Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen Japan and the Xian Incident

One of Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek must bear the charge of non-resistance.Chiang Kai-shek said: "The current situation is like a boat bobbing up and down in a stormy sea. Only one of us can cross the river with it. If both of us want to cross the river, then either we will both sink." , or one of them jumps. The question is: "Do you jump or should I jump?" ". Zhang Xueliang said: "I will jump down!" " When Song Meiling arrived in Xi'an, Chiang Kai-shek was reading a chapter of the "Book of Narimi" in the Old Testament of the "Bible", and he saw this sentence: "Now the Lord is doing a new thing, he will let a woman protect a man. "

So, this passage is "fulfilled." Chiang Kai-shek's front was always full of difficulties, and in the second half of 1935, he was in constant trouble. Although he has established the position of the military leader of the country, his opponents who occupy the provinces have never given up their attempts to replace him one day, and Chiang Kai-shek's obvious reluctance and procrastination in resisting Japanese aggression are precisely these opponents. Take advantage of the reasons for making a comeback. The generals of Guangxi (who were always rebelling and failing again and again) began to organize the "National Anti-Japanese and National Salvation Army" in June.The two Guangxi generals who participated in this matter were Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, who joined forces with the then Guangdong general Chen Jitang.

Out of similar motives, the well-known "Christian General" Feng Yuxiang also began to operate in the north, taking the post of "Commander of the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces".As usual, Feng Yuxiang's performance ended in a hurry, and he was not enthusiastic about confronting the Japanese head-on. The problem in the south seems to be more serious, and Chiang Kai-shek, the commander-in-chief, cannot justly refute the anti-Japanese proposition of the three generals. Before raising troops, the three generals had called Chiang Kai-shek and asked him to declare war on Japan.

Jiang Jieshi did not change the predetermined sequence in his strategy, he replied to them: "You cannot risk the fate of the country on the spur of the moment." If KMT historians are to be believed, Chen Jitang had in fact purchased weapons and ammunition from the Japanese for their claimed feat of resistance against Japan.Tang cites the life of Major General Takahashi Tan, the Japanese military attache in China, to support his assertion made on June 12, 1935. In any case, when the "saviors" received Chiang Kai-shek's refusal, they led their troops fifteen miles into Hunan Province, which borders Guangxi.

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek still held an attitude of compromise and repair, and ordered his troops in Hunan to retreat, so as to avoid aggravating the civil war in China due to the conflict. At this time, it can be seen that for these generals, money is more important than the national war of resistance.Guangdong was in dire need of money, while Guangxi suffered a sharp decline in income due to Chiang Kai-shek's campaign against opium shipments.For six weeks, internal rebellion and squabbling hampered the movement of these troops. Chen Jitang fled to Hong Kong, and the Guangxi generals benefited from Chiang Kai-shek's policy of tolerance.In return for ostensibly acknowledging Chiang Kai-shek's authority, Li Zongren was appointed "Director of the Guangxi Appeasement Office", while Bai Chongxi was appointed member of the Executive Committee of the KMT Military Conference.China's face is saved.

While the anti-Japanese stance of these rebel generals was undoubtedly feigned, in 1935 those Chinese who opposed Japanese aggression and wished to resist had pressing reasons for concern. At the beginning of this year, there was a hope that relations between China and Japan could be established on a new, firmer and more friendly basis.Chiang Kai-shek had proposed a treaty of friendship with Tokyo on the basis of complete equality. The relatively moderate Japanese foreign minister was ready to accept this suggestion. He intentionally interpreted this suggestion as Chiang Kai-shek's intention to eliminate the influence of Western powers and turn to Japan for help and guidance.

However, the development of the domestic situation in Japan is not satisfactory.Japanese soldiers wanted a brutal solution, and they deliberately moved in the direction of the use of force. In January, the Japanese army occupied this piece of Chinese territory on the pretext that East Chahar should belong to the "Manchukuo". In May, the crisis deepened further. On July 6, the so-called "Hemei Agreement" was signed, stipulating the withdrawal of Kuomintang troops and organizations from Hebei Province, and banning the activities of the Blue Shirts Society.That's not all, the Nanking government was forced to issue a "good-neighborly order", promising to punish actions and speech against "friends" - "friends" is a euphemism for Japan.

