3.108 Fall and Rise of China: Anti-Fengtian War #1: The Zhejiang-Fengtian War

Last time we spoke about the rise of Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang Kai-Shek had gradually become a rising star in the KMT. Dr Sun Yat-Sen saw some promise in the young man and took him under his wing soon making him something akin to his number 2. Aligning with Sun Yat-Sen, Chiang Kai-Shek helped consolidate KMT power in Guangzhou and played a crucial role in military campaigns, including the suppression of the Canton Merchants Association militia in 1924. Following Sun Yat-Sen's death in 1925, Chiang Kai-Shek navigated the KMT power vacuum that unfolded. When the Guangzhou Coup occurred, Chiang Kai-Shek managed to keep his head and began systematically eliminating or neutralizing his rivals. In the end he solidified his authority and led to the temporary stabilization of KMT-CCP relations, setting the stage for the Northern Expedition aimed at unifying China under KMT leadership.

#108 The Anti-Fengtian War Part 1: The Zhejiang-Fengtian War

Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War.

In this episode we are going to be talking about a new warlord, well new-ish. When I had been introducing the individual warlords and their factions, I had to set a few aside, because they come later on in the warlord Era, one of them being Sun Chuanfang. Sun Chuanfang was born April 17th, 1885 in Fanzhen, of Tai'an county in Shandong province. He lost his father at a early age, and because he grew up in old troublesome Shandong, he was destined to face hardship. One of those hardships was the Boxer Rebellion, which provided much unrest, poverty and famine. His family was forced to flee famine many times before they settled in Jinan. Sun Chuanfang had a little sister who went on to marry Wang Yingkai, a rising officer in the Beiyang Army and a protege under Yuan Shikai. By being the brother in law, Sun Chuanfang received some financial aid and was given a proper education. Sun Chuanfang was quickly deemed talented and strong, so it was recommended he join the Beiyang Army training camp in 1902. Sun Chuanfang graduated in 1904 and was sent to Japan to train at the Tokyo Shimbu Gakko military preparatory school. Reminiscent of Chiang Kai-Shek's experience, Sun Chuanfang joined the Tongmenghui while studying in Japan.He would graduate 6th in his class and served in the IJA before returning to China in 1908. In 1909 he took the Army Civil Service Examination and ha exellent results, obtaining the status of an infantry juren. After this Sun Chuanfang was assigned to the 2nd army regiment of Ma Longbiao. Eventually he was recruited by Wang Zhanyuan who would become something of a mentor to him.

During the Wuchang uprising, Sun Chuanfang was assigned to forces who went south to supress the revolutionaries. After the founding of the new republic, Sun Chuanfang took a station in Hubei. Sun Chuanfang rose through the ranks and by 1917 he was appointed commander of the 21st mixed brigade. After this he received a promotion to commander of the 1st Division. During the Anhui-Zhili War Sun Chuanfang was fighting under Wang Zhanyuan as they captured Wu Guangxin. After this Sun Chuanfang was awarded commander in chief over the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. In 1921, the governor of Hunan, Zhao Hengti, attempted to expand his rule to Hubai launching a small war known loosely as the Hunan-Hubei War. Zhao Hengti failed to expand his rule, but forced something of a political struggle upon Wang Zhanyuan who ended up resigning from his post. Wu Peifu then recommended Sun Chuanfang to became the commander of the 2nd division, working under him.

During the 1st Zhili-Fengtian War of 1922. Sun Chuanfang officially became a member of the Zhili Clique and began publicly demanding the resignation of Xu Shichang, the current Anhui clique president. In June that year, Xu Shichang resigned and Li Yuanhong took his place. In 1923, Sun Chuanfang was appointed the Military Inspector of Fujian. He led his troops to Fujian and quickly seized control over the province. There he established the Fujian Army. In September of 1924, the Jiangsu-Zhejiang War broke out, a precursor to the 2nd Zhili-Fengtian War. Sun Chuanfang initially held back, but stated he was supporting Qi Xieyuan the governor of Jiangsu against Lu Yongxiang the governor of Zhejiang. When the opportunity opened up Sun Chuanfang invaded Zhejiang to defeat Lu Yongxiang, however during the greater war, the Zhili clique was defeated by the Fengtian forces. Wu Peifu went into exile, many of the remaining Zhili Warlords were tossed into a uneasy situation. For Sun Chuanfang it was a pretty awkward situation as he had just won a smaller war and established a powerbase in southeast China. With Wu Peifu gone, Sun Chuanfang was now one of the biggest Zhili warlords.

