On July 1, 1925, the Chinese ** Nationalist ** was established in Guangzhou, and in the following year, it was decided to take ** as the main force to launch the Northern Expedition War against the Beiyang warlords led by Wu Peifu, Zhang Zuolin and Sun Chuanfang, and strive to unify the whole country to complete the national revolution, which was also Sun Yat-sen's wish before his death. Chiang Kai-shek was the commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, and after the success of the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1927, China completed formal unification, and Chiang Kai-shek also became the nominal leader of all parties.
Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan.
As the commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, although Chiang Kai-shek unified China on the surface, there was an undercurrent within the National Revolutionary Army.
At the same time that the old warlords were eliminated, and the power of the new warlords within the National Revolutionary Army was also unprecedentedly increased, what was the future of the Chinese revolution? What's next for the new warlords? Will Chiang Kai-shek be able to defend the hard-won fruits of the revolution? Although many warlords who destroyed the troubled people unified China, the help of local warlords such as Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, and Li Zongren was indispensable in the process.
Together, their troops numbered nearly 900,000, while Chiang Kai-shek's ** army was only 300,000. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek was quite jealous of these three giants, so in order to be able to firmly grasp power, Chiang Kai-shek proposed to reduce the army, as for how to cut, Yan Xishan put forward a suggestion, so that the forces of all parties should remain the same.
All are 170,000 people. This proposal was strongly opposed by Feng Yuxiang. First of all, Yan Xishan's Jin army was originally only 170,000, and he didn't have to cut it, and Li Zongrengui's army was 200,000, so he couldn't suffer much loss. In the face of Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army, disarmament is a big loss, and this loss is a big loss, so he resolutely refuses to cut it.
At that time, the Northwest Army was directly separated from the original Beiyang Army and controlled six provinces, including Gansu, Shaanxi, Qinghai, and Henan. Although the Northwest Army is poor, it is brave in battle, and the broadsword team among them is even more prestigious, like a broadsword to cut off the heads of devils. It was created based on the events of the Northwest Army's heroic resistance on the Chahar Great Wall.
In addition, the number of the Northwest Army is as high as 400,000, so it is difficult for Feng Yuxiang to reduce the 400,000 army to 170,000. As a result, the issue of disarmament has been deadlocked. As the saying goes, the gun shoots the first bird, and it stands to reason that Chiang Kai-shek wants to take these new warlords under the knife, as long as he defeats Feng Yuxiang, other warlords will also take the lead for Chiang Kai-shek.
However, when Chiang Kai-shek faced the powerful Northwest Army, he did not dare to act rashly, so he had to choose to take Li Zongren's Gui line first. So, in the face of Chiang Kai-shek's Gui giants, how will Li Zongren respond? Chiang Kai-shek first chose to instigate rebels to buy Li Zongren's subordinates, and after being discovered, Li Zongren directly took the case and led the Gui Department to fight with Chiang Kai-shek's ** army.
However, the former enemy commander of the Gui faction had been bribed by Chiang Kai-shek with money and directly defected, and the Gui faction was in chaos, and Li Zongren had no choice but to go to the field by telegram. Next, Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan also telegraphed against Chiang, and Chiang Kai-shek's method of dealing with them was just as simple and rude, giving Yan Xishan power and Feng Yuxiang's subordinates money. So Yan Xishan's subordinates, Feng Yuxiang's subordinates rebelled.
In this way, the anti-Chiang situation of the tripartite giants was suppressed. After Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, and Li Zongren regained their strength, the first large-scale Central Plains War broke out in modern Chinese history. Time magazine in the United States once made a report on the Battle of the Central Plains, and the war in China was fought in 3 forms:
1. Money wars, a large number of money bribes often reach millions of money transactions.With Li Zongren's Gui Army as the 1st Front Army, it was transferred from Guangxi to Hunan and attacked Wuhan. The Northwest Army led by Feng Yuxiang was the 2nd Front Army, which attacked Xuzhou and Wuhan from Henan through the Longhai Line. Yan Xishan marched as the 3rd Front Army, converged with the Northwest Army in Shandong, and attacked Nanjing through the Jinpu Line, and Shi Yousan attacked Yanzhou and Jining for the 4th Front Army, and the fighting force in the Battle of the Central Plains was in the millions.2. ** war, overwhelming announcements and declarations between armies.
