In the eyes of outsiders, all the officers and men of the 29th Army looked down upon the Japanese. Only Zhang Zizhong actually maintained contacts with the Japanese army and was even invited to visit Japan. He was welcomed and respected.

Many people say that Zhang Zizhong's integrity was compromised when he died for his country, and most of them talk about his patriotism. In my opinion, this is not comprehensive. Of course, I have no doubts about the general's integrity and patriotism. But when he died for his country, in addition to his patriotism, he also had other psychological motives, which was the reputation of a traitor. He had carried the name

for too long, and it was too heavy. It was so heavy that he had to die to clear his mind in order to wash away this crime.

I think that before the general died for his country, in addition to having done his last for the country, he also thought that he could finally lose the reputation of being a traitor.

Many people avoid talking about General Zhang ’s reputation as a traitor before he died for his country, which seems to damage his great image. However, talking about this matter not only does not damage Zhang Zizhong’s image, but also helps us better understand him. The difficulty and greatness of "bearing the pain and dealing with the enemy"!

Zhang Zizhong

"Traitor" Zhang Zizhong

Zhang Zizhong began to bear the infamy of being a traitor before 1937. It was not until he died on May 16, 1940 that the infamy gradually disappeared.

His reputation as a "traitor" comes from his actions before and after the July 7th Incident. He signed the traitorous treaty; he had close contacts with the Japanese: he visited Japan and participated in the Emperor's military parade. Japan welcomed him with a ceremony that exceeded the standards of Foreign Minister Zhang Qun: he served as mayor of Tianjin and governor of Peking. During his tenure as chairman of the committee, he used many future traitors...

As a result, the people cursed him as a traitor. In the eyes of outsiders, all the officers and men of the 29th Army looked down upon the Japanese. Only Zhang Zizhong actually maintained contacts with the Japanese army and was even invited to visit Japan. He was welcomed and respected. He looks like a "traitor". After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident and , there were even more such accusations. After the fall of Peiping, the Chinese people generally believed that he was a traitor and pro-Japanese faction, and newspapers all called him "Zhang Ni Zizhong".

Xiong Bin

The people said so, and even the robes felt the same way. Xiong Bin served as the chief of staff of Song Zheyuan, and was the deputy chief of staff of the Nationalist Government at the time of the July 7th Incident. On the orders of Chiang Kai-shek, he went north to persuade Song Zheyuan to go to Baoding to command the war against Japan. He commented on Zhang Zizhong: "Zhang Zizhong is smart and witty, but They were not as knowledgeable as Song Mingxuan (i.e. Song Zheyuan), so they inevitably suffered from loss of integrity. Therefore, when Song Dynasty and others evacuated from Peiping and asked Zhang Zizhong to deal with the Japanese army, Zhang did not realize the ambitions of the Japanese and thought that the Japanese were just. Asking the Chinese (should be the central) forces to withdraw from North China, they can use local forces to deal with it... they are not knowledgeable enough, they are obsessed with power, and they are pursuing their own interests and failing to understand the overall situation."

29Some people within the army said that Song Zheyuan and Zhang Zizhong." The remarks he made were extremely far-fetched," and the Japanese were "fooling around in an attempt to compromise." Others say: "Song Dynasty was surrounded by the four great kings of pro-Japanese elements: Qi Xieyuan, Zhang 00, Zhang Yunrong, and Chen Juesheng." Among them, "Zhang 00" refers to Zhang Zizhong.

Colleagues think so, and even some bosses think so. The report on the Marco Polo Bridge Incident held at He Yingqin's official residence on July 26, 1937 mentioned the attitude of the officers and soldiers of the 29th Army towards Japan, saying: "Qin Dechun and Feng Zhi'an always took the lead in the battle and were very obedient to the central government. Zhang Zizhong seems to have suffered from two diseases since he returned to Japan: he was afraid of Japan because of the many new weapons he received from the Japanese. "

He Yingqin

Even his enemies felt this way. On. When Zhang Zizhong died for his country later, the Japanese army treated his body with great courtesy not only because they respected his integrity, but also because many Japanese felt that he was pro-Japanese.

