Northeastern Army
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The Northeastern Army, also known as the Fengtian Army (see
terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, Compound (linguistics), com ...
), was a Chinese
army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
that existed from 1911 to 1937. General
Zhang Zuolin Zhang Zuolin; courtesy name Yuting ( zh, c=雨亭, p=Yǔtíng, labels=no) and nicknamed Zhang Laogang ( zh, c=張老疙瘩, p=Zhāng Lǎo Gēda, labels=no) (March 19, 1875June 4, 1928) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 ...
developed it as an independent fighting force during the
Warlord Era The Warlord Era was the period in the history of the Republic of China between 1916 and 1928, when control of the country was divided between rival Warlord, military cliques of the Beiyang Army and other regional factions. It began after the de ...
. He used the army to control
Northeastern China Northeast China () is a geographical region of China, consisting officially of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over . The regi ...
(
Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
) and intervene in national politics. During the mid-1920s the Northeastern Army was the dominant military force in China, but in 1928 it was defeated by the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
's
National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; zh, labels=no, t=國民革命軍) served as the military arm of the Kuomintang, Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) from 1924 until 1947. From 1928, it functioned as the regular army, de facto ...
(NRA) during the
Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT) against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The purpose of the campaign was to reunify China prop ...
. At the end of that campaign, Zhang Zuolin was assassinated and succeeded by his son
Zhang Xueliang Zhang Xueliang ( zh, t=張學良; June 3, 1901 – October 15, 2001), also commonly known by his nickname "the Young Marshal", was a Chinese general who in 1928 succeeded his father Zhang Zuolin as the commander of the Northeastern Army. He is bes ...
. When Xueliang subsequently pledged loyalty to the Kuomintang, the Northeastern Army became part of the NRA and was officially rechristened the "Northeastern Border Defense Force". Despite being formally part of the NRA, the Northeastern Army remained ''de facto'' Zhang Xueliang's personal army. Zhang used the army to exercise considerable political influence during the tumultuous early years of the Nanjing Decade. The Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931 and forced the Northeastern Army to retreat into northern China. After the army was unable to prevent further Japanese annexations of Chinese territory, Zhang was temporarily removed from command. In 1935, the army was reassigned to the
Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...
-
Ningxia Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous ...
border area in an attempt to encircle the
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
(CCP)'s base there. Both Zhang and his soldiers resented fighting fellow Chinese while Manchuria was under occupation. They negotiated a covert ceasefire with the CCP and hoped to convince Chiang Kai-shek to endorse a united front against Japan. After Chiang refused, the Northeastern Army kidnapped him and forced him to negotiate with the Communists. Although Chiang eventually agreed to end the civil war and work with the Communists against Japan, Zhang was placed under house arrest and the Northeastern Army was divided and reassigned to other commands.


Terminology

Because of the semi-official nature of armies during the
Warlord Era The Warlord Era was the period in the history of the Republic of China between 1916 and 1928, when control of the country was divided between rival Warlord, military cliques of the Beiyang Army and other regional factions. It began after the de ...
, the Northeastern Army was known by a variety of names at different points its history. Zhang Zuolin's first significant military unit, the 27th Division, was based in Fengtian Province and therefore called the "Fengtian Army" (). As he gained command of more divisions based in other Northeastern provinces, "Fengtian Army" continued to be used to refer just to those forces stationed in Fengtian, but also became a
synecdoche Synecdoche ( ) is a type of metonymy; it is a figure of speech that uses a term for a part of something to refer to the whole (''pars pro toto''), or vice versa (''totum pro parte''). The term is derived . Common English synecdoches include '' ...
for all of Zhang's troops. Even observers at the time noticed that this was imprecise:
As General He Zhuguo pointed out, the “Fengtian Army” (Fengjun) should be named the “Northeast Army” (dongbeijun) because it was centrally controlled by Zhang Zuolin and his staff; it was called the Fengtian Army only because the people were accustomed to call it the Fengtian Army.
Nonetheless, many modern scholars use "Fengtian Army" and "Northeast/Northeastern Army" interchangeably for the period before 1928. After 1928, the army was incorporated into the National Revolutionary Army and rechristened the "Northeastern Border Defense Force" ( zh, t=東北邊防軍, s=东北边防军, p=Dōngběi bian fáng jūn, links=no; see Early Nanjing Decade). From that point on, English sources almost exclusively use some variant of "Northeastern Army".


History


Background

The Northeastern Army had its roots in
bandit Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, e ...
forces organized by
Zhang Zuolin Zhang Zuolin; courtesy name Yuting ( zh, c=雨亭, p=Yǔtíng, labels=no) and nicknamed Zhang Laogang ( zh, c=張老疙瘩, p=Zhāng Lǎo Gēda, labels=no) (March 19, 1875June 4, 1928) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 ...
in
Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
around the turn of the twentieth century. At that time, the poverty of Manchuria encouraged many young men (known as ''
Honghuzi Honghuzi () were armed Chinese robbers and bandits who operated in the areas of the eastern Russia-China borderland during the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Their activities extended over southeastern ...
'' or red-beards) to resort to banditry in order to feed themselves and their families. The declining
Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
lacked the resources to keep the peace and its sovereignty was challenged by
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
and
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
imperialism. Qing soldiers had a reputation for petty tyranny and were often no more popular than bandits. Local authorities would even attempt to co-opt successful bandits: in 1903, Zhang and his few hundred followers were made the official garrison of Xinmin. Nonetheless, they remained more loyal to their commander than to the state, and when the
Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...
temporarily destroyed any semblance of local Qing authority, they fought as mercenaries for both sides.


Foundations of the Fengtian Army

In late October 1911, the Qing Dynasty brought
Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...
out of retirement to command the New Army against the developing
Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC). The revolution was the culmination of a decade ...
. Yuan withdrew the New Army divisions from Manchuria, leaving Zhang Zuolin's border patrol battalion as one of the few military forces in the region. The reformist assembly was threatening to declare independence from the Qing, so
Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...
Zhao Erxun Zhao Erxun (23 May 1844 – 3 September 1927), courtesy name Cishan, art name Wubu, was a Chinese political and military officeholder who lived in the late Qing dynasty. He served in numerous high-ranking positions under the Qing government, i ...
requested that Zhang march into Shenyang to help suppress the assembly. This Zhang did, and he then carried out a bloody purge of nationalists supportive of
Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-senUsually known as Sun Zhongshan () in Chinese; also known by Names of Sun Yat-sen, several other names. (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary, statesman, and political philosopher who founded the Republ ...
's rival government in
Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
. As thanks for his efforts, Yuan reorganized and expanded the border patrol battalions into the 27th division of the
Beiyang Army The Beiyang Army (), named after the Beiyang region, was a Western-style Imperial Chinese Army established by the Qing dynasty in the early 20th century. It was the centerpiece of a general reconstruction of the Qing military system in the wake ...
, with Zhang as its commander. In June, Zhang was promoted to Lieutenant General. He was also named the Vice Minister of Military Affairs, but because his nominal superior had no local power base, Zhang was ''de facto'' head of all troops in Fengtian. Zhang supported Yuan against the failed
Manchu Restoration The Manchu Restoration or Dingsi Restoration (), also known as Zhang Xun Restoration (), or Xuantong Restoration (), was an attempt to restore the Chinese monarchy by General Zhang Xun, whose army seized Beijing and briefly reinstalled the las ...
, and as a reward was able to add the 28th and 29th divisions to his army. By this point, Zhang's small battalion had grown into a force of between 50,000 and 70,000 men. Local elites supportive of Zhang had gradually coalesced into what became known as the "
Fengtian Clique The Fengtian clique () was the faction that supported warlord Zhang Zuolin during Republic of China (1912–1949), China's Warlord Era. It took its name from Fengtian Province, which served as its original base of support. However, the clique quic ...
". After Zhang became governor in 1915, the Fengtian Clique soon exerted control over the entirety of Manchuria.


