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At 1:10 a.m. on April 16, 1975, as Chiang Kai-shek's coffin was placed in the main hall of the Cihu Hotel, the long-lasting and large-scale funeral ceremony finally came to an end. Just as everyone was immersed in grief, a sixty-year-old man in plain clothes, holding a elegiac couplet written by himself, came to the main hall under the guidance of his secretary. Then, he gently brushed the crystal coffin in front of him with his trembling hands, put down the elegiac couplet with 16 large characters, and turned to leave.

This scene fell into Jiang Jingguo's eyes. He looked at the visitor and the elegiac couplet and fell into deep thought, even forgetting to greet him. The old man was none other than the famous patriotic general Zhang Xueliang. That year, he was 74 years old.

So why did Zhang Xueliang go to Chiang Kai-shek's funeral and leave only 16 words? What are these 16 words and what is the meaning behind them?

First promise, the fall of Northeast China

On June 4, 1928, the Japanese military found out that Zhang Zuolin, the leader of the Fengtian clique of the Beiyang warlords, was on a train and placed explosives in the train compartment in advance. With a loud bang, Zhang Zuolin was seriously injured and eventually died of his injuries. After Zhang Zuolin's death, his eldest son Zhang Xueliang took over his power and served as the commander-in-chief of the Northeast Military Region.

After the Japanese conspiracy succeeded, they sought cooperation with Zhang Xueliang, trying to achieve the goal of occupying the Northeast without a single soldier. In this regard, Zhang Xueliang's attitude was very firm. He inherited his father's will and advocated resistance against Japan.

But in the first half of the 20th century, warlords were entrenched in various parts of China, trying to occupy land and become kings. Chiang Kai-shek and others launched the Northern Expedition, and people were living in poverty. The two "Zhili-Fengtian Wars" caused prices in the originally prosperous Northeast region to soar, and the people all hoped to unite and face the outside world together. At this time, the Japanese were still eyeing them covetously. In addition, after his father, who was the "stabilizing force", passed away, many forces had already set their sights on the resource-rich Northeast region... Zhang Xueliang faced a difficult choice.

In order to avoid the dilemma of fighting on two fronts, Zhang Xueliang chose to negotiate with Chiang, while Chiang Kai-shek also preferred to use political means to resolve the dispute. Because they had never met each other and were worried that the other side would set an ambush, the two sides decided to negotiate through telegrams. During the conversation between the two, Zhang was deeply convinced by Chiang's statement that "to resist foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the country."

When Zhang Xueliang was studying abroad, he saw the stable and unified Western countries, and then thought about the current situation of his own country, which inevitably made him feel sad. Since then, maintaining national unity has become his lifelong pursuit. Therefore, on December 29, 1928, when Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek reached an agreement on the terms, Zhang Xueliang sent a telegram to the whole country, announcing that he would abide by the "Three Principles of the People" and obey the leadership of the Kuomintang centered on Chiang. His decision to side with Chiang also marked the end of the Northern Expedition that lasted for more than ten years, and achieved "formal unity."

In 1931, Japan frequently provoked in the Northeast. Zhang Xueliang, who could no longer bear it, wanted to fight back and sent his subordinates to Nanjing for instructions. However, Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly called him: "Now is not the time to resist Japan... Do not let the people take unconventional actions..." "Japan cannot forcibly occupy our territory. If it attacks, we cannot resist... First eliminate the red bandits and restore the national vitality..."

In view of this, he could only suppress his anger and stop the anti-Japanese movement of the people in Northeast China.

On September 18, the Japanese army raided Shenyang. Due to Chiang Kai-shek's repeated calls and Zhang Xueliang's underestimation of the Japanese military strength, Shenyang in Northeast China fell quickly.

At the critical moment in Northeast China, Chiang Kai-shek was busy "encircling and suppressing" the Red Army on warships. Facing the occupied Shenyang, Chiang Kai-shek still sent a telegram to persuade Zhang Xueliang to avoid conflict with the Japanese army, and whether to negotiate with them would also be decided by the central government. The Kuomintang's handling measure was to try to persuade the Japanese army with wolfish ambitions through the international axioms formulated by the League of Nations, and finally mediate the matter through diplomatic means.

