During the period of the Beiyang warlord melee, more people remember the direct and Anhui factions that took turns in power, as well as the Feng faction that was rising in the northeast, or other warlords who were fighting in the south.
However, rising in the northwest, the Northwest Army led by Feng Yuxiang, although it has always been in a supporting role, is still a very competitive local force. Even in many battles, because Feng Yuxiang made many decisions that played a role in turning the tide of the war, according to the current words, that is
"We're not champions, but we can decide who wins."
Why has it been gradually divided and declined in just 20 years?
The machete and Tony's helmet are the hallmarks of the Northwest Army
From strength to disintegration
Speaking of the Northwest Army, naturally there is one person who has to be mentioned, and that is Feng Yuxiang.
In 1914, when the Xinhai Revolution was in full swing, warlords from all over the country were also taking advantage of the Great Revolution to rise. He served as the commander of the 14th Mixed Brigade of the 7th Division of the Army in Hunan, and then changed to the commander of the 9th Mixed Brigade in September.
During his tenure as brigade commander in Hunan, Feng Yuxiang also strengthened his control over his troops and created his own sphere of influence. The lower-level officers (battalion commanders) represented by Sun Liangcheng, Sun Lianzhong, and Liu Ruming naturally became his descendants, and later generations also called these people Feng Yuxiang13 Taibao.
And these people also became the original grass platform team of Feng Yuxiang's forces.
The Thirteenth Taibao of the Northwest Army
In 1921, when the war in the northwest was tense, Feng Yuxiang, who had been promoted to the commander of the 11th division of the Beiyang warlords, was ordered to go to Shaanxi and Gansu to quell the turmoil. However, at this time, Feng Yuxiang was only a division commander, and his power was still dependent on the Beiyang warlords.
However, Feng Yuxiang, who had a unique strategic vision, stood behind Cao Kun and others many times in the Battle of Zhiwan, so during the period of the direct system governing the customs, Feng Yuxiang also enjoyed the dividends of the expansion of the direct line, and was directly promoted to the overseer of Shaanxi and the direct spokesman in the northwest.
During this period, the Soviet Union also gradually infiltrated the northwest and helped Feng Yuxiang consolidate his rule in the northwest in the form of military aid and economic aid, and the troops under Feng Yuxiang were also known as the "Northwest Army".
Typical Northwest Army attire
In 1922, during the First Great War.
Feng Yuxiang, who was subordinate to the direct (nominal) lineage, went out of Tongguan to join the Central Plains on the battlefield, and defeated the Anhui warlord Zhao Qi who had defected to the Feng family in Henan, and was promoted to the overseer of Henan Province. It seems that he has been on an equal footing with Cao Kun and Wu Peifu (Feng Yuxiang's old chief) and other bigwigs.
At this time, although the Northwest Army was still the 11th Division, it had been expanded into three mixed brigades (the 7th, 8th, and 25th mixed brigades), and three supplementary brigades were added to the local troops in Shaanxi and Henan.
But just when Feng Yuxiang wanted to show his strength, Wu Peifu, who had always regarded Henan as his sphere of influence, quit, and he rose and surrendered secretly, so that Feng Yuxiang was promoted to the army review envoy, and directly drove him out of Henan and sent him to Beijing, which also laid the groundwork for the Northwest Army to break away from the direct line.
The Northwest Army is reading the program
In 1924, during the Second Zhibong War.
With the successive victories of the Feng family on the battlefield, Feng Yuxiang, who saw that the situation was wrong, decisively broke away from the direct line, and staged a coup d'état in the capital, placing Cao Kun under house arrest. and formed an alliance with Zhang Zuolin to directly drive Wu Peifu, a direct line, out of Zhili and other places. At this time, the Northwest Army was also renamed the "National Army". In addition to the 11th Division of Feng Yuxiang's lineage, the First Army of the National Army was established (under the jurisdiction of 6 infantry divisions and 1 cavalry division, 18 mixed brigades and 10 cavalry brigades, all of which were equipped with Soviet weapons. The number of troops is close to 80,000.
Moreover, in addition to the lineage, Feng Yuxiang also incorporated other side troops, such as Hu Jingyi's 2nd Army of the National Army (3rd Division and 6th Brigade), Sun Yue's 3rd Army of the National Army (4th Division and 3rd Brigade), Wei Yisan's 4th Army of the National Army (3rd Brigade 15,000 people), and Fang Zhenwu's 5th Army of the National Army (3rd Brigade 10,000 people).
The total number of these five armies is nearly 150,000, of which more than half are Feng Yuxiang's troops.
Feng Yuxiang's allies of the National Army
In 1926, two enemies were directly served, seeing that Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army had a tendency to sit on the throne, so they formed an alliance, and then lobbied other warlords in Anhui to join the Anhui retired boss Feng Yuxiang, forming a tripartite alliance and the National Army (Northwest Army) War, and finally the battle ended with Feng Yuxiang's defeat and powerening, at this time the 5th Army of the National Army took refuge in Lao Jiang, the 4th Army Wu Peifu was absorbed, and the other 1st-3rd armies were hit hard, Pang Tongxun, Shi Yousan, Han Fuqu, After the battle, although the Northwest Army still had 3 armies, there were 30,000 troops left, and the strength was worse than when Feng Yuxiang first entered Beijing.
