Feng Yuxiang was one of the famous warlords of the Republic of China period, and the Northwest Army he commanded was once also an important military force in China, until the Central Plains War was completely disintegrated. Feng Yuxiang was one of the few warlords who had risen from a soldier to a commander-in-chief, and he was able to achieve this achievement, first, by relying on the support of Lu Jianzhang, second, by the firm control of his own troops, and third, by seizing the opportunity.
Lu Jianzhang's appreciation was very important for Feng Yuxiang's early development.
Feng Yuxiang's family was not rich, so in 1891 he was named in the army at the age of 9, and officially joined the army at the age of 15, after which he served in the Huai Army, the Wuwei Right Army, and the Beiyang New Army, and by 1905, Feng Yuxiang had been in the army for 9 years, but he was a platoon leader in the 6th town of Beiyang.
However, at this time, Feng Yuxiang came to operate, because he usually studied hard, plus he had studied in a private school and could read and hyphenate, so he was favored by Lu Jianzhang, the co-ruler, and offered to introduce his wife's niece Liu Dezhen to Feng Yuxiang as his wife, and asked Wang Huadongqian to be a matchmaker.
Feng Yuxiang originally felt that his status was too low to climb high. However, Wang Huadong also appreciated Feng Yuxiang, so he tried his best to match, and finally Feng Yuxiang and Liu Dezhen married and became relatives with Lu Jianzhang. After that, Lu Jianzhang vigorously promoted Feng Yuxiang, and in just 5 years, Feng Yuxiang was promoted to the position of pipe belt, that is, the position of battalion commander, achieving a big leap in a short period of time.
During the Xinhai Revolution, Feng Yuxiang participated in the Luanzhou Uprising, and was about to be sentenced, but Lu Jianzhang came to the rescue, but was only dismissed from his post. In 1912, Yuan Shikai ordered Lu Jianzhang to form a left road reserve army, and Feng Yuxiang, who was idle at home, was appointed as the former battalion commander by Lu Medal. In 1913, the Left Road Reserve Army was reorganized into the Beijing Guards Army, and Feng Yuxiang was promoted to regimental commander. In 1914, when Lu Jianzhang was the commander of the Army's 7th Division, Feng Yuxiang was appointed brigade commander of the 14th Brigade. In the same year, when Lu Jianzhang was appointed as the overseer of Shaanxi, Feng Yuxiang was promoted to brigade commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade.
We can see that since 11912, Feng Yuxiang has been able to upgrade one level every year, and this speed has been very amazing, which is a big reason for Lu Jianzhang's strong support. It was not until Lu Jianzhang was expelled from Shaanxi by Chen Shufan that he had no real power and his support for Feng Yuxiang came to an end.
Therefore, Lu Jianzhang's appreciation was very important for Feng Yuxiang's early development.
Feng Yuxiang was able to grasp the opportunity firmly for the troops, so he gradually grew.
When Feng Yuxiang recruited soldiers, he mostly personally selected soldiers, and then selected talents from the recruitment of soldiers, trained by training institutions such as non-commissioned training classes set up by him, and then entrusted with heavy responsibilities. Like the backbone of Feng Yuxiang's troops later, Tong Linge, Feng Zhi'an, Sun Lianzhong, Liu Ruming, Ji Hongchang, and others were trained in this way, and most of the graduates of foreign military academies could only serve as staff officers, so the cohesion of his troops in the early days was extremely strong.
Like Feng Yuxiang was supported by Lu Jianzhang, people who had a bad relationship with Lu Jianzhang naturally looked at him unfavorably, including Duan Qirui. On April 1, 1917, Duan Qirui took advantage of the excuse to dismiss Feng Yuxiang and renamed Yang Guitang as the brigade commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade. However, although Feng Yuxiang was dismissed, his contact with the old ministry has been continuous.
In July 1917, when Zhang Xun was restored, Yang Guitang went to Beijing to meet Zhang Xun. The chief of staff, regimental commander, and battalion commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade immediately asked Feng Yuxiang to come back and preside over the overall situation. Feng Yuxiang immediately sent a telegram to support Duan Qirui to rebel, and although Duan Qirui was not very satisfied with Feng Yuxiang, in order to use the 16th Mixed Brigade, he could only pinch his nose and admit it, and reappointed Feng Yuxiang as the brigade commander.
In 1918, when Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui were in a fight over the issue of reunification by force, Feng Guozhang asked Lu Jianzhang to come forward and let Feng Yuxiang telegraph the main peace. Duan Qirui again ordered Feng Yuxiang to be removed from his post as brigadier general, and at the same time ordered Cao Kun to lead an army to surround Feng Bu and solve it on the spot. The 16th Mixed Brigade immediately greeted each other in a state of combat, and Cao Kun, in order to avoid a major disturbance, asked Feng Yuxiang to stay in office. Duan Qirui could only agree.
Duan Qirui was in a position of power at that time, and even Feng Guozhang had to look at his face, but he could not do anything about Feng Yuxiang as a brigade commander, which showed how important the troops were.
Feng Yuxiang can also seize the opportunity to strengthen his own strength.
In 1922, during the First Zhifeng War, Feng Yuxiang, who was already the governor of Shaanxi and the commander of the 11th Division, resolutely gave up his position as the governor of Shaanxi and led his army into Henan to assist Cao Kun in battle. Although Feng Yuxiang was dismissed from his post as the overseer of Henan after wu Peifu obstructed it for a long time, Feng Yuxiang still took the opportunity to expand the army by 5 regiments, with 1 division and 3 mixed brigades under his command, 30,000 troops, and greatly increased his strength.
During the Second Zhifeng War, Feng Yuxiang and Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue, who also had a vendetta against Wu Peifu, launched a coup d'état in Beijing, imprisoned and bribed President Cao Kun, and recruited a large number of direct defeated troops, and Feng Yuxiang's Nationalist Army alone expanded from 30,000 to 80,000, thus becoming one of the largest warlords at that time.
It was precisely by seizing the opportunity to expand his power again and again, so Feng Yuxiang's strength became stronger and stronger, from a small soldier to a big warlord who divided one side.