September 18, 1931
The sound of artillery in northeast China sounded...
Japan orchestrated a terrifying conspiracy
It became the beginning of an invasion of China
Changed China's modern history
Almost within a day, the Japanese Kwantung Army occupied Shenyang.
Why can't the Northeast Army, of nearly 450,000 troops, reach the Japanese army of less than 20,000 people?
Why did the Japanese Kwantung Army choose 9/18 to launch the incident?
What kind of secrets are hidden behind it?
The 90th anniversary of the "9.18" incident
"Big News Big History" tells you
The "9.18" incident began and ended
Around the middle of the 19th century, under the influence of Western powers, Japan gradually established a policy of foreign expansion, and in 1874, after the Meiji Restoration, Japan sent troops to invade Taiwan, taking the first step of armed invasion of China.
In the 1890s, the wings of militarism in Japan gradually became fuller. In 1894, the Japanese Navy and the Qing Dynasty's Beiyang Naval Division fought a major battle on the surface of the Yellow Sea. Due to the continuous defeat of the Qing government, it was forced to sign the Treaty of Maguan with Japan. China not only ceded the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan, and the Penghu Islands, but also lost Japan 200 million taels of silver.
With huge reparations from China, Japan completed capitalist industrialization in the early 20th century and became an economic power in Asia. The aggressive ambitions of the Japanese militarists have also become more and more inflated.
In 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck Japan, killing 240,000 people and leaving tens of thousands of buildings in ruins. In March 1927, another financial crisis occurred in Japan. Japan is facing a dual political and economic crisis. At this time, China was in the midst of the Northern Expedition, and revolution and counter-revolution were in a contest. In order to get rid of its domestic and foreign predicaments, Japan is determined to adopt a tougher policy toward China.
On June 27, 1927, the newly appointed Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiichi Tanaka held the famous "Oriental Conference" in Tokyo. After the meeting, it was put forward that if we want to conquer China, we must first conquer Manchuria and Mongolia, and if we want to conquer the world, we must first conquer China's aggressive policy.
At that time, the northeast was the richest place in China. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, fertile fields and rich products. The GDP is the first in Asia and the fourth in the world. The total industrial output value is 19 times that of the provinces in Shanhaiguan. It is precisely because of the rich resources of the northeast that Japan has been coveted for a long time. In Japan, there is an impulse to occupy northeast China and even to occupy all of China.
In order to realize its dream of world domination, Japan decided to start with northeast China. However, the warlord Zhang Zuolin, known as the King of Northeast China, became a stumbling block for the Japanese militarists to advance into China. In order to use Zhang Zuolin and separate the northeast from The territory of China, Japan formulated a policy of assisting Zhang Zuolin, who held the real power of Manchuria and Mongolia, to ensure Japan's special status in Manchuria and Mongolia. After that, the Japanese militarists decided to kill Zhang Zuolin, and at the same time, taking advantage of the chaotic political situation in the northeast to maintain law and order under the pretext of maintaining law and order, thus occupying the northeast in one fell swoop.
Between 1904 and 1905, Japan and Russia fought a war in northeast China. As a result, the Japanese took colonial rights from the Russians in the southeast, gained control of the changchun-Dalian railway, and obtained annexes on both sides of the railway, as well as the right to garrison troops in the name of protecting the railway.
After 1905, Japan successively established three agencies in the southern part of the northeast, the Kwantung Governor's Office, the South Manchuria Railway Co., Ltd., and the Japanese Kwantung Army Headquarters. In fact, these three institutions are the military and administrative organs established by Japan for the next step of occupation of China.
By 1931, Japan's railway annexes in tohoku covered an area of 482 square kilometers, and these places became bases for Japan's military expansion.
Near the Huanggutun Railway Station in Shenyang, there is a railway bridge called Sandong Bridge. This is the intersection of the Jingfeng Railway and the South Manchuria Railway. The Beijing-Feng railway under the bridge was controlled by Zhang Zuolin, and the South Manchuria Railway was operated by the Japanese, so there was Fengtian Yi and Fengtian Provincial City Station in Shenyang at that time. Fengtian Station is Japanese, and Fengtian Provincial Station belongs to Zhang Zuolin.
In order to compete for interests, the two railways sometimes struggle, and this intersection point exists like a contradiction point.
In June 1928, Zhang Zuolin, who had lost the battle against the Kuomintang-led Northern Expeditionary Army, decided to withdraw from Beijing to Shenyang. It is on this bridge that more than 200 kilograms of yellow explosives of the Japanese army are also waiting for Zhang Zuolin.
The scheming Zhang Zuolin had already received information about the Japanese army's moves, and Zhang Zuolin, who was scheduled to leave on June 1, did not board the train from Beijing's Qianmen Station until June 3.