In 1927, Feng Yuxiang, who was unwilling to fail, once again called on the old department in the name of the spokesman of the Northwest Army to swear in the Northern Expedition in Wuyuan.
The previous old department was also unsatisfactory because of the new boss, coupled with Feng Yuxiang's personality charm, and quickly responded, 5 Tiger Generals and 13 Taibao returned to their positions, and at the same time, the Northwest Second Horse was also absorbed to form the 2nd Group Army.
At this time, the Northwest Army was even stronger when it was initially organized into the National Army, with 9 front armies and 1 cavalry corps under its jurisdiction, totaling 31 armies/80 divisions, with a strength of 420,000 troops, and the number reached the peak of 420,000.
Fighting the Northwest Army
What is the concept of these 420,000 people?
After the end of the Northern Expedition, the revolutionary army that formed the Nationalist Government had a total of 4 group armies, which were also the 4 major forces that formed the Nationalist Government at that time, the central system (Ning), the Northwest system, the Jin system and the Han Gui system, in addition to Feng Yuxiang, they were Lao Chiang's 1st Group Army, Yan Laoxi's 3rd Group Army and Li Zongren's 4th Group Army.
The number of other army groups is between 200,000 and 300,000 men. Therefore, the Northwest Army at that time could be said to be the first military force of the Nationalist Government at that time, and on the territory, the Northwest Army basically controlled many important towns in the north.
However, after the withdrawal of the Feng Department from the Guannai, cracks appeared in the four major groups.
The two sides fought for control of the customs. In 1929, Lao Chiang took the lead in attacking and dismissed Feng from his post in the name of "sabotaging the revolution" and "great rebellion", while Feng united Yan Laoxi and Li Zongren, who were already at odds with Lao Chiang, to form an anti-Chiang alliance, and the two sides fought a decisive battle in the Central Plains.
However, the anti-Chiang alliance was already scattered, although the strength of the old Chiang was 2-3 times that of the old Chiang, but they could not coordinate with each other, and they were not the opponents of the emerging Northern Expeditionary Army at all.
General Feng Yuxiang
In addition, Shi Yousan and Han Fuqu and others also began to defect under Lao Chiang's "money offensive", and the Northwest Army collapsed, in the two front armies of the Central Plains, Han Fuqu and Shi Yousan of the 4th Front Army were appointed by Lao Chiang as the chairman of Shandong and Anhui Province respectively, Sun Dianying, the commander of the 5th Route Army, was defeated by Lao Chiang in Bozhou and could only flee to Shanxi and was absorbed by Zhang Gongzi, and the commanders of the 3rd and 4th Route Armies of the 2nd Front Army, Pang Bingxun and Song Zheyuan, took refuge in Lao Chiang's ally Zhang Gongzi, Zhang Weixi of the 1st Route Army, Liu Ruming of the 2nd Route Army, Sun Lianzhong of the 5th Route Army also chose to surrender to Lao Chiang after the war.
The eight route armies that participated in the war all broke away from the ranks of the Northwest Army one after another.
The 29th Route Army after Song Zheyuan's independence
In addition to the unfavorable front, Feng Yuxiang was also on fire in the rear, in the Shaanxi base camp, Yang Hucheng raised the banner of anti-Feng and threw himself into the arms of the Central Army, and a small number of people joined our army in Ningdu under the leadership of Dong Zhentang and others, and were incorporated into the 5th Army Corps.
So far, the Northwest Army, which was once mighty and had 400,000 troops, became a tree without roots with Feng Yuxiang's re-entry into the wilderness after the Central Plains War, and could only rely on Lao Jiang, Zhang Gongzi and Yan Laoxi and others, and became a passer-by of history.
The Northwest Army, which lost its backbone, still played an important role in the national army in the War of Resistance.
For example, the 29th Army guarding Nankou and Beiping, Sun Lianzhong and Pang Bingxun who participated in the Battle of Taierzhuang, Zhang Zizhong who was martyred in the Battle of Zaoyi, even Sun Dianying and others had good performances in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, but with the process of centralization of Lao Jiang. By the time of the Liberation War, except for Liu Ruming, Feng Zhi'an and others, they had long since disappeared.
Sun Lianzhong of the Taierzhuang Anti-Japanese War
The Northwest Army is to blame
Here, it needs to be affirmed that the Northwest Army under the leadership of Feng Yuxiang is really strong, and the training of Lao Chiang's new-style Central Army in the national army is not as good as that of the Northwest Army. Even Zhou Gong often praised the training of the Northwest Army, "Mr. is good at training soldiers, and people who talk about soldiers still respect Mr." In addition to paying attention to military skills, Feng Yuxiang also attaches more importance to the virtue and will of soldiers. Therefore, among the warlords in various places, the technical and tactical ability of the Northwest Army is stronger than that of others.
