistance, and some are said that Zhang Xueliang did not resist.
When talking about the 918 incident, many people will ignore the international and domestic environment at that time.
In terms of the international environment, at that time, the world had just experienced the 1929 global economic crisis, most of the countries' economic depression is difficult to revive, Japan, as a small projectile country, it is difficult to recover the economy by local economic policy changes, then the most convenient and efficient way is to rely on military force to invade foreign territories to obtain resources, because starting a war can not only restore the economy (the country has the demand for weapons and equipment production), but also solve the unemployment problem (relying on conscription), but also through a planned economic form (that is, militaristic planned economy, The military allocates and coordinates resources) to solve the problem of unemployed or unemployed people, and can also transfer domestic contradictions, which is simply a lot, and the fat meat of the northeast black soil is naturally Japan's first choice. At the same time, a few years before the economic crisis, there was the so-called "Tanaka Twist" (truth aside, at least the Japanese leadership at that time already had basic ideas on how to invade China and dismember China), the first step of invading China was to invade and occupy Northeast China, and also put into action, sending a large number of spies and researchers to Northeast China. Therefore, on the whole, Japan's invasion of Northeast China was a premeditated and planned step, and the economic crisis accelerated the pace of encroachment.
Domestically, the "Northeast Army" is actually not just the army of the "Northeast", Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Xueliang father and son through several wars, the heyday of the sphere of influence even reached Shanghai and Zhejiang, the Northeast Army is no longer limited to the defense of the northeast. In the two Zhifeng Wars, Guo Songling, Shi Yousan and others rebelled, and the Central Plains War broke out, and the center of gravity of the Northeast Army gradually shifted from outside the Guanwai to the Guan. When the 918 incident broke out, the 130,000 elite troops of the Northeast Army were stationed in Guanxi, and 130,000 troops were stationed in various parts of Northeast China (comprehensive inquiry I believe in this number, excluding irregular troops, the combat effectiveness of regular main forces is not enough to resist, irregular troops do not need to be discussed), so there are not many garrison troops in Shenyang (according to the data, Shenyang's regular troops have about two brigades of less than 20,000 people, including the independent 7th brigade Wang Yizhebu, the public security corps (adapted from the original 20th Division) Huang Xiansheng, and the naval and air force headquarters, The main force that really participated in the battle was Wang Yizhebu of the Independent 7th Brigade, and the other parts were scattered throughout the northeast). At the time of the 918 incident, the Japanese side was very accurate in its military targeting, mainly to invade and occupy Shenyang.
Judging from the map, Shenyang is very close to North Korea, and before the incident, Japan had already stationed troops on the border, and other troops were along the railway, and then invading Shenyang was equivalent to encroaching on the main communication routes connecting the customs and outside the customs, and then invading Heilongjiang and Shenyang was only a matter of time. Judging from the deployment of the Northeast Army, it happened that the Shenyang garrison was weak, and other units were scattered in various parts of the Northeast, making it difficult to gather in a short time. The army invaded by Japan belongs to the A division, which was the main force of the Japanese army during the Anti-Japanese War, and can still win in the case of 5:1 between China and Japan, and Shenyang has only a garrison military force of less than 20,000 people, even if it resists with all its strength, it is difficult to win, not to mention that the army has received an order not to resist.
Therefore, from the perspective of domestic and foreign countries and military defense parties, once Japan makes up its mind to invade and occupy the northeast, the loss of the northeast is a foregone conclusion, so what is the reason for this situation?
Mainly the human factor. The first is that the northeast is not a military center of gravity, let alone a defensive focus, because after the Northeast Army changed its course, the Kuomintang military center was encircling and suppressing the communist army, and in 1927, Chiang Kai-shek went to Japan to reach a so-called "reconciliation", recognizing Japan's special rights and interests in the northeast, so the northeast was not a military center of gravity; Moreover, there are strategic mistakes, since the Northeast Army entered the customs, the focus has gradually been placed in the Guan (Zhang Gongzi's life in Beiping is indeed colorful, lingering on the life of Beiping), most of the elite troops enter the customs to garrison or participate in the war, not to mention the few troops in the northeast, there is no center of gravity for defense, and the garrison is scattered everywhere, which also shows the strategic defense mistakes of the Northeast Army; The main thing is the lack of judgment of the commander-in-chief.
Speaking of this, a reporter once interviewed Zhang Xueliang about the 918 issue, Zhang Xueliang believes that it is a mistake in his judgment, it is his own "non-resistance order", Zhang Xueliang believes that just after the economic crisis in Japan, Japan has no time to take care of itself, and there is the influence of the League of Nations, Britain and the United States and other countries, thinking that Japan will not invade and occupy the northeast, and then Japan's repeated provocations have become a habitual trick, Zhang Xueliang believes that this time is the same, just Japan's provocation, as long as it is ignored, it will calm the people. Therefore, Zhang Xueliang took the initiative to renege on it, and Taiwan once published the warrant of Chiang Kai-shek of the Kuomintang to issue an "order not to resist", believing that it was Chiang Kai-shek's fault. In fact, the two are not contradictory, because they advocate non-resistance to Japan.
Although Zhang Xueliang changed his ways, he was not a person who would blindly carry out Jiang Gong's orders (the later "Xi'an Incident" also shows that he is not a person who obeys orders and others, and occasionally obeying orders is only a political need), I believe Zhang Xueliang himself said that for the mistake of judgment of the incident at that time, even if Jiang Gong ordered it, the execution power was still in Zhang Xueliang's hands. In fact, Zhang Xueliang did not have enough political acumen and insufficient judgment on things, that is, he had national righteousness but average ability (the Xi'an incident proved that there was national righteousness, because whenever he came into contact with Chiang Kai-shek, this person was not a qualified commander and ruler; The false belief that Guo Songling caused the latter to rebel and kill Yang Yuting proved that whether it was interpersonal relations, military control, and political control, they were slightly inadequate), so Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek were actually responsible for the occurrence of the incident, and both had strategic decision-making errors and insufficient understanding and judgment of the complex environment at that time. More is actually helpless, because we also said earlier, military strength, as long as the military center of gravity is not placed in the northeast, even if it is actively resisted, the loss of the northeast is a matter of time, the army's literacy and combat effectiveness are not enough, the garrison is scattered leading to insufficient troops, backward weapons and equipment, etc. are obvious problems, of course, this is a later story.
Of course, in the big picture, if Japan unites at home and actively acts externally, Japan will not have the opportunity to invade and occupy Tohoku. Because as long as the target is confirmed consistently, all problems will be solved, such as military deployment, troop deployment and so on. Moreover, at that time, there was generally insufficient understanding of Japan in China, and no one would think that Japan, as a small projectile country, dared to invade mainland land. In fact, before the 918 incident, the Chinese people's understanding of Japan was not contempt and wariness, but more admiration, even after the Sino-Japanese War, Japan had already fought each other. After the Sino-Japanese War, most of the international students also went to Japan to study in Japan to learn how they became a strong country step by step. It was only after the 918 incident broke out that it was discovered that such a small country had wolf ambitions. It's hateful and lamentable, my generation should be self-reliant~