Early Warlord Era

Yuan Shikai's death left a power vacuum in Beijing. Zhang Zuolin and the Fengtian clique sided with
Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...
Duan Qirui Duan Qirui (, pronounced ) (March 6, 1865 – November 2, 1936) was a Chinese warlord, politician and commander of the Beiyang Army who ruled as the effective dictator of northern China in the late 1910s. He was the Premier of the Republic of C ...
in the first factional struggles for control of the
Beiyang Government The Beiyang government was the internationally recognized government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China between 1912 and 1928, based in Beijing. It was dominated by the generals of the Beiyang Army, giving it its name. B ...
. As way of thanks, Duan let Zhang seize 17 million yen worth of Japanese military supplies intended for a different army. In 1918, Zhang sent a contingent of the Fengtian Army to help the Beiyang Government put down
Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-senUsually known as Sun Zhongshan () in Chinese; also known by Names of Sun Yat-sen, several other names. (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary, statesman, and political philosopher who founded the Republ ...
's
Constitutional Protection Movement The Constitutional Protection Movement () was a series of movements led by Sun Yat-sen to resist the Beiyang government between 1917 and 1922, in which Sun established another government in Guangzhou as a result. It was known as the Fourth Revolut ...
in southern China. They saw some initial success in spring 1918, but by the summer fighting had reached a stalemate. The rest of the Fengtian Army was more successful: it secured control of the Manchurian railways for the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
, which they needed to support their intervention in the
Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
(China had joined
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
on the side of the Allies in 1917). For this, Zhang was promoted to full General in 1919. By 1920, however, Zhang had grown wary of Duan Qirui's growing power. He therefore sided with Duan's rival
Cao Kun General Cao Kun (; courtesy name: Zhongshan () (December 12, 1862 – May 15, 1938) was a Chinese warlord and politician, who served as the President of the Republic of China from 1923 to 1924, as well as the military leader of the Zhili clique ...
in the Zhili-Anhui War of that year. Although the Fengtian Army did not engage in any fighting until after the outcome of the war was already clear, it emerged in a very strong postwar position. It captured high-quality equipment, added a new division and four new brigades, and left a 30,000-man garrison south of the Great Wall in a position where it could exert influence on the government in Beijing. Nonetheless, by 1922 Zhang was once again afraid that the balance of power had begun to tip in the favor of Cao Kun's
Zhili clique The Zhili clique () was a military faction that split from the Republic of China's Beiyang Army during the country's Warlord Era. It was named for Zhili Province (modern-day Hebei), which was the clique's base of power. At its height, it also ...
that now governed Beijing. He launched a war against his former ally to try and shore up his strategic position. In April, the Fengtian Army marched through the
Shanhai Pass The Shanhai Pass () is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coasta ...
with the intention of occupying
Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
. Zhang Jinghui was in overall command with Zuo Fen in charge of the right flank. Sources disagree drastically on the army's size at this time—McCormack places it at 70–80,000, while Tong puts it as high as 120,000. The opposing force under General
Wu Peifu Wu Peifu (also spelled Wu P'ei-fu) (; April 22, 1874 – December 4, 1939) was a Chinese warlord and major figure in the Warlord Era in China from 1916 to 1927. Early career Born in Shandong Province in eastern China, Wu initially rece ...
was roughly equivalent in size or slightly smaller. Sources disagree about which force was better equipped. The armies clashed for control of Hebei's strategic railway lines. The Fengtian Army was defeated when its right flank was turned, either because of bad generalship or possibly because the Fengtian commanders had a secret deal with the Zhili Clique. The Fengtian Army had made heavy use of its artillery and some use of machine guns, but poor training and a lack of experience with modern weapons meant they had little practical effect. The routed army was forced to retreat back to Manchuria. The 1st and 16th divisions were nearly completely destroyed, only one brigade of the 28th survived the retreat. Several of the mixed brigades were scattered as well. Many of Zhang's officers who had been with him since his bandit days were discredited by the defeat.


Military reforms and the Second Zhili-Fengtian War

One of the most important periods in the history of the Fengtian Army was the two years between the First and Second Zhili-Fengtian Wars. Zhang Zuolin and his advisors came away from their defeat with the lesson that the army would need massive reorganization and re-equipment in order to fight the Zhili. Many of his old associates were purged from command for incompetence or suspected disloyalty. Zhang poured millions into purchasing foreign arms and developing domestic manufacture at the Mukden Arsenal (see
Equipment Equipment most commonly refers to a set of tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by ...
). Funding also went towards a small navy and air force. The effectiveness of these reforms was mixed. Overall, the Fengtian Army was significantly better-equipped and led in 1924 than in 1922. However, corrupt and despotic officers such as Zhang Zongchang remained in high positions and tensions had been created between the new officers from staff colleges and the old officers from Zhang Zuolin's bandit days. The decisive confrontation with Wu Peifu came in late 1924. Zhang had managed to secure a triangular alliance with the
Anhui Clique The Anhui clique () was a military and political organization, one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang clique in the Republic of China's Warlord Era. It was named after Anhui province because several of it ...
based in
Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...
and the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
based in
Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
. The Fengtian Army was organized into six route armies totaling 170,000 to 250,000 men, under Zhang's overall command. The Second Army (under
Li Jinglin Li Jinglin, also known as Li Fangchen (1885–1931) was a deputy inspector-general and later army general for the Fengtian clique during the Chinese warlord era. He hailed from Zaoqiang County, Hebei province, China. After his military career ...
) and the Sixth Army ( Xu Langzhou) went north to Chaoyang to head off any potential flanking maneuvers, and they were able to surprise the unprepared Zhili garrison. Their superior rifles and grenades helped them secure control of the strategically important passes in Rehe by the time
Feng Yuxiang Feng Yuxiang (; ; 6 November 1882 – 1 September 1948), courtesy name Huanzhang (焕章), was a Chinese warlord and later general in the National Revolutionary Army. He served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1930. A ...
's Third Zhili Army arrived. Further south the Fengtian Army had less luck at first. The First Army ( Jiang Dengxuan) and the Third Army (
Zhang Xueliang Zhang Xueliang ( zh, t=張學良; June 3, 1901 – October 15, 2001), also commonly known by his nickname "the Young Marshal", was a Chinese general who in 1928 succeeded his father Zhang Zuolin as the commander of the Northeastern Army. He is bes ...
) failed to take
Shanhai Pass The Shanhai Pass () is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coasta ...
before it was occupied by the enemy (they were later joined by the Fourth and Fifth). Direct assaults on the gate led by
Guo Songling Guo Songling () (1883 – 25 December 1925) was a Chinese general who served in the Fengtian Army under Zhang Zuolin during the Chinese Warlord Era. A republican sympathiser who briefly served under Sun Yat-Sen, he was a teacher of and an ...
failed. However, Fengtian forces freed up by the victory at Chaoyang came south and flanked the Zhili position. Further breakthroughs at Jiumenkou led by Jiang Dengxuan and his deputy commander Han Linchun (once again assisted by superior weaponry) forced Zhili to retreat from Shanhai Pass and only Wu Peifu's personal presence finally stabilized the battle lines. Feng Yuxiang marched his forces back to Beijing and on 20 October seized control of the capital with the Beijing Coup. Although not necessarily fatal on its own, it became so after
Yan Xishan Yan Xishan (; 8 October 1883 – 22 July 1960; also romanized as Yen Hsi-shan) was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China from June 1949 to March 1950 as its last premier in mainland China and first premi ...
stopped Zhili reinforcements from taking the railroad lines north through his territory. The Japanese intervened to stop Wu from embarking the reinforcements around the severed line and the Marshal's position quickly collapsed. The unstable political situation kept the Fengtian Army in intermittent action over the next year. A conference held from 11 to 16 November in Tianjin between Zhang, Feng,
Duan Qirui Duan Qirui (, pronounced ) (March 6, 1865 – November 2, 1936) was a Chinese warlord, politician and commander of the Beiyang Army who ruled as the effective dictator of northern China in the late 1910s. He was the Premier of the Republic of C ...
, and Lu Yongxiang confirmed Fengtian control of the northeast and set up a new national government under Duan. Brigade commander Kan Zhaoxi was promoted and put in charge of Rehe and
Li Jinglin Li Jinglin, also known as Li Fangchen (1885–1931) was a deputy inspector-general and later army general for the Fengtian clique during the Chinese warlord era. He hailed from Zaoqiang County, Hebei province, China. After his military career ...
was assigned to
Zhili Province Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and renamed ...
. However, the provinces of central and southern China were outside of Zhang and Feng's direct military control and did not fully submit to their authority, although they were hesitant to openly defy it. From December 1924 to late January 1925, Zhang Zongchang had to lead a detachment including the White Russians of the Fengtian foreign legion to put down the rebellious Qi Xieyuan in
Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...
and Shanghai. The Fengtian Army was victorious, "but their struggles had not clarified the military situation; rather, they had rendered it more complex." It took five more months for the army to complete the Fengtian expansion. In April,
Zhang Zongchang Zhang Zongchang (; also romanized as Chang Tsung-chang; 1881 – 3 September 1932), courtesy name Xiaokun, was a Chinese warlord who ruled Shandong from 1925 to 1928. A member of the Fengtian clique, Zhang was notorious for his brutal and ruthl ...
took over
Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
and in August Yang Yuting received Jiangsu and
Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...
went to Jiang Dengxuan. Although this represented a major extension of Fengtian control, it also marked the beginning of its division into separate forces: Zhang's Shandong Army and Li's Zhili Army were too far from Shenyang to receive direct supervision, and gradually became independent forces.