The new chief executive, Duan Qirui appointed Sun Chuanfang as governor over Zhejiang, casting Qi Xieyuan to the wind. Duan Qirui was struggling to keep the peace across the board, thus he was trying to appease the more troublesome warlords with decent appointments, hoping they would be complacent and not stir up anymore trouble. But this is China's warlord Era, and trouble will be stirred.

Now Two episodes back I mentioned how Feng Yuxiang established his Guominjun, but he lacked funds and arms. Thus he got into bed with the KMT, and by proxy was introduced to Mr. Borodin representing the Soviets. The Soviets agreed to arm and fund his Guominjun as long as he provided the same reciprocity as the KMT, ie; allowing communists to join his ranks. Feng Yuxiang held a sphere of influence in the northwest of China. The new triumvirate between him, Duan Qirui and Zhang Zuolin was honestly a charade. Zhang Zuolin controlled the wealthy provinces of northeast China while Feng Yuxiang controlled the much poorer northwest. Zhang Zuolin was backed by the Japanese, he was essentially more of a conservative. Feng Yuxiang was seen as a radical politically, perhaps even a revolutionary and his backer was the Soviet Union. Duan Qirui was not even in the same league as either, having no real army anymore. Thus Zhang Zuolin was essentially the one calling the shots, it was an arrangement destined to fail.

After winning the second Zhili-Fengtian War, Zhang Zuolin began moving pieces across the chess board to consolidate his power. He first ordered the commander of his 5th army, Kan Chaoxi to lead two Fengtian Mixed Brigades, with some local troops, over to Rehe province to set up shop as its military-governor. The commander of the 2nd Fengtian army, Li Jinglin who was a Zhili native was ordered to serve as a sort of Zhili military affairs director. The Dogmeat General, Zhang Zongchang was given his first big break, Zhang Zuolin made him the commander in chief of suppressing bandits in Jiangsu, Shandong and Anhui. Duan Qirui then ordered the removal of Qi Xieyuan of the Zhili clique from his post as the inspector general of Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi. He was to be replaced by our old friend Lu Yongxiang who would be an envoy to Jiangsu and Anhui. Thus Zhang Zongchang and Lu Yongxiang together marched south along the Shanghai-Nanjing line.

To face the incoming threat Qi Xieyuan banded together with Sun Chuanfang and they likewise marched to Suzhou by January 14th. On the 17th both armies began fighting between Danyang and Wuxi. Yet by the 25th Qi Xieyuan was decisively defeated. Qi Xieyuan fled to Shanghai before getting on a boat to go into exile in Japan. His so-called partner in crime Sun Chuanfang had not ponied up the same amount of troops as he did, choosing to hold back a bit. When Qi Xieyuan fled for Japan, all of his troops were snatched up by Sun Chuanfang. On February 3rd, Sun Chuanfang approached Zhang Zongchang to negotiate, and they signed the second Jiangsu-Zhejiang peace treaty. Under the terms the Zhili army agreed to retreat to Songjiang, the Fengtian army would retreat to Kunshan, while Shanghai would not station troops.

After what was known as the second Jiangsu-Zhejiang war, the Fengtian forces began to dramatically expand their control into the Yangtze River Valley. Zhang Zuolin dispatched 11 divisions to occupy Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, the Beijing-Fengtian Railway and the Jinpu Railway. Zhang Zuolin strong armed the Beiyang government to make his generals Li Jinglin, Zhang Zongchang, Jiang Dengxuan and Yang Yuting military inspectors over Hubei, Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu respectively. This basically made the Yangtze River Valley under Fentgian control and connected them via rail to Zhang Zuolin's northeast power base. The agreement made with Sun Chuanfang to not deploy any troops in Shanghai seemed under threat. When prompted, the Fengtian leaders would claim they would never deploy troops in Shanghai, but to all it seemed like classic trickery.

