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In March 1991, the person in charge of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council suddenly received a call from the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, saying that a man named Wang Ji sent a letter from an important figure, asking to see the national leader. Whose letter is
? Since you want to meet the national leader, why do you have to call the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council? The head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council couldn't help but ask. The person who called
said that this person must also be under the jurisdiction of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, because what was sent was a letter from Zhang Xueliang, who had been imprisoned by Chiang Kai-shek for fifty years.
matters start a few months ago.
Some time ago, Wang Ji received a call, and it was Zhang Xueliang on the other side. Zhang Xueliang told Wang Ji that he had an urgent matter to find the other party, hoping that the two of them would meet each other.
Wang Ji's father is Wang Shuchang. Wang Shuchang once followed Zhang Xueliang for a long time. The two families have a deep friendship, so they have always been in contact.
This time, Wang Ji asked Zhang Xueliang what he had asked him, but Zhang Xueliang was unwilling to say on the phone that Wang Ji felt that there must be something very important to the other party. After making the call, Wang Ji immediately bought a flight ticket to Taipei the next day. What Wang Ji did not expect was that the 90-year-old man told Wang Ji that he wanted to go home and take a look.
Wang Ji understood that the home that Zhang Xueliang mentioned refers to the mainland.
Wang Ji understood the old man's mood, but this was destined to be not an easy task.
As a controversial figure in modern history, Zhang Xueliang's first half of his life was magnificent, but the second half of his life was indeed bumpy.
Zhang Xueliang's father was the leader of the Fengtian warlord during the Republic of China period. Zhang Xueliang, who was born in a warlord family, served in his father's army at the age of sixteen and was known as the "Young Marshal".
When he was young, Zhang Xueliang had been following his father to fight south and north. In that era of warlords' melee, he was considered an outstanding general.
At this time, the young marshal was still protected by his father and had never personally experienced the threats from the outside world. Most of his thoughts are more about the deep love of the moon. But no one can stay young forever.
In April 1928, the second Northern Expedition of the National Government began, aiming to eliminate warlords from all over the country and unify the whole country. After the National Government quickly occupied most of North China, Zhang Zuolin, who was entrenched in the Northeast, felt threatened.
The Japanese Kwantung Army saw that the Fengtian warlords were defeated by the National Government Northern Expedition army. In order to gain benefits, it proposed to send troops to fight against Northern Expedition , but it was necessary to split the so-called Manchuria and Mongolian region, that is, the three northeastern provinces , from China.
The ambition of the Japanese never thought that even as a warlord who ruled one side, Zhang Zuolin deeply understood what national unity was. He insisted that the three northeastern provinces were Chinese territory and would never give in to the Japanese. Shortly after the incident of
, Zhang Zuolin could not resist the in full swing of the Northern Expedition Army and planned to retreat to his hometown in Northeast China.
, but he did not expect that the commander of the Japanese Kwantung Army had made a plan to get rid of him in Huanggutun because he did not get any benefits.
Japan's plan was successful. On June 4, 1928, the Japanese Kwantung Army laid explosives on the way forward of Zhang Zuolin .
Zhang Zuolin died shortly after being sent back to the Shenyang official residence at the age of 53.
Zhang Xueliang was stunned for a long time after receiving this news. He had a good relationship with his father, but he didn't even have time to feel sad. His father passed away, and he had to face the jackals and tigers outside.
Zhang Xueliang took over as his father and became the commander-in-chief of the three northeastern provinces. He endured his grief and held the funeral for his father. He knew that his father was probably assassinated by the Japanese, but no evidence did not dare to say that this was something the Japanese did. At the memorial service of
, Zhang Xueliang met with people from all parties who came to pay their respects.
The Japanese senior officials stationed in the Northeast at that time also came to pay their respects, and looked openly saddened by Zhang Zuolin's death, but secretly threatened Zhang Xueliang to separate the three northeastern provinces as soon as possible.
How could Zhang Xueliang, who was carrying national hatred and family hatred, agree?
Due to Zhang Zuolin's death, the Northern Expedition Army of the National Government sent high-ranking government officials at that time, Wu Tiecheng and Song Dazhang and persuaded Zhang Xueliang to change his flag and obey the rule of the Nanjing National Government.
Zhang Xueliang knew very well what choice he should make, but the Japanese pressed him step by step and forced him to be cautious.
At this time, in order to threaten Zhang Xueliang to separate the three northeastern provinces, Japan claimed to interfere to the end. The Japanese army specially held a large-scale exercise in Shenyang, attempting to prevent Zhang Xueliang from reaching an agreement with the National Government.