However, after seeing China's passive attitude towards the war of resistance, the League of Nations did not take any substantial sanctions against Japan. As we all know, the Northeast region quickly fell, and the whole country was in an uproar. The voices of anti-Japanese resistance were growing louder and louder across the country, and the condemnation of Zhang Xueliang was also intensifying. On September 27, the "National Salvation Association" was established in the Northeast region, and spontaneous anti-Japanese and national salvation activities were carried out.

After Zhang Xueliang learned about the establishment of the society, he not only did not disband them, but instead provided them with a lot of support. At first, each refugee rescued by the "National Salvation Association" received a subsidy of 3 yuan, and this money came from Zhang Xueliang's appropriation. Later, Zhang Xueliang approved the issuance of "Patriotic Lottery Tickets", which completely solved the funding problem of the "National Salvation Association". In addition to financial support, the guns, ammunition, cotton-padded clothes, etc. provided by the "Patriotic Association" to the volunteers were also secretly instructed by Zhang Xueliang.

In early March 1933, Zhang Xueliang asked Lü Zhengcao: "What do you think of our strength? Can we fight?" Lü Zhengcao replied: "My troops are stationed at various passes of the Great Wall. We have just won a victory and are in high spirits. We can definitely fight!" After receiving a positive reply, Zhang Xueliang decided to go to Nanjing to meet Chiang Kai-shek and ask for permission to formally fight against Japan. Before leaving, he asked Lü Zhengcao to tell several brigade commanders: "Prepare for a counterattack! Even if all the Northeast Army is involved, we must fight to the end!"

On the afternoon of March 9, Chiang Kai-shek went to pick up Zhang Xueliang in person, but after the meeting, he played the emotional card: "Now the national public opinion is boiling, and there are many voices accusing the two of us. We used to be in the same boat, but now only one person can go down to calm the public anger. Who do you think should go down first?"

After hearing this, Zhang Xueliang understood what Chiang Kai-shek meant, and said directly that of course he wanted him to step down. Although Zhang Xueliang looked calm at this time, he was full of grievances in his heart, and could only find Wang Zhuoran and others to relieve his pain. Zhang Xueliang knew that he could not deny the order of non-resistance he had issued. Now that he had lost his territory and power like a stray dog, he could not blame anyone. However, he did not know how long he would have to bear the infamy for losing the Northeast. At this time, Zhang Xueliang felt that he was getting further and further away from his dream of maintaining national unity.

Second commitment, launching an incident

At the end of March 1933, in order to quell public anger, Zhang Xueliang was forced to step down. After being away from power, he chose to visit Western Europe. In 1935, after the situation calmed down a little, Zhang Xueliang was ordered to return to China from Western Europe. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek once again promised him: "After the Red Bandits are wiped out, we will immediately fight against Japan." This time, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Zhang Xueliang as the deputy commander of the Northwest "bandit suppression" and was responsible for leading the Northeast Army to encircle and suppress the Red Army.

Zhang Xueliang originally thought that after Chiang Kai-shek had eliminated the banditry, he would order him to march north to avenge the Japanese. However, facing the resilient Red Army, the Northeast Army lost two divisions, the 110th and 109th. Zhang Xueliang's request to "replenish the troops of these two divisions" was also directly rejected. The reason was that these two divisions had been completely wiped out and it was difficult to replenish them; in addition, it was difficult to rebuild them at a time when military spending was being cut, so replenishing the troops would be left for later.

Seeing the Northeast Army being consumed day by day in the civil war, Zhang Xueliang realized that Chiang Kai-shek's promise to him to fight against Japan was just a cover. The only thing Chiang Kai-shek wanted to deal with was the Red Army, and he always regarded the annihilation of the Red Army as a top priority. In the final analysis, it was only the Red Army that wanted to unify the anti-Japanese war. Zhang Xueliang found it difficult to accept that the outstanding soldiers did not fall in the foreign war to defend the motherland, but died in the civil war. At the same time, he also realized the combat effectiveness of the Communist Party, and secretly made a decision: to use "peaceful" means to solve the problem of the Communist Party.

