Since the "April 12 Qing Party" and the Ninghan split in 1927, the Northern Expedition was suspended for a while. Later, Ninghan reunited, and the Nationalist government prepared to march north again. At this time, the National Revolutionary Army was joined by Feng Yuxiang in the northwest and Yan Xishan in Shanxi. In February 1928, Chiang Kai-shek organized the armies of the Northern Expedition into four major armies, and he was also the commander-in-chief of the First Army; Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, and Li Zongren were appointed commanders-in-chief of the Second, Third, and Fourth Army. The commander-in-chief of the whole army is Chiang Kai-shek, with a total strength of more than 700,000 troops. At that time, the warlord Zhang Zuolin continued to resist, with a force of about 400,000. On April 7, 1928, Chiang Kai-shek issued a general attack order, and all kinds of wars were launched at the same time. On May 1, he conquered Jinan, but due to Japanese obstruction, he made a detour and successively conquered Handan, Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Zhangjiakou and other places. Zhang Zuolin was defeated and withdrew from Beijing on June 3, but was blown up near Huanggutun Station on his way to Shenyang the next day, and died of his wounds. On June 8 and 12, the National Revolutionary Army took over Beijing and Tianjin. On June 15, the Nanjing government announced the completion of "reunification" and Beijing was renamed Peiping. On December 29, 1928, Zhang Xueliang, who inherited the throne of his late father Zhang Zuolin, sent a telegram to the whole country, announcing that the four provinces of Mukden, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Rehe would change the five-color banner to the red banner of the blue sky and white sun, expressing his obedience to the leadership of the Nanjing National Government, and the history was called "Northeast Yizhi". At this point, China was largely unified, and the Nationalist Government became the only regime representing China internationally.
In 1928, the Northern Expedition was relaunched, and the National Revolutionary Army advanced in multiple ways.
Feng, the warlord leader Zhang Zuolin and Marshal Zhang. In early 1928, the Beiyang government with Beijing as its capital was controlled by Zhang Zuolin, and the hundreds of thousands of troops under his command became the biggest obstacle to the Northern Expedition's unification of China. In April and May 1928, the Northern Expedition defeated Feng's army and surrounded Beijing and Tianjin at the end of May.
After Zhang Zuolin's troops were defeated, he decided to evacuate Beijing and withdraw outside Shanhaiguan. On the evening of June 4, 1928, when Zhang Zuolin's train passed the Sandong Bridge near Huanggutun, the buried explosives were detonated.
The scene of the bombing of the three-hole bridge in Huanggutun was a mess.
Zhang Zuolin's special train was seriously damaged in the explosion, and Zhang Zuolin was seriously injured when he was rescued and died soon after. It is generally believed that Japan committed the incident with the aim of obstructing China's reunification.
Beijing students welcomed the Northern Expedition into the city. The Huanggutun incident shocked China and abroad, but the Northern Expedition process was not affected. On June 8, 1928, the National Revolutionary Army took over Beijing. Subsequently, the Nationalist government renamed Beijing Peiping.
On June 12, 1928, the National Revolutionary Army took over Tianjin. The picture shows the Nationalist Army at the Tianjin Railway Terminal.
In July 1928, after the National Revolutionary Army recaptured Beijing and Tianjin, a group of generals paid homage to Sun Yat-sen, from the front row, from left: Yan Xishan, commander-in-chief of the Third Army, Feng Yuxiang, commander-in-chief of the Second Army, Chiang Kai-shek, commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army and commander-in-chief of the First Army, and Li Zongren, commander-in-chief of the Fourth Army.
Zhang Xueliang rode to inspect the troops. After Zhang Zuolin's death, his son Zhang Xueliang succeeded his father to the throne in northeast China. On December 29, 1928, Zhang Xueliang announced that he would obey the leadership of the Nanjing National Government and change the five-color flag to the red banner of the blue sky and white sun, historically known as the "Northeast Yizhi", marking the success of the Northern Expedition and the general reunification of China. The Nanjing Nationalist Government became the only central government representing China.
On June 1, 1929, the Nationalist Government held a ceremony for Sun Yat-sen at the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing. After Sun Yat-sen's death in 1925, the coffin was temporarily placed in Biyun Temple in Beijing. After the completion of the Northern Expedition, the Nationalist government transported Sun Yat-sen's coffin to Nanjing for reburial.
At the end of 1928, the northeast changed its banner, but the CCP's anti-Chiang Kai-shek struggle was still ongoing, can it be said that the Northern Expedition was largely completed and the whole country was basically unified?
With the reconquest of Beijing and the northeast, the Nationalist government in Nanjing had largely achieved national unification, and although there was some resistance, the main objectives and tasks of the Northern Expedition of 1926-1928 were accomplished. From the history of many dynasties, it took time from the establishment of power to complete unification, for example: the Western Han Dynasty often indicated that the Chu-Han War was won from 206 BC onwards, and in fact it was not won until 202 BC; The Eastern Han Dynasty was founded in 25 AD, and it was not until 37 AD that all sides were pacified; The Tang Dynasty was founded in 618 and did not reach the crowd until 628; The Ming Dynasty established and completed the Northern Expedition in 1368, but it was not fully unified until 1389.