Chapter 19 18. Non-Resistance: A Tragic Mistake

On the night of the incident, from the evening to the early morning of the 19th, Zhang Xueliang only received two calls and one telegram from Shenyang—this was all the information sources for him to judge the situation in Northeast China.The first call was from Rong Zhen, who reported that the Japanese army was attacking Beidaying.Zhang Xueliang instructed as always: respect the purpose of peace and avoid conflicts with Japan.The second call was from Wang Yizhe. He asked the young marshal again for instructions on what to do, but Zhang still ordered not to resist.Afterwards, Shenyang's phone calls could not be reached.It turned out that the Japanese army had occupied the radio station and the telephone office at about 2 o'clock in the morning.Rong Zhen then used a small telegraph to send another message to Zhang explaining the situation and asking for countermeasures. On the 20th, "Ta Kung Pao" published the following content of this telegram:

Urgent.Deputy Commander Jun Jian: Detailed.The Japanese soldiers began to attack our garrison at the Beida Camp at about ten o'clock last night. Our army embraced non-resistance and showed no response.The Japanese soldiers actually invaded the barracks, set fire to them, and expelled our soldiers from the camp.At the same time, wild artillery was used to attack Beidaying and the arsenal. So far, there has been no loss to the factory.The mortar storehouse in Beidaying was destroyed, and the mortar factory was also occupied.All the police stations inside and outside the city were shot by the Japanese soldiers, the police officers were driven out, and the radio broadcasting station was also invaded.Negotiations with the Japanese leaders repeatedly, but the actions of the army, the diplomats cannot directly stop and other words to tell each other, obviously hesitating, and saying that it was caused by our army destroying the bridge of the South Manchurian Railway, which is really an excuse.As of 5:00 a.m. today, the gunfire has not stopped.The above and other matters have been notified to the consulates of various countries, but Iraq and others have not yet expressed.The ranks are now insisting not to resist, so as to avoid local corruption, the remaining electricity, and begging to transfer to Nanjing.Sincerely.Zang Shiyi, Rong Zhenkow, Hao Maoyin.

The words "non-resistance" appeared for the first time in the telegram.Zhang Xueliang forwarded Rong Zhen's telegram to the Nanjing Nationalist Government, and reported to Chiang Kai-shek, who was on his way to Nanchang to "suppress the communists". Zhang Xueliang immediately summoned important officials of the Nationalist Government in Beiping to discuss the current situation, and the discussion lasted until 6 o'clock in the morning.The famous diplomat Gu Weijun also came.Gu Weijun put forward two suggestions: First, immediately telegraph Nanjing to ask the Nationalist Government to lodge a protest with the League of Nations and request an emergency meeting to deal with the situation.Second, immediately send a person who can speak Japanese to try to get in touch with the governor of Japan's Lushun and the president of the Nanman Railway, Uchida Yasuya.Zhang Xueliang agreed with the first suggestion, but rejected the second suggestion on the grounds that there was no suitable person to go to the northeast.

At 10 a.m., a large number of Chinese and foreign journalists gathered in Union Hospital one after another.Zhang Xueliang said in a speech, "I have already ordered our soldiers not to resist the provocation of the Japanese soldiers. Therefore, our army in the Peking Camp has ordered the collection of ordnance and stored it in the warehouse."He said that the Japanese army attacked Beidaying last night and occupied all the transportation facilities. He also had Japanese soldiers guarding his house in Shenyang, but "as of 6:30 in the morning, the order was not broken. Our soldiers and civilians are not prepared to resist."He also hoped that "the people will be calm and forbearing, and not make any troubles."On this day, Zhang Xueliang also issued a telegram, and then quoted Rong Zhen's telegram to emphasize that in the face of the Japanese army's provocation, "our army has no resistance and has no response."The next day, this telegram was published in major newspapers across the country, and Zhang Xueliang and the Northeast Army became famous for their "non-resistance doctrine".

Zhang Xueliang's idea of ​​non-resistance is a given.As early as July 8, when Zhang Xueliang explained the principles of handling the Wanbaoshan incident, he once again proposed that "be patient with the Japanese invaders, based on peaceful means, and based on justice, the Northeast Political Affairs Committee and the Jilin Provincial Government are responsible for solving the incident."At this time, the Japanese army had not made any major changes in the Northeast, but Zhang Xueliang had already raised the question of whether to go to war with the Japanese army, which showed that he had taken the situation very seriously.

