Dr. Sun Yat-sen was a pioneer in modern history, leading the soldiers who cherished the motherland and were determined to reform to destroy the last feudal empire in one fell swoop, but the fruits of the revolution did not fall into the hands of the revolutionary party, and the country fell into a period of warlord chaos for decades. During Yuan Shikai's reign, the major warlords had different intentions, and after his death, the Beiyang warlords quickly split into several factions, and there were many other factions of warlords in the country, and the Kuomintang at this time was unable to compete with them. Recent warlords such as the Direct, Feng, and Anhui clans have ruled China for decades, how strong are they?
First of all, during the warlord melee, the three major factions of the direct family, the Feng family, and the Anhui family were the strongest. As the leader of the Beiyang warlords, Yuan Shikai vainly attempted to restore the imperial system after the last year, which not only clashed with the revolutionary party led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, but also caused differences among the factions within the Beiyang warlords. As soon as this ambitionist left, the Beiyang warlords quickly split into two major factions, the direct and Anhui clans, while the Fengzhi warlords rose in the northeast, and the Beiyang government gradually lost control of the local warlords, with warlords such as the Feng and Yu clans monopolizing the side.
After Yuan Shikai's death, the first to control the Beiyang government were the Anhui warlords, Duan Qirui, as the leader of the Anhui government, did not change the various erroneous acts during Yuan Shikai's reign, practicing hegemonism at home and betraying sovereignty externally. Feng Guozhang was the leader of the warlords of the direct lineage, but before the contradiction between the two factions of The Zhiwan faction could be resolved, he died of illness, and Cao Kun and Wu Peifu became the actual controllers of the direct lineage and replaced the Anhui clan through war. The Feng clan warlord Zhang Zuolin had a dispute over the distribution of benefits with Wu Peifu and launched a war against Wu Peifu, but the forces of the direct clan were too strong at this time, and the Feng clan was defeated, and Zhang Zuolin led his troops to the northeast to reorganize their armaments and prepare for the second decisive battle.
Wu Peifu and Cao Kun did not change the political environment at that time, and even openly accepted bribes, and the Parliament survived in name only. At this time, the strength of the Kuomintang gradually grew, and although the Warlords of the Anhui Clan lost control of the central authorities, their forces were still very strong, and the Feng Clan was revised and its strength was unprecedentedly strong, and the three parties, under the matching of interests, launched a war with their direct families again, and finally the direct clan was defeated. In the case of redividing forces, the Feng warlords led by Feng Yuxiang tried to share a piece of the pie and clashed with the Feng clan, and the environment at this time appeared complicated, and many people did not dare to act rashly. After discussion, Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu decided to give each other some leeway, and the two sides chose to unite against the Kuomintang and other warlord forces.
At this time, the Anhui warlords were no longer able to compete with Zhifeng, Duan Qirui became a negotiator and mediator among many warlords, similar to puppets, while the direct and Feng warlords formed a coalition government, and their strength reached its peak, while the Feng warlords chose to defect to the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek and participate in the Northern Expedition War. After the cooperation between our party and the Kuomintang, the total strength of the National Revolutionary Army reached hundreds of thousands, but the strength of the Beiyang government reached more than 700,000 people, but its internal contradictions were too complicated to cooperate sincerely with each other, and the National Revolutionary Army was unified and finally defeated the Zhifeng warlords with the tactics of breaking one by one, the Beiyang government fell apart, Zhang Zuolin led his troops to flee to the northeast, and the direct troops were integrated into the Northern Expedition.
When the overall situation had been decided, the Beiyang government was replaced by the National Government, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly defected to the revolution and wantonly hunted down and killed our party members, many underground party members were killed at the hands of Kuomintang agents, and Chiang Kai-shek launched several encirclement and suppression attempts in an attempt to completely strangle our party. At the same time that Chiang Kai-shek was encircling and suppressing, he sent a large number of troops to continue to hunt down and kill the remnants of his immediate and Feng clan forces, and after Zhang Zuolin was killed by the Japanese army, his son Zhang Xueliang stopped fighting the Kuomintang and chose to submit to the Nationalist government. Warlords in remote areas such as Ma Hongkui, Ma Bufang, and Sheng Shicai were able to preserve their strength and submit to the Nationalist government on the surface, but they were actually emperors, and the local people were still living in the depths of the waters.