The Anti-Fengtian War

The lack of a single dominant faction made the resumption of large-scale conflict inevitable. In October, Wu Peifu re-emerged as military governor of
Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...
and was set on returning to national leadership. That same month, independent military governor of Zhejiang,
Sun Chuanfang Sun Chuanfang () (April 17, 1885 – November 13, 1935) was a Chinese warlord in the Zhili clique and protégé of the "Jade Marshal" Wu Peifu. Early life and education Sun Chuanfang was born in Licheng District, Jinan, Licheng, Shandong ...
, invaded Jiangsu and Anhui. He quickly defeated Yang Yuting and Jiang Dengxuan and began to fight with Zhang Zongchang over Shandong. Adding to the Fengtian Army's difficulties, the division of spoils had exacerbated existing tensions in the command. Guo Songling, a leader of the reformist
Baoding Baoding is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately southwest of Beijing. As of the 2020 census, Baoding City had 11,544,036 inhabitants, of which 2,549,787 lived in the metropolitan area made of 4 out of 5 urban distri ...
faction, was frustrated that he had been passed over for promotion. Only one member of his faction, Li Jinglin, had received a military governorship: Zhang and Kan were "old" men and Yang and Jiang, while new men, were members of the Tokyo-educated faction. Guo wanted to replace Zhang Zuolin with Zhang Xueliang, who had been Guo's student at the Military Academy of the Three Eastern Provinces and looked up to Guo as a friend and mentor. Most likely with tacit support from Li Jinglin and Feng Yuxiang, Guo revolted on 22 November. He was in command of 70,000 of the Fengtian Army's best troops and seized the
Shanhai Pass The Shanhai Pass () is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coasta ...
to divide Zhang in Shenyang from the rest of his army. Guo marched north to put Shenyang under siege, imprisoning Jiang Dengxuan and over thirty other Fengtian commanders along the way. Jiang, one of Guo's main rivals for influence, was shot. Feng Yuxiang joined the war on 27 November. However, Zhang Zongchang remained loyal to Zhang Zuolin and Li Jinglin backed away from supporting Guo, fighting the
Guominjun The Guominjun (), also known as the Kuominchun, abbreviated as GMJ and KMC, was a military faction founded by Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue during China's Warlord Era. The KMC had control of much of Northwest China, including Shaanxi ...
and leaving Guo without the forces or supplies he needed to take Shenyang. With the help of the Japanese, Zhang was able to defeat Guo's demoralized forces and retake control of Manchuria by the end of 1925. Besides depriving Zhang of some of his most capable commanders (such as Guo and Jiang), the rebellion showed Zhang how contingent the loyalty of his other officers was on his immediate fortunes. Of particular note were Li Jinglin and Zhang Zongchang, whose distance from Shenyang made them virtually independent. During Guo's rebellion, the Guominjun had managed to drive Li Jinglin out of Zhili Province and Kan Zhaoxi out of Rehe in spite of the Second Army's dogged resistance. Now that Guo had been defeated, Fengtian began to retake territory. They allied themselves with Wu Peifu, who was leading an army allied with the Red Spears. A general offensive forced the Guominjun to retreat from Beijing in March, although with its army intact. In a major show of its logistical sophistication and proficiency with modern tactics, the Fengtian Army employed concentrated heavy artillery to overcome the next line of Guominjun defenses at Nankou. Nonetheless, Feng Yuxiang's army was able to mostly retreat into the rugged terrain of the northwest until the Northern Expedition began to change the military calculus.


