During the Republican period, warlords were at war, and many provinces were controlled by local separatist forces. So, who are the warlords with more than 100,000 troops?
Duan Qirui
Duan Qirui was the beginning of the warlords of the Republic of China, yuan shikai took power in the Beiyang government after his death, and he was also the leader of the Anhui warlords.
The main sphere of influence of the Anhui dynasty: Anhui, Shandong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Fujian, Gansu, Shaanxi and many other provinces.
The Anhui department had hundreds of thousands of elite troops with nine divisions and 14 mixed brigades, and in addition to Duan Qirui's control of the central authorities, the Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan and the Sichuan warlord Liu Cunhou also supported Duan Qirui.
In the Zhiwan War, Duan Qirui was defeated by Wu Peifu, and Duan Qirui was forced to electrify the wilderness, and the Anhui warlords ended there.
Cao Kun
After Feng Guozhang's death, Cao Kun became the leader of the warlords of his immediate lineage. When the Zhiwan War broke out in 1920, Cao Kun's troops reached 170,000-180,000 troops. In 1922, the direct family defeated the Fengzhi warlords, and their strength was further improved.
Zhang Zuolin Zhang Xueliang
During the Northern Expedition in 1926, Zhang Zuolin's troops reached 350,000. During the Second Northern Expedition of the Kuomintang, Zhang Zuolin retreated to the three eastern provinces, and in the process of retreating to Guanwai, Zhang Zuolin was killed by the Japanese.
After Zhang Zuolin's death, Zhang Xueliang inherited his power, and there were still 300,000 troops under his command.
Wu Peifu
Wu Peifu was the first general under Cao Kun and one of the core figures of the warlords directly under him. During the Northern Expedition in 1926, he had an army of 200,000 under his command.
Sun Chuanfang
Sun Chuanfang was one of the warlord leaders of his immediate lineage, and in 1926 he controlled the five provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Anhui and Fujian, with a force of 200,000 troops.
Zhang Zongchang
Zhang Zongchang was a warlord attached to the Feng clan, and he controlled Shandong Province, with more than 150,000 troops under his command.
Liu Xiang, Liu Wenhui
During the Nationalist government era (after 1928), Liu Xiang and Liu Wenhui were the two most powerful warlords in Sichuan, with more than 100,000 troops. In 1933, Liu Xiang defeated Liu Wenhui and dominated Sichuan.
Janssen
The period 1924-1925 was the pinnacle of Janssen's power, with an army of nearly 100,000. Yang Sen tried to unify Sichuan, but was defeated by Liu Xiang, Liu Wenhui, deng Xihou, and others.
Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang was originally a direct general, and in 1924 he launched a coup d'état in Beijing, put president Cao Kun under house arrest, and his immediate family was defeated by the Feng clan. After that, Feng Yuxiang became one of the most powerful figures in the north. At the beginning of the Nationalist government (1928), it had an army of 420,000 under its command.
Chiang Kai-shek
In the early days of the Nationalist government (1928), Chiang Kai-shek's army numbered to 500,000. As he continued to win warlord battles, his army reached a size of one million.
Li Zongren
In the early days of the Nationalist government, the Gui clan controlled Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei and other places, and the number of troops reached 300,000. After the all-out War of Resistance began, the troops of the New Gui Clan were immediately organized into the Eleventh Group Army and the Twenty-first Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army to go north to resist the war. Li Zongren served as the commander of the Fifth Theater, responsible for military and political affairs in the Huai River Valley and southern Shandong. In all the subsequent wars, there is a shadow of the Gui clan.
Moreover, due to its long-term entrenchment in the Dabie Mountains, the Gui clan actually took the opportunity to control Anhui. After the victory of the War of Resistance, the strength of the Gui clan expanded again, and it was the only warlord who could compete with Chiang Kai-shek. Moreover, under the persecution of Li Zongren, Chiang Kai-shek later went to the wilderness again.
Yan Xishan
At the beginning of the Nationalist government, Yan Xishan controlled Shanxi, Suiyuan, Beijing and Tianjin, and the number of troops reached 300,000. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the artillery units of the Jin Sui Army became a nightmare for the Japanese army. In the 23-day Battle of Xinkou, the Jin Sui Army invested more than 300 artillery pieces of 7 artillery regiments to bombard the Japanese army that attacked Xinkou, making the Japanese army pay a great price.
Li Jishen
At the beginning of the Nationalist government (1928, 1929), Li Jishen controlled Guangdong Province, and his army consisted of 120,000 people. Because Li was born in Guangxi, he was closer to the new Gui clan politically. During the Jiang-Gui War, Li Jishen was lured by Chiang Kai-shek to Nanjing, where he was placed under house arrest in Tangshan, where his unit was divided and disintegrated.
Chen Jitang
From 1930 to 1936, Chen Jitang was the "Southern Heavenly King" who dominated Guangdong, and his army was more than 150,000 people. It also had more than 70 aircraft, but they were later plotted by Chiang Kai-shek, and all of them went into the hands of the Nationalist government in Nanjing.
Tang Jiyao
Tang Jiyao was the founder of the Dian warlords and the largest warlord in the southwest during the Beiyang warlord period. The main sphere of influence of the Yunnan system: Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi and other provinces.
Tang Jiyao's 300,000 troops sat in the southwest, and then he was deposed by his subordinates Long Yun and other four towns to guard the "Bing Zhi".
Lu Rongting
Lu Rongting was the leader of the old Gui clan of the Republic of China, and Lu Rongting's main sphere of influence: Guangxi, Guangdong. Lu Rongting's army was about 100,000, and he was defeated by the New Gui Clan and withdrew from the stage of history.
Han Fuyu
Under Feng Yuxiang's men, Han Fuyuyuan fought against the Northwest Army in the Battle of the Central Plains, and was made the chairman of Shandong Province by Chiang Kai-shek.
Han Fuyu's main sphere of influence: Shandong. Han Fuyu's regular army of 80,000, plus nearly 200,000 militia regiments, was shot by Chiang Kai-shek at the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression for abandoning Shandong Rang.
Ma Bufang
Ma Bufang was a warlord who divided the northwest, and he used Qinghai as a base to exert his influence in Gansu and Xinjiang. In 1949, Ma Bufang was appointed by the Nationalist government as the military and political governor of the northwest, with 150,000 troops under his command.
In the Battle of Lanzhou, Ma Bufang's main force was wiped out by the People's Liberation Army. He himself fled to Taiwan and ended up in Saudi Arabia!