For a time, the Chinese people "mistakenly regarded Zhang as a traitor who betrayed the country and sought glory" and "had the feeling that everyone in the country said he could be killed." Even today, some people still think that he committed traitorous behavior during the Pingjin period. At least he was once swayed by the Japanese army. However, is he really a "traitor"? What are the facts?

endured the pain and dealt with the enemy.

Let me first talk about the main reason why he was considered a traitor, that is, he communicated too closely with Japan and even received extremely high courtesy from the Japanese.To clarify this matter, we must start from the era at that time. The period when he was accused of being a traitor coincided with the failure of the Great Wall Anti-Japanese War as Chiang Kai-shek was busy with the civil war. China and Japan signed the unequal Tanggu Agreement, leaving only one army in North China, the 29th Army.

29 Army Broadsword Team

At that time, Chiang Kai-shek's instruction to the 29th Army was to "bear the humiliation and bear the heavy burden", not to take the initiative to fight, not to abandon North China, and to deal with the Japanese army for a long time. In the complicated situation of danger in North China, Zhang Zizhong was successively appointed as the chairman of the Chahar Provincial Government and the mayor of Tianjin. He struggled to maintain the bitter so-called "peace" without offending the Japanese, let alone humiliating the Chinese.

So, what is Zhang Zizhong’s attitude?

When he first took office as chairman of Chahar Province, he took the initiative to inquire about the central government's ideas on the anti-war when he met his subordinates who were sent to study at the Central Military Academy. When I heard the central government said, "Resisting Japan is not a matter for one person or one family. It is a major matter related to democracy and the survival of the country, so we cannot act rashly. It is not that we are not resisting Japan. Resisting Japan requires preparation, and preparation takes time. We strive for peace just to prepare for the war of resistance." When asked as an excuse, Zhang Zizhong said angrily: "Mr. Wang is right, this is a national matter. If it were my own business, I would have fought for my life with the Japanese."

Zhang Zizhong

The central government of the Kuomintang. The remarks are not entirely an excuse. It is an indisputable fact that Japan's national power is stronger than China, so it needs to delay time. Zhang Zizhong became a victim of the national decision-making. He wanted to fight to the death with the Japanese army, but he had to make concessions with the Japanese, and became a traitor in the eyes of the Chinese people.

As Smedley once said, "Can an individual be responsible for the policies of a government? In the past six years, in the face of every act of aggression by Japan, the Chinese government has never backed down step by step. Or compromise, which one did not end with a local incident? Under the force of the Japanese invaders, almost the entire Hebei Province retreated and became demilitarized. General Zhang, like everyone in North China, including his Second Division The Nineteenth Army, including the 19th Army, has become accustomed to being regarded as a buffer figure between China and Japan."

Of course, in addition to this, the Japanese are also trying their best to create a "friendly" situation between Zhang Zizhong and Japan, in order to force General Zhang turned to Japan, which also divided the 29th Army. Their deceptive propaganda was so successful that most people at the time believed their words. Of course, some people may refute me and say: How do you know that the Japanese army is deceiving and propagandizing instead of being factual?

After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the 29th Army held negotiations with the Japanese Army. Takeo Imai, who later participated in the negotiations, recalled that Zhang Zizhong “not only disagreed with the punishment of those responsible for the Chinese army, but also withdrew troops from the vicinity of the Marco Polo Bridge, and proposed that other troops replace the defense.” He believed that “we should not expect too much from Zhang Zizhong.” strength, the result was not optimistic. Even though Zhang Zizhong acknowledged most of the content, he could not agree with the withdrawal of troops."

The Japanese army's evaluation of Zhang Zizhong shows that they knew what kind of person General Zhang was, but they still publicly stated: "The most fierce battle among Song's men was Feng Zhi'an, and Feng's idea had already taken back Tongzhou and reached Shanhaiguan." However, Zhang Zizhong advocated a peaceful solution. "The Japanese army even put forward the slogan "Only attack the Feng Public Security Department, not the Zhang Department", and the ambition of the wolf was obvious.

