In 1934, when Zhang Xueliang was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to deceive Wang Jialie into the plane in order to get his military power, he never expected that he would be deceived by Chiang Kai-shek into getting on the plane two years later, and what awaited him after landing was 54 years of house arrest.
As everyone knows, the Kuomintang inherited the political tradition of the Beiyang warlords, and from the very beginning of its founding, it struggled continuously, not only with external forces, but also with internal struggles. On the one hand, the tendency of "fighting outside must first secure the interior" caused the resistance of other factions, resulting in constant disputes; On the one hand, he is a suspicious by nature, a master of scheming and deceit, not only a roadblock with him who has a conflict of interest, but even his own people who disagree with him, which will not end well if he provokes him. Wang Jialie and Zhang Xueliang are good examples.
Caught between inside and outside, Chiang Kai-shek marched into the southwest frontier
There was a certain reason for Chiang Kai-shek's advance into the southwest region.
During the period of the Nationalist Government in Nanjing, although Chiang Kai-shek had established his own power rule through various means, the phenomenon of political regionalization was not completely eliminated, and the central power appeared to be weakly authoritative; In addition, after the "918" incident in 1931, Chiang Kai-shek deeply felt that the "internal and external attack" required stronger political integration, so he turned his attention to the southwest region.
At that time, although the tendency of local powerful factions to form groups in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan had weakened somewhat after the establishment of the Nationalist Government in Nanjing, they were still disconnected, and Chiang Kai-shek's plan to infiltrate the forces of the Central Army into the southwest region had been blocked.
It was not until 1934 that the Central Red Army, after the failure of the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, was forced to transfer the revolutionary base area and began a large-scale Long March. However, the Kuomintang in Guizhou and other areas was relatively weak and the terrain was complicated, and Chairman Mao proposed to march to Guizhou during the Long March, which was more conducive to the survival and development of the Red Army.
Chiang Kai-shek took this incident as an opportunity to finally officially begin the plan to control the southwest region. The first link in this plan is to seize the military power of Guizhou, which is relatively weak.
In fact, Chiang Kai-shek's intervention in Guizhou began around 1930. At that time, after the outbreak of the Battle of Jiang Gui, Zhou Xicheng, the original "King of Guizhou", was shot and killed in the war, leaving behind Mao Bianxiang and Wang Jialie, who were second only to him. At the beginning, the two also united and drove out the remnants of the Beiyang government who were eyeing Guizhou. But as time passed, the suspicious Mao Bianxiang gradually became dissatisfied with Wang Jialie and deliberately weakened the other party's power.
Chiang Kai-shek saw the infighting between the two and realized that the opportunity had come, so he took this opportunity to support Wang Jialie to the throne. In the name of "suppressing bandits", Wang Jialie finally gained power in Guizhou with the support of Chiang Kai-shek. But Wang Jialie didn't know why he was supported by Chiang Kai-shek when he was relatively weak in politics, of course, in order to attack him when he had the opportunity.
The last king of Guizhou hesitated, and Chiang Kai-shek used tactics to seize military power
Let's go back to Wang Jialie. Wang Jialie is a typical person with military talent but no political talent.
said that he had military talent, Wang Jialie became the king of Guizhou after more than 20 years of struggle from a hard laborer who carried salt and bastard, and he also won several battles during this period, not only because he could bear hardships and stand hard work; said that he had no political talent, after Wang Jialie seized power in Guizhou, the people of Guizhou were full of internal and external troubles, and they did not even have Mao Bianxiang's ability to govern, let alone be compared with Zhou Xicheng, and in the end they were easily seized by Chiang Kai-shek.
Since Wang Jialie became the king of Guizhou, no one expected that this would be the last generation of "Guizhou king". However, judging from Wang Jialie's behavior and performance, such consequences are not unexpected. After he came to power, he did not handle government affairs carefully, but indulged in wine all day long, and lived in a mediocre life, he also had a certain degree of self-knowledge, and he believed that "politics is not his strength", and obeyed his wife Wan Shudi.
Wang Jialie's wife Wan Shudi is a powerful character, her ancestors were Qing Dynasty officials, she read poetry and books since she was a child and was good at giving advice, and after marriage, she marched with Wang Jialie to give him a lot of help. Moreover, Wan Shudi himself is also ambitious, not only arranging important positions for his clansmen by Wang Jialie's side, but also secretly contacting the Gui warlords, and secretly signing the "Three Provinces Mutual Assistance Treaty" between Guizhou, Guizhou and Guangdong with Chen Jitang and others. Although Wang Jialie was supported by Chiang Kai-shek and knew that Chiang Kai-shek and the Gui family were incompatible, in order to survive, he could only secretly oppose Chiang behind his back. Chiang Kai-shek has always been dissatisfied with this, but Wang Jialie is the goal that both Chiang Kai-shek and the Gui family are striving for, and Chiang Kai-shek can only treat Wang Jialie cautiously.