The Northern Expedition and death of Zhang Zuolin

While Wu Peifu had been fighting alongside the Fengtian Army against the Guominjun, the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
had taken advantage of the situation to launch the
Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT) against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The purpose of the campaign was to reunify China prop ...
. They targeted Wu first, and with the advice of
Mikhail Borodin Mikhail Markovich Gruzenberg, known by the alias Borodin (9 July 1884 – 29 May 1951), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Communist International (Comintern) agent. He was an advisor to Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang (KMT) in China during the ...
and
Vasily Blyukher Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher (; 1 December 1889 – 9 November 1938) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. In 1938, Blyukher was arrested during the period of military purges under Joseph Stalin. He was tortured an ...
, Nationalist Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek won a series of rapid victories. Surprised by the KMT advance (Zhang was increasingly concerned with what he perceived as the rise of Communist influence in China), the Fengtian clique offered its support to Wu but was refused. Wu feared that the northern warlords would undermine his position if he allowed their troops into his territory. By 2 September, the NRA had nearly surrounded
Wuchang Wuchang is one of 13 urban District (China), districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the right (southea ...
. Whilst Wu and most of his army fled north to Henan province, his remaining troops in the walled city held out for over a month. His failure in the face of the NRA, however, left his hold on power and reputation broken. What remained of his army would disintegrate in the following months. In November, Zhang called a conference of the remaining conservative warlords—
Yan Xishan Yan Xishan (; 8 October 1883 – 22 July 1960; also romanized as Yen Hsi-shan) was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China from June 1949 to March 1950 as its last premier in mainland China and first premi ...
,
Sun Chuanfang Sun Chuanfang () (April 17, 1885 – November 13, 1935) was a Chinese warlord in the Zhili clique and protégé of the "Jade Marshal" Wu Peifu. Early life and education Sun Chuanfang was born in Licheng District, Jinan, Licheng, Shandong ...
,
Zhang Zongchang Zhang Zongchang (; also romanized as Chang Tsung-chang; 1881 – 3 September 1932), courtesy name Xiaokun, was a Chinese warlord who ruled Shandong from 1925 to 1928. A member of the Fengtian clique, Zhang was notorious for his brutal and ruthl ...
, and Chu Yupu—to declare the establishment of a unified National Pacification Army (NPA), of which he became the commander-in-chief. Sun and Zhang Zhongchang were appointed deputy commanders of the new force, and its headquarters was established in the
Pukou Pukou District (), is one of 11 districts of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, China, lying northwest across the Yangtze River from downtown Nanjing. The district was formerly the southern terminus of the Tianjin-Pukou Railway; railcars ...
Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...
area. In total the NPA counted 500,000 men, 100,000 of which was the Fengtian Army (excluding those portions based in Zhili and Shandong provinces, which by this point were functionally separate commands). In early 1927, the forces of the NPA engaged the
National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; zh, labels=no, t=國民革命軍) served as the military arm of the Kuomintang, Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) from 1924 until 1947. From 1928, it functioned as the regular army, de facto ...
(NRA) in Henan and Jiangsu. Despite some victories in the field, the NPA faced a continuing series of major setbacks. The Japanese had supported Zhang at several key points in the past in order to gain his acquiescence to their economic ambitions in Manchuria, but Zhang's growing power threatened to free him from any reliance on their aid. Japanese diplomats had concluded that allowing the KMT to win and forcing Zhang back to Manchuria was preferable to letting Zhang unite China under his personal control. In May 1927, Japanese Colonel Doihara Kenji asked Yan Xishan to establish peace between the NRA and the NPA and "take over northern China". Confident of Japanese support, Yan defected to the KMT. This had the short term effect of forcing the NPA to abandon Henan to the NRA. The British, while less than optimistic about the KMT, were forced by the economic pressure of the Canton–Hong Kong strike to make an effort to appease them. In addition to other concessions, they turned a cold shoulder to Zhang's requests for financial aid. Things began to look up for Zhang after Chiang's purge of the Communists, and Nanjing began to enter into negotiations with Nanjing to split China. The Fengtian Army inflicted 100,000 casualties on an ill-planned offensive by the Wuhan government's troops in May. However, negotiations ultimately went nowhere and the Fengtian Army was unable to eradicate the Guominjun during the respite they had been granted. In August, Sun Chuanfang launched an offensive into Jiangsu that seized
Xuzhou Xuzhou ( zh, s=徐州), also known as Pengcheng () in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China. The city, with a recorded population of 9,083,790 at the 2020 Chinese census, 2020 census (3,135,660 of which lived in ...
and briefly put the NRA on the defensive, but by the end of the month he was in retreat and lost 50,000 men in September. Likewise, the Fengtian Army had some initial success against Yan Xishan, but by October, Yan had begun his own offensive along the Beijing-Suiyuan Railroad. A major offensive by the reunited NRA began in November, rolling back what remained of Sun's gains and driving all the way to Shandong. Despite Fengtian reinforcements in the form of air support and 60,000 soldiers, the united forces of Sun and Zhang Zongchang were unable to halt the Kuomintang advance. Sun's Long-Hai railroad front subsequently disintegrated and the NPA were forced to retreat to Shandong and dig in. The severely weakened National Pacification Army continued to be pushed back throughout 1928. A coalition of Chiang, Feng, Yan, and
Li Zongren Li Zongren ( zh, c=李宗仁, p=Lǐ Zōngrén; 13 August 1890 – 30 January 1969), also known as Li Tsung-jen, courtesy name Delin (Te-lin; zh, p=Délín), was a Chinese warlord, military commander and politician. He was vice-president an ...
surrounded it to the south, and Yan's forces flanked it to the west. The NPA had planned to retake Henan, but they were in no position to do so. In mid-April, Yan launched an offensive against the Fengtian Army and drove them out of
Shuozhou Shuozhou is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi province, China, bordering Inner Mongolia to the northwest. It is situated along the upper reaches of the Fen River. The prefecture as a whole has an area of about and, 2010 PRC Census, ...
. Nearly one million soldiers participated in the battle along the railway connecting Shanxi with Beijing. In order to immobilize the railways and artillery on trains, Yan and Feng launched a joint siege of
Shijiazhuang Shijiazhuang; Mandarin: ; formerly known as Shimen and romanized as Shihkiachwang is the capital and most populous city of China's Hebei Province. A prefecture-level city southwest of Beijing, it administers eight districts, three county-le ...
, a major railway hub, which fell on 9 May. Yan took
Zhangjiakou Zhangjiakou (), also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in Northern China, bordering Beijing to the southeast, Inner Mongolia to the north and west, and Shanxi to the southwest ...
on 25 May. Feng's forces were moving up the Beijing–Hankou railway, forcing the NPA to split their defense. In April, the Shandong front collapsed as Zhang Zongchang was fully defeated. As NRA forces reached Beijing, Zhang directed 200,000 men to hold the southern front. Although this succeeded in pushing Feng back to
Dingzhou Dingzhou, or Tingchow in Postal Map Romanization, and formerly called Ding County or Dingxian, is a county-level city in the prefecture-level city of Baoding, Hebei, Hebei Province. As of 2020, Dingzhou had a population of 1.1 million. Dingzhou ...
, the Guominjun was victorious on the eastern front and immediately moved to sever NPA communications. The Japanese, anxious for Zhang to preserve what was left of his forces so that the NRA would not be able to invade Manchuria unopposed, threatened that they would block Zhang Zuolin from retreating if he allowed himself to be defeated in an engagement. As a result, Zhang decided on 3 June to retreat beyond the passes. As he was returning to Manchuria on 4 June 1928, his train was blown up by officers of the Kwantung Army.


Early Nanjing Decade

Zhang Xueliang succeeded his father as leader of the Fengtian Clique. On 1 July 1928, he announced an armistice with the Nationalists and proclaimed that he would not interfere with reunification. This was the opposite of what the Japanese had expected and they demanded that Zhang proclaim Manchurian independence. He refused, and on 3 July, Chiang Kai-shek arrived in
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
to negotiate a peaceful settlement. On 29 December, Zhang Xueliang announced the replacement of all flags in Manchuria with the flag of Nationalist China, symbolically marking the reunification of the Republic and ending the Northern Expedition. But although the NPA was formally dissolved and the erstwhile Fengtian Army was renamed the "Northeastern Border Defense Army", it retained its internal structure and autonomy. Zhang, like the other warlords who had declared their allegiance to Chiang, was ''de facto'' independent of the central government. The decision to join with the KMT left important Fengtian commanders dissatisfied. Yang Yuting, who had been put in charge of military strategy in July, reluctantly went along but felt that Fengtian–KMT unity would not last. He advised Zhang Xueliang to hold the line east of
Shanhai Pass The Shanhai Pass () is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coasta ...
and
Rehe Province Rehe, previously romanized as Jehol, was a former Chinese special administrative region and province centered on the city of Rehe, now known as Chengde. Administration Rehe was north of the Great Wall and east of Mongolia in southwestern M ...
, as well as asking for him to take control of the remnants of Sun Chuanfang's and Zhang Zongchang's armies, each consisting of over 50,000 men, who were now situated between
Tangshan Tangshan ( zh, c=唐山 , p=Tángshān) is a coastal, industrial prefecture-level city in the northeast of Hebei province. It is located in the eastern part of Hebei Province and the northeastern part of the North China Plain. It is located in t ...
and Shanhai Pass. Yang wanted to capitalize on KMT disagreements and infighting in order to prepare for a comeback of the NPA. But Zhang did not want to pursue this course of action, and he began to suspect Yang of plotting a coup with the Japanese. In January 1929, Zhang ordered Yang's execution, along with that of one of Yang's associates,
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...
governor Chang Yinhuai. This ended the influence of Japanese-educated clique of officers and helped Zhang consolidate his control. Nonetheless, the Northeastern Army was not in a strong position in 1929. The financial burden of supporting the army and its many wars had had a crushing impact on the Manchurian economy, especially during Zhang Zuolin's final years. Zhang Xueliang was forced to cut down on the army's size and funding to the Mukden Arsenal. Meanwhile, petty warlords began to assert their control over parts of Manchuria and Zhang came under intense pressure from Soviet and Japanese imperialism. He allowed himself to be convinced by Chiang Kai-shek to seize sole control of the
Chinese Eastern Railway The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, , or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in Northeast China (also known as Manchuria). The Russian Empire constructed the line from 1897 ...
(CER) by force, which for the last few years had been under joint Soviet and Chinese management. This led to the Sino-Soviet Conflict throughout the second half of 1929. The Northeastern Army was outmaneuvered and outfought by the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
. Chinese soldiers alienated the local population by killing civilians and forcefully requisitioning supplies. Several thousand were killed or captured and Zhang had to accept a return to the ''
status quo ante bellum The term is a Latin phrase meaning 'the situation as it existed before the war'. The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdrawal of enemy troops and the restoration of prewar leadership. When used as such, it means that no ...
''. In 1929, the
Central Plains War The Central Plains War () was a series of military campaigns in 1929 and 1930 that constituted a Chinese civil war between the Nationalist Kuomintang government in Nanjing led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and several regional military command ...
began between the Nanjing government and a coalition of northern warlords resisting demilitarization. Zhang Xueliang was courted by both sides because the Northeastern Army was strong enough to swing the balance of power in either direction. He eventually sided with the Nationalists in return for a 10 million ''yuan'' bribe and the promise that he'd be able to administer all of China north of the Yellow River. In mid-September, he marched 100,000 Northeastern soldiers to occupy the Beijing-Tianjin area, taking control of the local railroads and customs revenue. Although this won the war for the Nationalists, it left North China outside central administrative control. Chiang tacitly accepted warlord autonomy in return for their official subservience to Nanjing. Zhang began to play host to political dissents in Hubei, including Communist sympathizers.


