In the previous article, the author talked to everyone about the stories of Liu Xianshi and Yuan Zuming, the two kings of Guizhou Province. Today, we talk about The third generation of Guizhou Wang Zhou Xicheng in Guizhou. Unlike the previous warlords, as the leader of the warlords, there were not many cases of eventual death on the battlefield, and Zhou Xicheng belonged to one of them. In its heyday, Zhou Xicheng's troops had 5 divisions under their command, so as the king of Guizhou, how many troops did Zhou Xicheng have? Today, we're going to talk about that.
First of all, let's talk about the rise of Zhou Xicheng. Seriously, before Zhou Xicheng, Guizhou Province was under the rule of the Xingyi clan, such as Liu Xianshi, Wang Wenhua, and Yuan Zuming, all of which belonged to the Xingyi clan, although they were divided into the old Xingyi clan and the new Yi clan. As for Zhou Xicheng, he is the leader and founder of the Tongzi clan. Zhou Xicheng was a native of Tongzi County, Guizhou, and in 1911, at the age of 18, Zhou Xicheng joined the Guizhou New Army. New armies were basically formed throughout the Qing Dynasty, but the new army was not able to save the fate of the Qing Dynasty, but became the main reason for accelerating the demise of the Qing Dynasty. As a new soldier, Zhou Xicheng had just joined the army and caught up with the uprising of the new army in Guizhou.
Because he was not afraid of death and was very fierce in battle, he was appreciated by Yang Xingcheng, the governor of Guizhou, and became a small officer in the guard. However, after the defeat of Yang Xingcheng, the governor of Guizhou, Zhou Xicheng, with dozens of people, defected to Warlords such as Gu Zhenglun and Yuan Zuming, and gradually increased his own strength. During Yuan Zuming's attack on various places, Zhou Xicheng's troops remained at Tongren. In terms of numbers, Zhou Xicheng served as the regimental commander, and the unit was known as a regiment. In fact, there are only more than 500 people in total, and the weapons and equipment are very poor. His own troops were weak, and he did not have money to develop the team, and how to expand his power once made Zhou Xicheng very worried.
Later, taking advantage of the opportunity of stationing in Pengyang, Zhou Xicheng's team grew rapidly. At that time, various warlords in Sichuan were fighting each other, and a large number of troops were defeated. Zhou Xicheng took the opportunity to absorb more than 1,000 people, and his own military strength grew to 2,000 people and horses, with a certain family foundation. With the expansion of his own strength, Zhou Xicheng began to gradually expand his territory, and used his ability to compete with the warlords and bandits around him. After continuous mergers and the incorporation of bandit armed forces, by 1922, Zhou Xicheng's team had grown to more than 5,000 people and more than 3,000 rifles, becoming a force to be reckoned with in the border areas of Sichuan and Guizhou. In 1923, Zhou Xicheng's team was incorporated into the 2nd Division of the Eastern Sichuan Border Defense Army, and Zhou Xicheng naturally served as the division commander. In this year, Yuan Zuming, the king of Guizhou, launched a major attack on the Sichuan region.
Zhou Xicheng saw the opportunity to take advantage of the fire, and in June 1923, Zhou Xicheng captured a transport camp of Yuan Zuming. More than 300 rifles, 2 light machine guns and 800,000 rounds of ammunition were captured. Zhou Xi became a development, which can be called the six relatives do not recognize. In September, the Sichuan warlord Yang Sen's ship transporting weapons was intercepted. On board, hundreds of rifles, dozens of pistols, and more than 1 million rounds of ammunition were captured. Various warlords gritted their teeth at Zhou Xicheng, but they could not do anything.
By December 1923, Zhou Xicheng's team had grown to more than 15,000 people, with more than 10,000 rifles, and its strength had further grown. In the following year or so, Zhou Xicheng successively occupied several cities in northern Guizhou, including Zunyi, the granary of northern Qianbei, and controlled more than 40 counties in northern Guizhou. At this time, Yuan Zuming was busy fighting with the Warlords of Sichuan, and in order to appease the rising Zhou Xicheng, he had to seal Zhou Xicheng as the office and supervisor of the Guizhou Military Council. In January 1927, after the death of Yuan Zuming, the king of Guizhou, in Changde, the rule of the Xingyi clan ended. Due to the leaderlessness of the dragons, the various factions of the Guizhou warlords began to fight each other, of which Zhou Xicheng had a great advantage.
At that time, among the various warlords, the biggest threat to Zhou Xicheng was Li Shen. Li Shen's forces were inferior to Zhou Xicheng's, but they were supported by the Yunnan Dian Army Group. Beginning in 1928, Zhou Xicheng and Li Shen began a war for guizhou. Li Shen was repeatedly defeated in battle, and finally, he retreated to the border area between Guizhou and Yunnan and asked the Yunnan warlords for help. At that time, Zhou Xicheng had been appointed by the Nanjing side as the commander of the 25th Army, and had the 1st Division of the Qian Army, the 2nd Division of the Qian Army, the 3rd Division of the Qian Army, the 4th Division of the Qian Army, and the Instructor. The total strength of the army is about 30,000 people, please note that this is already the limit of Guizhou's financial support.
Note that the army is the capital of the warlords. However, the number of troops needs to depend on the local affordability. In other words, it depends on how many armies the local financial and material resources can support. Relying on the financial and material resources of Guizhou Province, it is impossible to support the army. In 1926, the fiscal revenue of Guizhou Province was only 7 million yuan, and its economic strength was very limited. In April 1929, with the support of the Yunnan warlords, Li Shen organized troops to counterattack. Zhou Xicheng ordered the troops to counterattack in three ways, and he was responsible for the command of the middle road. During the battle, he was ambushed by Li Shen's troops. Zhou Xicheng was shot and fell into the water and died at the age of 36.
Due to the accidental death of Zhou Xicheng, the Tongzi clan was leaderless and on the verge of collapse, and was almost successfully counterattacked by Li Shen. Subsequently, the internal reaction of the Tongzi clan was over, and Mao Guangxiang, the commander of the 1st Division of the Qian Army, became the new leader and defeated Li Shen. Li Shen withdrew from the warlord stage, while Guizhou entered the Mao Guangxiang era. Although Zhou Xicheng died suddenly, Zhou Xicheng established the Tongzi clan and established the basis for the Tongzi clan's rule over Guizhou. After Zhou Xicheng, although the various warlords in Guizhou were still fighting, they basically belonged to the melee within the Tongzi clan.
After Zhou Xicheng's death, Mao Guangxiang's reign did not last long, and Mao Guangxiang's ability was mediocre. Therefore, the commanders of several other divisions were not willing to look at the tiger. At that time, although the Nanjing side was still unable to directly intervene in Guizhou's affairs, it thought of various ways to stir up trouble. With the support of Nanjing, in 1932, Wang Jialie, the commander of the 2nd Division of the Qian Army, took the rule of Mao Guangxiang. It has to be said that the time of the warlords in Guizhou is not long, basically a model of several years, and in this regard, it is obviously inferior to the Dian Army, the Gui Army, and the Jin Sui Army Group. For example, the Jin Sui Army has been consistent for more than 30 years. There are many more stories about various warlords, and the author will talk to you slowly in future articles.