It was at this time that Zhang Xueliang began to frequently send electricity to Chiang Kai-shek.
Finally, on December 29, 1928, Zhang Xueliang resolutely issued a power to announce the change of flags in the three eastern provinces.
Zhang Xueliang's behavior hit Japan's conspiracy to split China, and also marked the official end of the period of the Beiyang government.
Of course, although Zhang Xueliang nominally obeyed the rule of the Nanjing National Government and became a member of Chiang Kai-shek, he was actually still a "grassman" with heavy troops and had great autonomy.
There are also many parties within the National Government, and each one is dissatisfied with the other. Under such circumstances, Zhang Xueliang became the target of competition among different groups.
1930, the conflicts within the National Government finally broke out, and local powerful factions such as Yan Xishan , Feng Yuxiang and launched the civil war , and Central Plains War broke out.
The strong soldiers and horses of Zhang Xueliang have become a "hot commodity". Both sides of the civil war promised Zhang Xueliang various benefits and even used tens of millions of dollars to buy them.
However, although both sides tried their best to win over, Zhang Xueliang did not end immediately, but sat firmly on Diaoyutai to watch the two sides' struggle.
Although Zhang Xueliang claimed that he was in a neutral position in the early stages of the war, he called on all parties to stop the war.
However, in private, the Northeast Arsenal has never stopped manufacturing weapons. These weapons were secretly sold to both sides by Zhang Xueliang, making a lot of money.
In August 1930, the anti-Chiang Alliance showed obvious decline. Zhang Xueliang keenly noticed the changes in the current situation, so Zhang Xueliang decided to send troops to help Chiang Kai-shek.
There are four reasons: First, Japan has been spying on the Northeast for a long time, and maintaining the unity of the Nanjing government can maintain national unity;
Second, the anti-Chiang alliance has many factions and it is difficult to accomplish;
Third, Chiang Kai-shek's ambitions, stopping civil war can prevent Chiang Kai-shek from divising the Northeast Army;
Fourth, Chiang Kai-shek has already gained an advantage in conquering Jinan.
So on September 18, 1930, Zhang Xueliang decisively sent troops to North China, and at the same time, he silently included the Pingjin area abandoned during the Northern Expedition into his own sphere of influence, becoming the biggest winner of this war.
During the Central Plains War, Zhang Xueliang not only received the huge military expenses paid by Chiang Kai-shek, but also made a fortune by selling arms.
The benefits of so many of them were occupied by Zhang Xueliang, and Chiang Kai-shek also clearly understood that the relationship between the two has since appeared in an unrepairable crack, and this crack will become bigger and bigger in the future.
Back to Zhang Xueliang, he sent troops to help Chiang Kai-shek during the Central Plains War, but after the war, most of the elite troops of the Northeast Army did not return to defend the three northeastern provinces in time, resulting in the empty forces of the three northeastern provinces.
So as the Central Plains War had just ended and everyone was recuperating, the Japanese Kwantung Army falsely accused Chinese soldiers of blowing up South Manchuria Railway and launched September 18th Incident .
Just as he heard this news, Zhang Xueliang's first reaction was to call him back, but Chiang Kai-shek stopped him.
Chiang Kai-shek's energy has been focused on fighting Red Army and restraining the rebels. Moreover, the three eastern provinces are Zhang Xueliang's territory, not his territory, so Chiang Kai-shek will definitely not be willing to help Zhang Xueliang fight the Northeast.On the night of the
Incident, Zhang Xueliang received an order from Chiang Kai-shek that he did not resist, and he was very conflicted.
The three northeastern provinces, in theory, they will definitely fight back, but fighting is not an easy task, and requires various logistics and various support.
However, since the rebels in various places have never stopped after the Central Plains War, Zhang Xueliang's troops have been restraining the rebels from all sides, and he actually did not have much force to fight back against the three northeastern provinces.
Furthermore, Zhang Xueliang has another consideration. He is worried that the Japanese will take this opportunity to launch a big war. If Japan takes this opportunity to attack China in a comprehensive manner, then anti-Japanese war will not only be a matter of the three northeastern provinces, but a matter of the whole of China.
In order to avoid the fierce counterattack, Zhang Xueliang issued an order not to resist because of Chiang Kai-shek's order to "rest the country first for resisting foreign wars".
The September 18th Incident can be said to be a turning point in the life of Zhang Xueliang, the young man.