In December, China was further humiliated when the Japanese combined Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Chahar, and Suiyuan into "autonomous" Chinese regions, in effect putting these regions under Japanese control. Chiang Kai-shek made further compromises.In a speech at the Fifth Congress of the Kuomintang on November 12, 1935, he claimed: "We should not talk about sacrifice lightly unless it pushes us to the last moment when we have to make sacrifices." In fact, he A mild warning is issued here: there are limits to the concessions China is prepared to make. Soon, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai arrived in Shaanxi after the Long March.For the students and those anti-Chiang soldiers, opposing the Japanese invasion was the best slogan for strength.

But even more inspiring was the heroism shown by the Red Army during the Long March. Back then at Beijing Normal University, Eric Zhou's left-leaning classmates spread the word about the heroics of the Red Army's Long March.This fall; he met Huang Jing.Huang Jing (he used the pseudonym Yu Qiwei) came to the northern city from Qingdao, where he later served as minister of the People's Republic of China's First Ministry of Machinery Industry in 1949. Earlier, Huang Jing was a temporary student at Peking University, but he spent more time at Yenching University and Tsinghua University, where he conducted propaganda and agitation work among the students.

Huang Jing was one of the early organizers of the National Liberation Vanguard, the predecessor of the Chinese Communist Youth Organization, and his propaganda and agitation work was very successful. In early December, when Chiang Kai-shek's general, He Yingqin, came to Peking, Huang Jing decided to cause him some trouble.Five months ago, it was this He Yingqin and Umezu Yoshijiro who signed an agreement to humiliate the country and lose power. On December 9th, 10,000 students demonstrated in Beiping against the Japanese.For some older people, it reminded people of the "May Fourth Movement" in 1919, but this time the scale of the movement was much larger.In Hangzhou and Shanghai, in Wuhan, Changsha and Fuzhou, some other students held demonstrations or riots, and various "National Salvation Federations" all over the country

have been established. The "December 9th" movement broke out and lasted for a long time.For Chiang Kai-shek, this was no small inconvenience; for the Communists who organized the movement, it was an integral part of the "people's revolution." Some years later, in a paper on the "December 9" Movement (Beijing, 1961), the author said that Liu Shaoqi regarded the student movement as "a sign of the dividing line between the reactionary and revolutionary eras in Chinese history." Praise, and attribute it to the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the guidance of Mao Zedong Thought. Another rebellion occurred in Chiang Kai-shek's home. In 1935, his eldest son, Chiang Ching-kuo, wrote to his mother (whom Chiang Kai-shek had divorced for a long time, of course), accusing his father of his policies. He expressed his feelings in the Soviet Union with such joyful words: "The Soviet Union is our motherland. I feel honored and happy to see that my motherland, the Soviet Union, has been making amazing achievements in various fields." The stamp of the letter is Leninger Le, Chiang Ching-kuo has lived in the Soviet Union for ten years. This is an unusual thing, when Chiang Ching-kuo went to the Soviet Union, he was only sixteen years old.Little is known about Chiang Kai-shek's turn against the Communists, and he is often referred to as China's "Trotsky." In 1925, Chiang Kai-shek had just become the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy, and his son went to Guangzhou. At that time, Guangzhou was called the "Mecca of Revolution". When they met, the father was struggling with how to further his son's education.At this time, Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow asked the revolutionary government to send a group of students to Russia.Because of Chiang Ching-kuo's eager approval, Chiang Kai-shek put him on the list.There were good reasons for this: it showed Chiang Kai-shek's friendly attitude towards the Soviet Union, and at the same time, it solved the problem of his son's education by giving his son a chance to learn revolutionary skills for future use.For similar reasons, Chiang Kai-shek later sent his other son, Jiang Weiguo, to Nazi Germany. However, two years later the experiment was less flavorful.At that time Chiang Kai-shek was killing the Communists in Shanghai and other places. By this time it was no easy task for Chiang Kai-shek to recall his son back to China.In fact, he did order his son to return home, but Jiang Jingguo couldn't help himself. He wrote a letter to his family with no care, refusing to obey and blaming his father. According to the Kuomintang, this letter was dictated to Chiang Ching-kuo by Wang Ming (formerly known as Chen Shaoyu), a leader of the Chinese Communist Party who happened to be in Soviet Russia at the time.Years passed, and by 1936 (the year Chiang Ching-kuo again refused his father's