Every time before and after the Xi'an incident, the names of Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng will quietly appear in most people's minds. At that time, these two used the unimaginable method of "military advice" to force Chiang Kai-shek to make a choice, and because of this, they were hated by the small-bellied Chiang for many years, and finally ended up in the tragic way of one death and one prisoner.
In fact, compared with Yang Hucheng, the other protagonist in the Xi'an Incident, Zhang Xueliang's treatment after this can almost be described as "comfortable":
Although he was imprisoned everywhere all the year round and lost most of his freedom, Zhang Xueliang was still able to live a peaceful life, not only with no shortage of food and clothing, but also with "beautiful women" by his side, and even on the eve of Chiang Kai-shek's imminent defeat and retreat to Taiwan in 1946, he was almost free.
So, at that time, why did Zhang Xueliang finally choose to miss the "freedom" he had longed for for many years? What kind of secret is hidden behind this?
1. "Scapegoat"
If you go back to history, those who are interested will find that the contradiction between Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek had already begun to emerge as early as the "September 18 Incident."
In June 1928, a long-planned "Huanggutun Incident" sent Zhang Zuolin, the leader of the Feng warlords at that time, to the west; then, Zhang Xueliang shot Yang Yuting, stepped on all kinds of open guns and hidden arrows, and finally successfully turned from the "prince" to the regular, becoming the most dazzling political star in the three eastern provinces at that time.
From the "young marshal" in the highest position in the three eastern provinces to the "918 Incident" before the occurrence, the short three years have become the most energetic and glorious moment in Zhang Xueliang's life:
In May 1931, Zhang Xueliang was invited to Nanjing to attend the Fourth Plenary Session of the Kuomintang Central Committee. Before the start of the meeting, Zhang Xueliang's boat passed through Pukou, and under the instruction of Chiang Kai-shek, salutes were fired from both sides of the strait, and warships from Jiangzhong escorted him;
Not only that, at the meeting, the positions of Jiang and Zhang were always arranged side by side, and Zhang Xueliang also participated in the meeting twice, which seemed to be very important;
After the meeting, Chiang Kai-shek personally sent Zhang Xueliang to the airport and shook hands with him cordially to say goodbye.
All this greatly satisfied the vanity of Zhang Xueliang, who was still young and vigorous at the time, and his trust in Chiang Kai-shek also reached a peak - Zhang Xueliang at this moment could be described as unconditionally obeying Chiang Kai-shek's instructions, but what he didn't expect was that soon, such "trust" would bring him a heavy blow:
In July 1931, after receiving the news that the Japanese army in Northeast China was about to move, Zhang Xueliang called Chiang Kai-shek several times to seek his advice. However, at that time, Chiang Kai-shek was busy carrying out "encirclement and suppression" against the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party, and in order to avoid the consumption of armaments, Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly warned Zhang Xueliang to "don't do it", and even moved out of the "Nine-Power Pact" to appease Zhang Xueliang, telling him that once Japan sent troops, the foreign powers would inevitably intervene, and Japan could not forcibly occupy territory, so "do not worry".
Despite repeated statements, Chiang Kai-shek was not at ease with the young and vigorous Zhang Xueliang:
In August of the same year, Chiang Kai-shek again sent Zhang Xueliang a "milling telegram" that was later used as evidence, in which Chiang Kai-shek instructed Zhang Xueliang that no matter how provocative the Japanese army was, it should not "be quick and ignore the nation-state." ”
Just a week before "918," when Chiang Kai-shek made a short stop at the Shijiazhuang Railway Station, he reminded Zhang Xueliang for the last time that he should "not fight" no matter what: "I have come to meet you this time to strictly order the Northeast Army not to resist any Japanese attack. ”
In fact, Zhang Xueliang did hesitate in his heart, but out of absolute trust in Chiang Kai-shek, Zhang Xueliang still carried out Chiang Kai-shek's instructions to the letter;
Under his "strict order," the Japanese invaders were almost in a no-man's land in the three eastern provinces, and in just four months, the three northeastern provinces all fell, and the Japanese invaders even swaggered to occupy Jinzhou, an important passage between western Liaoning and Guannei, and stuck the most critical pass in the three eastern provinces.
After the fall of the three northeastern provinces, the indignant patriotic masses pointed the spearhead at Zhang Xueliang, the "young marshal" of the northeast at that time, and gave him the nickname of "general who does not resist", Zhang Xueliang soon fell into a bad situation of "everyone shouting and beating", and even in 1933, Chiang Kai-shek hinted that he would go to the field to act as a "scapegoat" for the "918 incident", and the inner pain and vacillation can be imagined.
