The Republic of China era was an era of warlord chaos, and the power of warlords became the characteristics of this era. Of all these warlords, Yan Xishan was the one who held power for the longest time at the time, ruling the Shanxi region for thirty-eight years from 1911 to 1949. Within the Kuomintang, even Chiang Kai-shek, the highest-ranking member, was far less senior than Yan Xishan.
And because of this, in Chiang Kai-shek's view, a qualified, capable, and powerful local warlord was a stumbling block to his supreme authority, and the two were enemies for a long time because of the political game.
The general flashpoint of the contradiction between Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan was the Great War in the Central Plains, because of the disarmament issue, Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan and others turned against each other, which led to the outbreak of this great war.
Yan Xishan
Dig your own pit for yourself
Yan Xishan, a native of Shanxi, came from a family of landlords, but was so heavily indebted because of financial speculation that he had to work as a clerk in a shop in Taiyuan. However, Yan Xishan was admitted to the Shanxi Wubei Academy during this period, and a year later, he was sent to Japan at public expense and studied at the Japanese Army Non-Commissioned Officer School. During this period, under the influence of new ideas, Yan Xishan joined the Chinese League.
After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, members of the Taiyuan League responded one after another, and after successfully occupying the city of Taiyuan and establishing a military government, Yan Xishan became the governor of Shanxi. After this, Yan Xishan continued to respond to the actions of the rebel army, moving north to Sui and south to Linfen, further threatening the Qing government's rule in the north and playing an important role in the success of the Xinhai Revolution.
After Yuan Shikai took power, because he saw that this situation was irreversible, Yan Xishan also began to actively express his sincerity to Yuan Shikai, so he was officially appointed by Yuan Shikai as the governor of Shanxi and became a major member of the party.
The situation of the Xinhai Revolution
After that, Yan Xishan actively reorganized the army, vigorously developed the military industry, and prepared for military expansion. In the preparatory stage of the Northern Expedition, the revolutionary government in Guangzhou, seeing the important position of Yan Xishan, tried its best to attract him to join its own camp. But at the same time, He also noticed this point with Zhang Zuolin, who was also co-opting and even threatening Yan Xishan, and Yan Xishan, who was sandwiched between the two forces, finally chose to "sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight."
Until 1926, the situation of the Northern Expedition at this time was very good, and the Northern Expedition army was like a bamboo, and it had begun to threaten Feng Zhang's forces. At this time, Yan Xishan openly supported the Northern Expedition and was appointed commander-in-chief of the Northern Army of the National Revolutionary Army, commanding the army to join the sequence of the Northern Expedition.
It was also at this time that Yan Xishan came into contact with Chiang Kai-shek for the first time, and the two sides also reached an alliance consensus. The reason why Yan Xishan wanted to ally with Chiang Kai-shek was because the two sides had common demands on the issue of "anti-communism." After the alliance, Yan Xishan became the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army, and accepted the unified leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, so he sent troops to Shijiazhuang and joined the Northern Expedition.
Jin Sui Army
But just two months after the alliance, Chiang Kai-shek was forced to step down by the new Gui generals and began his first downfall. After Chiang Kai-shek stepped down, the new Gui faction continued to expand, causing the other warlord forces to be stubborn, and Yan Xishan hoped to use Chiang Kai-shek's power to rebalance the situation.
Therefore, with the support of Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang, Chiang Kai-shek made a successful comeback in early 1928 and fully grasped the power of the Kuomintang party, government and army. If we look at it from this point of view, the relationship between Yan Xishan and Chiang Kai-shek at this time should be harmonious, but this is not the case.
The teased "Yan Laoxi"
Yan Xishan's support for Chiang Kai-shek's comeback was due to the fact that the excessive power of the new Gui generals headed by Li Zongren had threatened their interests, so Yan Xishan supported Chiang Kai-shek's return to power. But to overthrow Li Zongren and promote Chiang Kai-shek was nothing more than sending away one careerist and ushering in another careerist.