But at this time, Wang Jialie could not take care of Chiang Kai-shek's dissatisfaction at all, and the internal problems in Guizhou had already made him too busy to take care of himself: Wang Jialie's wife Wan Shudi centered on the Tongren faction and Mao Bianxiang's Tongzi faction had been fighting inwardly, although Wang Jialie suppressed it, but the internal contradictions still could not be completely resolved, and due to the continuous internal corruption, the common people also complained, and Wang Jialie's rule became more and more fragile.
The fragility and instability of the situation in Guizhou was what Chiang Kai-shek liked to see, and while guarding against the annexation of Guizhou by the Gui faction, he made dealing with Wang Jialie a priority for the southwest region.
In 1934, the Red Army advanced into Guizhou, and Chiang Kai-shek ordered Wang Jialie to intercept the Red Army in order to prevent Wang Jialie from taking advantage of the chaos to contact the Gui family. But Wang Jialie knew that Chiang Kai-shek was eyeing him: the people around him had been bought by Chiang Kai-shek, and the dignitaries of the Tongzi faction had also been reused by Chiang Kai-shek, and Wang Jialie was worried that once he went to deal with the Red Army, Chiang Kai-shek would take the opportunity to annex Guizhou.
However, Wang Jialie was also worried that the Red Army would encroach on his territory, so he still led 15 regiments to serve as the defense of the eastern road. Wang Jialie looked at the movements of the Red Army and thought that the Red Army would not occupy Guizhou, so he planned to lead his troops back to Guiyang. Unexpectedly, before returning to Guiyang, the Red Army actually occupied Zunyi in one fell swoop, and Chiang Kai-shek finally made a move at this time.
Chiang Kai-shek sent Xue Yue to follow the Red Army to Guiyang, directly opposing the guest, on the one hand, he quickly reorganized the Guizhou army and weakened Wang Jialie's strength; On the other hand, Wang Jialie's movement and communication were restricted, and even if Wang Jialie's wife Wan Shutong warned Wang Jialie to accumulate more troops at this time, he was already powerless to return to the sky, and it was only a matter of time before Wang Jialie was solved.
After this, the Central Army had basically occupied Guizhou, and Chiang Kai-shek had not completely seized Wang Jialie's military power at first, and ordered him to "suppress the Communists". At the beginning, Wang Jialie led the 25th Army into Zunyi, where the Red Army temporarily left, to temporarily settle down, but he did not expect that the Red Army would return to Zunyi after the second crossing of Chishui, and defeated Wang Jialie and others in one fell swoop. In desperation, Wang Jialie had no choice but to make peace with Xue Yue and return to Guiyang in disgrace.
Chiang Kai-shek personally came to Guiyang at this time, firstly, to completely solve Wang Jialie, and secondly, to "suppress the Communists". At the beginning, there were still people who suggested to Chiang Kai-shek to kill Wang Jialie, but Chiang Kai-shek thought that Wang Jialie's troops still existed, and it might be difficult to convince the public to kill him directly, but as long as there was no one around him, he was actually not afraid.
As a result, Chiang Kai-shek made Wang Jialie unable to pay his military salary, and on the other hand, he bribed Wang Jialie's favorite generals, making Wang Jialie isolated in the army, and he had no choice but to hand him a letter of resignation. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek saw that his goal had been achieved, so he ordered Zhang Xueliang to take Wang Jialie to leave Guizhou by plane, and take 30,000 yuan of travel expenses to send Wang Jialie to Nanjing Army University.
From being ordered to "suppress the Communists" to uniting the Communists to resist Japan
Different from Wang Jialie, Zhang Xueliang not only inherited the powerful power of his father Zhang Zuolin, but also has outstanding abilities in all aspects. During Zhang Xueliang's reign in Northeast China, the Northeast Army he led was one of the most powerful armies in China at that time; The national industry and agriculture in the northeast also developed rapidly under Zhang Xueliang's reforms, managing seven provinces and three cities, and its power was second only to Chiang Kai-shek. Even so, he touched Chiang Kai-shek's rebellion and authority, and finally ended up with a regrettable end.
