Yan Xishan, who had been the king of Shanxi for 38 years, relied on his number one think tank and always gave him advice
During the Republic of China period, all localities fell into a situation of warlord division, and the warlords on the divided side were called kings, such as Zhang Zuolin was the king of the northeast, Feng Yuxiang was the king of the northwest, and Yan Xishan was the king of Shanxi. Although Chiang Kai-shek could not defeat our army, he was able to subordinate the warlords to the rule, and many of the great warlords at that time were working against Chiang Kai-shek, and in the end chiang kai-shek won.
But Yan Xishan was an exception, he served as the governor of Shanxi in 1911, fled to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek in 1949, he ruled in Shanxi for 38 years, can be said to be the "earth emperor" of Shanxi, Chiang Kai-shek did not dare to directly move him. He was able to sit so steadily, relying on his number one think tank, Zhao Daiwen, who had been giving advice to Yan Xishan.
Zhao Daiwen is a native of Shanxi, in 1904 at the age of 38 he went to Tokyo Hongwen Normal School in Japan to study, after arriving in Japan, Zhao Daiwen became a member of the Sun Yat-sen League, met Yan Xishan, 2 people became friends of Mo Rebellion, Zhao Daiwen was 17 years older than Yan Xishan, so Yan Xishan has always regarded him as a big brother.
In the following decades, Zhao Daiwen's position changed many times, but he has always been Yan Xishan's number one think tank. After returning to China, he engaged in the cause of education, used his identity to pull many people to participate in the league, laid a solid foundation for the revolutionary cause of Shanxi, the Wuchang Uprising broke out, Zhao Yan and the two immediately raised troops to respond, and laid the foundation of Taiyuan.
After the Xinhai Revolution, Yan Xishan served as the governor of Shanxi, and he knew that he would only fight, so he let Zhao Daiwen handle government affairs and win people's hearts. After Zhao Daiwen's management, it took only 5 years for Yan Xishan to control the whole of Shanxi and become the "King of Shanxi". When Yan and Zhao worked hard to develop, the situation changed again.
Warlords fought in various places, the National Revolutionary Army was also established, and then the Northern Expedition began to recruit warlords, Sun Chuanfang, Wu Peifu and others were defeated, Yan Xishan knew that he would also be defeated, so he directly defected to Sun Yat-sen and was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army, with Zhao Daiwen as the general counselor. At the end of the Northern Expedition, Yan Xishan was the winner among the warlords.
His generals all made great achievements and became high officials, and under the continued management of Zhao Daiwen, Yan Xishan also became the "King of North China", and as his ambitions grew, Yan Xishan was somewhat conceited and wanted to compete with Chiang Kai-shek for the world. Zhao Daiwen repeatedly advised Yan Xishan not to be reckless, but Yan Xishan did not listen, and finally the Central Plains War broke out, and Yan Xishan was defeated.
Fortunately, Zhao Daiwen helped Yan Xishan to defend Shanxi, and the "King of North China" of Yan Xishan could not do it, but at least he was still the "King of Shanxi", after the outbreak of the all-out War of Resistance, the Japanese army captured Shanxi, Yan Xishan led the army to retreat to the remote Jinxi Mountains, and he still had to rely on Zhao Daiwen, who was more than 70 years old, to give him advice.
Later, Yan Xishan prepared to defect to the Japanese army, Zhao Daiwen never agreed, and finally forced to die, Yan Xishan gave up his idea and saved the national righteousness. In 1943, at the age of 77, Zhao Daiwen died of illness