In fact the Fengtian commanders had become quite arrogant and careless. Some of the generals were running opium operations in Nanshi and Zhabei. A regular inspection at Shanghai-Nanjing station showcased one of their drug runs and led to Fengtian soldiers performing a shoot out. Because of the incident, Duan Qirui ordered Lu Yongxiang and Zheng Qian to go over and investigate the situation. At the same time, Zhang Zongchang had deployed some troops in Shanghai to make sure the opium drug running went more smoothly. Zhang Zongchang ordered Cheng Guorui to figure out a solution to the issues and he was accompanied by Li Kuiyuan the director of the Fengtian Army's HQ in shanghai and Yuan Zhihe the Fengtian supply department director. Cheng Guorui and Li Kuiyuan quickly got into an argument and began drawing their guns upon each other in a shoot out. As reported by an eye witness "Yuan was seriously injured, Li fell to his death, Cheng jumped out of the window and injured his waist. At that time, the guards of each person were outside, and they opened fire on each other when they heard the sound, and the order was very chaotic." Thus Zhang Zongchang's efforts to smooth over the drug trafficking had done the very opposite, it made it much much more visible to the public. However Zhang Zuolin was really arrogant himself by this point and believed their Fengtian empire could get away with just about anything at this point, so he simply dispatched a division of troops to Songhu to make sure things ran smoother. Unfortunately he sent these forces to occupy garrisons that belongs to Sun Chuanfang. At the same time Fengtian forces led by Ding Xichun entered Nanjing.

It really seemed Zhang Zuolin got far too over confident. Apparently he began proclaiming "If I don't beat anyone in the next three to five years, no one will dare to beat me." Likewise his subordinate Yang Yuting mirrored his bosses sentiment, mouthing off to local warlords in Jiangsu. Jiang Dengxuan in Anhui began boasting "that he only brought one battalion with him" and Yang Yuting declared publicly "I went to Jiangsu this time with only more than ten entourages and a company of guards."

Meanwhile Li Jinglin and Zhangzong began to crack down on labour movements in Hubei and Shandong. There was a lot of unrest with workers, especially in Qingdao. Zhang Zongchang brutally suppressed any who would try to demonstrate or strike. A strict anti-labor and anti-communist movement was seen across the board in areas Fengtian controlled. Zhang Zongchang also cracked down on the remaining Zhili clique influence in the Yangtze River Valley. When the Fengtian replaced Qi Xieyuan with Lu Yongxiang as governor over Jiangsu, that lasted about a minute until they replaced Lu Yongxiang, who remember was an Anhui clique guy, with one of their own, Yang Yuting. His appointment was specifically to expand into neighbouring Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. These areas of course were being controlled by the last significant Zhili warlord, Sun Chuanfang. Sun Chuanfang had this to say about the situation "Zhang now dominates the Central Plains, controls the government, and covers the northeast and southeast. He is also planning to succeed Yuan Shikai and establish his own empire. He seduces powerful enemies outside and destroys public opinion inside. He is extremely cruel and does everything he can."

On October 11th of 1925, the governor of Zhejiang, Sun Chuanfang took matters into his own hands. He sent a telegram to the entire nation, opposing suppression efforts against Shanghai workers. He was taking a page out of Wu Peifu's playbook, to play upon the image of patriotism, making it seem you loved the people and were fighting for them. In reality this was a ploy to gather support and sympathy for what he was about to unleash. In early October, Sun Chuanfang began to hold secret meetings in Hangzhou with representatives of the Zhili clique of nearby provinces. The conversation was how to thwart the Fengtian from seizing all of their respective territories. They all came into an agreement, Sun Chuanfang would become their leader and he would lead his armies to attack Shanghai. This would be followed up by the Governor of Fujian, Zhou Yinren to lead his troops into Zhejiang to support Sun Chuanfang; the governor of Jiangxi Fang Benren would send his subordinate Deng Zhuoru also to help out in Zhejiang. Wang Pu the governor over southern Anhui, Chen Tiaoyuan the commander of the 4th Zhili division of Jiangsu and the retired warlods, Qi Xieyuan and Ma Lianjia would lend their forces as well. All together its said their forces were 200,000 strong.

