"It's not someone else's provocation, it's our provocation."
Recalling the Middle East Road incident, Zhang Xueliang said with emotion in an interview in his later years.
"At that time, it was because of my bold style. At that time, I wanted to establish my authority, and I always wanted to defeat Japan, or defeat Russia. As a result, I was unable to do anything myself. ”
In fact, for this incident, a military conflict could have been avoided, but due to the resolution of Zhang Shaoshuai, the Middle East Road incident, which could have been mitigated, further deteriorated and war broke out.
"The fight was so miserable, a whole brigade was wiped out, and a brigade commander surnamed Han died, the regiment commander committed suicide, and the death of the killed was gone."
The brigade commander mentioned by Zhang Xueliang was Han Guangdi.
"With the strength of the northeast corner, we will fight against the division of the Russian country", the Middle East Railway incident is the largest military conflict led by the major marshal.
However, in the course of actual combat, there was a huge disparity in military strength between the two sides, and there was a large gap in weapons and equipment, and a crushing defeat for the Northeast Army was inevitable.
Why, then, did the young marshal insist on taking the initiative to provoke a war? Is it just because of the arrogance of youth?
This can't help but be reminiscent of the September 18 Incident two years later, when the Northeast Army lost the Northeast without firing a single shot.
What is the connection between the two? Why did the young marshal dare to fight the Soviet Union, but not Japan?
The young marshal of the Middle East Road incident was deceived
As soon as Zhang Xueliang took charge of the Northeast, he immediately launched an incident that shook the whole country.
On January 10, 1929, the "Yang Chang Incident" broke out, and Yang Yuting and Chang Huaiyin were killed in the Tiger Hall of the Marshal's Mansion.
We all know that although Yang Yuting is a veteran of the Feng family, he has always been at odds with the young marshal. After Zhang Zuolin's death, the contradictions between the two rose sharply, and the outbreak of the "Yang Chang Incident" seemed to be expected.
But in fact, the fuse of this matter also has a relationship with the Eastern Railway.
On the same day, Yang and Chang asked to see Zhang Xueliang and proposed:
"The Eastern Railway is a Sino-Soviet joint railway, and it has never accepted the command of the Northeast Transportation Commission."
Yang Yuting proposed the establishment of the office of the Northeast Railway Administration, which was handed over to Chang Huaiyin for supervision and management. Zhang Xueliang believes that this matter is related to diplomacy and needs to be considered in the long run.
However, the attitude of the young marshal was strongly opposed by Yang and Chang on the spot, and they took out a well-drafted document and forced him to sign it.
This behavior directly angered Zhang Xueliang, who was already murderous, and the tragedy of Yang and Chang followed.
Although Yang and Chang were killed, it has to be said that this proposal of the two is exactly what Zhang Xueliang has been thinking about recently.
After the death of the old marshal, the "two great imperialisms of Russia and Japan" became increasingly arrogant and attempted to increase their infiltration, and the young marshal felt that the northeast was facing a greater crisis.
In this context, he chose the Northeast to change banners and belong to the Jiang family.
In fact, the reason why Zhang Xueliang dared to start a war against Soviet Russia also had a great relationship with Chiang Kai-shek.
On May 27 of the same year, Zhang Xueliang, with the acquiescence of Chiang Kai-shek, sent a telegram to Zhang Jinghui, ordering him to search the Soviet Embassy in Harbin by force and arrest the Soviet Consul General in Harbin.
This behavior of the young marshal completely angered the Soviet side.
Three days later, after the Soviet Union expressed fierce opposition to Zhang Xueliang's decision, it immediately began to send additional troops to the Sino-Soviet border to put pressure on the northeast.
At first, Zhang Xueliang judged that the Soviet Union would not send troops easily, so he also showed an extremely tough attitude and had many discussions with Chiang Kai-shek.
During this period, Lao Jiang also promised the young marshal:
"Once the war between China and the Soviet Union starts, I will inevitably send troops to support you."
