After the death of Yuan Shikai, the Republic of China entered a very chaotic stage, full of warlords, these Republican warlords were the main forces influencing China's political pattern in the early 20th century, the most widely known and strongest was the Northeast warlords, with a strength of more than 500,000 troops at its peak, once the strongest force in China.
The Northeast Army, the navy, army and air force in the strongest period were the first in China, and they were unrivaled in China, but even with the blessing of such layers of halos, after the humiliating day of the 918 Kingdom, the Northeast Army was like a dog who lost his family, giving up the northeast in exile, and most of the weapons and equipment stored in the military base in the northeast was not taken away, but became a murderous weapon of the Japanese wokou.
The decades of development and accumulation of the Northeast Army were burned, so that most of China's top armaments fell into the hands of the enemy, and the Northeast Army finally made a wedding dress for the Japanese.
The process of strengthening the Northeast Army
In 1916, Zhang Zuolin, the overseer of Mukden, controlled most of the northeastern forces with the help of the Japanese army, and basically established the prototype of the Fengji warlord.
With the decline of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Zuolin brazenly established his own troops in the northeast, and he was entrenched in the northeast for decades, with deep entrenchment and strength.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Zuolin unified the northeast at a very fast speed, naming the troops under his command "Zhenwei Army", and the number of the Northeast Army had reached about 120,000 by this time.
Subsequently, in the Second Zhifeng War, they fought a rather beautiful battle, which impressed the other warlords. After that, Zhang Zuolin decided to change the name of the unit to the "Northeast Army", and the total number of the Northeast Army at this time could reach as many as 200,000.
During the following decade, the Northeast Army expanded in size. Zhang Zuolin's son Zhang Xueliang joined the Northeast Army and relied on Zhang Zuolin's support to create the Northeast Air Force, which was also China's first air force, which had dominated the side before the 918 Incident, and even the Japanese were full of praise and envy when they saw it.
In addition to the Air Force, the Northeast Army has its own navy. As early as the period when the Republic of China Navy was just developing, the Northeast Army already had a complete combat fleet, which was unique in China.
The most powerful artillery of the Northeast Army, Zhang Zuolin and his son have always been very interested in heavy artillery, and once spent a lot of money to purchase dozens of heavy artillery to expand artillery equipment, and built the most equipped artillery unit in the country at that time.
The super armament of the Northeast Army
During the development of the Northeast Army for several years, the two actual controllers of the army realized the importance of weapons to the army and began to purchase advanced weapons and equipment from Britain and France on a large scale.
In addition to purchasing equipment, they also built their own arsenal in Shenyang, northeast China, and developed extremely rapidly and on a very large scale. Before the 918 incident, the Shenyang Arsenal's arms output was unmatched in the country and became one of the best in Asia.
Not only is it so advanced in armaments, Zhang Zuolin also invited military experts from Britain and the United States to teach students in China and cultivate outstanding talents belonging to the Northeast Army.
The establishment of the Northeast Wutang was twenty years earlier than the famous Whampoa Military Academy, which is enough to prove the foresight of the Zhang family's father and son.
Success factors of the Northeast Army
The success of the Northeast Army is indeed inseparable from the leadership of Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Xueliang, they are rare military talents, although they have also made mistakes due to their own reasons, but their early construction of the Northeast Army is undeniable.
The strength of the Northeast Army is also inseparable from the vast and precious land of the three eastern provinces, the local coal and iron ore resources are very rich, the railways are very dense, and the transportation is extremely convenient, so the construction of the Northeast Shenyang Arsenal and the development of the Northeast heavy industry are very smooth and fast.
In addition, the northeast region is stable all year round and there are few large-scale wars, so the population size has developed rapidly, which is very conducive to expanding the size of the army, and the social and economic development has surpassed most of the country, and has long laid a strong economic foundation for the purchase of many aircraft, warships and heavy equipment.
Make wedding clothes for others
Speaking of which, some people may wonder, since there was such a powerful army in the northeast at that time, why did the three eastern provinces fall quickly at an uncontrollable speed when the Japanese army invaded?
In fact, before the 918 incident, Zhang Xueliang endured various provocations by the Japanese army on the northeast border at the behest of the actual controller of the Kuomintang.
Later, the Chinese army and the Japanese army rubbed the spark of war, and the Northeast Army only had a frontal counterattack, but Zhang Xueliang received an order to stabilize the situation and not resist.
Although the Northeast Army was strong, the Japanese army that came to invade was also well-equipped and numerous, and there was other imperialist support, and if the two armies fought, there would be heavy casualties, and the Northeast Army would not be unscathed.
Moreover, Zhang Xueliang could have gone to new areas to develop at that time, and there was no need to risk the huge risk of overturning the entire Northeast Army to go head-to-head with the Japanese.
Coupled with the policy of inaction advocated by the actual controller of the Republic of China at that time, although he verbally supported Zhang Xueliang, he never gave Zhang Xueliang any armed support, only saying that he would not do this behavior made Zhang Xueliang very disappointed, and finally had to choose to abandon the northeast.
When the Northeast Army hurriedly retreated, it could not take away all its weapons and equipment, so it could only remain in the arsenal in Shenyang, and finally it was robbed by the Japanese and turned into a murder weapon for the Japanese to kill compatriots in the northeast of the mainland.
In the northeast without the Northeast Army, only helpless people were left waiting to be exploited and killed by the Japanese army, which was also the biggest controversy for later generations to evaluate the merits and mistakes of Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Xueliang.
Abandon the people's army
Zhang Xueliang forgot that the northeast is also the territory of the Chinese, and the number one task of the army is to defend the territory and the people, but what kind of army can it be if it leaves the northeast army and abandons the people who need to be protected?
Since the exile, the Northeast Army has never returned to its former glory, making their legendary story come to an end, and the leader of the Northeast Army, Zhang Xueliang, was also under house arrest for ten years under Chiang Kai-shek's acquiescence.
After the victory of the People's Liberation War, this army, which had set several China's firsts, was also annihilated in the long river of history.
But this was only a few mistakes, at that time, most of the army always adhered to their own beliefs and national integrity, and did not only care about their own gains and losses, regardless of the people behind them, and fought for their motherland and the people they guarded.
Although they were no match for the strength of the Northeast Army in its heyday, they still used their blood to fight more brilliant than the Northeast Army and liberated all of China.