3. Mercenary warfare, thousands of prisoners and ignorant people, fighting for one faction today, and another tomorrow.
In March 1930, the anti-Chiang coalition sent troops to Chiang with Yan Xishan as commander-in-chief of the army, navy, and air force, and Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren, and Zhang Xueliang as deputy commanders-in-chief.
And along the railway lines across the country, this was the first large-scale cavalry and artillery combat in China's modern history. At present, except for Zhang Xueliang, all powerful warlords in China have participated in this war. Before the outbreak of the Battle of the Central Plains, the two hostile alliance leaders, Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan, had sent people to recruit Zhang Xueliang.
First, Yan Xishan gave him a letter of appointment, one being the deputy commander-in-chief of the navy and army;
And Chiang Kai-shek was different from Yan Xishan, he not only sent a letter of appointment, but also remitted millions of huge sums of money to Shenyang, in the face of such a generous gift, so Zhang Xueliang told Yan Xishan unhurriedly that he could not send troops for the time being, and he could provide ammunition if necessary. If it really comes to a critical juncture, he will send someone.
Chiang Kai-shek sent 4 men to defend troops in 4 directions, and Liu Zhi defended the Northwest Army on the North Road of Feng Yuxiang in Longhai County; Han Fuyu defended Yan Xishan and Shi Yousan on the Jinpu line; He Yingqin's Gui army in Changsha and Wuhan He Chengjun was on the Pinghan line between Beiping and Hankou, defending against the southern front of Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army.
The main forces led by Liu Zhi were Chiang Kai-shek's best troops, Han Fuyu was the best of the five tiger generals in the northwest, and He Yingqin was also difficult to fight.
Chiang Kai-shek knew that Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army was the key to the anti-Chiang coalition army, so Chiang Kai-shek decided to personally lead his troops to Zhengzhou to try to resolutely attack Feng Yuxiang's main force.
Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan planned to join forces in Qinyang County, Henan Province, to carry out a fatal encirclement of Chiang Kai-shek. Most of Yan Xishan's troops were stationed in Shanxi, and Shanxi was relatively close to Qinyangli. Once Feng Yuxiang joined Yan Xishan's troops here, he would be able to form an encirclement posture against Chiang Kai-shek's troops, and they could attack and retreat.
Once this encirclement is achieved, the main forces of the two armies can immediately launch an attack on Chiang Kai-shek and press the main force of the ** army for a decisive battle.
And the warlord coalition with the advantage in military strength is very likely to take Chiang Kai-shek in one fell swoop and win the final victory in the Central Plains War, but can Qinyang's plan to meet divisions really go smoothly? After Yan Xishan's troops arrived in Qinyang on time, they waited left and right, but they never waited for the Northwest Army.
Later, Yan Xishan felt bad and sent a telegram to Feng Yuxiang, this telegram, Feng Yuxiang was also surprised, so he went to the staff headquarters to check, it didn't matter, Feng Yuxiang found that the troops he sent had gone the opposite way and went to Miyang, 200 miles away, which was a big joke with Feng Yuxiang. It turned out that just before the decisive victory or defeat of the war, Feng Yuxiang's staff officer was issuing a telegram, but he mistakenly typed a word and wrote Qinyang as Miyang.
Coincidentally, there is such a place in Henan, where Feng Yuxiang's opponent's troops are stationed. When the commander of Feng Yuxiang's participating troops received this dispatch army, he was also very puzzled, how could he transfer the troops to such a place, which was the enemy's sphere of influence at that time. But the military order was like a mountain, and the generals rushed with their troops overnight and went straight to Miyang, which was 200 miles away.