request), he had married a Russian wife, and it seemed that he was settling down in Soviet Russia. In order not to interfere with the priority of "resisting the outside world first" in his strategy, Chiang Kai-shek must be recognized in terms of self-discipline and independent decision-making, so as to avoid encountering the Japanese as much as possible. He instructed his strategic advisor, Jiang Baili, to formulate a nationwide defense plan. In the winter of 1935, he sent Jiang Baili to European countries to study the legal provisions of general mobilization. Jiang Baili first visited Italy, where he paid special attention to the development of the Air Force. In his report to Chiang Kai-shek, he particularly emphasized the importance of "air defense geography". He believed that in a big country like China, the most important thing is that the air force should have speed and vitality.He pointed out that for a long-term war, economic mobilization is crucial, and propaganda work should go hand in hand with military action. One of the main reasons why Chiang Kai-shek was passive in dealing with the Japanese was that the foundation of power he held was very weak.The local soldiers encouraged him to fight against Japan, because if he fought against Japan and failed, they could carve up his kingdom. Chiang Kai-shek was well aware of the danger, so he stood still. It stands to reason that the Soviets and Chinese Communists should have been happy to welcome any initial move by Chiang Kai-shek, even though they had reason to distrust him. The resolution of the Seventh Congress of the Comintern in July-August 1935 called for the establishment of the People's Front wherever possible. In China, the communists were tasked with exploring the possibility of a united front with the Kuomintang. For the Chinese Red Army, which had been severely weakened by the Long March, the following guidelines formulated by the new resolution were quite unrealistic: "In the united front that unites the people of the whole country for the struggle for liberation, the Soviet must become the core of leadership." Naturally, these preachings were not welcomed by Mao Zedong. The only concession he made to the resolution of the Communist International was that he no longer referred to Chiang Kai-shek as a reactionary in the party's propaganda, but called him a "national scum" in a unified way. Mao Zedong believed that a more promising approach was to use Zhang Xueliang.In the spring of 1936, the Communist Party secretly approached Zhang.They were welcomed by Zhang Xueliang, who invited Communist representatives to his headquarters in Xi'an. Chiang Kai-shek was not entirely dissatisfied with the close relationship developed between the young marshal and the Communists.He believed that when he resumed his "communist suppression" campaign, he would have the opportunity to wipe out both the Communist Party and Zhang Xueliang's troops. In this way, the young marshal, who is an important player in the Chinese political arena, can be eliminated.But what disturbed him were the reports of Mao's army recovering and growing rapidly in 1936. In October, two Kuomintang troops turned to the Communist Party in the new base area. At the end of the Long March, Mao Zedong had only 20,000 troops, and now he commands about 80,000 troops.Admittedly, many of them lacked guns, but once again this force was conspicuously the mainstay of the Communist Party.At this time, the relationship between Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang was very cold.Calling Zhang Xueliang a "non-resistance general" was all the rage, fueled by warlords from rival factions. Zhang Xueliang himself thought this extremely unfair, because hadn't Chiang Kai-shek explicitly instructed him to adopt a policy of non-resistance when the Japanese attacked first?Shortly after the Shenyang incident, the two met on a train in Baoding, Hebei. According to an unconfirmed account, Chiang Kai-shek said: "The present situation is like a boat bobbing up and down in a rough sea, and only one of us can cross the river in it. If we both want to cross the river, then either we will both sink, or One of them jumps. The question is: Do you jump or should I jump?" Lu Pi (transliteration, probably the pseudonym of a friend of Zhang Xueliang) quoted these words, adding: "What he means is: now that the whole country is against the non-resistance policy, the situation is very serious, and one of them must Bear the charge of non-resistance. Mr. Zhang generously said: 'I jumped off!'" In order to cure his drug habit, Zhang Xueliang traveled in European countries for about a year, and when he returned to China in the spring of 1934, he became another one person.Along with his interests in dancing, drinking, and golf, he developed a sense of humor. A friend asked the young marshal what he thought of Italy, "very good," he said: "Macaroni on every table, Mussolini on every wall." Why did he return home?for one thing. The Fujian incident caused an uproar. He felt that his return to China might help stabilize the situation. Another reason was that the Northeast Army wanted him back.The officers and