On the night of June 3, 1928, Zhang Zuolin's special train sailed out of Shanhaiguan. At this time, the Japanese agents in Beijing sent a secret phone call back to Shenyang, which read, "Zhang Yu arrived tomorrow morning, the eighth carriage." At that time, Shenyang Fengtian Provincial City Station, the railway station belonging to Zhang Zuolin, the northeast military and political leaders who welcomed Zhang Zuolin back, waited nervously. On the observation deck of the Sandong Bridge not far from Fengtian Provincial City Station, the Japanese lieutenant Donggong Tienan was also waiting for Zhang Zuolin, who was sitting in the eighth carriage.
At 5:23 a.m. on June 4, 1928, the sky gradually brightened, and Zhang Zuolin's train slowly drove into the Sandong Bridge, about to enter the terminus of the train, Fengtian Provincial City Station. Suddenly, the train was blown off track with a loud bang. Wu Junsheng, the overseer of Heilongjiang who boarded the train from Shanhaiguan to greet Zhang Zuolin, died on the spot, and Zhang Zuolin's left humerus was broken, bleeding profusely, and was urgently sent back to the Marshal's Mansion, where he died at 9:30 a.m. on the same day. This year, Zhang Zuolin was 54 years old.
At that time, the northeast authorities did not mourn Zhang Zuolin's death and kept it a secret. The Japanese army's attempt to create chaos and launch a war of aggression against China failed. After that, Zhang Xueliang rushed back to the northeast from the front line and stabilized the political situation in the northeast. At this time, Japan has set its sights on Zhang Zuolin's son, 27-year-old Zhang Xueliang.
In July 1928, Zhang Xueliang was appointed as the commander of the security of the three eastern provinces, taking charge of the military and political power in the northeast, and was known as the young marshal.
In 1929, the economic crisis in Western countries exacerbated the economic recession in Japan. The Japanese militarists were impatient to gain access to Northeast China, and Kenji Toihara, who was Zhang Xueliang's adviser at the time, tried his best to persuade Zhang Xueliang to declare independence in The Northeast, but Zhang Xueliang advocated The reunification of China.
On December 29, 1928, Zhang Xueliang, despite Japan's obstruction, resolutely sent a telegram to the whole country, announcing that he would change his mind and submit the northeast to the then government of the Republic of China. The warlord divide since the end of the Qing Dynasty came to an end, and China formed a superficial unity. Zhang Xueliang announced the change of banner in the northeast, causing the Japanese militarists to fail in their plot to divide China's territory, and they were determined to solve the northeast problem by force.
In 1930, the Central Plains War launched by Chiang Kai-shek, Yan Xishan, and Feng Yuxiang for power in the Republic of China broke out. In September, Zhang Xueliang drove the main force of 150,000 Northeast Troops into Guannei to mediate in the Central Plains War, stopping the melee between the new Kuomintang warlords, and Zhang Xueliang was also stationed in Beiping. This is undoubtedly a godsend for the Japanese army, which is preparing to invade the northeast by force.
Japan is a long, narrow island nation, and the Japanese always feel that they have great ability, but the territory is too small, lacks resources and territorial depth, so it must expand outward. Northeast China, then known as Manchuria, became a key area for Japan to expand its territory. Even low-ranking Japanese officers had such ambitions. The September 18 Incident was instigated by the low-ranking officer Ishihara Guan'er.
In May 1929, Ishihara's former superior, Seishiro Itagaki, was transferred to the post of senior staff officer of the Kwantung Army, and he invited Ishihara to come with him to northeast China. At a staff meeting of the Japanese Kwantung Army in 1929, Ishihara stressed that the settlement of the Manchu-Mongolian issue was the only way for Japan to survive. His arguments are threefold: First, in order to relieve the domestic economic crisis, foreign wars are needed; second, the settlement of the Manchu-Mongolian issue is not only for the benefit of Japan, but also for the interests of the majority of the "Indochina people"; third, from a historical point of view, It is better to say that Manchuria and Mongolia belong to the Japanese nation than to the Han nationality.
When Ishihara brought this view to the staff at the time, he had a large number of "fans", including Itagaki Seishiro and Kenji Doihara, who later assisted him in the Manchurian Incident. These people are all petty officers in the general staff, dreaming of making a contribution, so they hit it off and often got together to plan. They proposed a way to occupy Manchuria from the outside world, first taking the opportunity to occupy Fengtian and then occupying the entire northeast.