II. Life in prison
If after the "September 18 Incident", Zhang Xueliang was still loyal and hopeful to Chiang Kai-shek, and silently swallowed the black pot of "non-resistance", then, with the gradual resistance of the Japanese invaders, Chiang Kai-shek's strategy of "focusing on 'suppressing the Communists' and passively resisting Japan" also made Zhang Xueliang more and more dissatisfied.
On December 12, 1936, according to the original plan, Chiang Kai-shek was to leave Nanjing at 7 p.m. that day, so at 5 p.m., Chiang Kai-shek arranged a farewell dinner for himself, and invited Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng and many others to the banquet.
Chiang Kai-shek did not expect that after the farewell party, he was greeted by more than ten days of house arrest and "military advice" that was almost like "forcing the palace". Although in the end, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to join the Communist Party to resist Japan, but after regaining his freedom, Chiang Kai-shek, who was bound to revenge, quickly arrested and imprisoned Zhang Yang and Zhang Xueliang, and Zhang Xueliang began a half-century-long prison career.
Compared with Yang Hucheng, Zhang Xueliang can be said to have enjoyed a very "generous" "prison treatment": Yang Hucheng was imprisoned by Chiang Kai-shek soon after the Xi'an Incident, and it was rare to see the light of day after that, and was assassinated in prison by Kuomintang agents when the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan in 1949;
On the one hand, he relied on his intimate personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek's wife, Song Meiling, and on the other hand, he also relied on his previous performance of taking the blame for Chiang Kai-shek and being loyal to him, and perhaps there was also the face of his deceased father Zhang Zuolin, and finally won Chiang Kai-shek's "other treatment"——
Initially, Chiang Kai-shek placed Zhang Xueliang under house arrest in a guest house on Xuedou Mountain. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, the scenery is beautiful, the environment is quiet, not only has comfortable rooms and delicious restaurants, the backyard of the guest house is also equipped with a shallow pond for fishing, Chiang Kai-shek even equipped him with a cook and a helper, its conditions are comfortable, comparable to a "resort".
During that period of seclusion, in addition to losing his freedom, Zhang Xueliang lived a comfortable and peaceful life: fishing, walking, and regularly receiving books and newspapers specially approved by Chiang Kai-shek, and there was also a "red sleeve fragrance" like Miss Zhao Si by his side, which could not be described as uneasy.
However, with the changes in the domestic war situation, Zhang Xueliang's place of house arrest has also changed again and again. Under the "drive" of Chiang Kai-shek, Zhang Xueliang had to be escorted and followed the Kuomintang government all over half of China: Nanjing, Fenghua, Guizhou, Anhui, Yuanling, Tongzi......
Although the conditions of the place where he was imprisoned were acceptable and the environment was quiet and quiet, for this "young marshal" who had enjoyed the pinnacle of power in the first half of his life, there was no lack of bitterness and incomprehension in such a life - freedom, like a cloud of smoke that was about to leave, always drifted around Zhang Xueliang, but could not be truly touched by him.
In 1945, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the old Zhang clan in the northeast called for the release of Zhang and Yang more and more, and even Premier Zhou Enlai personally put forward a request for the release of Zhang Xueliang at the Political Consultative Conference held in Chongqing on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, but all this was ignored by Chiang Kai-shek.
What Chiang Kai-shek's attitude toward Zhang Xueliang was? No one can say clearly. As early as the Xi'an Incident, Zhang Xueliang was sentenced to "amnesty with ten years of strict control" in the military court, but in 1945, the ten-year period had already ended, but Chiang Kai-shek did not let go of his intention to release Zhang Xueliang, which made Zhang Xueliang look forward to it at the same time, but also faintly had a firm idea in his heart: Chiang Kai-shek would not let himself go.
And that's exactly what happened. In November 1946, Zhang Xueliang boarded a plane to Taiwan under the "escort" of the Kuomintang, and since then he has been imprisoned for the second time-
3. Freedom at hand
What is little known is that as early as the beginning of 1946, Chiang Kai-shek gave Zhang Xueliang a chance to be free, but in the end Zhang Xueliang refused.