After learning of the situation, Hu Yuxiang thought that it was completely too late to withdraw his troops. Even if he killed the staff officer who made a typo in a fit of rage, he would not be able to undo anything. A once-in-a-lifetime fighter plane to defeat the ** army was lost in vain. The Central Plains War was dragged into overtime. However, because Chiang Kai-shek was outnumbered and other reasons, Chiang Kai-shek's ** army was defeated by the brave Northwest Army and fled, and the fighting spirit was completely lost, and even made Chiang Kai-shek look up to the sky and sigh, and the spirit of our revolutionary soldiers was so sluggish.
But in the long run, Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army actually faced an even greater crisis within itself. First of all, the ** Army occupies the rich areas of southern China, and some of them have money, while the Northwest Army almost all comes from the poor countryside in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, and the follow-up logistics supply is far from enough. Of course, if it's just a lack of ammunition, that's okay to say.
For the Northwest Army, the broadsword team is the soul of the army, but the lack of food is the real torture of the front-line soldiers of the Northwest Army. Many people had not eaten for two or three days, which greatly affected the morale of the army. After that, the decisive scene in the war was that when Jinan was occupied by the Jin army, Chiang Kai-shek transferred Chen Chengshi from the Longhai line and rushed to the Jinpu line to support, trying to launch a counterattack against the Jin army in Jinan, and he also personally led the main force of the ** army to encircle and suppress Yan Xishan in 3 ways.
At this point, Yan Xishan could not support it, so he could only abandon Jinan and retreat to the west of the Yellow River. At this point, Yan Xishan on the eastern front has been defeated, but Feng Yuxiang's main force on the western front is still there, and the outcome of the battle of the Central Plains has not yet been decided.
Feng Yuxiang's seven attacks in August were all repelled by Chiang Kai-shek, the ** front has ended, and now only the Western Front remains, and it was Zhang Xueliang's participation in the war that ultimately led to the collapse of the anti-Chiang coalition army.
The opportunity was one day, Zhang Xueliang was reading a cartoon of current affairs. Yan Xishan held an abacus in one hand and a smoking gun in the other. And Feng Yuxiang held a large knife in one hand, a banknote and a Browning pistol in the other.
After reading it, Zhang Xueliang couldn't help but say to the left and right that Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan were completely the emperors of the soil in China's soil nest, and they had to marry a little wife and a woman with small feet. Not to mention that they do not have the strength to unify the whole of China, even if they unify China, they will not be able to govern the country with their governance and knowledge level.
Therefore, Zhang Xueliang sent a telegram in support of Chiang Kai-shek on September 18, 1930, declaring that he would send troops for military mediation. On the second day, more than 100,000 Northeast troops entered the pass, Tianjin, Beiping, Hebei and other places were quickly captured, and the anti-Chiang coalition army fell into a situation of being attacked from two sides.
With the attack of the Northeast Army and the ** Army, the Northwest Army was defeated and retreated, and the generals rebelled one after another. In the end, Feng Yuxiang was defeated, and the Battle of the Central Plains ended with a complete victory for Chiang Kai-shek.
After the defeat of Feng Yuxiang, he was invited by the old Han Fuyu to Taishan to recuperate, until the 918 Incident, Feng Yuxiang personally went down the mountain and actively organized all aspects of the force to resist the Japanese invasion of China.
After the defeat of Yan Xishan, he was invited out of China by Chiang Kai-shek, and with the support of Japan, although he returned to Shanxi Province, his influence was not as good as before. Zhang Xueliang withdrew from the Northeast after the 918 Incident, and has been following Chiang Kai-shek ever since, and has been under Chiang Kai-shek's control since the Xi'an Incident.
After Li Zongren fought in the Central Plains, he became honest. obediently recuperated in Guangxi, and only after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression did he really begin to fight for power with Chiang Kai-shek. Feng Yuxiang was the worst of the great warlords, and his Northwest Army was either wiped out or divided between Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang, so that after the Central Plains War, although Feng Yuxiang held many positions, he basically had no power.
And Chiang Kai-shek was the biggest beneficiary of this war, before the Central Plains War, he was only the nominal leader of the people. After the Central Plains War, Chiang Kai-shek really sat firmly in the first place of the national **.