However, Cheng is also Feng Yuxiang, and decadence also depends on Feng Yuxiang......
Feng Yuxiang is a good general, but not a good leader, Feng Yuxiang's rule is more of a feudal paternalistic management, and the people below really treat him as a family, and it is not too much to evaluate him with a love for soldiers like a son. To give an example, at that time, the salaries of officers and soldiers in the northwest were only one-fifth of the salary per month, and it was stipulated that it should be handed over to Feng Yuxiang and called "soldiers' deposits", mainly so that soldiers would not be asked to spend money indiscriminately and send them home to their families.
Feng Yuxiang's costume photo
In addition to the soldiers, Feng Yuxiang was also very good to his officers, Feng Yuxiang sent money to Sun Liangcheng, and one gift was one or two thousand dollars.
But this kind of feudal paternalistic management is also obviously disadvantageous, in the era of warlord melee, can only share happiness, how can we share weal and bene?
Moreover, Feng Yuxiang's set of brainwashing management is okay for low-level officers, but it doesn't work at all for the old fritters above the commander level of the Five Tiger Generals and the Thirteenth Taibao, and Feng Yuxiang, who has always used love to generate electricity, has long lost absolute control of the Northwest Army by the time he established the National Protector Army. Moreover, he does not know how to check and balance the style of acting in Yiyantang, and formulates to make the team lose cohesion, once it is at a disadvantage, the "filial sons" led by Shi Yousan, Han Fuqu and others will not hesitate to turn the gun against themselves.
Han Fuqu and Shi Yousan, who were bought by Lao Jiang
The main reason why the Northwest Army collapsed so quickly was that "money" caused trouble. In fact, many people have always been skeptical about the rise of the Northwest Army. After all, relying on Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, it is difficult to afford the huge Northwest Army, so the Northwest Army has to "live" for itself from the beginning of its establishment.
If you want to survive, you must either survive in the cracks of the strong, such as the first generation to take refuge in the direct line, or you will grab territory everywhere, such as Yan Laoxi in the west and Wu Peifu in Henan.
Therefore, economic problems determine that the Northwest Army always sways left and right in alliances and defections, which makes other warlord factions very unhappy, so the Northwest Army is the least pleasant in the chain of warlord contempt.
Naturally, it became the target of other warlords.
Feng Yuxiang's and Lao Jiang
The last straw that overwhelmed the survival of the Northwest Army was the Great Northwest Drought of 1927-1929.
The base camps in the northwest and Henan have been in arrears year after year, and the people are living in poverty, and the common people can't eat, let alone your Northwest Army wants military expenses, and Chen Zhongzhong's "White Deer Plain" Bai Family Famine is also in this context.
The chain reaction caused by the famine was that the Northwest Army was short of food, and the military salary could not be paid, and it once made people ridicule "Look at it from a distance and call it Huazi, and look at the Northwest Army up close." At this time, Feng Yuxiang has the ability to use love to generate electricity for the Thirteenth Taibao, but he can't stand up to the real problem, and the huge army of 420,000 is outrageously high in military expenditure alone.
Therefore, in the Central Plains War, Lao Chiang did not use force against the Northwest Army at all, but used the silver dollar offensive to shout in front. At that time, wasn't it to make a living when he was a soldier, so the Northwest Army quickly collapsed under the shouting of Lao Jiang.
The Northwest Army, which is very backward in costume
How poor was the Northwest Army at that time?
The monthly salary of the junior officers of the Northwest Army was 20 yuan, that of the middle-ranking officers was 40 yuan, that of the senior officers was 80 yuan, and that of the soldiers was only 3 yuan per month (there was still a large part of the security deposit for Feng Yuxiang to withhold).
The monthly salary of the junior officers of the Central Army was 80 yuan, the monthly salary of the middle-level officers was 240 yuan, the minimum monthly salary of the senior officers was 320 yuan, and the monthly salary of the soldiers was 15 yuan. This is still Lao Jiang's implementation of the thrifty spirit of the Northern Expedition, and he did not send enough. During the Central Plains War, Lao Jiang also took 123 million to buy Zhang Gongzi, and his shot was even more generous.
When the Northwest Army was still eating chaff and had a meal without a meal, Lao Jiang's Northern Expeditionary Army had already realized the freedom of meat buns, which was called the comparison between Huazi and the Dragon King, and it was impossible to play at all.
Northwest Army in tattered costumes
The Northwest Army is still an old warlord in the final analysis, although Feng Yuxiang is not ambiguous in the face of the national righteousness of right and wrong, but in essence he still wants to divide one side, the Northwest Army (National Army) that lacks a political program is just a plate of scattered sand, in other words, it is a loose warlord alliance, don't look at the peak of more than 400,000 people, but in fact, the centripetal force of the team is not strong, Feng Yuxiang can't command Sun Yue and others at all.