Zhang Xueliang's policy toward Japan based on non-resistance was in line with the relative policies of the central government, especially Chiang Kai-shek. On July 12, Chiang Kai-shek called Zhang Xueliang, saying that "this is not the time to fight against Japan". On the 13th, Yu Youren sent a telegram to Zhang: "The Central Committee now puts down the civil strife as the first priority, and comrades in the Northeast should understand it." In the future, we should not resist any provocations in the Northeast, and try to avoid conflicts. My brother must not act out of momentary anger and disregard the country and the nation." In September, the Nanjing Army, Navy and Air Force Headquarters sent another letter to the Northeast Frontier Defense Commander's Office password, make the following instructions:

There are many reasons for investigating the deterioration of the situation between China and Japan. For example, the report of the minister said that because the three eastern provinces border Japan, there have been no cases of negotiation in the past month, and the cases involving the permanent troops and the Korean people are particularly serious.This is also used by the Japanese side as an excuse to challenge, which is extremely rude and unreasonable.Although the Japanese side takes any action, it should treat each other with a calm attitude at this time, and must not act rashly, which may lead to war.

In the 1930s, Zhang Xueliang was the one who was most loyal to the Nanjing government among the powerful factions in various places. He placed great expectations on the Nanjing government, hoping for a unified and powerful regime to realize the prosperity of the country. A unified and powerful central government emerged as his strong backing against the mighty Japanese.However, he is, after all, the one who directly orders and resolutely implements the policy of non-resistance. He has carried the notoriety of "general non-resistance" for decades.This tragic event affected his entire life.

At that time, the Nanjing government and Zhang Xueliang himself knew something about the situation that Japan, especially the Kwantung Army, was preparing to use force in the Northeast. It was also in September that the Nanjing Army, Navy and Air Force General Command sent a secret order to the Northeast Frontier Defense Commander's Office. Reference was also made to the following: According to the report of the embassy and consulate in Japan: "Recently, all political parties in Japan, regardless of whether they are in power or not, have absolutely no sincerity and goodwill towards our country. Instead, they have adopted an active policy of aggression. The Northeast built a parallel line to the Manchurian Railway, resisted the special rights of the Manchurian Railway, our regular army killed Captain Nakamura, the people of Qingdao attacked Japanese expatriates, oppressed the fresh people in various parts of the Northeast, and organized the Pai Rihui as an excuse to carry out challenges. Moreover, The Japanese army authorities have publicly notified the standing and reserve officers that they must actively prepare for combat in Manchuria and Mongolia, and take the following actions to enrich all kinds of strength... The people of Japan have long been aware of the insincerity of the Chinese and Japanese in the negotiations. Moreover, its aggressive policy towards Manchuria and Mongolia is well known to the people of the country. Today, in the name of the Captain Nakamura incident, the parallel line of the Manchuria Railway, and the oppression of the Korean people, it is challenging to prepare for the enrichment of armaments. Our three eastern provinces will bear the brunt of it.  … Manchurian Railway The permanent troops stationed along the line have also conducted cross-border exercises, which shows that they have ulterior motives. Therefore, please pay attention to the situation reported above.”

This is a piece of information that is rich in content and has considerable insight and weight. It was placed on the desk of the highest authority in Nanjing before the incident, and Zhang Xueliang also saw it.However, the national government, including Zhang Xueliang, still adopted a persistent non-resistance policy. As we all know, Chiang Kai-shek's idea of ​​"resisting the outside world first" is the chief culprit of the policy of non-resistance, but the actual process of history is much more complicated.In fact, the national government authorities, including Zhang Xueliang, had a general judgment at that time, that is, launching a war against China was not in the interests of Japan, and at best it was only a risky act of a small number of soldiers. Taking advantage of the opportunity, in the end, Japan's highest authority will stand up to stop the stupid practice of a few Japanese soldiers.