Japanese invasion of Manchuria

Chinese unification threatened Japanese economic and military interests in Manchuria, and forced the question of whether to intervene in China to a head. Radical junior officers of the
Kwantung Army The Kwantung Army (Japanese language, Japanese: 関東軍, ''Kantō-gun'') was a Armies of the Imperial Japanese Army, general army of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1919 to 1945. The Kwantung Army was formed in 1906 as a security force for th ...
, led by Kanji Ishiwara and
Seishirō Itagaki was a Japanese military officer and politician who served as a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and War Minister from 1938 to 1939. He was a disciple of Kanji Ishiwara and his ideas were strongly influenced by his apo ...
, planned and executed the Mukden Incident on September 18, 1931, to give the Japanese an excuse to invade. On the night following the incident, the Kwantung Army crossed the border and captured the Mukden Arsenal and Beidaying Barracks in Shenyang. The Northeastern Army heavily outnumbered the Japanese on paper but decided to withdraw for several reasons. For one, almost half of the army (over 100,000 soldiers) was south of the Great Wall helping suppress a rebellion by Shi Yousan that had flared up in the aftermath of the Central Plains War. Zhang Xueliang was away in Beijing receiving treatment for his opium addiction. The Kwantung Army had superior training and weaponry, and the advisors they had embedded in the Northeastern Army gave them copious intelligence on Chinese movements. Most importantly, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Zhang to localize the incident and allow time for negotiations rather than resist. The offer to negotiate was initially accepted by Japanese Foreign Minister
Kijūrō Shidehara Baron was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1945 to 1946. He was a leading proponent of pacifism in Japan before and after World War II. Born to a wealthy Osaka family, Shidehara studied law at Tok ...
, but plans collapsed when the Kwantung Army kept advancing. Within a few days, it had occupied cities along the length of the South Manchuria Railway and coerced or bribed the governors of Fengtian and Jilin Provinces to declare independence. The Japanese then declared the formation of the
puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its ord ...
of
Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...
out of the Three Eastern Provinces. The Northeastern Army mostly withdrew south of the Great Wall, but cavalry commander Ma Zhanshan led a doomed but highly publicized resistance campaign in Heilongjiang until early 1932. Ma briefly defected to Manchukuo and got himself appointed Minister of War before stealing a truck convoy of supplies and joining the resistance against the Japanese. The Northeastern Army subsequently took up positions in
Rehe Province Rehe, previously romanized as Jehol, was a former Chinese special administrative region and province centered on the city of Rehe, now known as Chengde. Administration Rehe was north of the Great Wall and east of Mongolia in southwestern M ...
. Although the Kwantung Army paused their advance to consolidate in Manchuria, tensions ran high between the Northeastern Army and the Japanese garrisons stationed in north China as part of the
Boxer Protocol The Boxer Protocol was a Protocol (diplomacy), diplomatic protocol signed in China's capital Beijing on September 7, 1901, between the Qing dynasty, Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance that had provided military forces (including ...
. Fighting between the Japanese
Shanhai Pass The Shanhai Pass () is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coasta ...
garrison and He Zhuguo's Ninth Brigade broke out several times in late 1932. On 1 January 1933, The Japanese launched a full-scale assault and took the pass. Over the next two months Zhang Xueliang and the central government scrambled to organize an effective defense of the rest of Rehe. The province was under General Tang Yulin, nominally Zhang's subordinate but independent enough that he could not easily be replaced. Tang was known as both corrupt and militarily incompetent, and had to be bribed by T. V. Soong before agreeing to fight. 70,000 additional Northeastern Army troops and volunteers battalions were transferred to Rehe to bring the total force there to 100,000. According to historian Parks Coble, however, the efforts of Zhang and the central government were "largely a veneer". The central government provided insufficient funds and no additional troops, and the troops provided by Zhang were his least reliable units. When the Japanese invaded with 30,000 troops on 27 February, Tang Yulin and the other Northeastern commanders, Zhu Chinglan and Wan Fulin, fled rather than fighting. Only Sun Dianying, an old
Guominjun The Guominjun (), also known as the Kuominchun, abbreviated as GMJ and KMC, was a military faction founded by Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue during China's Warlord Era. The KMC had control of much of Northwest China, including Shaanxi ...
commander, attempted a vigorous resistance. Zhang Xueliang resigned on March 10 under intense pressure from the public, and the Northeastern Army was divided up and reorganized into the standard structure used by the NRA. At the top level, it was divided into four new armies: the Fifty-First Army under Yu Xuezhong, the Fifty-Third under Wan Fulin, the Fifty-Seventh under He Zhuguo, and the Sixty-Seventh under Wang Shuchang. Although the number of troops they contained did not actually change, brigades were renamed as divisions to fit the NRA pattern (100 was added to their brigade number, e.g. the 17th Brigade became the 117th Division). Zhang himself left on a tour of
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
. Japanese aggression continued after the fall of Rehe. Northeastern Army soldiers under He Zhuguo and Weng Zhaoyuan faced offensives in April and May that pushed them back from the Luan River. Hostilities only concluded with the Tanggu Truce, signed on 31 May. In the second half of 1933, the majority of the Northeastern Army was transferred to
Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...
and took up headquarters at
Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...
. The 30,000 troops of the Fifty-First Army remained in Hebei until the Japanese demanded their withdrawal.


