In his later years, Zhang Xueliang regretted the "Xi'an Incident" the most, and believed that he was not wrong about the September 18 Incident;
Now, blaming Zhang Xueliang for the September 18 Incident not only shifts the responsibility for the Japanese army's occupation of Northeast China onto him, but even considers that the overall invasion of China by Japan was caused by Zhang Xueliang, making him a total historic criminal;
In fact, both in public and private, Zhang Xueliang's lack of resistance during the September 18 Incident was correct, and the reason can be traced back to the Eastern Chinese Railway Incident. At that time, Zhang Xueliang, for the unification of the motherland and the righteousness of the nation, withstood internal pressure from the Northeast Army and voluntarily surrendered to the Republic of China government, of course, Chiang Kai-shek was not unkind to Zhang Xianqing, receiving praise from public opinion at home and abroad, being revered by thousands, and Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang became sworn brothers, holding high positions, and Zhang Xueliang was once in a glorious position.
Zhang Xueliang at that time was indeed a bit carried away, wanting to make greater contributions to the country, and under Chiang Kai-shek's instruction, instigated the Eastern Chinese Railway Incident, resulting in being defeated by the Soviet Army, losing face and scrambling to find his teeth; Zhang Xueliang thought that the Soviet Army at that time was still the army defeated by Japan led by Nicholas II, not realizing that the Soviet Army at that time was the Red Army under the leadership of the great leader Comrade Stalin. Therefore, after being defeated by the Soviet Army, Zhang Xueliang concluded that if he could not even defeat the Soviet Army, fighting against the Japanese army would mean sending himself to death (which was indeed the case);
Furthermore, in the critical situation of fighting against the Soviet Army, Zhang Xueliang sought help from Chiang Kai-shek, but Chiang Kai-shek did not send a single soldier under the excuse of the tense situation in Central China. After the war, he did not provide the Northeast Army with reinforcements or weapons, nor did he offer any compensations to the soldiers, only giving 2 million yuan as a small consolation, while Zhang Xueliang, not counting the equipment losses, had already spent 60 million on compensation alone. Therefore, Zhang Xueliang understood that the Nationalist Government and even Chiang Kai-shek could not be relied upon at all; if it really came to fighting against Japan, it was essentially just a local warlord fighting against the Japanese Empire, and the Nationalist Government would not care about him, at most issuing continual condemnations in the international community, and there was also the possibility that the Kuomintang wanted to use the Japanese to eliminate the Northeast Army (which was one of the factors for the Xi'an Incident).
When the gunfire of September 18 broke out, Zhang Hanqing was faced with two choices. As the military tactics say: if you fight, do not retreat; if you retreat, do not fight, meaning that if you are going to fight, you must fight to the end and cannot have any thought of retreat; otherwise, you should retreat quickly, and there should be no intention to fight at all. Zhang Xueliang chose the latter, retreating without fighting, not firing a single shot. In an interview in his later years when asked "Why did you not resist?", Zhang Xueliang's answer was very straightforward: "Could I win?"
If he did not fight, Japan would occupy Northeast China; if he did fight, Japan would also occupy Northeast China. The difference was that the Northeast Army would be exhausted, and Zhang Xueliang would become a commander without soldiers. In that era, once he lost his soldiers, who would still take him seriously?
Therefore, with just a little analysis, anyone would not resist.
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