After changing his attitude towards the Communist Party, Zhang Xueliang began to devote himself to the activities of "ending the civil war" and "ending internal strife", and contacted the Communist Party through multiple channels.

In January 1936, Zhang Xueliang contacted Li Kenong, and the two sides had many communications on the issue of cooperation. After the Red Army crossed the East, although Chiang Kai-shek ordered Zhang Xueliang to encircle the Red Army many times, he always avoided fighting. In March of the same year, Zhang Xueliang and Li Kenong held talks in Luochuan. When the two sides discussed the issue of "against Chiang", Li advocated that Chiang should not be included in the unified line, but Zhang Xueliang always disagreed and advocated to unite with Chiang. At this time, Zhang Xueliang still believed in Chiang's promise to him to fight against Japan, and even in the agreement reached with Zhou Enlai later, he clearly proposed to "united with Chiang to fight against Japan."

During the negotiations, Zhang Xueliang said: "He is the only person I admire in the Kuomintang. He has national sentiments and is likely to join us in the fight against Japan..."

After Zhang Xueliang reached an agreement with the Red Army, the Communist Party persuaded Yang Hucheng, who also held a passive resistance to the "anti-communist" policy. Because the two of them had the same desire to save the country and resist Japan, they resolutely embarked on the road of uniting with the Communist Party to resist Japan.

At that time, China was under the watchful eyes of foreign imperial powers and faced with political party struggles. Under internal and external troubles, the people were living in misery. "Stop the civil war and unite to resist Japan" had become the wish of the people across the country, and the central government's proposal of "anti-Japanese national united front" also received widespread support from the people.

Obviously, this was contrary to Chiang Kai-shek's policy of "pacifying the country first, then resisting foreign aggression". The rising anti-Japanese sentiment among the people at home and the call for a united war of resistance made Chiang Kai-shek determined to quickly "suppress the communists". On October 22, 1936, Chiang Kai-shek personally went to Xi'an to supervise Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng to continue to "suppress the communists", completely ignoring their idea of ​​uniting to resist Japan.

In late October, Chiang Kai-shek deployed troops in Luoyang and deployed new plans to prevent the passive resistance of Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, and even prepared for their rebellion.

Faced with Chiang Kai-shek's repeated coercion, Zhang Xueliang always had illusions about him and repeatedly gave him advice. However, Chiang Kai-shek cursed the Communist Party as traitors and directly rejected Zhang Xueliang's "letter of request to fight against the Japanese invasion". On December 4, Chiang Kai-shek, accompanied by Zhang Xueliang, went from Luoyang to Xi'an. On December 7, Chiang Kai-shek summoned Zhang Xueliang, Yang Hucheng and their division-level officers for a talk and proposed: either obey orders to continue to "suppress the Communists", or give up Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Faced with students who went to Huaqing Pool to petition for a united front, Chiang Kai-shek actually ordered Zhang Xueliang to stop them by force, and even proposed "kill without mercy". At this point, the contradiction between Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek had been completely intensified.

Promises again, still unfulfilled

After weighing the pros and cons, Zhang Xueliang began to initiate the Xi'an Incident. On December 12, 1936, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, who "held the emperor hostage to command the princes", used force to force Chiang to resist Japan and keep the country safe. After the incident, they sent a telegram to the whole country to explain the reasons for their resignation.

After the Central Committee and Chiang Kai-shek's faction reached an agreement on "united resistance against Japan", Chiang Kai-shek resolutely refused to sign it in writing, and only guaranteed with his personality as a "leader" that it would be implemented in detail after returning to Nanjing. On December 26, after Chiang Kai-shek returned to Nanjing, he ordered people to fabricate "Instructions to Zhang and Yang", promoting his "great personality" everywhere, but avoiding talking about the promises made by Zhang and Yang.

As soon as Zhang Xueliang arrived in Nanjing, he was placed under house arrest, which marked the beginning of his decades-long imprisonment. In order to make Chiang Kai-shek fulfill his promise to concentrate the country's forces to fight against Japan, Zhang Xueliang wrote a letter of repentance as requested by Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek, who had obtained the "ironclad evidence", immediately sent Zhang Xueliang to court and staged a drama himself, just to be able to "legitimately" control Zhang Xueliang's personal freedom.