Xi'an Incident and dissolution

In October 1935, the
Chinese Communists The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil W ...
(CCP) arrived in
Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...
and
Ningxia Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous ...
following the
Long March The Long March ( zh, s=长征, p=Chángzhēng, l=Long Expedition) was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and ...
. The Northeastern Army was tasked with finishing off the Communists with the help of the forces of local Warlord
Yang Hucheng Yang Hucheng () (26 November 1893 – 6 September 1949) was a Chinese general during the Warlord Era of Republican China and Kuomintang (KMT) general during the Chinese Civil War. Warlord years Yang Hucheng joined the Xinhai Revolution in ...
, forming the Northwest Bandit Suppression Force. Promised an easy victory, the Bandit Suppression Force was surprised and dismayed when the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
defeated it in two engagements in September and October. The men, already frustrated by this diversion from fighting Japan, began to lose their will to fight when POWs returned with stories of good treatment and the message that the Communists wanted to form an alliance against the Japanese. With the help of Communist-sympathetic officers, they pressed Zhang and Yang to negotiate a truce. The generals were open to the idea and invited official CCP representatives to begin negotiations in late 1935. The Red Army followed up on their promise to fight the Japanese by launching the "eastern expedition" from February to April 1936. They announced that a detachment was marching through
Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...
to fight the Japanese in Rehe and Hubei. Letting the Red Army through would have broken the encirclement, so
Yan Xishan Yan Xishan (; 8 October 1883 – 22 July 1960; also romanized as Yen Hsi-shan) was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China from June 1949 to March 1950 as its last premier in mainland China and first premi ...
stopped them by force. Although defeated militarily, the Red Army convinced the Shanxi peasantry of their patriotism and gained 8,000 new recruits on their retreat. Zhang Xueliang was likewise impressed. When Mao announced on 14 March that the Communists were willing to conclude a formal truce, Zhang secretly agreed. By June 1936, the secret agreement between Zhang and the CCP had been successfully settled. He also proposed to Chiang Kai-shek that he reverse policy of "first internal pacification, then external resistance", and focus on military preparation against Japan. When Chiang refused, Zhang began to plot a coup in "great secrecy". In November 1936, Zhang asked Chiang to come to Xi'an to raise the morale of troops unwilling to fight the Communists. When he arrived, Northeastern soldiers overwhelmed his bodyguard and placed him under house arrest. A faction of the army led by Yang Hucheng and the radical young officers of the "Anti-Japanese Comrade Society" wanted to execute Chiang, but Zhang and the Communists insisted that he be kept alive and convinced to change his policy towards Japan and the Communists. They argued that an alliance with Chiang was their best chance to combat the Japanese, while killing him would only provoke retaliation from the Nanjing Government. The Northeastern Army attempted to broadcast 8 demands to the Chinese public explaining why they arrested Chiang and the conditions for his release, but Nationalist censorship prevented their publication outside the Communist-held areas. Nonetheless, Chiang eventually agreed to negotiate with CCP diplomats
Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...
and Lin Boqu. By late December Chiang had given a verbal promise that he would end the civil war and resist Japanese aggression. Chiang was released on 26 December and returned to Nanjing with Zhang Xueliang. Although he announced a cease fire in the civil war, he repudiated any promises that he had made in Xi'an. Zhang was imprisoned and charged with treason. Chiang then sent 37 army divisions north to surround the Northeastern Army and force them to stand down. The army was deeply divided on the appropriate response. Yang Hucheng and the Anti-Japanese Comrade Society wanted to stand and fight if the KMT army attacked, and refuse to negotiate until Zhang was released. The Communist representatives strongly disagreed and cautioned that civil war would, in the words of Zhou Enlai, "make China into another Spain". Negotiations between the CCP and Nanjing continued. However, when a conference of Northeastern officers in January 1937 overwhelmingly resolved not to surrender peacefully, the CCP reluctantly decided that they could not abandon their allies and pledged to fight alongside them if the KMT attacked. The situation was again reversed when the five most senior Northeastern generals met separately and decided to surrender. The radical officers were enraged and assassinated one of the generals on 2 February, but this only turned the majority of the soldiers against the plan to stand and fight. The Northeastern Army peacefully surrendered to advancing KMT forces and was divided into new units, which were sent to Hebei, Hunan, and Anhui. Yang Hucheng, however, was arrested and eventually executed, while the leaders of the Anti-Japanese Comrade Society defected to the Red Army. Zhang was kept under house arrest for over 50 years before emigrating to Hawaii in 1993. Chiang did eventually keep his promise to the CCP. After six months of continued negotiations, he signed a formal agreement creating the
Second United Front The Second United Front ( zh, t=第二次國共合作 , s=第二次国共合作 , first=t , l=Second Nationalist-Communist Cooperation, p=dì èr cì guógòng hézuò ) was the alliance between the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Co ...
, a military alliance of the Communists and Nationalists against Japan.


Structure

Originally, the Fengtian Army was composed solely of the 27th division. In 1917, the army expanded to include the 28th division (whose commander had been dismissed for supporting the
Manchu Restoration The Manchu Restoration or Dingsi Restoration (), also known as Zhang Xun Restoration (), or Xuantong Restoration (), was an attempt to restore the Chinese monarchy by General Zhang Xun, whose army seized Beijing and briefly reinstalled the las ...
) and the newly created 29th division. In theory, these units remained part of the national
Beiyang Army The Beiyang Army (), named after the Beiyang region, was a Western-style Imperial Chinese Army established by the Qing dynasty in the early 20th century. It was the centerpiece of a general reconstruction of the Qing military system in the wake ...
, but in reality they answered to
Zhang Zuolin Zhang Zuolin; courtesy name Yuting ( zh, c=雨亭, p=Yǔtíng, labels=no) and nicknamed Zhang Laogang ( zh, c=張老疙瘩, p=Zhāng Lǎo Gēda, labels=no) (March 19, 1875June 4, 1928) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 ...
alone. After the army reorganization program undertaken following the First Zhili-Fengtian War, the basic unit became the brigade. Although not strictly observed in practice, brigades were in theory divided into three regiments, each regiment into three battalions, and each battalion into three companies of 150 men each. The total manpower of a standard brigade was therefore around 4,000 men. Brigades were not necessarily subdivisions of divisions. Some were, but most operated as independent mixed brigades in the style of the Japanese Army.


Command

In 1923, the senior staff of the Fengtian Army included commander-in-chief Zhang Zuolin, deputy commanders Sun Liechen and
Wu Junsheng Wu Junsheng (; or Wu Tsi-cheng; 11 October 1863 – 4 June 1928) was a Chinese general and commander-in-chief of the cavalry in the Fengtian Army. Wu Junsheng was born to a peasant family in Changtu, Fengtian province (today Liaoning), on Novemb ...
, and Yang Yuting as
chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...
. The senior staff in 1929 included commander-in-chief Zhang Xueliang, vice-commander (in Jilin) Zhang Zuoxiang, vice-commander (in Heilongjiang) Wan Fulin, and commander of the Harbin special district Zhang Jinghui. Other notable commanders included: *
Zhang Zongchang Zhang Zongchang (; also romanized as Chang Tsung-chang; 1881 – 3 September 1932), courtesy name Xiaokun, was a Chinese warlord who ruled Shandong from 1925 to 1928. A member of the Fengtian clique, Zhang was notorious for his brutal and ruthl ...
– would become commander of the Shandong Army, his reputation for corruption and cruelty led
Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...
to dub him "China's basest warlord." *
Wu Junsheng Wu Junsheng (; or Wu Tsi-cheng; 11 October 1863 – 4 June 1928) was a Chinese general and commander-in-chief of the cavalry in the Fengtian Army. Wu Junsheng was born to a peasant family in Changtu, Fengtian province (today Liaoning), on Novemb ...
– Commander of the cavalry and military governor of Heilongjiang until his death alongside Zhang Zuolin in the Huanggutun incident. *
Guo Songling Guo Songling () (1883 – 25 December 1925) was a Chinese general who served in the Fengtian Army under Zhang Zuolin during the Chinese Warlord Era. A republican sympathiser who briefly served under Sun Yat-Sen, he was a teacher of and an ...
– Artillery officer, teacher at the military college, and mentor of Zhang Xueliang. Would later rebel against Zhang Zuolin. *
Li Jinglin Li Jinglin, also known as Li Fangchen (1885–1931) was a deputy inspector-general and later army general for the Fengtian clique during the Chinese warlord era. He hailed from Zaoqiang County, Hebei province, China. After his military career ...
– Commander of the Fengtian clique's Zhili Army and governor of
Zhili Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and renamed ...
province 1924–25. * Chu Yupu – Succeeded Li and Governor of Zhili and commander of the Zhili Army. * Konstantin Petrovich Nechaev – ''De facto'' commander of all White Russian mercenaries who served in the Fengtian armies; official commander of the 65th Infantry Division