During this period, the National Government had initially grasped the situation throughout the country, and the contradictions within the country tended to ease. Because of this, Chiang Kai-shek's desire for power is also expanding, and Chiang Kai-shek hopes to weaken the power of warlords such as Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, and Li Zongren.
Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan
As early as the beginning of the comeback, Chiang Kai-shek reorganized the National Revolutionary Army, and Yan Xishan's Jin Sui Army was organized into the Third Army, and Yan Xishan was the commander of the Third Army. In order to counter Feng Yuxiang's Second Army, Chiang Kai-shek handed over the military and political powers of the four provinces of Jin-Cha-Ji and Pingjin to Yan Xishan, making Yan Xishan a great warlord with the same name as Chiang Kai-shek, Li Zongren, Feng Yuxiang and others.
But only a year later, in order to monopolize power, Chiang Kai-shek convened a dispatch conference to demand disarmament and integration. Yan Xishan did not find out Chiang Kai-shek's intentions, and wanted to weaken Feng Yuxiang, so he also became the head of the dispatch committee.
Only when the dispatch plan came out did he find that Chiang Kai-shek's dispatch plan was only beneficial to himself, and that only Yan, Li, and Feng's troops were actually laid off.
Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren
He first chose to use a knife against Li Zongren, because Li Zongren and others had forced themselves to go to the wilderness before, and Chiang Kai-shek, a person who was blind and would repay, would certainly not tolerate Li Zongren. In the Jiang-Gui War, Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang both sided with Chiang Kai-shek, and the Gui clan suffered a crushing defeat.
After the loss of power of the Gui clan, Chiang Kai-shek once again put forward the demand for disarmament, and Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang came back to their senses, and it was at this time that Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang's position of supporting Chiang Kai-shek began to waver. Just at this time, Tang Shengzhi, who had originally failed in the confrontation between Ning and Han, actively contacted various warlords to overthrow Jiang together, and he and Yan Xishan also reached a consensus, and Yan Xishan also provided Tang Shengzhi with a sum of money.
However, because Tang Shengzhi did not promote Yan Xishan as the leader as promised when he later issued a telegram, Yan Xishan repented, fell to Chiang Kai-shek, and sent troops to attack Tang Shengzhi. After Tang Shengzhi's defeat, Chiang Kai-shek did not give Yan Xishan control of Henan as promised, and Yan Xishan was tricked as a monkey this time.
Not only that, Chiang Kai-shek had already controlled the tax revenue in the Beijing-Tianjin region a few months ago, which made Yan Xishan lose a lot of economic support. In the midst of this great war, Yan Xishan was almost trapped by Chiang Kai-shek, and this series of events made Yan Xishan finally feel that he had a big problem with his policy toward Chiang Kai-shek all along and had to change his approach.
Tang Shengzhi
At this time, the contradictions between Chiang Kai-shek and other warlords in china were becoming more and more prominent, and everyone was willing to unite and jointly overthrow Chiang Kai-shek. Therefore, in April 1930, Yan, Feng, Li, Zhang and others reached an anti-Chiang alliance, electing Yan Xishan as the commander-in-chief of the sea, land and air, and Feng Yuxiang and Li Zongren as deputy commanders-in-chief, which together kicked off the prelude to the Central Plains War.
In the end, it is just a warlord
The Great War of the Central Plains was the longest and largest warlord melee in China's modern history, and the last to laugh at this war was Chiang Kai-shek. There are many reasons why the anti-Chiang Kai-shek coalition army failed, first of all, the economy. The southeast region where Chiang Kai-shek is located is the richest region in China, with the support of landlords' consortiums and even foreign capital, and its economic strength is very strong.
On the other hand, the anti-Chiang Kai-shek coalition forces, Feng Yuxiang in the northwest, Yan Xishan in Shanxi, and Li Zongren in Guangxi, without exception, are barren lands and very backward in social economy. What's more, there was also a once-in-a-century famine in Shaanxi at that time, that is, the famous "Eighteen-Year Famine of the Republic of China", and nearly one-third of the province was starved to death, which was also Feng Yuxiang's embarrassment at that time.
