Crusading against the Beiyang warlords and unifying China was Sun Yat-sen's greatest dream, and because Sun Yat-sen had no troops for a long time, he put his dream on the Yunnan and Guizhou warlords Tang Jiyao and Lu Rongting. And Tang Jiyao, Lu Rongting and others did not really support Sun Yat-sen at all, but just wanted to borrow Sun Yat-sen's fame to fight against Beiyang**, so Sun Yat-sen's dream of the Northern Expedition has not been realized.
Later, Sun Yat-sen devoted himself to cultivating Chen Jiongming and helping him become the commander-in-chief of the Guangdong army, and then defeated the troops of Lu Rongting of the Gui family in Guangdong, and the Guangdong army completely controlled the military and political power in Guangdong. Just when Sun Yat-sen was about to start the Northern Expedition, Chen Jiongming betrayed Sun Yat-sen, causing the Northern Expedition plan to be shattered, and Sun Yat-sen gathered all his forces to crusade against Chen Jiongming.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chen Jiongming participated in the alliance established by Sun Yat-sen, made a revolution in Guangdong, and after the establishment of **, he became the protector of Guangdong. After the outbreak of the "Second Revolution", Sun Yat-sen called on the revolutionaries to raise troops against Yuan Shikai, and Chen Jiongming responded in Guangdong, but the "Second Revolution" failed, and Chen Jiongming fled to Southeast Asia.
In 1916, Yuan Shikai was proclaimed emperor, and the "Protectorate War" broke out, Chen Jiongming secretly returned to Guangdong to participate in anti-Yuan activities, and began to follow Sun Yat-sen all the time. After the end of the "Protectorate War", Lu Rongting's Gui army took control of the military and political power in Guangdong, and the Guangxi warlord Mo Rongxin served as the overseer of Guangdong.
This Mo Rongxin has been squeezing out Sun Yat-sen, and he also killed the ** who went south with Sun Yat-sen, so angry that Sun Yat-sen wanted to send ** to bomb the Overseer's Mansion, which made Mo Rongxin admit it. At that time, Zhu Qinglan, the governor of Guangdong Province, supported Sun Yat-sen, so he was squeezed out by the Gui warlords, and before Zhu Qinglan left Guangdong, he handed over his 20 battalions of troops to Sun Yat-sen, which allowed Sun Yat-sen to have a force.
Sun Yat-sen was afraid that this army would be swallowed up by the Gui warlords, so he asked Chen Jiongming to take this army to the south of Fujian to develop, after two years of development, Chen Jiongming expanded this army to 20,000 people in Fujian, which was also the original force of the Guangdong army. After the army grew, Sun Yat-sen asked Chen Jiongming to ** Guangdong and drive the Gui warlords out of Guangdong, at this time Chen Jiongming began to wander, afraid that his 20,000 people were not the opponents of the Gui army, after all, the strength of the Gui army in Guangdong was several times that of his.
In the end, at the insistence of Xu Chongzhi, Deng Keng and others, Chen Jiongming led his troops to Guangdong, and with the cooperation of local forces from all parties in Guangdong, he successfully drove the Gui warlords out of Guangdong, and Chen Jiongming took control of the military and political power in Guangdong.
In 1922, after the situation in Guangdong stabilized, Sun Yat-sen began to plan the Northern Expedition, but at this time Chen Jiongming and Sun Yat-sen completely broke up, Chen Jiongming did not support Sun Yat-sen's Northern Expedition, thinking that Guangdong Province alone was not the opponent of the Beiyang warlords at all, and he felt that he should engage in "inter-provincial autonomy" and govern Guangdong well. Sun Yat-sen saw that Chen Jiongming did not support his Northern Expedition, so he dismissed Chen Jiongming from all official positions, Chen Jiongming returned to his hometown in Huizhou, and Sun Yat-sen asked Xu Chongzhi, Li Liejun and others to lead the Northern Expedition.
When the troops who supported Sun Yat-sen went on the Northern Expedition, Chen Jiongming's subordinates Ye Ju, Lin Hu, Hong Zhaolin and others launched a rebellion in Guangzhou, and Sun Yat-sen was forced to leave Guangdong. In fact, before launching the rebellion, Chen Jiongming did not want to become a complete enemy with Sun Yat-sen, and he also persuaded his subordinates, hoping that they would not rebel.
It's a pity that Chen Jiongming didn't stop the rebellion, he saw that something had happened, and Sun Yat-sen became a complete enemy, so he returned to the mountain to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Guangdong army.
After Sun Yat-sen left Guangdong, he gathered all the forces he could muster and began the Eastern Crusade against Chen Jiongming, and after a series of difficult battles, he finally succeeded in defeating Chen Jiongming.
After the death of Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek became the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army, led the troops to start the Northern Expedition, and then through the victory of the Northern Expedition, he became the leader of the National Army.