Naval and Air Forces

Although mainly a land-based force, the Northeastern Army also had a small navy and air force. The navy had its origins in the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, when China received two captured German gunboats from the allies to help patrol Manchuria's rivers. Under the command of Captain Yin Shuo, these ships would go on to form the core of the
Songhua River The Songhua or Sunghwa River (also Haixi or Xingal, ''Sungari'') is one of the primary rivers of China, and the longest tributary of the Amur. It flows about from Changbai Mountains on the China–North Korea border through China's northe ...
Flotilla. In 1923, the Flotilla became part of the Northeast Sea Defense Squadron under Vice Admiral Shen Honglie. After the Fengtian victory in the Second Zhili-Fengtian War, Shen was transferred to Shandong under Zhang Zongchang's command. He had returned to Manchuria by 1929 and commanded four gunboats and seven supporting craft. The air force was heavily invested in but remained small and never played a decisive role in the Northeastern Army's engagements. The planes, purchased from the French, numbered no more than 100, and even if this estimate is accurate, most were unfit to fly and a shortage of trained pilots kept others grounded.


Personnel

When
Zhang Zuolin Zhang Zuolin; courtesy name Yuting ( zh, c=雨亭, p=Yǔtíng, labels=no) and nicknamed Zhang Laogang ( zh, c=張老疙瘩, p=Zhāng Lǎo Gēda, labels=no) (March 19, 1875June 4, 1928) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 ...
was appointed commander of the forward and center route armies of Manchuria in 1911, he brought with him the irregulars he already had under his command. His closest associates became senior officers of the combined force, including Zhang Jinghui, Zhang Zuoxiang, Tang Yulin, and Zuo Fen. Fengtian soldiers were mostly ethnically Chinese and overwhelmingly from Fengtian province, because this was where the 27th division did its recruiting according to the territorial system of recruitment laid out under the Qing. This recruitment system was preserved by Zhang in his early years because of its benefits to unit cohesion. As additional divisions based in other Manchurian provinces were absorbed, the geographical makeup of the army became consequently more diverse. When Li Jinglin and Zhang Zongchang's divisions were relocated to
Zhili Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and renamed ...
and
Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
respectively after the Second Zhili-Fengtian War, they began recruiting from the local populations and soon locals made up a majority in both armies. The monthly salary remained the same as it had been under the Qing—in 1922, that was 4.2 ''yuan'' for a second-class private. At its height, circa 1926, the Fengtian Army consisted of somewhere between 170,000 and 250,000 men. The Fengtian Army included a number of foreigners in its ranks as soldiers, officers, and advisors. The most important were the Japanese advisors, who not only provided Zhang with military expertise but—because they retained their positions as officers in the
Kwantung Army The Kwantung Army (Japanese language, Japanese: 関東軍, ''Kantō-gun'') was a Armies of the Imperial Japanese Army, general army of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1919 to 1945. The Kwantung Army was formed in 1906 as a security force for th ...
—also served as intermediaries with the Japanese commanders. The presence of Japanese advisors in Chinese armies predated the establishment of the Fengtian army, and Zhang inherited several from previous Manchurian generals. Several dozen were in service at any one time, some of the most important being Takema Machino, Takeo Kikuchi, and Shigeru Honjō. The largest contingent of foreign soldiers were White Russians who had fled to Manchuria following their defeat in the
Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
. Mercenary service was attractive for White émigrés due to the fact that many of them had problems finding stable employment, and the warlords at least offered a regular income. Led by Konstantin Petrovich Nechaev, the Russians earned a reputation as an extremely capable fighting force, but were also feared due to their high indiscipline and extreme brutality against civilians and prisoners of war. In 1926, the number of Russians reached its peak at about 5,270 men, mostly serving in Nechaev's 65th Infantry Division under Zhang Zongchang. However, they suffered heavy casualties in the 1926–1927 fighting against
Sun Chuanfang Sun Chuanfang () (April 17, 1885 – November 13, 1935) was a Chinese warlord in the Zhili clique and protégé of the "Jade Marshal" Wu Peifu. Early life and education Sun Chuanfang was born in Licheng District, Jinan, Licheng, Shandong ...
, and
Zhang Xueliang Zhang Xueliang ( zh, t=張學良; June 3, 1901 – October 15, 2001), also commonly known by his nickname "the Young Marshal", was a Chinese general who in 1928 succeeded his father Zhang Zuolin as the commander of the Northeastern Army. He is bes ...
demobilized the remaining White Russian units after they sided with Zhang Zongchang's revolt. As mentioned, the original officer core consisted of Zhang's former bandit comrades who were personally loyal to him. But in 1919, the Beiyang government's War Department sponsored the creation of the Military Academy of the Three Eastern Provinces, which Zhang enthusiastically supported. Graduates of the
Baoding Military Academy Baoding Military Academy or Paoting Military Academy () was a military academy based in Baoding, during the late Qing dynasty and early Republic of China, in the first two decades of the 20th century. For a time, it was the most important military ...
, including artillery officer
Guo Songling Guo Songling () (1883 – 25 December 1925) was a Chinese general who served in the Fengtian Army under Zhang Zuolin during the Chinese Warlord Era. A republican sympathiser who briefly served under Sun Yat-Sen, he was a teacher of and an ...
, were recruited to the faculty. This academy trained 7,971 officers from 1919 to 1930, forming the backbone of the Fengtian's lower- and mid-level officers. Zhang also sent many of his ex-bandit officers, who rarely had formal military training, to study at the academy. In most cases, though, this seemed to have little effect on their accustomed ways of thinking. After the Fengtian Army's defeat in the First Zhili-Fengtian War, it was clear to Zhang and his advisors that the incompetence of these so-called "old men" had been a major contributing factor. Several were removed from command and replaced with "new men", officers who had begun their careers with formal military training. The new men could be broadly separated into two factions. The first, centered around figures who had been educated domestically, either at Baoding Military Academy (Guo Songling,
Li Jinglin Li Jinglin, also known as Li Fangchen (1885–1931) was a deputy inspector-general and later army general for the Fengtian clique during the Chinese warlord era. He hailed from Zaoqiang County, Hebei province, China. After his military career ...
) or the Military Academy of the Three Eastern Provinces (Zhang Xueliang). The second faction had been educated in Japan at the
Imperial Japanese Army Academy The was the principal officer's training school for the Imperial Japanese Army. The programme consisted of a junior course for graduates of local army cadet schools and for those who had completed four years of middle school, and a senior course f ...
. They included Han Linchun, Yang Yuting, and Jiang Dengxuan. Relations between officers of these three factions—the old men and the two groups of new men—were often bitter to the point of threatening to break up the army. The Japanese-educated clique wanted to intervene in Chinese politics more directly and actively, while the Chinese-educated clique opposed many military ventures.Nishimura Nario, “Nihon seifu no chūka minkoku ninshiki to Chō Gakuryō seiken,” Yamamoto Yūzō, Manshūkoku no kenkyū (1995), 12–20. The old men, on the other hand, often showed little interest in military affairs other than as a means of personal profit (such as in the case of Kan Zhaoxi). Factional rivalries were an important cause of the 1925 rebellion led by Guo Songling, which nearly overthrew Zhang Zuolin. Zhang's ultimate triumph dealt a fatal blow to Guo's Chinese-educated faction, and the final years of Zhang's regime were marked by a return to valuing loyalty above professional skill.