At a moment when he should have fought desperately, he followed Chiang Kai-shek's orders to withdraw from the Northeast for various reasons, not only losing his own home, but also causing harm to countless people in the Northeast.
The Northeast Army withdrew from the pass had no territory, and the level of logistics supply for weapons and equipment had dropped significantly, but they had to obey Chiang Kai-shek's orders to encircle and suppress the Red Army.
Under such circumstances, both the Northeast Army and Zhang Xueliang were already in a state of anger.
Zhang Xueliang really wanted to fight against Japan. No matter what the reason was that the three northeastern provinces were lost, and the country's hatred and family hatred could not be ignored. What's more, he and the Northeast Army did not live well under Chiang Kai-shek's hands, but how could Chiang Kai-shek do as he wished?
As the Japanese invasion of China approached again and again, the calls for the people of the whole country to unify the war of resistance became higher and higher. Zhang Xueliang wanted to take back the Northeast but instead became the deputy commander of the Northwest Regional Suppression Headquarters. Chiang Kai-shek ordered his Northeast Army and the 17th Route Army to suppress the Communist Party together.
The fire in Zhang Xueliang's heart is getting stronger and stronger , People across the country are demanding anti-Japanese resistance, and Zhang Xueliang can't sit still.
In April 1936, Zhang Xueliang began to secretly contact the Communist Party of China, hoping to unite the Communist Party to fight against Japan. After discussing with the Communist Party, Zhang Xueliang began to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to fight against Japan together from the perspective of national justice, but they were all scolded by Chiang Kai-shek.
On December 4, Chiang Kai-shek even flew to Xi'an to supervise the battle, stayed in Huaqing Pond, Mount Li, and decided to look at Zhang Xueliang.
Zhang Xueliang knew that this time Chiang Kai-shek actually wanted to transfer himself from the northwest to Xi'an, and he couldn't wait any longer.
In the early morning of December 12, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng decided to implement military advice.
The night was still heavy, Chiang Kai-shek was surrounded, and gunfire was endless. He was injured while running through the window. He was hiding in a crack on the mountainside by his subordinates, but he was captured alive after he was taken. On the day of the
incident, it shocked the whole country!
It was also at this time that Communist International only realized that the Xi'an Incident had occurred.
Due to the sudden incident, all forces were not prepared. Most of the top leaders of the Communist Party of China, including Mao Zedong, believed that Chiang Kai-shek should be killed in public trial.
However, after learning the news, the Nanjing central government quickly joined forces with all sectors of society to put pressure on Zhang Xueliang and persuaded Zhang Xueliang to surrender.
html On the 216th, Nanjing saw that Zhang Xueliang did not give in under heavy pressure. The central government quickly gathered its troops and began to blew up neighboring cities in Xi'an to threaten.17, after discussion, the CCP decided to send Premier Zhou to deal with the Xi'an Incident. After Premier Zhou arrived in Xi'an, he had a long talk with Zhang Xueliang all night.
The two finally reached an agreement and let Chiang Kai-shek stop the civil war and fight against Japan unanimously.
0, Song Ziwen and Soong Mei-ling went to Xi'an for tripartite negotiations. After several days of tug-of-war, Chiang Kai-shek finally accepted the conditions for stopping the civil war and unanimously resisting Japan.But Zhang Xueliang did not expect that Chiang Kai-shek would ask him to accompany him when he returned to Nanjing. In response, Yang Hucheng and others repeatedly advised Zhang Xueliang not to agree easily.
However, Zhang Xueliang underestimated Chiang Kai-shek's selfishness and narrow-mindedness, and finally agreed.
And what awaits him is a life of imprisonment for nearly half of his life.
I don’t know if Zhang Xueliang regrets his promise to Chiang Kai-shek when he was imprisoned several years later, but things have happened, and history has rolled forward according to its own trajectory, which is hard to stop.
The peaceful resolution of the Xi'an Incident is of extraordinary significance to the establishment of a national united front in the war of resistance. Since then, peace has begun to emerge in the civil war for ten years, and the two parties have cooperated again.
It can be said that Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, who initiated the Xi'an Incident, made important contributions. They promoted the national unified war of resistance in such a dangerous way in extremely difficult times, but also changed their lives.
After the Xi'an Incident, Yang Hucheng quickly lost control of his opponent's army and was forcibly driven to Europe by Chiang Kai-shek. After the July 7 Incident , General Yang Hucheng, who was desperate to return to China to fight against Japan, was rejected many times. In the end, he secretly returned to China but was under house arrest by Chiang Kai-shek for 12 years.