In this way, General Zhang had close contacts with Japan and was "pro-Japanese", and Japan treated the general with high standards. Everything has been explained. This was entirely due to him taking the blame for the Kuomintang's decision-making, coupled with the shameless slander of the Japanese army.

Let's talk about the two agreements that are considered to be the ironclad evidence of his "traitor": the "Qintu Agreement" and the "Xiangyue Details". ", the former was a traitorous treaty but he was the one who signed it in the end. The latter also had content that excluded patriots, was pro-Japanese and traitorous, and many people accused him of signing it with Song Zheyuan behind the central government's back.

Let's talk about "Qin" first. From the name, we know that the Turkey-Turkey Agreement was not Zhang Zizhong’s personal wish. This agreement was the specific content finalized by Qin Dechun, deputy commander of the 29th Army, and the Japanese side.However, Qin Dechun is regarded as a staunch anti-Japanese faction. This is because this traitorous agreement, which betrayed the sovereignty of Chahar and most of North China, was signed by the Nationalist Government and acquiesced to the 29th Army in order to delay and delay the Japanese army. However, Qin Dechun pretended to be ill to avoid the matter when signing the contract with the Japanese army. Zhang Zizhong could not bear to make things difficult for others and took the job himself.

As a result, the National Government who had been instructed was not scolded. Qin Dechun was carrying a good reputation, but Zhang Zizhong stood up for justice. Carrying the name of traitor.

Qin Dechun

There is also "Xiangyue Details". Many people used this to accuse Zhang Zizhong because he "hidden the secret" from Song Zheyuan in signing this treaty with the central government. However, these statements come from the answers given by reporters when interviewing He Yingqin and Song Zheyuan at the time. Considering that the Nationalist Government has always concealed the truth, the truth of He Yingqin's speech is unknown. But just talking about Song Zheyuan, does he really not know?

Xiangyue Qingsi arrived in Tianjin at about 11:30 on July 12, 1937 to take over as the commander of the garrison. He claimed that Song Zheyuan "called together important officials from Hebei and Chacha to come to Tianjin to discuss countermeasures" and "specifically ordered" Zhang Zizhong to negotiate.

Xiangyue Qingsi proposed "seven details" to Song Zheyuan: "(1) Banning the sun platoon; (2) Deposing the important people who evacuated the sun; (3) Abolition of the sun platoon agencies; (4) Banning the Blue Clothes Club ; ( 5) Ban anti-Japanese speech; (6) Ban student movements; (7) The 29th Army withdraws, and the security team enters the city to maintain security. "

The Japanese side claimed that "Song Zheyuan has no objection (to this) in principle, but requested. amble". It can be seen that Song Zheyuan knew and acquiesced to the main content of "Xiangyue Details". As a result, after the signing was completed, he claimed that he had no knowledge of it. Then whether he knew or did not know about Zhang Zizhong's signing is worth debating.

He also said that when he later served as mayor of Peiping and chairman of the Hebei-Cha government affairs committee, he used many traitors and allowed some troops of the 29th Army to retreat without resistance. However, the retreat of the 29th Army was a premeditated assembly. One of Zhang Zizhong's tasks in Peiping was to cover the retreat of the 29th Army. Just within a few days when he was ordered to stay in Peiping, the 29th Army, except for the 143rd Division of Liu Ruming to defend Zhangjiakou, the rest of the 29th Army "was gathering northeast of Baoding", which was able to preserve its effective strength and prevent the 29th Army from being overly dispersed. Defeat each one and completely eliminate them. Therefore, the logic of "non-resistance is surrender" is completely slanderous when applied to Zhang Zizhong at this time.

There was also the matter of using traitors. At that time, there were actually no Chinese armed forces in Pingjin and there were only the 29th Army in Hebei. Zhang Zizhong's trap of traitors delayed the introduction of the traitor regime and provided time for the 29th Army to retreat. Moreover, it has been a long time before traitors entered the Hebei-Cha Government Affairs Committee. The so-called "Hebei-Cha Government Affairs Council" is an organization joined by representatives of the National Government, the 29th Army, and the Japanese. This was the result of the concessions between the National Government and Song Zheyuan, but Zhang Zizhong was blamed.