In September 1931, Miji Keekawa, the first director of the Japanese General Staff Headquarters, came from Japan to northeast China. His task was to convey instructions from the highest echelons of the Japanese military, to stop the rash moves of the officers of the Kwantung Army's young and strong faction, and to order the Kwantung Army to "act according to the plan laid down by the military department." It is not that the military department does not want to invade China, they just do not allow junior officers to act without authorization. However, Kenkawa Miji was toward the Kwantung Army in his bones, and he came to the military headquarters to violate the yin and yang.
At 7 o'clock in the evening of September 18, When Miji Jianchuan arrived in Fengtian, he pretended to tell the officers of the Kwantung Army's Young Zhuang Faction, don't act rashly! Those officers understood and replied solemnly that they would never act rashly.
Miji Kengawa pretended to be satisfied, "Okay, then I'll be relieved." I'm tired today, so let's talk about something tomorrow. "Let those officers not have to accompany him." As soon as the officers went out, they moved.
At ten o'clock in the evening of September 18, a dull explosion sounded from the side of the South Manchuria Railway in Wicker Lake, a suburb of Fengtian. The Japanese blew up a section of the South Manchuria Railway, and then threw down three corpses in Chinese military uniforms to blame the Chinese army for their actions. Under the pretext of pursuing deserters, the Japanese Kwantung Army then launched an attack on the North Camp, where the Northeast Army was located.
The beginning of Japan's war of aggression against China, the "918 Incident," broke out in this way.
September 18, 1931, the seventh day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, is the Mid-Autumn Festival in a few days. In the evening, in the Zhonghe Theater at the front gate of Beiping, Mei Lanfang was performing his housekeeper play "Cosmic Front". In the theater box sat a prominent figure, he was Zhang Xueliang, the young commander of the Northeast Army.
At that time, the only military and political officers in the northeast of Fengtian were Rong Zhen, chief of staff of the Northeast Army, and Zang Shiyi, chairman of Liaoning Province. When the officer on duty of the Seventh Brigade of the Peking University Battalion called Rong Zhen for instructions on disposal measures, Rong Zhen hurriedly contacted Zhang Xueliang, who was in Beiping. At this time, Zhang Xueliang, who was watching the play, was hearing Xingtou, and outside the box, Tang Guozhen, Zhang Xueliang's deputy director of the department, came to report that "Rong Zhen's chief of staff called." Zhang Xueliang got up and left to answer the phone, and never returned. In an interview with reporters the next day, Zhang said: "Last night I received a telegram from Shen and was shocked to learn about the Sino-Japanese conflict. However, the northeast had neither resistance nor a reason to go to war, and had already been decided by Shen, who would never resist, and did whatever the Japanese army did. ”
In fact, a few days ago, Zhang Xueliang also had a set policy on the changes in the Japanese army. On 6 July, he said in a telegram: If we go to war with Japan at this time, our side will be defeated, and if it is defeated, Japan will demand compensation for the cession of land against me, and the northeast will be destroyed.
Sixty years later, Zhang Xueliang recalled the situation at that time: "I did not expect the Japanese to do this, I think, it is absolutely impossible, so there is no order to resist." I do not admit that my countrymen criticized me as a 'general who does not resist', but I admit that I have not been able to see through the conspiracy of the Japanese. ”
On September 20, 1931, the Japanese army captured the big and small north passes and the big and small south passes in Shenyang, and the Japanese planes reconnaissance and strafing in the air from time to time, and the Japanese tanks rampaged through the streets of Shenyang. In the afternoon, the Japanese occupied the Shenyang Arsenal and the East Tower Airfield. On the 21st, the military, political, civil, cultural, financial and other organs of the northeast authorities in Shenyang City were all occupied by the Japanese army. According to incomplete statistics, on the night of September 18 alone, Shenyang, China, lost as much as 1.8 billion yuan.
On the fourth day after the "918 Incident", Ishihara Guan'er, together with Itagaki Seishiro and Kenji Toihara, submitted the solution to the Manchurian-Mongolian problem to the Japanese Army Ministry and the General Staff Headquarters. The adventures of Ishihara and others succeeded in stimulating the main war faction in the military department and cabinet, and the Japanese army began to assemble and rush straight to Jinzhou. After the fall of Heilongjiang, the Nanjing government urgently ordered the Chinese representative to the League of Nations to propose a plan for the neutralization of Jinzhou. However, the Japanese Kwantung Army ignored it and continued to advance. The Northeast Army retreated to Jinzhou under the orders of the young marshal Zhang Xueliang. As a result, the Japanese Kwantung Army swept all the way and occupied all of Northeast China in less than four and a half months.
Two days after the September 18 Incident, on September 20, 1931, Miji Kenkawa visited Honjo Shigeru, commander of the Kwantung Army. He offered honjo a plan to establish a pro-Japanese regime in Manchuria.