Equipment

During the
Warlord Era The Warlord Era was the period in the history of the Republic of China between 1916 and 1928, when control of the country was divided between rival Warlord, military cliques of the Beiyang Army and other regional factions. It began after the de ...
, modern weaponry was expensive and often difficult to acquire. When created, the Fengtian Army was composed of former bandits armed with what was available. The
Hanyang 88 The Type 88, sometimes known as "Hanyang 88" or Hanyang Type 88 () and Hanyang Zao (Which means ''Made in Hanyang''), is a Chinese-made bolt-action rifle, based on the German Gewehr 88. It was adopted by the Qing Dynasty towards the end of the 1 ...
, designed based on the German
Gewehr 1888 The Gewehr 88 (commonly called the Model 1888 commission rifle) was a late 19th-century German bolt-action rifle, adopted in 1888. The invention of smokeless powder in the late 19th century immediately rendered all of the large-bore black powder ...
, had been the standard infantry rifle under the Qing and was therefore widely available. A smaller quantity of the Type 1 rifle (a Chinese copy of the Mauser Model 1907) were produced towards the end of the Qing and during the early Republican period and may have been used as well. Given Manchuria's location between Russia and Japanese-occupied Korea, other common rifles included the Russian
Mosin–Nagant The Mosin–Nagant is a five-shot, Bolt action, bolt-action, Magazine (firearms), internal magazine–fed military rifle. Known officially as the 3-line rifle M1891, in Russia and the former Soviet Union as Mosin's rifle (, ISO 9: ) and inform ...
model 1891, various models of the Japanese Murata, and the Japanese Arisakas of 1897 and 1905. Overall, the quality of these weapons were low. The China Yearbook estimated that even in 1924, 80 percent of Chinese rifles generally were "antiquated, badly kept, or in poor condition". A major difficulty for the Fengtian Army was that, at the start of the Warlord Era in 1916, none of the eight Chinese armories capable of producing new armaments were located in Manchuria. Before 1922, the Mukden "Arsenal" was capable of producing only small amounts of ammunition. New supplies came in piecemeal: Zhang received a shipment of arms from
Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...
in 1911, and by agreement with Duan Qirui, seized 17 million yen worth of Japanese military supplies in 1917. To this was added a large amount of Japanese-funded equipment, including cars and airplanes, that was captured from the defeated Anhui Clique in 1920. The cars were particularly valuable: by 1926 there were still only 8,000 motor vehicles in all of China. French
Renault FT The Renault FT (frequently referred to in post-World War I literature as the FT-17, FT17, or similar) is a French light tank that was among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first production tank to h ...
tanks deployed to
Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...
during the
Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions that began in 1918. The initial impetus behind the interventions was to secure munitions and supply depots from falling into the German ...
were given to the Fengtian Army in 1919. Yet after 1919, even these irregular windfalls became less frequent, thanks to an arms embargo on China agreed to by most of the major world powers. The Fengtian Army's defeat in the First Zhili-Fengtian War spurred Zhang Zuolin to launch a campaign of modernization. He poured over 17 million ''yuan'' into expanding and improving the Mukden Arsenal, which was overseen by a series of talented superintendents: Tao Zhiping in 1922, Han Linchun in 1923, and Yang Yuting beginning in 1924. By 1924, the budget of the Mukden Arsenal was 2 million ''yuan'' per month; an enormous investment compared with the Hanyang Arsenal's ''annual'' 1916 operating budget of just over a million ''yuan'' (before the Warlord Era, the Hanyang Arsenal was the largest in China). The arsenal employed a workforce of 20–30,000 that included thousands of foreign specialists brought in from across the globe. The main rifle in production was the
Mukden Arsenal Mauser The Mukden Arsenal Mauser, also known as the Model 13 Mauser and Liao Type 13, was a rifle that implemented characteristics of both the Mauser Type 4 and Arisaka rifles. They were mostly built in the Mukden arsenal in Manchukuo. History Origin T ...
, a copy of the Arisaka tweaked by Han Linchun. An English arms manufacturer, Francis Sutton, was paid to build a state-of-the-art trench mortar works nearby ( Liaoning Trench Mortar Arsenal), and he helped Zhang set up a smuggling operation through
Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
. Fengtian was also China's single largest arms importer. It purchased weapons from
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, and especially
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. Important imports included the
Type 3 heavy machine gun , also known as the Taishō 14 machine gun, was a Japanese air-cooled heavy machine gun. The Type 3 heavy machine gun was in a long-line of Japanese Hotchkiss machine gun variants that the Imperial Japanese Army would utilize from 1901 to 1945. H ...
from Japan and 14 more Renaults from France. The Fengtian Army also made effective use of other modern weaponry, such as mines, barbed-wire, armored trains, and tanks. Starting in 1925, a chemical weapons plant was built in Mukden and
Zhang Zuolin Zhang Zuolin; courtesy name Yuting ( zh, c=雨亭, p=Yǔtíng, labels=no) and nicknamed Zhang Laogang ( zh, c=張老疙瘩, p=Zhāng Lǎo Gēda, labels=no) (March 19, 1875June 4, 1928) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 ...
hired German and Russian experts to produce chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas. Additional Fengtian-controlled arsenals included one built in
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...
in 1924 and two based in
Jinan Jinan is the capital of the province of Shandong in East China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is one of the largest cities in Shandong in terms of population. The area of present-day Jinan has played an important role in the history of ...
that were acquired after the Second Zhili-Fengtian War. By 1928, the newly constructed arsenals in Manchuria could rival and in some cases exceed the output of the rest of China combined. Every month in 1928, the Fengtian Clique produced 7,500 rifles, 70–80 machine guns, 120,000 artillery shells, and about 9 million cartridges, among other equipment. But this extraordinarily high output put an unsustainable strain on the Manchurian economy. After 1929,
Zhang Xueliang Zhang Xueliang ( zh, t=張學良; June 3, 1901 – October 15, 2001), also commonly known by his nickname "the Young Marshal", was a Chinese general who in 1928 succeeded his father Zhang Zuolin as the commander of the Northeastern Army. He is bes ...
was forced to cut funding to the arsenal.


See also

*
Outline of the Chinese Civil War The following is a topical outline of English Wikipedia articles about the history of the Chinese Civil War (1927–1949) The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and the forces of the Chi ...
* Order of battle Defense of the Great Wall: shows the command structure of the Northeastern Army in 1933 * Zhili Army: a breakoff of the Fengtian Army based in Zhili province, 1924–1928 * Other Armies in Warlord Era China: :* National Pacification Army :*
Guominjun The Guominjun (), also known as the Kuominchun, abbreviated as GMJ and KMC, was a military faction founded by Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue during China's Warlord Era. The KMC had control of much of Northwest China, including Shaanxi ...
:*
National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; zh, labels=no, t=國民革命軍) served as the military arm of the Kuomintang, Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) from 1924 until 1947. From 1928, it functioned as the regular army, de facto ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{authority control Military history of the Republic of China (1912–1949) Military of the Republic of China 1910s in China 1920s in China 1930s in China Factions in the Kuomintang Second Sino-Japanese War Chinese Civil War Northern Expedition National Revolutionary Army Warlord Era Warlordism Military history of Manchuria Sino-Soviet conflict (1929)