Perhaps this sentence reassured Zhang Xueliang, coupled with the further intensification of the contradictions between China and the Soviet Union, the young marshal decided to give it a go and take back control of the railway in one fell swoop.
In early July, Lu Ronghuan, the superintendent of the railway, forcibly took back the Eastern Railway by force. On the 17th of the same month, the Soviet Union decided to recall its envoys to China and other Soviet personnel and sever diplomatic relations with China.
On August 17, China declared war on the Soviet Union, and war was on the verge of breaking out.
In the face of the unusually fierce firepower of the Soviet Union and the indiscriminate bombardment of tanks and planes, the Northeast Army was defeated and retreated.
In mid-November, the Soviet army repeatedly sent planes to indiscriminately bomb Manchuria, causing devastating blows to the headquarters of the Northeast Army, barracks, military police, and residential areas stationed there, and even Japanese hotels were razed to the ground.
If the war continues to develop according to this situation, it will be a matter of time before the Northeast Army is defeated.
As a result, the young marshal sent urgent telegrams to Chiang Kai-shek many times, hoping that Nanjing would send troops to reinforce the northeast.
However, in the end, several telegrams were only exchanged for 2 million yuan in military subsidies and a Li Jishen, as well as a reply that "there will be no more weapons and ammunition".
The young marshal saw it in his eyes, and he was secretly angry in his heart, so he could only continue to go up.
I have to say that Lao Jiang's approach is really a bit immoral.
I remember that at an emergency meeting held in Beijing on July 10, Chiang Kai-shek Shang personally claimed:
"To take over the Middle East Road by force, to prevent 'redness', and even to sever diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, at all costs, once China and the Soviet Union go to war, the central government can send 100,000 troops and allocate several million military spending."
But until the end of the war, there was no shadow of 100,000 reinforcements.
At the same time that the young marshal was miserably pitted by the old Chiang, the Northeast Army was also trampled by the Soviet steel torrent and was extremely humiliated, and the young marshal couldn't help but begin to doubt himself and the strength of the Northeast Army.
On December 22, 1929, the "Draft Treaty of the Sino-Soviet Conference" was signed, and the two sides ceased fighting, and the Eastern Railway Incident ended in a crushing defeat for the Northeast Army.
The young marshal of the 918 incident responded
Perhaps, the young marshal did not expect that his sworn eldest brother would be untrustworthy, causing him to fall into such a dangerous situation.
But in fact, Zhang Xueliang dared to start a war against the Soviet Union, and there were some other reasons. And all this goes back to the Russo-Japanese War more than 20 years ago.
In that war, Japan defeated Russia and pushed its position in Asia to a new level.
According to the research data of Japan in the 30s:
"The Chinese army, including the Northeast Army, believes that it has many years of experience in civil war, so it simply looks down on the Japanese army, which has no actual combat experience."
But in reality, Japan, an ambitious country, is extremely good at managing itself.
Not to mention that it relied on the Meiji Restoration before the Sino-Japanese War, it was able to seize the opportunity to improve its own strength in the Russo-Japanese War alone.
From the second half of 1905 to 1907, in a year and a half, the amount of investment in new Japanese enterprises exceeded twice the amount of investment in the decade after the First Sino-Japanese War. And these are all ready for its later expansion.
Therefore, since the Chinese army looks down on Japan, it naturally looks down on the Soviet Union, which was defeated by Japan. This is true of the Chinese army, and so is Zhang Xueliang.
Despising the opponent is a big mistake made by the young marshal this time.
In Guo Songling's anti-Feng war, in order to prevent Zhang Zuolin from transferring troops from Heilongjiang, the Soviet Union only symbolically increased troops in the border areas to deter, and did not take practical action.
On the other hand, the Japanese army gave support with real guns and ammunition, not only dispatching the Kwantung Army to attack Guo's army in Xinmin County, but also dispatching planes to bomb Guo Songling's position repeatedly.
