As we may all know, most of the local warlords during the Republic of China period were split from Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army. Such as the famous Anhui family, the direct head of Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang were all powerful generals of Yuan Shikai. Including some local military groups, before Yuan Shikai's death, they were all dependent on Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army. It was only after the death of old Yuan that warlords everywhere began to have scenes of division. However, in the subsequent warlord melee, there were also many weaker small warlords who were annexed in the melee. In addition, the National Revolutionary Army in the south later launched the Northern Expedition War, which successively annexed the relatively powerful warlords Sun Chuanfang, Wu Peifu and others, and defeated the Fengzhi warlord Zhang Zuolin, forcing him to lead his army back to Guanwai.
Therefore, after the Completion of the National Unification of the Northern Expeditionary Army led by Chiang Kai-shek, the previous warlords in various places were basically eliminated. However, a new group of warlords has emerged, such as Guangxi, Guangdong, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, the northwest region, and Shanxi and other places have been occupied by a new group of warlords. The only places that Chiang Kai-shek can control are Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hubei, Shandong and other regions. However, after this, the warlords in various places began to compete with the Chiang Kai-shek clique, such as the Chiang-Gui War, the Chiang-Tang War, the Central Plains War and other battles, all of which were battles fought between local warlords and the Chiang Kai-shek clique.
However, at a time when warlords across the Republic of China were still fighting for their own interests. The foreign enemy, the Japanese, launched an invasion war, which was later known as the Eight-Year War of Resistance Against Japan. As soon as the War of Resistance Against Japan broke out, the warlords from all over the world who had always had to fight before meeting also united to resist the invaders. It was in the eight years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that the warlords in various parts of the Republic of China, after the victory of the War of Resistance in 1945, basically there were few left, and most of them were cleaned up by Chiang Kai-shek.
Therefore, in the period of the Subsequent Liberation War, the warlords of the Republic of China slowly withdrew from the stage of history. Even if they still existed, during the liberation period, they all chose to revolt, among which the most typical Dian warlords Long Yun and Lu Han chose to revolt, as well as the Sichuan warlords Liu Wenhui and Deng Xihou also embarked on the road of uprising, and Ma Hongbin, one of the three horses in the northwest, also chose to revolt. However, during the liberation period, there were three local warlords who engaged in life-and-death confrontation with our army.
The first is the northwest warlord, to know that during the Republic of China, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai and other places were controlled by a group of people surnamed Ma, so they were called the Northwest Three Horses. As mentioned earlier, Ma Hongbin, one of the three horses in the northwest, was relatively clever, knew how to judge the hour and size up the situation, and did not flee with Chiang Kai-shek, but chose to revolt and enjoy his old age in peace. The remaining Ma Bufang, Ma Hongkui, chose to engage in a life-and-death confrontation with our army, and was very desperate in the battle. For their resistance, The commander-in-chief of the Northwest Field Army, Mr. Peng, also dealt a heavy blow militarily. Moreover, they did not send people to do their ideological work, but resolutely eliminated them.
Just after the Northwest Field Army launched an all-out attack, at the same time two corps were transferred from the North China Field Army to help, the purpose of which was to eliminate this local warlord and not let them continue to endanger the people. You know, among the many warlords in the Republic of China, the Northwest Majia Army Group may not be the strongest, but they are definitely the most cruel, and they belong to no evil. Fortunately, under the condition that the generals of the Northwest Field Army bravely killed the enemy, they defeated this enemy army on the battlefield and destroyed them, and Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui finally fled in a hurry. Since then, Northwest Majia Group has officially withdrawn from the stage of history.
The second is Yan Xishan's Jin lineage, which has existed for the longest time, from the moment Yan Xishan took control of Shanxi to the time he left Shanxi for a full 38 years, and is known as the longest-lived local warlord in the Republic of China. If you can rule a place for 38 years, I am afraid that only Yan Xishan of the Republic of China is left. Moreover, during the Liberation War, Yan Xishan also put up life-and-death resistance with our army, and his attitude was very tough and he would never revolt. To this end, in the battle to liberate Shanxi, the First Corps of North China successively launched the Linfen Campaign, the Jinzhong Campaign, and the Taiyuan Campaign with the Jin army of Yan Xishan. Especially in the Battle of Taiyuan in the last battle, our army mobilized 330,000 troops, which took half a year, to defeat Yan Xishan's Jin army on the battlefield and liberate Taiyuan.
The third is the Gui warlords in Guangxi, and as you may all know, after Chiang Kai-shek lost the three major wars, the Gui warlords Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi took the opportunity to attack and force Chiang Kai-shek to go into the wilderness. Li Zongren became the acting president of the Republic of China, and they tried to negotiate with our army to rule the river. Under such circumstances, in order to complete the reunification of the country, our army decided to cross the Yangtze River and liberate the area south of the Yangtze River, and not to be a sinner of history.
Under the leadership of Bai Chongxi, the Gui warlords also engaged in a life-and-death confrontation with our army, and the two sides successively launched the Battle of Qingshuping, the Battle of Hengbao, and the Battle of Guangxi. The Fourth Field Army, which was responsible for eliminating the Gui warlords, inflicted a heavy blow on the Gui clique in the Battle of Hengbao and completely annihilated the Gui Army in the Guangxi Campaign. Since then, the last local warlord of the Republic of China has withdrawn from the stage of history.