Zhang Xueliang was actually inclined to support Chiang Kai-shek at first. Because he had always been against the civil war, he hoped that Chiang Kai-shek would agree with the whole country by winning the struggle against the local factions, and supporting Chiang Kai-shek's civil war was to stop the civil war and give China a centralized government.
However, the trust and cooperation with Chiang Kai-shek gradually made Zhang Xueliang lose hope.
After the September 18 Incident, both Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek pursued the principle of "non-resistance" and tried to avoid military conflicts. However, the Japanese army became even more presumptuous because they tasted the sweetness of "non-resistance" in the northeast. At first, Chiang Kai-shek did not even agree to Zhang Xueliang's idea of skipping the League of Nations to negotiate with the Japanese army, but as the war deepened, he also began to agree to negotiate with the Japanese army. However, the Japanese army would not give up on its laurels, and the efforts of the Kuomintang and the Japanese army had been unsuccessful, and Zhang Xueliang began to wake up from the pain of "non-resistance" and planned to confront him by force. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek did not have the determination to resist Japan, believing that as long as he did not lose his territory and national rights, Japan could negotiate any conditions.
The defeat in the Battle of Rehe was a turning point in Zhang Xueliang's ideological transformation. After the defeat of the Battle of Rehe, Zhang Xueliang once said: "If the central authorities are determined to resist Japan, they should declare war on Japan and mobilize the strength of the whole country to fight with Japan." I am determined to go to the front line in person, and it is much better to die than to live and be reviled by the people of the whole country. If a person dies anyway, I am afraid that Nanjing will fake resistance and make peace, then I will have no choice. From these words, it can also be seen that Zhang Xueliang also had expectations for the Central Army, hoping that Chiang Kai-shek would make up his mind to resist Japan.
But Zhang Xueliang's hopes were still disappointed. Chiang Kai-shek's series of actions opened the door for the Japanese army, and it took only more than four months for the Japanese army to invade and occupy the three northeastern provinces. But at this time, Zhang Xueliang had not completely given up, and was still following Chiang Kai-shek to participate in the "suppression of the Communist Party".
With the passage of time, the Northeast Army, which had been hit hard after the September 18 Incident, suffered further heavy losses in the process of participating in the "suppression of the Communists", Zhang Xueliang gradually realized that Chiang Kai-shek's policy of "fighting outside the country must first secure the interior" was unreliable in any case, and finally began to contact the Communist Party in January 1936, determined to withdraw from the civil war and strengthen his determination to resist Japan.
In December 1936, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng detained Chiang Kai-shek, who had come to urge the "suppression of the Communists", and launched the "Xi'an Incident" that shocked the whole country.
Despite Zhou Enlai's dissuasion, he was voluntarily arrested by Chiang Kai-shek
The "Xi'an Incident" was finally resolved peacefully thanks to the efforts of the Communist Party and Zhang Yang.
After that, Zhang Xueliang personally escorted Chiang Kai-shek back to Nanjing by plane without informing Zhou Enlai. Before Zhang Xueliang got on the plane, someone around him pulled him to prevent him from getting on the plane, but Zhang Xueliang pushed the other party's hand away and insisted on leaving. After Zhou Enlai found out, he even wanted to go to the airport to chase Zhang Xueliang back, but so many obstacles still failed to stop Zhang Xueliang's determination. Sure enough, as soon as he got off the plane, Zhang Xueliang was detained by Chiang Kai-shek and placed under house arrest, and he was not freed until Chiang Kai-shek's death.
For a long time, many people were very puzzled that Zhang Xueliang knew that he would be arrested by Chiang Kai-shek, and he had to personally escort Chiang Kai-shek back to Nanjing. Some people joked that many people persuaded Zhang Xueliang not to send it, but Zhang believed in Chiang Kai-shek's personality, and Chiang Kai-shek was also moved by his feelings, Zhang Xueliang went with him as soon as he was moved, and as a result, he was placed under house arrest for most of his life as soon as he got off the plane.
But that's not the case. Just as Chairman Mao said, Zhang Xueliang knew very well that if the aftermath of the Xi'an Incident was not handed over to Chiang Kai-shek himself, a peaceful settlement would be impossible, let alone resisting Japan.
There is no doubt that this is the follow-up of Zhang Xueliang forcing Jiang to resist Japan, and such a sacrifice is also his feat in order to achieve national unification and resist Japan.
Resources:
"Hundred Tempered into Steel: 100 Years of the Communist Party of China" Episode 17 Xi'an Incident - the official account of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang
Chiang Kai-shek relieved Wang Jialie of military power by pursuing the Central Red Army - the People's Political Consultative Conference Daily