The stark contrast between Japan and the Soviet Union made the young marshal mistakenly believe that the Soviet Union was not only weak, but also strong and middle-class.
As a result, as soon as China and the Soviet Union went to war, Zhang Xueliang was dumbfounded.
On the contrary, this conflict made Japan realize that the Northeast Army was weak and perhaps not as rigid as the outside world said, which also prompted the Japanese army to speed up the pace of invasion and occupation of the Northeast.
But in fact, later, especially after the outbreak of the 918 Incident, Zhang Xueliang gradually began to change his views on Japan.
When the old marshal was still there, the young marshal had a group of Japanese friends, such as the adviser Takeo Kikuchi, the commander of the Kwantung Army, Shigeru Honjo, and others. What's more, he also personally visited Japan to see the Japanese military exercises.
Zhang Xueliang gradually realized that Japan at this time was different from the past, and its military strength had already been greatly improved.
At this level, when the 918 Incident broke out, the young marshal did not want to easily clash with the Japanese army.
On the other hand, the policy issued by Nanjing at that time was also the reason for the young marshal to make different decisions.
In 1928, the Nanjing Nationalist Government issued the so-called "revolutionary diplomacy" to solve the diplomatic problems of unequal treaty relations by means of coercion.
On June 15, Chiang Kai-shek proposed in the "Foreign Declaration":
"Now, when the reunification of China is completed, it is necessary to further follow the proper procedures and carry out the reformulation of the new treaty."
Since the new contract is to be rewritten, the previous ownership of the railway and the concession should also be recovered, and the decision of the young marshal to take back the Eastern Railway was made in such an environment.
In the September 18 Incident, the young marshal adopted a "policy of non-resistance" and ordered his subordinates to "be tolerant of all sides, and not to resist them, causing trouble." ”
But in a later interview, Zhang Xueliang mentioned:
"Since the loss of Northeast China, the people of the whole country have all scolded me, why don't I dare to fight the Japanese bandits? My superiors didn't allow me to fight. ”
This can be known from Feng Yuxiang's "The Chiang Kai-shek I Know":
"Chiang once said to Zhang Xueliang: 'Wherever the Japanese occupy, let them occupy it, we are non-resistance.'"
From this point of view, Zhang Xueliang, as the implementer of the "non-resistance policy", really carried out Lao Chiang's policy to the end. And his hat of "non-resistance general" is also true.
Looking at the two incidents, the young marshal justified himself
In fact, after the young marshal decided to start a war against the Soviet Union, Zhang Zuoxiang, a veteran of the Northeast who had always supported him, objected:
"If this war is lost, the Northeast will become a historical sinner, and China will face annihilation."
However, some generals in the Northeast Army, who claim to be "Russian experts", said:
"The Soviet Union is currently in the precarious situation of the Great Famine, the people's opposition is high, and the suppression of European and American countries is causing a huge impact on the Soviet Union."
Lu Ronghuan, Superintendent of the Eastern Railway, also added:
"The Soviet Union was empty internally, the border defense was vulnerable, and once the war started, it would definitely collapse."
But in fact, this group of so-called "Russian experts" is a group of pro-Belarusian bureaucrats who are in opposition to the Red Soviet power, who do not know much about the situation in the Soviet Union, and even have jokes that "the Soviet Union is a poor party."
It's a pity that the young marshal still believed the words of this group of people, mistakenly believing that the Soviet Union was a foreign power and a middle cadre, and did not dare to really send troops.
At that time, the young marshal initially took over the Northeast, and he only thought about fighting a battle of prestige as soon as possible, so as to establish his prestige and stabilize his position in the Northeast.
On the one hand, the relationship between the Northeast Army and the Soviet Union was poor, which was obvious to all in the old commander's generation, and perhaps the two sides had long wanted to "learn" about it.