On September 22, the Kwantung Army Staff Proposed a Plan for Resolving the Manchu-Mongolian Problem. The plan provided for the establishment of a new regime to rule the northeast and Mongolia. The latter sentence is important: entrusted by the new regime, Japan is in charge of the new regime's defense and foreign affairs, as well as the main transportation and communication facilities. The Japanese make no secret that the new regime they want to establish is a puppet regime. Who will be the puppet head of this puppet regime? Kenkawa Miji proposed a name: Ai Xin Jue Luo Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
In March 1932, ordinary Chinese people living in the northeast suddenly discovered that their identities had been changed overnight. In this year, Changchun changed its name to "Xinjing" and became the capital of puppet Manchukuo. Puyi became the "ruler" of the puppet state of Manchukuo. At the so-called inauguration ceremony, Puyi originally intended to wear a dragon robe, but the Japanese Kwantung Army said that Japan recognized the "Emperor of Manchuria", not the "Emperor of the Qing Dynasty", so Puyi could only wear the costume of the Manchukuo Land, Sea and Air Marshal designated by the Japanese. At the ceremony, dozens of Manchu Qing widows wearing robes and horse coats bowed to Puyi, who was dressed in the costume of a grand marshal and replied with a half bow. This unconventional ritual made both sides depressed.
Since 1932, Japan has begun to organize the so-called "Armed Immigration Pioneer Group" to force large-scale immigration of Japanese farmers to northeast China. To this end, the Japanese government has also recruited a large number of Japanese girls aged seventeen to twenty-five to marry members of the "pioneer group" and give their newborns the honor of "children of the earth". At that time, Japan's Hirota Cabinet planned to emigrate one million households to the Northeast over a period of twenty years, totaling five million people, in order to dilute the Chinese mouth. Puppet Manchukuo was then promoting the slogan of the so-called "Five-Ethnic Harmony".
By 1940, puppet Manchukuo had a population of 42 million, Chinese accounted for 90 percent; the others were Koreans, Mongols, and Japanese, who accounted for 2 percent. Chinese ranked behind the Japanese and Koreans in Manchukuo.
After the war in North China, puppet Manchukuo implemented a rationing system, and the Japanese issued red-skinned grain books, each person provided thirty catties of rice, flour, and ten catties of soybeans; Koreans could eat millet mixed with rice; Chinese were issued green-skinned grain books, and each person was only supplied with twenty-four catties of sorghum rice or cornmeal and some miscellaneous beans per month. Manchukuo's "Rice Grain Management Law" even stipulates that only Japanese people can eat rice, and Chinese eat rice is an "economic criminal", and also stipulates that all surplus grain of Chinese farmers should be handed over, called "out of the lotus".
Japanese chaebols used the abundant resources of the northeast to build factories, build hydropower stations, and build railways. At that time, manchukuo's railways were more than 10,000 kilometers long. The South Manchuria Railway is lined with chimneys on both sides, making it the fastest growing region in Asia. Japan regarded it as a base for the war against China and the Pacific War, and agriculture alone provided more than 10 million tons of grain to the Japanese mainland every year.
In order to cultivate a new generation of "Manchurian nationals" who have a sense of identity with Japan, puppet Manchukuo has also established a complete Japanese-style education system. From elementary school onwards, it is divided into "National Junior College", "National Excellence", "National High School" and University.
Before the September 18 Incident, Ishihara formulated a series of strategic plans, proposing that Manchuria should be used as a fortress, which could be used against China in the south and against the Soviet Union in the north. However, Ishihara's strategic thinking was inconsistent with that of the Japanese government. After the easy occupation of northeast China, the Japanese government became more insatiable, always thinking about how to further expand the results of the war and conquer all of China. In 1937, Japan created the Qiqi Lugou Bridge Incident, which led to a nationwide war of resistance in China.
Ishihara Guan'er, the planner and executor of the 9/18 Incident. In 1931, he was just a lieutenant colonel, equivalent to a lieutenant colonel, who could use deception and lies to create trouble, so that the Kwantung Army could successfully take northeast China with a mere 10,000 or 20,000 troops and less than half a year, thus dragging Japan into the abyss of war.
In 2012, the documentary "The Man Who Started the War" produced by the Franco-German Public Television Station, which cooperated with France and Germany, pointed out that the man who really started World War II was actually this Ishihara Guan'er. However, such a person, such a sinner of history, in the minds of many Japanese people today, is actually a patriot and a "strategist with ideals and feelings." No wonder, even Japanese scholars believe that Japan is an "abnormal country."
This is really, Dongying has never been defeated, and Zhonghua Mozuo is idle.
September 19 at 7:15 PM
Big news big history tells you
12 hours to change China's modern history
- 90 years after the September 18 Incident
Editors: BlancaWu, Erya Wang