The Northern Expedition was from year to year

Consult: "The Fourth Volume of the Thematic History of China", edited by Zhu Hanguo, Yang Weizhen, Lin Huifeng, and Chen Youshen.

The Northern Expedition was divided into three phases:

After the Xinhai Revolution, China faced the rule of the Beiyang warlords. Dr. Sun Yat-sen launched several protests, but all of them ended in failure. These failures made him profoundly aware that the law alone could not effectively restrain the warlords' forces, and that it was necessary to use force to denounce crimes and eliminate rebellion, so as to completely eliminate the source of turmoil and stabilize the overall situation of the country.

Beginning in 1917, Sun Yat-sen launched the ** War, which was used as a starting point to start the Northern Expedition. He personally led three Northern Expeditions in the hope of achieving national unity and democracy. These Northern Expeditions were an important chapter in Sun Yat-sen's life, demonstrating his firm belief and unremitting efforts.

The Second Northern Expedition, that is, the Second ** War. After the failure of the First Northern Expedition, Sun Yat-sen moved to Shanghai, where he continued to pay close attention to the development and changes of the current situation while writing books and expounding the strategy of revolutionary nation-building, in order to seek the opportunity to re-explore the Northern Expedition.

The Third Northern Expedition began in 1924. In March 1923, Sun Yat-sen returned to Guangzhou again to re-establish the revolutionary regime in Guangdong for the third time.

In March 1925, Sun Yat-sen died of illness in Beijing. However, his unfinished business did not end there. After the reorganization in 1924, the Kuomintang, under the banner of the National Revolution, firmly inherited Sun Yat-sen's legacy and continued to strive for the unification and democracy of the country.

On June 4, 1926, the Kuomintang made a major decision and passed the "National Revolutionary Army's Northern Expedition". This decision marked the beginning of the Northern Expedition of the National Revolutionary Army.

On July 1, the National Military Committee officially issued a mobilization order for the Northern Expedition, calling on all officers and soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army to unite and fight for the reunification of the country and the independence of the nation.

On July 6, the Kuomintang issued the "Declaration on Sending Divisions for the National Revolutionary Army", which clearly pointed out the purpose and significance of the Northern Expedition and called on the people of the whole country to support the National Revolutionary Army and work together to realize the country's unity and democracy.

On July 9, the National Revolutionary Army held a grand swearing-in ceremony in Guangzhou, officially opening the Northern Expedition under the banner of the National Revolution. At this moment, all officers and men solemnly swore an oath that they were determined to inherit Sun Yat-sen's legacy and forge ahead courageously for the prosperity of the country and the great rejuvenation of the nation.

In February 1928, the Fourth Plenary Session of the Second ** Executive Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang passed the "Proposal for Continuing the Northern Expedition" and decided to continue the Northern Expedition. Subsequently, the National Revolutionary Army was reorganized, and the original four armies were expanded into four group armies, with Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, and Li Zongren serving as the first armies.

Commander-in-Chief of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Armies. The whole army has a total of 40 armies and about 700,000 people. At this point, the Northern Expedition came to a victorious end.

Because the Kuomintang claimed that the Northern Expedition was a continuation of the Northern Expedition in 1926, it was called the "Second Northern Expedition".

On the eve of the Northern Expedition in 1927, the Kuomintang made an important decision, that is, to give the General Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army the responsibility of controlling propaganda, printing and other organs. This decision appears to have nominally expanded the powers of the commander-in-chief, but in reality, these powers are more in the hands of the political department led by Deng Yanda.

In the early days of the Northern Expedition, Deng Yanda, as the head of the General Political Department, showed excellent organizational and guidance skills. In light of the situation and policy needs of the time, he flexibly adjusted the caliber of propaganda, formulated various propaganda programs, and dispatched political workers to various localities to carry out propaganda activities. These propaganda efforts are not only aimed at enemy forces, but also focus on the mobilization and organization of the broad masses of the people.

With the departure of the Northern Expedition, the Propaganda Brigade of the General Political Department distributed a large number of slogans, portraits of Sun Yat-sen, pictorials, national flags, pamphlets, leaflets and other propaganda materials along the way. More than 12,000 copies of the pictorial were prepared before departure. The armies stationed in various places were also very active. For example, during the Second Army's march to Chaling, Hunan, political workers posted 21 kinds of slogans along the road, distributed more than 10 kinds of leaflets (with a print run ranging from several hundred to several thousand), and distributed various propaganda materials to the organs and organizations in the marching areas. In urban areas, they also organized "masquerade propaganda teams" that used gramophones to carry out propaganda and attract thousands of people every day.

Everywhere the Fourth Army went, mass organizations actively requested propaganda methods and materials from the Political Department, and sent them to the townships to carry out propaganda. Within the troops, the political workers of the Fourth Army also went very deep into the company-level units. They not only gave political lessons to the soldiers in accordance with the propaganda program, but also read newspapers to the soldiers every day, played all kinds of useful games, and taught and sang revolutionary songs. Every week, a map of the Chinese and counter-revolutionary forces is drawn up and posted at the company headquarters to show the soldiers an overview of the "revolutionary and counter-revolutionary forces." Red indicates revolutionary forces, and blue indicates counter-revolutionary forces.

These meticulous and in-depth propaganda efforts not only strengthened the morale and cohesion of the army, but also had a far-reaching impact on the broad masses of the people and promoted the victory of the Northern Expedition.