On the other hand, winning the war against the Soviet Union is in line with the "foreign policy" of Lao Chiang, and it can also take back the Eastern Railway and bring greater economic benefits to the Northeast.
No matter how you look at it, it doesn't hurt. If so, then fight! But this blow hit Chiang Kai-shek's arms.
At this time, not long after the Northeast Banner, although Zhang Xueliang was nominally attached to Chiang Kai-shek, the old Chiang was suspicious by nature and somewhat jealous of the Northeast Army.
You must know, especially when the old handsome Zhang Zuolin was in power, Fengjun had the title of "Siberian Tiger".
At that time, the equipment of the Northeast Army even surpassed that of the Central Army in Nanjing, and it was the only army with a trinity of land, sea and air.
In this regard, Yang Yongtai stood up and offered a plan for Lao Jiang: "talk to him about diplomacy".
This he refers to Zhang Xueliang.
Yang Yongtai's meaning was to instigate Zhang Xueliang to stir up diplomatic incidents, and then weaken the Northeast Army, so that it would fall into the dangerous situation of being attacked by Soviet Russia, and in the end, it had to be firmly attached to the Nanjing government.
Therefore, in the early stage, Lao Jiang would wholeheartedly instigate Zhang Xueliang, telling him to "rest assured to fight, I will give you a cover".
After all, the young marshal was still young, and that time he pushed himself straight into the fire pit.
Therefore, after the outbreak of the 918 Incident, he learned the lesson of being deceived by Lao Jiang last time, combined with the comprehensive consideration of the Northeast Army, and decisively chose not to resist:
"I have already ordered our soldiers not to resist the provocation of the Japanese soldiers. Therefore, our army in Beida Camp ordered the ordnance to be collected and stored in the treasury as soon as possible. ”
One of the important reasons for this is that the young marshal wants to preserve his own strength.
Another important reason, similar to the Middle East Road incident, was that the young marshal's judgment of the Japanese army's intentions was wrong again. He believed that at that time, the Japanese army was just making a small fuss in the northeast, and at most created some friction to grab benefits.
Who knows, the Kwantung Army's provocation of the incident this time is just a wolf ambition that has been planned for a long time.
In addition, such as the young marshal's hope for international mediation, the sharp internal contradictions of the Northeast Army, and the pressure from Nanjing, are all factors that the young marshal needs to consider.
But in any case, these should not be reasons for the mainland to give up its territory without firing a single shot.
"If I, Zhang Xueliang, have betrayed the country, you will cut off my head, and I am willing."
This is what Zhang Xueliang said in an interview in his later years, and it can be seen from this that Zhang Xueliang is still resentful of his "non-resistance" policy back then.
Even later, he launched the Xi'an Incident to try to redeem the mistakes he had made back then.
On the contrary, if Zhang Xueliang had chosen to resist bravely at that time, he might not have been able to change the fact that the Northeast had fallen, but at least he would not have put the whole country in such a dangerous situation, and almost the entire Northeast would not have fallen into the hands of the enemy.
epilogue
Northeast China is located on the border of the mainland, which is the northern gate of China, and it is precisely because of its special geographical location that it has become one of the first choices for the great powers to seek interests.
Whether it was through the Eastern Railway incident or the 918 incident, the young marshal failed to provoke his responsibility and burden as the "king of the Northeast" at a critical moment.
His repeated misjudgments and evasions have not allowed us to see the courage and wisdom that a mature Chinese general should have in the face of national righteousness.
It is more that he considers preserving his own strength and coping with the pressure of Nanjing, as well as his "cleverness" to "justify himself" in front of the Chinese people.
Perhaps in that turbulent era, he had his own troubles; Or maybe in the Xi'an Incident, he also made a rescue.
But history has been dusted, who can tell the truth in black and white? Merit will not be erased, but neither should shame be forgotten.
-END-
[Text: Here]
[Editor|Chang Gung]
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