"Warlord" is a term of far-reaching significance in modern China. The term "warlord" in modern Chinese history came from Japan in the early 20th century and was translated by Liang Rengong. China's old warlords, with armies, dominated one side, formed their own factions, and defected to an imperialist country.
At the end of any dynasty in Chinese history, there have been warlords or warlord scuffles, the most well-known of which is the chaotic war between the warlords of the Direct, Anhui, and Feng clans in the Beiyang warlords in the early years of the Republic of China. Among the many large and small warlords, there was such a person, who was considered to be the worst reputation among the Beiyang warlords at that time, and it could be said that everyone shouted and beat. This person is Zhang Zongchang.
Zhang Zongchang was a native of Shandong and was born on February 13, 1881. As a major general under Zhang Zuolin, an important leader of the Fengzhi warlords, he was also a prominent figure in that year. As a warlord, his main territory was his hometown of Shandong Province. However, when this Shandong native dominated Shandong Province, the people's life was miserable. During his term of office, Zhang Zongchang treated the people harshly and cruelly, and even often punished them, and thus won the nickname of "Dog Meat General".
Throughout the first half of Zhang Zongchang's life, it can be described as a smooth sailing. In the early years of the Shandong famine period. He wandered to guanwai and went to the northeast to make a living. Later, in 1899, Zhang Zongchang went to the Russian-funded Middle East Railway as a road builder, nearly two meters tall, and with the bold and generous personality of a northerner, he soon showed his popularity, and soon after, with his prestige among the workers, he became the local Chinese leader. At the same time, he also learned to speak fluent and accurately pronounced Russian, which was favored by the Russians.
By 1911, the year of the Xinhai Revolution, Zhang Zongchang set off to return to China and defected to Hu Ying, the governor of the Shandong Nationalist Army at the time. After that, Zhang Zongchang came to Shanghai to fight, was promoted to the commander of the Guangfu Army, and began his military career. Two years later, Zhang Zongchang had become the commander of the Third Division of the Jiangsu Army. However, Zhang Zongchang was not a true revolutionary, so in the second revolution initiated by the Kuomintang against Yuan Shikai, Zhang Zongchang defected to the revolution, surrendered to the Beiyang general Feng Guozhang, and joined the warlords directly under his direct line.
In 1921, it was also an important year for Zhang Zongchang and him. Because in this year, Zhang Zongchang was ostracized by the warlord generals directly under his direct lineage, so he defected to the Fengzhi warlord Zhang Zuolin. In the following warlord wars, he gradually developed and grew, and because of the accumulation in Russia in his early years, he was able to gather many White Russian Guards who fled to China after the defeat of the Russian civil war and became important generals of the Fengzhi warlords.
Zhang Zuolin, the king of the northeast, had considerable trust in Zhang Zongchang, because in the agreement reached by Duan Qirui, there were provisions for sending Zhang Zongchang to Shandong to take power. Zhang Zongchang, who returned to Shandong, caused a series of tragic cases, the most famous of which was the "Qingdao Massacre" that suppressed the strike of Japanese mill workers in Qingdao. This also reveals to the people the truth that the warlord forces are the spokesmen of imperialism in China. Zhang Zongchang also began to live a luxurious life of his own, he has married 23 aunts and wives in succession, and in addition to these famous people, he has five White Russian women known as "five golden flowers" around him.
However, Zhang Zongchang, who reached the peak of his life in this way, quickly lost his position after Zhang Zuolin's death, and finally was suddenly shot by the assassins at the railway station, and died immediately.