After these meetings, Sun Chuanfang gathered the troops at Songjiang and Changxing calling for a "national day" on October the 10th and they performed a military parade. When Duan Qirui heard about this he sent Lu Zongyu to Hangzhou to try and mediate what was clearly turning into a dire situation. The mediation completely failed. Meanwhile Zhang Zuolin took notice and urgently summoned his 4 new governors, Li Jingling, Zhang Zongchang, Yang Yuting and Jiang Dengxuan. He was pulling them back to discuss how they should deal with this new emerging threat. However Zhang Zuolin was too late, for when the governors were enroute to meet with him, Sun Chuanfang made his move.

On October the 15th, Sun Chuanfang suddenly proclaimed himself the commander in chief of a 5 province coalition. The armies of Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Anhui were now in alliance. Sun Chuanfang created 5 routes armies; the 1st route army was led by Chen Yi consisting of the 1st division of the Zhejiang army; the 2nd route was led by Xiu Hongxun, consisting of the 4th division. The 1st and 2nd route armies were responsible for attacking Shanghai from the Shanghai-Hangzhou line. The 4th Route army led by Lu Xiangting, consisting of the 2nd division of the Anhui army and 5th Route army led by Zhou Fengqi, consisting of the 2nd Division of the Zhejiang armywere responsible for attacking Suzhou from Changxing. Sun Chuanfang took command of the 3rd route army, leading down the middle. On the 11th of October Sun Chuanfang sent a telegram calling on all foreign nations with interests in Shanghai to send personnel to investigate what he claimed was Fengtian Army members abusing workers and peasants. This of course was a guise to launch his attack.

The Fengtian warlords were taken completely offguard by Sun Chuanfangs rapid offensive, they had all unfortunately been enroute north for a meeting with Zhang Zuolin and thus were on a passive footing. Basically the Fengtian army was in a type of snake like formation extending from Yuguan to Tianjing, Pukou, Nanjing and Shanghai. They were quite dispersed. Thus began what is known as the Zhejiang-Fengtian War. Yet to complicate things, this was actually a theater of a larger war known as the Anti-Fengtian War or Third Zhili-Fengtian War. There were other theaters such as the Guominjun-Fengtian War, involving Feng Yuxiang. The Anti-Fengtian War is pretty incoherent, thus I will try to compartmenalize it.

What should be known in regards to the Zhejiang-Fengtian war, is that the Fengtian forces had the threat of Feng Yuxiang to their rear. If the Fengtian diverted forces to thwart the Guominjun, this would disallow them to quell the southern threat of Sun Chuanfang. Because of this, on October 14th, Yang Yuting ordered his subordinate Xing Shillian to withdraw from the Shanghai area quickly explaining to him in a telegram "due to the Shanghai case, in order to maintain order, we had to adjust the army and declare martial law. Now that the Shanghai case has been resolved, the title of martial law commander should be cancelled, the troops should be withdrawn, and the Jiangsu Police Department should be moved to Shanghai to deter the enemy."

The next day, Yang Yuting invited Jiang Denxuan to Nanjing to figure out how they would withdraw their troops along the Shanghai-Nanjing and Tianjian-Pukou rail lines. He also told Jiang Dengxuan, that Sun Chuanfang would "Su would not invade Zhejiang, consider the elegance of our classmates and resolutely stop the war." So it seemed Yang Yuting, who was a classmate of Sun Chuanfang was under the belief their friendship would prevent an escalation. However Sun Chuanfang on that very same day sent out a telegram to the 5 provinces to attack the Fengtian clique. On the 16th, the 2nd route Army of Xiu Hongxun began occupying Shanghai as the 4th Route army of Lu Xiangting occupied Yixing. Both then began advancing towards Suzhou and Wuxi. Roughly an hour before Sun Chuanfangs forces seized Shanghai, there was a mass withdrawal of the Fengtian forces there.

