After the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Maguan and pay 220 million taels of silver to Japan, and its finances were immediately in short supply. At that time, Tsarist Russia vainly attempted to dominate the Far East and invade northeast China, so it took advantage of the danger of people to propose to the Qing government to build a Middle East railway. In July 1903, the Middle East Railway was opened to traffic.
Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek (Photo).
After the October Revolution, Russia was plunged into civil war and the situation was turbulent. The Soviet government renounced all the benefits that Russia had taken in China. Among them, naturally, also includes the Middle East Railway. However, due to the confusion and confusion of the international situation at that time, the Beiyang government never recognized the Soviet Government and never responded to this matter. Until September 1924, zhang Zuolin, the leader of the Feng clan, and the Soviet government signed the "Feng-Russia Agreement". Since then, the Middle East Railway has ostensibly changed to a Sino-Soviet joint venture, but in fact it is controlled by the Soviet side.
In June 1928, Zhang Zuolin was killed by the Japanese Kwantung Army at Huanggutun, which seriously injured the Warlords of the Feng clan and made the political situation in Northeast China more and more chaotic. In July of the same year, Zhang Xueliang was elected as the commander-in-chief of security in the three eastern provinces and began to formally rule the northeast. In order to let Feng Zhi get out of the predicament as soon as possible, he actually did several major things in a short period of one year. At that time, shortly after the end of the Northern Expedition, national sentiment was rising day by day. In order to establish his prestige at the beginning of his term of office, Zhang Xueliang decided to completely solve the "Middle East Railway" that was obstructing the eyes.
Stalin
At that time, the Soviet Union's life was actually not good. Not only did there be a serious famine in the country, but it was always isolated and hated by the European and American powers. Therefore, Zhang Xueliang believes that this is a good opportunity to reclaim the Middle East railway. Because, not only was the Soviet Union certainly powerless to resist, but it could also win the support of the Western powers for the Feng clan. Therefore, Zhang Xueliang decided to salute first and then soldier, and confidently challenged Stalin. In April 1929, in accordance with the 1924 Agreement between The Russian Union and the Soviet Union, he requested the Soviet Union to hand over to the Chinese side the telecommunications, mines, schools, weather stations and other auxiliary facilities attached to the Middle East Railway.
In this regard, the Soviet side, except for the corresponding compensation, acquiesced to all the rest. Stalin's "weak" attitude made the young and vigorous Zhang Xueliang think that the Soviet Union was not enough to be afraid at all. At the end of May of the same year, Zhang Xueliang ordered Zhang Jinghui to send military police to search the Soviet consulate in Harbin and arrest a large number of Soviets on the grounds that soviet personnel on the Middle East Railway colluded with Feng Yuxiang. After this incident, the Soviet government reacted quickly and lodged a serious protest with the Nanjing government. However, to Stalin's displeasure, neither the Nanjing government nor Zhang Xueliang responded to this.
(Photo) In the "Middle East Road Incident", the Soviet army captured the Battle Flag of the Feng army
The Soviet protests were ineffective, but they caused Stalin, who had just come to power, a great headache. On the one hand, although the Middle East Railway is nominally a Sino-Soviet joint venture, China's rights and interests have never been guaranteed. Russia, on the other hand, controlled the Middle East railways for decades, reaping huge economic gains from them. And if zhang Xueliang cannot be given a little color this time, he is bound to take further measures, and the interests of the Soviet Union in the Middle East Railway and even northeast China will be lost. After much deliberation, Stalin made two preparations. He sent people to start negotiations, hoping to reduce the power of the Soviet director of the Middle East Railway as a condition that Zhang Xueliang release the arrested Soviets. The other side, on the other hand, quickly increased its troops on China's border, hoping to use force as a backing for negotiations.
Not to be outdone, Zhang Xueliang was ordered to begin rapidly assembling around Manchuria. At this point, the situation on the Sino-Soviet border suddenly became tense and delicate. Soon, fierce armed conflict broke out rapidly. On October 2, 1929, the Soviet Union, with more than 1,000 infantry troops, launched a fierce attack on the position of the 38th Regiment stationed in Manchuria. The two sides exchanged fierce fire, and the battle lasted until the next morning. On October 12, the famous Battle of Tongjiang broke out. At 5:00 a.m., the Soviet army dispatched more than 20 aircraft, 10 warships, 40 gun trucks, as well as more than 800 cavalry and more than 3,000 infantry troops to attack the Fengzhi army stationed in Tongjiang. At 2 p.m., the Soviets occupied the county seat of Tongjiang. In this battle, the Jiangfang Navy under the tongjiang was completely destroyed...
(Photo) The Japanese army invaded China after the "918" incident
In fact, at the beginning of the war, Zhang Xueliangman thought that he could easily regain control of the Middle East railway. Unexpectedly, when large-scale armed conflict broke out, the Feng army was not an opponent at all, and it was defeated one after another in the face of the Soviet army. On December 20, 1929, forced by the decadence of the war situation, Zhang Xueliang was finally forced to sign the Boli Agreement with the Soviet Union in Boli after five months of holding out. At this point, control of the Middle East Railway was restored to the state it was before the Sino-Soviet conflict. The following year, Soviet troops began to withdraw, but retained the occupation of border islands such as Black Blind Island. In this Sino-Soviet conflict triggered by the Middle East railway, the Fengzhi army suffered a crushing defeat, which dealt the heaviest blow to Zhang Xueliang, who ruled the northeast. And what is even more regrettable is that this frustration has been lingering in his heart, lingering like a shadow.
After the Sino-Soviet conflict of the "Middle East Road Incident", the Japanese who watched the fire from the other side became more contemptuous of Zhang Xueliang, but since then they have been afraid of the terrorist combat strength of the Soviet army. As a result, "temporarily avoiding the Soviet Union and plotting against China" has become the consensus of the Japanese military leadership. On September 18, 1931, Japanese imperialism created the "September 18" incident that shocked China and foreign countries. At this time, when Zhang Xueliang faced the menacing Japanese army, he no longer dared to act rashly under the influence of the shadow in his heart. Thus, in a sense, the conflict between China and the Soviet Union over the Middle East railway actually laid the foundation for Japan's subsequent aggression against China.