Why did Ma Zhongying want to seize Xinjiang? Quite simply, because he had been beaten by Ma Bufang and had nowhere to go, at the same time, Ma Zhongying, who had never had a base, also urgently needed his own territory.
Around Ma Zhongying, he could not defeat Ma Hongkui in Ningxia, nor could he provoke Ma Bufang in Qinghai, gansu was Ma Hongbin's territory, Tibet was too high, the environment was harsh, and the population was sparse, so it was not suitable as a base area. Therefore, in order to preserve and expand his strength, Ma Zhongying has one and only one choice - Xinjiang.
Map of the national situation in 1920
Ma Zhongying, one of the five horses in the northwest, had become the leader of a team at the age of 16, and because of his young age, he was also known as Commander Ga. I have to say that perhaps it is really the hero of the times, 16 years old for today's people, is just a high school or even junior high school student, and Ma Zhongying has begun as the leader of an army, licking blood and galloping on the battlefield.
He was the youngest of the five horses, and the only Ma family warlord who did not have his own territory. Ma Zhongying and "Qingma" Ma Bufang are cousins, before he started fighting at the age of 16, he served as a battalion commander in the "Ning Navy" of the Ma Bufang family's army, yes, you read that right, the 15-year-old battalion commander.
Ma Zhongying
The Northwest Majia Army rose in the late Qing Dynasty and the Tongzhi Rebellion. Ma Zhan'ao, one of the leaders of the rebellion at that time, saw that the Qing army was strong, and decisively led the team with great vision to surrender to Zuo Zongtang and became Zuo Zongtang's right-hand man in quelling the rebellion. Therefore, relying on battle achievements, the Northwest Majia Army gradually rose in the northwest.
By the time of the Republic of China, the third generation of the Majia Army in the northwest had occupied several provinces in the northwest, and only Xinjiang was not under the rule of the Ma family army in the entire northwest region. As a result, Xinjiang became Ma Zhongying's coveted territory. Ma Zhongying was very young when he started the army, whether it was his life experience or political ability, he was very immature, and the political views of Ma Zhongying's team were always very confused.
Even during the period when Ma Zhongying's troops were wandering through various parts of the northwest, they slaughtered and slaughtered many ethnic groups such as han, Mongolian, and Tibetan, which was horrific and appalling. But at the same time, during his time in Xinjiang, Ma Zhongying also quelled the so-called "independence movement" of the careerists and safeguarded the unity and territorial integrity of the motherland.
In February 1931, when the Hami Incident broke out and Jin Shuren, chairman of the Xinjiang provincial government, sent troops to suppress it, Ma Zhongying, who was under heavy attack by Ma Bufang, was in urgent need of new territory. Therefore, he took this opportunity to lead his troops into Xinjiang, although the initial development of Xinjiang was relatively smooth, but soon, Jin Shuren used the assistance of another warlord in Xinjiang, Zhang Peiyuan, to defeat Ma Zhongying, who was forced to return to Gansu and failed to enter Xinjiang for the first time.
Northwest Five Horses
In 1932, Ma Zhongying, who was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the commander of the newly organized 36th Division of the Kuomintang, once again took advantage of the civil strife in Xinjiang to send troops into southern Xinjiang and once again began military operations to invade Xinjiang. At the same time, Sheng Shicai launched a coup d'état and seized military and political power in Xinjiang. Taking advantage of this heavenly opportunity of civil unrest in Xinjiang, Ma Zhongying poured out of the nest and led the main force into many places in northern Xinjiang, and began to directly threaten Dihua, the capital of Xinjiang.
Ma Zhongying, who entered Xinjiang twice, became the biggest obstacle to the rule of Xinjiang by Sheng Shicai, the "King of Xinjiang" at that time, and also became sheng shicai's most powerful opponent. The two men fought each other with each other. In the end, it was not Sheng Shicai who defeated Ma Zhongying, but Sheng Shicai surrendered to the Soviet Union and signed several unequal treaties in exchange for the Soviet Union's troops.
"King of Xinjiang" Sheng Shicai
In 1934, Ma Zhongyingbu, who had been fighting with Sheng Shicai for several years, was defeated by Soviet aircraft bombing. After the defeat, Ma Zhongying chose to go to the Soviet Union, and this year, Ma Zhongying was only 22 years old. After arriving in the Soviet Union, Ma Zhongying mysteriously disappeared, and to this day, the cause of his death and whereabouts remain a mystery.