Because the Fengtian forces had adopted a passive, even non-resistant stance towards Sun Chuanfangs offensive, they all retreated quickly upon seeing any troops. Sun Chuanfang's armies made quick and bloodless progress, however upon reaching Lingkou near Danyang on October the 18th, Xing Shilians men did not retreat. Sun Chuanfang's vanguard found themselves facing what seemed to be determined resistance, but in reality it was a rearguard as the Fengtian forces were trying to evacuate Zhejiang province. On that evening, Yang Yuting convened a meeting in Nanjing with the other commanders, whereupon news came to them of the major defeats their forces had incurred. General Chen Tiaoyuan leading the 4th and 10th Zhili divisions stormed Nanjing and ordered Yang Yuting to be arrested. However Yang Yuting managed to escape from the city under the pretext he was. . . taking a bath. Yes a single source I've been relying upon for this event stated that without any context… so in my head I am imagining the classic hollywood, running a bath of water and jumping out of a window scenario. Regardless Yang Yuting abandoned the Fengtian garrison at Nanjing, fording a river and jumping into a car. On the 19th most of the Fengtians 8th Division, including their commander General Ding Chunxi stationed at Nanjing who had not already fled were surrounded and disarmed by Zhili forces. The next day Sun Chuanfang arrived to Nanjing whereupon he ordered Xie Hongxun's division to ford the river to pursue the Fengtian forces fleeing towards Bengdu. On the 21st Ni Chaorong's leading a Anhui Brigade stationed around Sixian, took a car over to Huaiguan where he telegraphed Jiang Dengxuan to resign. Jiang Dengxuan looked on in misery at the doomed Fengtian forces, knowing full well he had not enough time, men or means to halt the enemies advance, so he fled Bengdu on the 23rd, effectively resigning. Most of the Fengtian forces at Bengdu fled for Xuzhou.

Despite the rather embarrasing retreat of the Nanjing to Bengdu lines, the Fengtian forces were not even close to being really defeated. On the 21st, the Dogmeat General led reinforcements to the battlefield who were now ready for an actual battle. Sun Chuanfangs men at this point occupied Bengbu and had stopped their advance. Unbeknownst to the Fengtian commanders, Sun Chuanfang had secret being negotiations with Wu Peifu. Wu Peifu had come out of his forced retirement in Hubei, and to the north Feng Yuxiang was also coordinating with the three. Sun Chuanfang thought he had secured both men in the mission of attacking Xuzhou, but both of them had failed to perform. Thus Sun Chuanfang found himself in a bit of a pickle at Bengbu.

Meanwhile on the 26th, Zhang Zongchang ordered troops from Xin'an to attack Haizhou. Zhili forces led by General Bai Baoshan were defeated there soundly. The Fengtian army then contuined south to attack Qingjiangpu. Zhili troops led by Ma Yuren tried to defend the city, but soon became encircled and forced to surrender. Sun Chuanfang ordered Zheng Junyan and Chen Diaoyuan to reinforce the eastern sector to try and halt the Fengtian advance. On the 1st of November, Zhang Zongchang launched a new attack upon the Jingdu road, using armored cars and white russian forces. This force was led by Zhang Zongchangs subordinate Shi Chongbin, who had ordered to recapture Suxian and Guzhen.