On November 13, 1956, Chiang Kai-shek summoned Liu Yiguang, who was in charge of guarding Zhang Xueliang. Although Zhang Xueliang had been under house arrest for nearly 20 years, Chiang Kai-shek was still worried. After asking Zhang Xueliang about his recent studies and health, he ordered: "You are not allowed to listen to the CCP broadcasts and you are not allowed to get close to the guards."

On December 5, at Chiang Kai-shek's request, Zhang Xueliang wrote a long letter about the Xi'an Incident, stating that he had not discussed the incident with the Communist Party, but had acted on his own will. When talking about Yang Hucheng, Zhang Xueliang said helplessly: To be fair, he was just implicated by me...

On December 10, Chiang Ching-kuo, who had read the long letter, ordered Zhang Xueliang to write down the whole process of the incident in detail. In fact, Zhang Xueliang's long letter had already briefly pointed out the ins and outs of the incident, but what Chiang and his son wanted was not the truth, but political material that could be used in the anti-communist struggle.

On May 17, 1958, Soong Mei-ling visited Zhang Xueliang's residence and talked with him for half an hour, which made Zhang Xueliang see the dawn of freedom. On August 3, he saw an anti-communist speech in the newspaper. Thinking about the reason why he was under house arrest, he decided to follow suit in order to fight for his freedom. On September 2, an anti-communist article with Zhang Xueliang's autograph was handed to Chiang Ching-kuo, who said, "I am very moved. I have presented it to you, old gentleman." At this time, Zhang Xueliang suddenly suffered from eye disease, so he was transferred to Taipei for treatment.

On October 17, Chiang Ching-kuo summoned Zhang Xueliang. This was the first time Zhang Xueliang had seen Chiang Ching-kuo in the 20 years since he was under house arrest. On November 23, Chiang Kai-shek summoned Zhang Xueliang in Daxi under the help of his son. The two men's eyes were red after meeting each other. After exchanging pleasantries for a while, they looked at each other in silence. Before leaving, Chiang Kai-shek once again promised him that they would talk again when they met next time.

The successive summonses by Chiang Kai-shek and his son gave Zhang Xueliang hope. He reflected on himself again: I am naive and foolish. I don't blame anyone except myself for being ignorant.

However, Zhang Xueliang did not wait for Chiang Kai-shek to summon him again, as Chiang once again broke his promise to him. On July 25, 1959, Zhang Xueliang had a long talk with Soong May-ling, but she said, "Your problem will take a long time to solve, and you need to be patient." In order to be free, Zhang Xueliang made countless confessions about the Xi'an incident, but in the end he did not get what he wanted. Since then, he no longer had any illusions about freedom.

On April 16, 1975, Zhang Xueliang came to Chiang Kai-shek's funeral under the care of supervisors. He brought his own heartfelt elegiac couplet and looked at the crystal coffin of the person he once trusted the most, with mixed feelings in his heart. This was the person he once swore to follow and the person he admired the most, but this person deceived him with false promises time and time again and kept him under house arrest for decades.

Facing the supervisors who were waiting eagerly beside him, Zhang Xueliang put down the elegiac couplet in his hand, left the funeral scene without looking back, and returned to the apartment where he was imprisoned. The elegiac couplet read: "The care is deep, the affection is like family; the political disputes are like enemies."

It is not difficult to see from the elegiac couplet that Zhang Xueliang's feelings towards Chiang Kai-shek were complex and contradictory, with both nostalgia and reluctance, as well as resentment and hatred. Although at Chiang Kai-shek's request, the guards provided Zhang Xueliang, who was under house arrest, with good living conditions and medical conditions, it could not erase the pain of his loss of personal freedom.

On June 1, 1990, 80 friends, led by Zhang Qun, celebrated Zhang Xueliang's 90th birthday at the Taipei Grand Hotel, and Zhang Xueliang finally regained his freedom at the age of 80. He later died of illness in Honolulu on October 14, 2001. Personal grievances and entanglements may disappear with their deaths, but the merits and demerits in history will be judged by others.

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