soldiers were restless day and night, and the anti-Japanese sentiment made them uneasy physically and mentally.Fearing another rebellion, Chiang Kai-shek also wanted the Marshal to return to his old post. As soon as the young marshal returned to China, Chiang Kai-shek appointed him as the deputy commander-in-chief of the "communist suppression" in Henan, Hubei and Anhui, so that he was directly under the command of the chairman himself. The young marshal had every reason to oppose Japan.The Japanese blew up his father, and he himself blamed himself for losing large tracts of land to Japan. His friends and aides shared his views.Among these was W. H. Tuaner, an Australian journalist who had been employed as Zhang Xueliang's main adviser since 1928.The foreigner, often referred to as "China's Duanna," strongly endorsed the unity of the Chinese nation against Japanese aggression.The Young Marshal's Chinese aides found it difficult to accept anti-communist advice.Compared with the Japanese invaders, these people are Chinese after all, and many of them are from the same hometown.However, at the end of 1934, Zhang Xueliang was still loyal to Chiang Kai-shek, and he still carried out the orders of the chairman, which was largely against his own views. By the winter of 1935, Zhang Xueliang began to change course.At that time, the young marshal was attending the Fifth Congress of the Kuomintang in Nanjing, and the Northeast Army and the Red Army had a large-scale battle. The Red Army suffered heavy casualties, but so did the Northeast Army. They lost two entire divisions. If this was the price of "communist suppression", at this rate, Zhang Xueliang would not have many troops to fight the Japanese. The Communist Party spread the word that they hoped to end the civil war and unite against the Japanese.It was this suggestion that prompted Zhang Xueliang to start negotiations with Mao Zedong's representatives. After studying the reports on the growth and revitalization of the Red Army, Chiang Kai-shek decided to go to Zhang Xueliang's headquarters in Xi'an to study the planned sixth "communist suppression" campaign. Chiang Kai-shek once saw that Zhang Xueliang was unwilling to obey orders.Zhang Xueliang explained that he knew that the Communist Party was now preparing to cooperate with the Kuomintang and to follow Chiang Kai-shek's orders in implementing a national policy of resistance against Japan.He advocated an alliance with the Soviet Union and the establishment of the Anti-Japanese United Front.Chiang Kai-shek was "very distressed".As one of his subordinates and always loyal to him, how could Zhang Xueliang suggest that he join forces with the Communist Party?He lost his temper, cursed Zhang Xueliang, declared that Zhang Xueliang had lost his trust, and then returned to his headquarters in Luoyang. Although Chiang Kai-shek was intensifying his secret war preparations against Japan during this period, he did not change his established strategic order.In fact, his first action after leaving Xi'an was to order the arrest of seven famous leaders of the Shanghai National Salvation Movement, and the closure of fourteen well-known magazines for the crime of propagating anti-Japanese. He has since moved on to something more public about his private life—preparing to celebrate his fiftieth birthday, according to Chinese calculations (in most parts of the world, it should count as his forty-ninth birthday).The date of birthday was October 31, 1936, and he himself celebrated this day intentionally and simply in the ancient capital Luoyang.Two large birthday cakes were brought up, and after Chiang Kai-shek blew out the candles, Madame Chiang distributed the sliced ​​cakes to the local dignitaries and their wives and children.On this occasion, Chiang Kai-shek praised his mother in a speech to his countrymen. Elsewhere, the festivities were less muted.So much money was collected from a public call for birthdays a year ago, enough to pay for the purchase of 100 American planes, and in Nanjing, 200,000 people gathered at Minggong Airport to watch an air show, where they lit fire in front of a giant portrait , bow three times according to Chinese etiquette.It was a good day for Chiang Kai-shek. Yet only a few weeks later, the strangest and almost scandalous episode of his life awaited him: the Sian Incident. At the end of November, Chiang Kai-shek received bad news from all aspects.He had sent out his best troops.The famous First Army, led by Hu Zongnan, searched for and attempted to destroy the Gansu Red Army.The first news came that Hu Zongnan had won and the Communists had fled. But unexpectedly, the First Army was surrounded.The Red Army went on the offensive, destroying and disarming two infantry brigades and a cavalry regiment, capturing several thousand rifles and machine guns, and as an additional price, an entire regiment of government troops surrendered to the Red Army. These events took place on November 21, 1936, four days before Germany and Japan signed the anti-Comintern pact.Will war be far away? These news did not make Chiang Kai-shek change his original intention and embark on the road of national unity, but on