Not long after the incident happened, Yu Xuezhong suggested to Zhang Xueliang: "The Japanese soldiers are still continuing to invade and occupy all parts of the Northeast, and they are rampant. Although we avoid a full-scale conflict, we should also concentrate the strength of a few brigades and sacrifice three regiments of him. The enemy uses blows to dampen their aggression and forgive the people of the country." But Zhang Xueliang did not accept Yu's opinion.Zhang Xueliang said: "If the Northeast is lost by Yu, Yu will never feel uneasy. But Yu Shi is not willing to sacrifice their lives and property for Yu personally, and he is not willing to sacrifice the lives of subordinates who have been with him for many years. The title of a one-man national hero." In 1990, 59 years later, Zhang Xueliang, who was nearly 90 years old, admitted in an interview with a reporter from Japan's NHK TV station that he had made a wrong judgment.At that time, he believed that the war was not in the interests of Japan, and the Japanese government would not approve of sending troops to invade China. The incident was only done by some careerists in the Japanese military and the Kwantung Army.Based on this judgment, he believed that the Japanese government would definitely restrain the Kwantung Army's aggression; if the Northeast Army under him did not resist and avoid conflicts, major incidents would be reduced to minor ones. However, this judgment is inconsistent with the above-mentioned report of the Chinese Consulate in Japan, which stated that the Japanese side is likely to launch military operations in the Northeast, which is Japan's basic state policy and the unanimous proposition of all walks of life in Japan.So what caused the national government authorities to stubbornly believe that the Japanese military operation in the Northeast was just a provocation? On July 6, when Zhang Xueliang first gave instructions on the policy of the Northeast local authorities towards Japan, he telegraphed the Northeast Political Affairs Committee: "If we start a war with Japan at this time, we will be defeated. If we lose, Japan will demand land from me for compensation. There will be no redemption, and it is urgent to avoid conflicts and use justice as a deal." In January 1932, Chiang Kai-shek said in a speech: Due to the weakness of China's national defense, the area that can be occupied within 24 hours by a stormy day extends to the provinces of Liao and Kyrgyzstan. The Yangtze River Basin was completely ravaged by the enemy within 3 days, and the political, military, transportation, and financial connections of the whole country were cut off. In short, China cannot defeat Japan, and declaring war with Japan immediately is not in China's interests. This argument seems reasonable. After all, it was undoubtedly very difficult for China at that time to defeat Japan on its own.However, not declaring war does not mean not resisting. Blindly submitting to others will not only fail to become a bargaining weight with the opponent on the negotiating table, but will induce the greed of the opponent to push forward.Of course, if non-resistance is regarded as the price of occupying the moral high ground in the world and winning unanimous sympathy and support, it is even more worthless. "There are no permanent friends, only permanent interests" - a cold-blooded British diplomat The proposition of this article summarizes the essence of international relations. Going to the "interest supremacy" League of Nations to fight for legitimate national interests without any guarantee of strength is an even bigger fantasy. From another point of view, it can be said that it was the non-resistance policy of the national government that made the Japanese army's military operations possible.The Japanese military’s creation of incidents in the Northeast to trigger military operations was not part of a top-down, complete military strategy, but a product of complex interactions between the Japanese government, the Army’s Central Department, the Kwantung Army, and the young officers.If the incident is successful, a military operation aimed at occupying the entire Northeast will be launched quickly; and if the incident fails, the young Japanese officers will take responsibility for the Kwantung Army, and the Kwantung Army will take responsibility for the Japanese Army Headquarters, and the Japanese Army Headquarters The emperor will be held accountable - this is also a long-planned "exit" strategy.In addition, the total strength of the Kwantung Army at that time was only more than 10,000 people. Although it had the advantage of rapid maneuvering brought by the Manchurian railway transportation, it was not sure of victory when attacking the Beidaying.If the Kwantung Army's military adventure in the Northeast was frustrated, the contradictions between the Japanese government, the military, the Kwantung Army and the young officers would always erupt, which would be enough to delay Japan's aggression against the Northeast and even China as a whole.But sadly, history didn't really play out this scene. When facing a strong enemy, a military strategist will always deploy suspicious soldiers to cover the transfer of large troops. A master like Zhuge Liang will also use empty fortress tactics to frighten Sima Yi's army back. Run, and claim to be a moral party.In this case, the enemy will only hide and kill all the way, and the escapers will only be defeated for thousands of miles.