The frontline Anhui troops became terrified of what looked to them to be a foreign force and fled the battlefield from Rengqiao all the way east of Guzhen. At this point Lu Xiangting, deputy commander in chief under Sun Chuanfang, began demolishing the railway to hinder the Fengtian advance. He dispatched Chen Yi and Xie Hongxun's 2nd division to hook around the rear of the Fengtian army to try and cut their retreat. The White Russian army alongside Chinese of the Fengtian forces were advancing alone in a vangard whence they were attacked from two sides. They had no hope of breaking through, nor fleeing backwards and were forced to surrender. Over 300 White Russian troops were killed in the carnage. Shi Chongbin was captured at Xinqiao station and his 47th brigade of the Shandong Army was completely surrounded.

Zhang Zongchang then dispatched Chu Yupu to reinforce and support the 47th Brigade in an counterattack to try and break out, but it failed. On Novemer 3rd, the 47th Brigade were disarmed and surrendered. Seeing no hope of rescue, Chu Yupu took his troops to man a defensive line between Suxian and Jiagou. Sun Chuanfang now took advantage of the crumbling Fengtian situation and ordered the Zhili forces to surround Xuzhou. Zhang Zongchang mobilized everything the Fengtian had for a decisive battle, but disaster was striking elsewhere. It will be discussed more indepth next episode, but Feng Yuxiang entered the fray, attacking the Fengtian rear in Hubei and western Shandong. Zhang Zuolin realized the dreaded two front war had finally come and elected to pull back his strength. Zhang Zuolin ordered Zhang Zongchang to pull the men back into Shandong on the 6th. On the 7th Xing Shilian, Xu Kun, Bi Shucheng and other Fengtian commanders were retreating from Haizhou and Suqian to Tancheng and Taierzhuang. Chu Yupu and other troops retreated from Suxian and Xuzhou to Hanzhuang and Lincheng. On November 8, Sun Chuanfangs army finally occupied Xuzhou. On the 20th, Sun Chuanfang sent a public telegram to return to Hangzhou from Xuzhou. From then on, the five provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian were divided by Sun Chuanfang. The Zhejiang-Fengtian War was also declared over

It was a very embarrassing defeat for the Fengtian Clique. Across the Shanghai-Nanjing defensive line, the Fengtian army suffered heavy losses, their entire the 8th division was captured, most of the 20th division was annhilated. It was said only Liu Yifei, the commander of the 44th Brigade of the 20th Division had led his troops to resist the Zhejiang Army for several hours on the way back from Shanghai. Because he was isolated and helpless, Liu Yifei was apparently forced to disguise himself as a monk to escape. When he fled back to Fengtiann, Zhang Zuolin, said to Liu Yifei "You are back, great! I heard that you disguised yourself as a monk. Damn it! In Jiangnan, you were the only one who fought with Sun Chuanfang for eight hours. Others surrendered without firing a shot because their parents didn't give them the courage! Now I will organize another Type A brigade for you, which is a three-regiment system. Soldiers are being recruited and stationed in the Dongshanzui barracks. Train hard!"

Upon winning the Zhejiang-Fengtian War, Sun Chuanfang immediately called for a ceasefire, literally as he was entering Xuzhou. His top priority was to consolidate his gains, for he understood he had only served the Fengtian a bloody nose, as they were preoccupied with war in the north. Then Chen Tiaoyuan of Jiangsu sent a telegram publicly announcing his support nominating Sun Chuanfang to form a government in Nanjing leading the 5 provinces he had led during their war. To try and remedy the situation, the Beiyang government offered Sun Chuandfang the position of military inspector of Jiangsu, combining his military inspector titles over Zhejiang and Fujian. Thus Sun Chuanfang would legitimately rule 3 provinces. The warlords running Jiangxi and Anhui were no match at all for Sun Chuanfang, thus they would have to submit to him regardless. So unofficially Sun Chuanfang established a new sort of government in Nanjing ruling the 5 provinces. This would be the very peak of his career, but nothing is ever built to last.

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The Zhejiang-Fengtian War was honestly the result of Fengtian arrogance. Zhang Zuolin let his guard down, turned to his old banditry ways and unleashed his boys southeast, thinking no one would challenge them. Sun Chuanfang proved himself a very capable warlord and now he was a significant player in China's game of thrones.