In September 1949, before the Kuomintang army left Chongqing, Yang Hucheng and his family, Yang Hucheng's secretary Song Qiyun and his family were killed by military spies in Daigong Temple in Chongqing.
Besides, Zhang Xueliang was careless and quickly lost control of the Northeast Army after accompanying Chiang Kai-shek back to Nanjing. Soon after, he was imprisoned with Yang Hucheng because the power behind Zhang Xueliang was even greater, and Chiang Kai-shek did not kill him.
However, he imprisoned Zhang Xueliang for the rest of his life and even fled to Taiwan to take him with him.
Time passed by slowly. The window that Chiang Kai-shek broke when he was escaping at the foot of Mount Li was protected and became a ruin for everyone to visit. The pavilion where Chiang Kai-shek was captured alive was renamed from "Catching Jiang Ting" to "Bing Jian Ting", as if silently telling the thrilling incident.
The young marshal who was famous in the three eastern provinces at that time has been imprisoned for half a century. The mighty general in his prime has become an octogenarian with a long hair and a chicken skin.
It was not until 1990 that Zhang Xueliang fully restored his personal freedom.
For more than fifty years, Zhang Xueliang really wanted to go back to the mainland to take a look, but the situation is uncertain. He didn't know whether the mainland would like to go back to take a look by himself.
After multiple considerations, Zhang Xueliang first leaked the news when he was interviewed when he went to the United States to visit his relatives, saying that he hoped to go back to the mainland to take a look, and then secretly contacted Wang Ji to help him deliver a letter.
Therefore, Zhang Xueliang asked Wang Ji to bring a letter to the mainland leaders. He thought that if the mainland could write an invitation letter to him first, inviting him to the mainland, and the invitation letter would be best written by Deng Xiaoping.
First, Deng Xiaoping has a high status and his writing can be valued;
Second, Deng Xiaoping was sick and needed nutritional products during the War of Resistance Against Japan. Zhang Xueliang once gave Deng Xiaoping a box of Dutch milk powder, and the two were in love.
When Beijing learned that Zhang Xueliang wanted to return to the mainland, everyone attached great importance to it.
Deng Xiaoping immediately instructed that Zhang Xueliang was a national hero who contributed to the national unification war of resistance. If the other party wants to return to the country, the organization must make arrangements. The meeting of
decided to send a person of great importance to the United States to express his welcome to Zhang Xueliang, and in addition, he was fully responsible and Zhang Xueliang returned to the mainland.
Finally, due to various considerations, Beijing chose Lu Zhengcao, a fellow villager with Zhang Xueliang. The two of them studied in the martial arts lecture hall and had a good relationship. Moreover, Lu Zhengcao's status in the party is not low, which can better reflect the importance of our party.
On May 29, 1991, Lu Zhengcao met Zhang Xueliang. Both sides who had not seen each other for many years were very excited. When talking about the past, Zhang Xueliang lamented that his biggest regret was that he failed to fight on the battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War.
The two met again the next afternoon. This time it was carried out in secret. Lu Zhengcao handed over the handwritten letter written by the senior leaders of the Communist Party of China to the other party and conveyed the greetings from the central government.
After reading the letter, Zhang Xueliang proposed to go to Beijing in the name of looking at the eyes. Lu Zhengcao and others were very happy, which meant that the matter of returning to the mainland was decided. Everyone said that no matter when they came back to treat the disease, they would be welcome.
At that time, Zhang Xueliang also put forward three conditions: First, not to hold a welcome ceremony, be low-key; second, not to see reporters and less publicity; third, not to compliment yourself. The three conditions of
are very easy to deal with, and Lu Zhengcao agreed readily. Zhang Xueliang, who solved the problem of returning to the mainland, was very happy and even decided on his itinerary after returning to the mainland.
But at this moment, Miss Zhao Si, who had been with Zhang Xueliang, also fell ill, and his own health was getting worse and worse, and the matter of returning to the mainland was temporarily put on hold.
Later, for various reasons, Zhang Xueliang finally decided to go to Hawaii, USA to enjoy his old age.
On October 14, 2001, Zhang Xueliang died in the United States at the age of 101. Throughout his life, Zhang Xueliang never stepped into the mainland again...
Zhang Xueliang was born in 1901 and died in 2001. He has experienced the most turbulent and changing years in China. Some people say he is a historical sinner, while others say he is a national hero.
However, today, it is still difficult to explain the merits and demerits and faults, and these may only be left to history.