Qi Xieyuan, a traitor who once joined the Hebei-Cha Government Affairs Council, suffered unspeakably of pain and died to express his ambition.

So, from the above point of view, Zhang Zizhong is not a traitor, but has made too many sacrifices for the country. As Fu Zuoyi said when commenting on Zhang Zizhong, "Originally, the specialization caused by Pingjin was a strategy designed to buffer the enemy and prepare us for the entire Anti-Japanese War. Looking back on the three-year long-lasting achievements of the Anti-Japanese War, of course, based on the bravery of each theater, In other words, the realism of athletes’ blood is not a function of the Beijing and Tianjin authorities who do not avoid hardships and dangers and do not hesitate to resent them.”

However, in the end, the faults of the National Government, Song Zheyuan, and Qin Dechun were all borne by him alone. One can imagine the pressure and pain in his heart.

When he was appointed mayor of Peiping to fight against Japan, he cried in front of Qin Dechun. He said to Qin Dechun: "You and Mr. Song have become national heroes. I am afraid that I have become a traitor."

Zhang Zizhong

Zhang Zizhong is in Peiping struggled to hold on and ventured out of the city several times but was intercepted by the Japanese army. Until the winter of 1937, he first claimed to be ill and hid in a German hospital, and then fled to Tianjin in disguise, passing through Yantai, Jinan, and finally arrived in Nanjing.

He was pretending to be sick, but he seemed to be really sick.From then on, if others lose the battle, it can be due to lack of ability, and if Zhang Zizhong loses the battle, it is the act of a "traitor."

After leaving Peking, he was appointed commander of the 59th Army by Chiang Kai-shek.

At the pre-war meeting to reinforce Linyi , Zhang Zizhong said, "No matter who can defeat the war, only I, Zhang Zizhong, can't! My injustice can only be washed away by fighting to the death and getting a true record! I lead Everyone fights to the death to protect the country."

He came up with the idea of ​​dying to clarify his ambition. In fact, when he first took office as the commander of the 59th Army, he said: "When I return to the army today, in addition to killing the enemy together and serving the country, I will find a place to die with everyone."

After that, there was a In every bloody battle, Zhang Zizhong would leave a will in every battle, and with the determination to die, he would personally go to the front line and command the battle. He led his troops to fight with the Japanese army no less than ten times, with repeated victories. To cite the big ones: the first battle was fought in Feishui; the second battle was fought in Linyi; the third battle was fought in Xuzhou; the fourth battle was fought in Suizao.

Until the battle of Zaoyi , he went to the front line to supervise the battle, but was discovered by the Japanese army and surrounded, and died on the battlefield.

Zhang Zizhong

Later, the Japanese army recorded the scene of his sacrifice on May 16, 1940:

When he rushed to a distance of less than 13 meters from the tall officer, Private Fujioka’s eyes shot from him In the middle, I felt an indescribable majesty, and I couldn't help but froze in place. At this time, gunfire rang out from behind, and Officer Donno, the leader of the third squadron, fired a bullet, hitting the officer in the head. There was a slightly uncomfortable expression on his face. At the same time, Private Fujioka seemed to be awakened by the sound of gunfire, and he became cruel. He raised his bayonet with all his strength and stabbed deeply into the tall body. At this moment, this tall body could no longer support it and fell to the ground like a mountain collapsing.

After he died, division commander Huang Weigang and his soldiers fought desperately to retrieve his body.

Huang Weigang

That night, the Japanese Army's Hankou Radio Station suspended its normal broadcast and inserted a surprising message:

According to the battle report from the front: The 39th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army was in today's "mopping up" operation along the Yicheng ditch in Hubei... Among the corpses were found China General Commander-in-Chief Zhang Zizhong, his staff, regimental leaders and many other people...

Commander-in-Chief Zhang Zizhong, also known as Xinchen... This is the first time that such a senior commander has died in battle since the outbreak of the Chinese Incident.