the contrary strengthened his determination to deal with the Communist Party in a comprehensive and one-off manner. As if nothing unpleasant happened in October. On December 7, 1936, Chiang Kai-shek flew to Xi'an.His trip has a clear goal: to exert comprehensive pressure on Zhang Xueliang through his wishes and authority, forcing him to participate in the sixth "communist suppression" plan. First, he dispatched about 1,500 members of the Blue Shirts "secret agent" regiment, led by his nephew, General Jiang Xiaoxian.The force was well organized and launched from a secret headquarters, Jiang Xiaoxian set out to arrest all suspected Communists.Putting aside all other goals, Chiang Kai-shek convened all the generals, held a chief of staff meeting on the 10th, and finally implemented the sixth "communist suppression" plan.Chiang Kai-shek announced that if Zhang Xueliang refused to carry out his order to take part in the campaign to "suppress the communists," he would be relieved of his duties; his troops would also be disarmed. However, a strange and premeditated incident disrupted Chiang Kai-shek's plan.Blue Shirts were arrested in their sleep, disarmed and locked up.Most of the staff were also imprisoned, the guards surrendered, and fifty aircraft and their pilots were seized. What ensued was not so much a coup d'état as a dramatic downturn (as Edgar Snow pointed out).At that time, the chairman was living in Lintong, a warm and spring-like health resort ten miles away from Xi'an.At 5 o'clock in the morning, the young marshal's guard captain, Captain Sun Mingjiu, twenty-six years old, led about ten cars full of soldiers to the hotel where Chiang Kai-shek was staying, and opened fire when they were blocked by sentries.The Generalissimo's guards were taken aback, but resisted for a long time, allowing Chiang himself to escape. According to Chiang Kai-shek's own later account, he was up and getting dressed after exercising.When he realized what had happened, the chairman, accompanied by two men, climbed a 10-foot wall, rolled 30 feet from the other side of the wall, and fell into a ditch.He felt a piercing pain, only to discover later that he had badly hurt his back and had lost his dentures (although his own account contained no such indecent details).Supporting his feet, Chiang Kai-shek climbed up a hill near the hotel, where he encountered several guards, and at the top of the hill they were shot from below and several guards were killed. Realizing he was surrounded, the Generalissimo went downhill again, and he jumped again—this time into a cave concealed by bushes.In the bright sunlight, Sun Mingjiu and his men found the chairman there, with only a long robe draped carelessly over his pajamas.The snow kept falling, and he was shaking, his bare feet and hands scratched as he climbed. At this time, it was not so much because of the cold, but rather because of anger, he trembled all over, and shouted loudly: "Beat me to death, it will be a hundred." Sun Mingjiu replied: "We will not hurt you, we just want you to lead the national anti-Japanese war." .” Chiang Kai-shek wanted a horse to carry him down the mountain, but Captain Sun Mingjiu let him lie on his thick back and carry him down the mountain.After going downhill and walking a long way, an attendant came with Chiang Kai-shek's shoes.When he arrived at the flat ground, a car stopped there and took him into Xi'an City. In the city, he was ushered into the office of Yang Hucheng, director of the Shaanxi Appeasement Office.Not long after, Zhang Xueliang walked in and stood at attention in front of Chiang Kai-shek. He respectfully called Chiang "Chairman". In this regard, Chiang Kai-shek responded: "Since you call me chairman, you are my subordinate. If you still regard me as your boss, escort me to Luoyang immediately, otherwise you will be a traitor. If I If it is in the hands of a traitor, you can kill me immediately. Other than that, I have nothing more to say," he remained silent for the next few days. It was not long before word came that General Yang's troops had killed or wounded more than forty of the Chairman's guards, while seventeen high-ranking officials and generals of the Nationalist government had been imprisoned. The young marshal gave Chiang Kai-shek eight requirements, but Chiang refused to agree.So Zhang Xueliang and others telegraphed these eight demands to Nanjing, which also included the personal signatures of many detained Kuomintang officers and officials. Their requirements are as follows: 1. Reorganize the Nanjing government and allow all parties to share the responsibility of resisting Japan and saving the nation. 2. Immediately stop the civil war and adopt the policy of armed resistance against Japan. 3. Release the leaders of the patriotic movement in Shanghai. 4. Pardon all political prisoners. 5. Guarantee the freedom of people's assembly. 6. To protect the rights and political freedom of the people to form patriotic organizations. 