The Republic of China was a very chaotic period, the Northwest Army, the Northeast Army, the Sichuan Army, the Dian Army, the Northwest Majia Army, and even the Guangdong Army, the Jin Sui Army, the Qian Army and other factions, and the forces of all sides fought endlessly. In 1927, after two Northern Expeditions, Chiang Kai-shek eradicated most of the local forces and formed a nominal unification.
Chiang Kai-shek was a figure who was very good at political struggle, and under his series of means, the Northwest Army, the Northeast Army, the Sichuan Army, the Dian Army and other forces collapsed one after another, and many well-known figures were also recovered by Chiang Kai-shek. However, during the Republic of China period, there was a local force that did not completely withdraw from the stage of history until the end of the Liberation War in 1949, and this unit was the Gui Army. The Gui clan and the central government headed by Chiang Kai-shek have been fighting each other for decades, but Chiang Kai-shek has no way to do anything with this force.
Now the so-called Gui clan is the new Gui clan headed by Li Zongren, Huang Shaohu, and Bai Chongxi, and after Huang Shaohu defected to Chiang Kai-shek, the leading figures of the Gui faction became Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi. The reason why the Gui clan has such a strong strength is first of all due to the strong military strength of Guangxi, although Guangxi is only a province, but the Guangxi soldiers have a special position in history, whether it is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, or the Northern Expedition, the War of Resistance Against Japan, this unit has shown strong combat effectiveness, the combat effectiveness is no worse than Chiang Kai-shek's central army.
Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi had certain political talents, and like Yan Xishan, they attached great importance to education, and guangxi's education level was also among the middle and highest during the Republic of China period, and it was also a well-known model province. The good education system has provided Guangxi with a large number of talents and improved the status of the Guangxi department in the National Government.
Compared with the warlords in other provinces, Bai Chongxi attached great importance to the construction of local armed forces, that is, vigilante groups. Bai Chongxi divided the whole of Guangxi into 12 militia regimental districts, each district set up a militia headquarters, and also set up a militia regiment headquarters in each county, with the county chief as the commander of the militia headquarters, and the provincial party committee appointed the deputy commander of the militia regiment. The town has set up a militia brigade headquarters, every village and every street has also set up a militia unit, the entire organizational structure runs through the province, and the mobilization ability in wartime is very strong, and everyone can be mobilized.
In addition, Bai Chongxi also attached great importance to the training and construction of the militia, and he also set up a military academy specializing in training the cadres of the militia. Every militia member has to take time out of his or her month to conduct a certain amount of training every day. The subjects of militia training are also very extensive, in addition to learning basic battlefield knowledge, but also to learn shooting, stabbing, building bunkers and other subjects. In addition, from the province to the county, and even to each village, a certain amount of funds will be reserved for the construction of the militia. After the end of the Liangguang Incident in 1936, Chen Jitang of Guangdong fled to Hong Kong, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized 500,000 troops to surround Guangxi, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi immediately mobilized 1.5 million people from all over Guangxi to participate in the war, and Chiang Kai-shek had to shake hands with him.
During the later War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Guangxi, with a population of more than 10 million, was able to mobilize more than 1 million troops, thanks to the construction of vigilante groups. At that time, the Gui clan had such a high status, and the strength of Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and many Gui leaders was inseparable, and they did show extremely high military and political talents in various periods.