Commander-in-Chief Zhang died calmly with his unfazed, calm attitude and dignified general demeanor in the face of danger. He is truly worthy of being a great husband admired by both the military and the people.

On the desolate battlefield, the officers and soldiers of the 39th Division of the Imperial Army offered the most sincere and respectful silent prayers to the unparalleled brave generals who died heroically in battle, and solemnly placed the remains into coffins, which were planned to be transported by special planeHankou .

html On the morning of the 18th, the loyal remains arrived at Kuaihuo Shop, and the officers and soldiers of the 33rd Group Army cried bitterly to welcome them. General Feng Zhian and two Soviet advisers tearfully examined General Zhang's injuries and found that there were eight injuries on his body: in addition to the shell wounds on the right shoulder and right leg and the bayonet wound on the abdomen, the left arm, left ribs, right chest, and right abdomen He was shot once in the right forehead and right forehead. His skull was collapsed and deformed, and his face was difficult to recognize. Only the mole on his right cheek was still clearly visible.

Feng Zhi'an

The car transporting his body arrived in Yichang. One hundred thousand people spontaneously carried out the funeral, and the whole city was enveloped in a solemn and solemn atmosphere. Enemy planes circled and roared in the sky, but no one escaped or escaped.

Zhang Zizhong's coffin changed boats here and sailed up the river to Chongqing. On the morning of the 28th, the ship arrived at Chuqimen Pier. Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang, He Yingqin, Kong Xiangxi, Song Ziwen, Sun Ke, Yu Youren, and Zhang Qun led hundreds of civil and military officials, their arms draped in black gauze, to stand at the pier to welcome the spirit, and boarded a boat to circle the coffin to pay their respects. .

html On the afternoon of 28th, the grand and grand memorial ceremony was held in a solemn atmosphere, full of sorrow and glory.

Chiang Kai-shek and Feng Yuxiang at the memorial ceremony

On November 16, the Nationalist Government held a "Quan Cuo" burial ceremony for Zhang Zizhong in Yutai Mountain, Beibei, Chongqing. The so-called "quancuo" means a temporary shallow burial, waiting for the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and then moved to the capital Nanjing for a state funeral.

Finally, he was able to wash away his grievances and infamy and become famous throughout the ages.

Conclusion

Zhang Zizhong is not a perfect man. It is undeniable that he, like Song Zheyuan and others, came from an old military background and has his own limitations. They are all the same. It is okay to resist Japan, but it is best to preserve the interests of the 29th Army. Therefore, they played both sides between Japan and the Nationalist Government, hoping to maintain their independence.

But when the Japanese army started full-scale war, they decisively participated in the war of resistance. Tong Linge, Zhao Dengyu, Song Zheyuan, and Zhang Zizhong of the 39th Army died for their country after the war.

General Zhang Zizhong is great, but in addition to the Xifengkou Anti-Japanese War and the subsequent bloody battles, we should also remember his difficulty and greatness in dealing with the enemy in Peiping.

Just as Chiang Kai-shek concluded his actions during the July 7th Incident after he died heroically: "I served as an acquaintance, endured pain and dirt, dealt with the enemy, was slandered by everyone, and remained unwavering. But it is not self-explanatory in one sentence." It can be said that the comment is spot on.

Zhang Zizhong

References:

Wu Xianbin, Zhao Jingxian. Zhang Zizhong: It is easier to die generously than to bear a heavy burden calmly [J]. Consultation Forum, 2017, (09): 56-58.

Zhang Hao, Pu Hongyan. Re-discussing the political situation during the July 7th Incident Zhang Zizhong - Focusing on Japanese and pseudo-information[J]. Social Sciences in Chinese Universities, 2016(02):107-121+156-157.

Luo Haiyan,Li Zhengzhong. Zhang Zizhong before and after the fall of Pingjin[J]. Lantai World, 2016, (06): 88-91.

Lin Zhibo. Records of General Zhang Zizhong’s Martyrdom [J]. Yanhuang Chunqiu, 2016(09):69-79.