7. Fulfill Dr. Sun Yat-sen's last wish. 8. Immediately convene the National Salvation Conference. It is worth noting that the part highlighted in the second point of the above document cannot be found in the Kuomintang text, or to be precise, only Edgar Snow's "Red Star Shines Over China" contains this passage (p. 409 Page).Clearly, even Snow had used italics, he was simply trying to emphasize its importance clearly. On the issue of advocating "armed resistance to Japan", any potential thing can happen. In the final analysis, this is the primary purpose of arresting Chiang Kai-shek.As Snow pointed out exactly, seven of the eight demands happened to be related to the idea of ​​"national salvation," which was put forward by the Chinese Communist Party and the Soviet Union on December 1, 1936.Presumably the young marshal discussed with the Communist Party during the Xi'an Incident.As expected, the Soviet government, the Chinese Communist Party, and the Chinese Red Army immediately stated that they supported the eight points.The news of Chiang Kai-shek's detention shook China greatly, and the Chinese were plunged into deep apprehension, which was admitted even by some opposition witnesses, and was further confirmed by many in the middle.Eric Zhou recalled the situation at that time: In the late afternoon of December 12, 1936, news of Chiang's detention reached Peiping, shaking the entire campus.Professors and students who were not interested in politics suddenly cared about what had happened.Beiping was by no means a city that supported Chiang, but in the next few days, there were concerns about Chiang's safety everywhere.Perhaps for this reason, left-wing groups were unusually silent during the Xi'an Incident. This general apprehension was closely related to the strange nervous battle that followed.Zhang and Yang, the makers of the Chiang Kai-shek incident, once firmly believed that those warlords who had been victimized by Chiang Kai-shek's ambition to rule the world would unite as their backing and accuse Chiang Kai-shek. But the opposite happened. Followers of Feng Yuxiang, Hu Hanmin (who had just passed away), and even the Guangxi warlords all declared their support and loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek and demanded his release.This made the two generals understand their difficult situation. In Nanking, the central government appointed Kong Xiangxi as acting premier, Feng Yuxiang to lead the State Military Commission, and He Yingqin to mobilize the army.However, Zhang Xueliang was removed from all positions and had to be submitted to the National Military Commission for punishment. On December 12, Kong Xiangxi and Song Meiling arrived in Nanjing from Shanghai by express train. In Nanjing, He Yingqin was very angry.He suggested a crusade against Xi'an, using plane bombing to weaken the opponent's morale. At this time, Mrs. Jiang pointed out that the plane bombing could not distinguish the target, and Chiang Kai-shek himself might be killed. General He reluctantly retracted his suggestion. The Communist Party is in a dilemma. The Soviets were appalled by the seizure, or at least appeared to be. On December 14, the Soviet press severely criticized the detainees and, whimsically, accused Zhang Xueliang of being bribed by Japanese imperialism.In the eyes of the Soviets (according to written sources), Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang were the only forces capable of achieving a united anti-Japanese front in China. Understandably, the Chinese Communist Party has a hard time accepting this view.Their initial thought may have been to bring Chiang Kai-shek to trial and then execute him. But at this time Moscow issued an order: The Chinese Communist Party must work hard to establish a national coalition government under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek.At this time, a small comedy appeared on the stage of Chinese history. Zhou Enlai, the man who escaped from the firing squad in Shanghai during Chiang Kai-shek's coup in 1927, is now sent by Yan'an to Xi'an to save Chiang Kai-shek's life. In mid-December, Zhou En came to Xi'an, and he immediately went to see Chiang Kai-shek.Chiang Kai-shek was still very weak at this time, and the wound on his back was still hurting. Psychologically, he was also distressed by his painful experience.Chiang Kai-shek turned pale at the sight of Zhou Enlai—he must have remembered that he had offered a reward of 80,000 yuan for this guest's head.But Zhou Enlai restrained himself and acted very friendly. He was accompanied by a young marshal, and both called Chiang Kai-shek "Chairman".After a very cold silence, Chiang Kai-shek listened to Zhou Enlai's detailed explanation of the Communist Party's views.The first negotiation was fruitless, and the negotiations continued day after day until December 25. Neither in his diary nor in his book "Soviet in China" did Chiang Kai-shek mention his meeting with Zhou Enlai. Many years later, I learned some background about it from Chen Lifu, Chiang's close friend.Before the Xi'an Incident, Chiang Kai-shek sent him to negotiate with Zhou Enlai (after Chiang Kai-shek was arrested, Zhou was immediately recalled to Yan'an), and Soviet representative Bogomorov also participated in the negotiations.Zhou Enlai insisted on this view: "If you fight against Japan, we will cooperate with you." To this, Chen Lifu retorted: "If we resist Japan, you should cooperate with us." Then he put forward four points as the basis for the KMT-CCP ​​agreement. 