All this can be traced back to after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945. Although Chiang Kai-shek did not make any statement to the outside world at that time, in fact, under the pressure of the old departments of the Northeast Army and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Chiang Kai-shek once appointed Mo Dehui, one of the veteran figures of the Feng faction, to visit Zhang Xueliang and use this to test Zhang Xueliang's "heart".
Mo Dehui is actually inextricably linked with Zhang Xueliang: in the "Huanggutun Incident", Mo Dehui and Zhang Zuolin were on different carriages of the same train, and the bomb that sent Zhang Zuolin to the west also left a permanent scar on Mo Dehui's leg;
After Zhang Xueliang was imprisoned and imprisoned, Mo Dehui also kept running around outside, making connections for Zhang Xueliang to be released as soon as possible, and constantly pressuring and appealing to Chiang Kai-shek.
Therefore, after getting Chiang Kai-shek's "hint", Mo Dehui could not be said to be excited. In the autumn of 1946, Mo Dehui went to visit Zhang Xueliang with excitement, and the two met in Tongzi, and Mo Dehui's first words were: "Han Qing, you want to be free!"
Zhang Xueliang's spirits were lifted, but he immediately guessed that this freedom must come with a price, and Mo Dehui quickly explained Chiang Kai-shek's conditions and plates:
First, Zhang Xueliang needs to publicly admit that he was deceived by the Communist Party and "fell for the Communist Party" in the "Xi'an Incident";
Second, Zhang Xueliang wanted to hand over the original copy of the "milling electricity" that Chiang Kai-shek had sent to Zhang Xueliang before the "918";
Third, after regaining his freedom, Zhang Xueliang should immediately go abroad and settle abroad, and he must not stay in China for long.
It is not difficult to see that the three conditions put forward by Chiang Kai-shek are reversed, and their intention is to use Zhang Xueliang's mouth to reverse the public opinion situation that was already in danger at that time, and by the way, to pour a basin of "big dirty water" on the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Faced with this situation, Zhang Xueliang was speechless. The two sat silent for a while, and Mo Dehui took out another pocket watch that Chiang Kai-shek asked him to send, the pocket watch was brand new and shiny, and Zhang Xueliang only took it in his hand and looked at it, and then laughed with a little relief and loss:
"It's really not early, and this watch is also very good, but it's not easy to stop!"
Mo Dehui showed Zhang Xueliang's unspoken meaning, so he comforted: "You have your own return date, don't ask." ”
Ask or not, this time the almost easy road to freedom was cut off by Zhang Xueliang himself, and after that, he no longer mentioned this matter. Mo Dehui spent two weeks with him in Tongzi, the two walked every day, read, and exchanged experiences, Zhang Xueliang never mentioned the years outside, only when the two were alone, Mo Dehui inadvertently re-mentioned the topic: "When do you think you can regain your freedom?"
Zhang Xueliang replied very calmly: "Maybe it was when the War of Resistance Against Japan was finally won, or maybe it was when Chairman Chiang was inaugurated as president at the National Assembly." ”
However, both of his inferences were in vain. The anti-Japanese resistance did win in the end, and Chiang Kai-shek did finally sit on the position of "president of the Kuomintang" that he dreamed of, but Zhang Xueliang spent day after day in various places under house arrest leisure, comfort, but confinement......
IV. Conclusion
In 1990, two years after Chiang Kai-shek's eldest son Chiang Ching-kuo also died, the former "young marshal" in the northeast finally completed his "sentence" and took the first step of his freedom.
After leaving the residence where he was detained, Zhang Xueliang, who was nearly 90 years old, seemed to have rejuvenated overnight and began to taste all kinds of beauty and changes in this world again. He packed his bags and began to travel around, enjoying all kinds of scenery, tasting the customs and customs outside, and feeling the taste of free air.
It's a pity that these are still a little late for him. After only enjoying more than ten years of happiness, Zhang Xueliang passed away suddenly in October 2001, ending his long and short life.
In fact, after the ban was lifted, Zhang Xueliang has been interviewed by countless media, including "Reference News". In that interview, the reporter of "Reference News" asked him to leave a few words for the young people, and Zhang Xueliang said earnestly that he hoped that Chinese young people could "behave well and do things" in the future, and hoped that they could find their own "faith":
"Only by having faith can you give yourself a position, especially young people. ”
Perhaps, for this "young marshal" in the Northeast, loyalty to the motherland is his lifelong belief. Although before this, he also had the notoriety of "non-resistance general", but the occurrence of the "Xi'an Incident" finally cleared his name. For him, this is the power of "faith", but for us, why not?