Warlords divide the situation
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek could spend more than 20 million yuan a day on military expenditure, while the anti-Chiang Kai-shek coalition forces combined were only 10 million, and the gap in economic strength made the war capabilities of the two sides very different. Not only that, Chiang Kai-shek not only had sufficient financial resources to deal with the war, but also had a large amount of funds that could be used to bribe the subordinates of Feng, Yan, and others, and many of their subordinates turned against each other one after another, which was also an important reason why Chiang Kai-shek was able to win.
Secondly, the anti-Chiang Kai-shek alliance is not united, although it is an ally, but the cooperation between the three major warlords is not in place, and the forces on all sides are unwilling to fully contribute in order to preserve their own strength. The worst thing to do about this was precisely Yan Xishan, who was the commander-in-chief of the coalition army, and when Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army was fighting bloodily, he not only did not help, but also cut off the supply of materials for the Northwest Army.
Because of the extreme shortage of supplies and the disintegration of the troops, the Northwest Army quickly collapsed. After the collapse of the Northwest Army, it was the turn of the Jin Sui Army and the Gui Army. The last reason that affected the outcome of the Central Plains War was the Northeast Army.
Central Plains War
Before the war, both the coalition forces and Chiang Kai-shek had actively co-opted Zhang Xueliang, who declared that he would be neutral, and Yan Xishan also assigned Zhang Xueliang the post of deputy commander of the sea, land and air. But because the money was not in place, Zhang Xueliang refused to send troops.
And Chiang Kai-shek was much more generous when he co-opted Zhang Xueliang, and his shots were several million. In September of that year, Yan Xishan was inaugurated as the chairman of the Nationalist government in Zhongnanhai, Beiping, but only ten days later, with the Northeast Army sending troops to Beiping, Yan Xishan could only retreat to Shanxi, and the Central Plains War was nearing its end.
After that, Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang jointly went to the field, and Chiang Kai-shek did not intend to let him go, demanding that he must go abroad, so Yan Xishan went to Japan. It was not until the eve of the September 18 Incident that Yan Xishan was able to fly back to China by falsely claiming to be anti-Chiang Kai-shek. After the incident, due to the prominence of external contradictions, internal contradictions were slightly alleviated, and Yan Xishan ushered in a comeback opportunity, and finally regained control of the Jin Sui Army in 1932.
epilogue
The relationship between Yan Xishan and Chiang Kai-shek has undergone several twists and turns, and Yan Xishan has repeatedly supported Chiang Kai-shek and opposed Chiang Kai-shek many times. The essence of the contradiction between Yan Xishan and Chiang Kai-shek is the contradiction between the power of the central and local governments. Chiang Kai-shek wanted to strengthen the centralization of power and weaken the power of local warlords, while Yan Xishan wanted to maintain the status quo and preserve his status as "Emperor tu".
The change in relations between the two sides should be based on 1928 as a node, because before that, due to the needs of the domestic situation, Chiang Kai-shek still relied heavily on local forces, and the relations between the two sides were still friendly.
However, after this, due to the relaxation of the domestic situation, Chiang Kai-shek's desire to strengthen the centralization of power became stronger, and his contradictions with the local warlords naturally became prominent. At this time, Yan Xishan chose to place himself between Chiang Kai-shek and Feng Yuxiang, and if Chiang Kai-shek wanted to "cut the domain", he would win Feng Yuxiang over.
On the contrary, he joined forces with Chiang Kai-shek to suppress Feng Yuxiang in order to compete for territory. Yan Xishan's strategy lasted until the eve of the outbreak of the Central Plains War, and because he had been calculated by Chiang Kai-shek so many times that his personal safety was threatened, he really made up his mind to oppose Chiang Kai-shek.
However, Yan Xishan never let go of the style of local warlords, so that he was defeated in the Central Plains War. The contradiction between Yan and Jiang fell silent for a while, and was eased with the War of Resistance Against Japan, until the time of the War of Liberation, Yan Xishan also fled to Taiwan. After that, between Yan and Jiang, because Yan Xishan had lost his army, there was no substantial competition
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