1. The Communist Party of China should uphold the Three Principles of the People. 2. The Communist Party should obey the orders of the chairman. 3. The Red Army should be disbanded. 4. The Soviet organization in China should be dissolved; however, a special agreement could be signed with Yan'an, according to which the Communist Party could have their own self-government as part of the Chinese local government apparatus. Zhou Enlai accepted these conditions because it was the order of the Comintern (according to Chen Lifu). Chen Lifu also signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union.The Soviets promised not to help the Chinese Communist Party. Zhou Enlai agreed to meet the young marshal and told him and his followers not to make trouble for themselves, because the Kuomintang government was preparing for war anyway. Chen Lifu claimed that Stalin himself had ordered Chiang Kai-shek to be detained, and that he had also instructed the Japanese Communist Party to adopt a "patriotic" policy of supporting Japanese military action. The second of these views is possible; but I know of no other evidence for the first.It must be admitted, however, that Stalin could indeed have benefited from detaining Chiang Kai-shek, since there seemed to be no other way to hasten his decision to resist the Japanese. Now, another influential figure, the Australian W. H. Duanner, who had played for Zhang Xueliang and now served as an intermediary for Nanjing, came into the game.He was warmly welcomed, and Tuanna arrived in Xi'an on December 14 (whether it was the day after Zhou Enlai's arrival or the day before is unclear). After returning to Luoyang on the 15th, he called Nanjing to report.At that time Nanking was in the midst of desperation and frequent reports of the chairman's death, and Tuanna could further prove that he was still alive and receiving preferential treatment. This news made Madame Chiang even more opposed to the idea of ​​military action.It is clear that a peaceful solution is now possible. Mrs. Jiang's brother Song Ziwen knew the young marshal very well, so he flew to Xi'an to make some arrangements for Mrs. Jiang's arrival.This arrangement is very sensible. The chairman's wife is beautiful, charming, sophisticated and diplomatic.Her role at this point is that of a facilitator, and she plays it brilliantly. In her own account, the description of the young marshal is "very tired, worried, and even a little ashamed", while Yang Hucheng is "obviously very nervous".She meets the two amicably as if nothing happened. On the day Madame Chiang arrived on December 22, Chiang Kai-shek was reading the Bible In a chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament, he saw this sentence: "Now the Lord is doing a new thing. He will let a woman protect a man." So, this passage "come true" . On Christmas Day in 1936, Chiang Kai-shek and his wife flew to Luoyang and then to Nanjing. With a spirit of sacrifice, the young marshal accompanied them all the way as a guarantee of their personal safety. He regretted this decision for many years.Chiang Kai-shek sent him to a military court.He was sentenced to ten years in prison and deprived of political rights for five years.He was later pardoned, but not only until the Kuomintang lost power in China in 1949, but even after the Kuomintang went into exile in Taiwan, Zhang Xueliang was still under house arrest (as I was writing this in 1975, he was still unable to move freely).What happened to Zhang Xueliang must have disturbed Song Ziwen, who had (according to eyewitness accounts) personally guaranteed that Zhang would go to Nanking with impunity. Zhang Xueliang himself did not expect to be imprisoned, and he voluntarily escorted Chiang Kai-shek to Nanking as a token of his continued loyalty to the Chairman. As for Yang Hucheng, he was also imprisoned, and Chiang Kai-shek, who wanted revenge, killed him in 1949 when the Communist Party was about to occupy Chongqing.Now there is a common saying: It was Yang Hucheng's idea to detain Chiang Kai-shek, and he persuaded Zhang Xueliang to stand by and do nothing. More than one party was responsible for the Xi'an Incident.Chiang Kai-shek might have rightly stated—and he did—that he had never formally accepted the eight demands handed to him by his captors.Of course, he didn't sign any papers until the end. But there are indications that he has at least tacitly accepted most of the demands.He stopped his plans to "suppress" or "eliminate" the Communist Party, and no longer called it a "communist bandit." His lifelong friend Zhang Qun was known as a pro-Japanese faction and was dismissed from his post at the Foreign Ministry;Preparations for the establishment of the anti-Japanese united front continued. In the astonishing triangular drama of various forces in the Xi'an Incident, only the young marshal and his followers lost everything. The Communist Party has benefited greatly.They are no longer harassed and have earned national and international prominence.