Flaming Dragons-A Warlord China Alternate History

tukk323

Ok this is just a little teaser, I haven't got much written on this and there may be some time before I start the post proper as I am also working on my other TL Not By a Mine, but I couldn't hold back for posting this, consider it a trailer for the TL to come.

Flaming Dragons


Chiang Kai-Shek was one of the most prominent and influential figures of the Republic of China and for a time he was in command of the most populous nation on Earth, though this was at a time of great conflict through the entire world. By 1949 he managed to lose everything he had worked his whole life to acquire and left to Taiwan, never to return to the mainland. In the early days of the Kuomintang before it had succeeded in gaining recognition from the rest of the world, there were other leaders who contended for power with Chiang, it was by no means certain that he would come out on top. Chiang had no shortage of enemies and had to do much to solidify his power in the party. But what would happen if he never had the chance to come to power?

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Prologue-When Worlds Collide

18 June 1990
Washington D.C.
United States of America

“Mr President, it’s started sir” said General Brian Vuono, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
President Alexander Haig looked up at the newly installed electronic map and watched the real time simulation of military forces crossing the border of the Amur River as well as movements in Turkestan and Chinese Mongolia. In addition to that, numerous large, red blots marked the site of missile and aircraft launches from multiple locations in China and Russia.
“May God have mercy on their souls” he said, he had seen the horrors of war well enough himself, having fought in both the Indonesian War and the South American War, and he had tried to get both General Secretary Lukyanov and President Zhuang to see reason over the issue. Unfortunately it had all come to nought and now two of the world’s superpowers and most populous nations were engaging in a complete war. If it went nuclear, the devastation would be immense, not just to the two combatants and their allies, but to every other nation on Earth. So far both governments had pledged to Haig that they would respect the Stockholm Proclamation and not use their nuclear arsenals, but if one of them grew desperate enough, it could be enough to make them unleash their radioactive weapons and if one of them started, the other would certainly retaliate in kind. Russia had more than 28,000 nuclear weapons available including a sizeable number of GRM’s [1] while the Chinese had about 20,000.

The president looked around at everyone in the room, most of them had concerned faces with the exception of General Harold Fuller and Secretary of State John Rumsfeld. Haig posed a question to Rumsfeld.
“What do you think John? Is it likely to go nuclear?”
“Hard to say one way or the other, Mr President. Both Lukyanov and Zhuang are practical men and realise a nuclear war is in neither of their best interests, but... they are both ruthless, determined men and Lukyanov has enough of a cruel streak that he might start firing nukes if he thought he could win it, regardless of any collateral damage. Remember he didn’t hesitate to order a missile strike on an entire city during the Stalingrad Barracks Uprising.”
Lukyanov was well known for being the most ruthless dictator of the Soviet Union since Josef Stalin, though Lukyanov didn’t have Stalin’s paranoia and ran a reasonably efficient nation, rather than the up and down charnel house of the 1930s [2]. If any leader could start a nuclear war it would be him.
General Fuller spoke up after him “Mr President, short launching our own nukes, there’s little we can do to contain this conflict. All American military forces from Scandinavia to Japan on full alert, but in case anything spills over form this, but I imagine that we’re only going to be the neutral observers in this war.”

Haig glanced over at the blue phones with direct lines to both Moscow and Nanjing [3]. More than anything he hoped that the both leaders would show some restraint and open up communications. If either side started firing their nukes he suspected that the damage would be catastrophic, with the potential that it could result in the nuclear nightmare scenario that had long been envisioned since the beginning of the Stalemate War. He continued watching the screen for several more minutes until a loud beeping sound started issuing from it.
General Vuono looked him directly in the eyes and said “Mr President, we have a missile launch from Gladkaya.”

[1] Global Reach Missiles.

[2] This refers to the fact that in the early Stalinist days of the Soviet Union it was easy for someone to get promoted if Stalin liked them, but just as easy for someone to quickly fall and be sent to a gulag on the slightest whim.

[3] Nanjing is the capital of the Republic of China.
 

tukk323

DireSituation said:
China with 20,000 nukes?

Damn...


Wait, just how populous is both the Soviet Union and China here?
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It seems a little extreme, but better economy and no communist policies or Cultural Revolution it could be possible.
They are about the same as OTL.

thekingsguard said:
Is the USA still a superpower?
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Yes they are, Three Superpowers, USA, Russia and China

CCA said:
Great to see another China TL from a fellow NZer :)

Happy New Year in about 2 hours too :)
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Hey thanks, your Chiang Kai-Shek goes to Germany TL is pretty decent.
From NZ but currently living in Singapore, so New Year still a wee way off for me :), but thanks.
 

tukk323

1. A Bullet For Chiang

1 May 1926
Canton
Republic of China (Kuomintang)

Chiang Kai-Shek walked down the corridor of the Kuomintang Headquarters. He was in a good mood today. He had recently outmanoeuvred Wang Jingwei into leaving China a month ago at the behest of the Kuomintang Central Committee, by claiming that the left-wing of the party had been conspiring with the communists. The Committee agreed that the left-wing of the party needed to take a step back. For the last month Chiang had built up his power and managed to negotiate with the Russians.
He was on his way to a meeting to confirm the new deal which would reduce the role of the Communists in the party. His wife, Chen Jieru, was accompanying him and his personal bodyguards to the meeting as well. He looked over at her and smiled, he was truly fortunate to have her as his wife. Down the corridor he saw a young man with an armful of newspapers coming the opposite way. Chiang assumed he was just a low level party member running an errand for one of the Council members.
As the man came closer to Chiang he swiftly pulled his hand out from under the papers and pointed a revolver towards him. The man shouted as he pulled up the gun “You robbed my cousin of everything, DIE!”
One of Chiang's bodyguards reacted instantly, jumping right at the assassin but didn't get to him before he fired off a single round. The bodyguard wrestled him to the ground and knocked the gun away. He threw the man against the wall and one of the other bodyguards emptied all of his rounds into him. The first bodyguard turned his head around at the sound of Chen's high pitched scream.
Chiang's body was lying on the ground surrounded by the rest of his bodyguards and his wife cradling the body. Blood was covering her clothes and pooling on the floor. The bodyguards all had grim looks on their faces, there would be hell to pay for failing to protect Chiang.


Taken from “Sun Yat-Sen’s Heirs”, by Liao Yanshi, © 1988, Lotus Flower Publishing, Guangzhou, Republic of China

Despite Chiang’s rise to power after the attempted coup [1], there was one thing he hadn’t counted on and that was Xu Chu, a young cousin of the deposed general, Xu Chongzhi. Xu confronted Chiang and accused him of stealing his cousin’s army and executing two other generals that he had been allied with, right before shooting him directly in the head. Xu was killed by Chiang’s bodyguards and they had to lead a weeping Chen Jieru away from the scene. Chiang’s death left a power vacuum in the Kuomintang, since he had become the main military and political leader in the last few months and it would be difficult for the Kuomintang leaders to find someone else able to fill both roles.


5-8 May 1926

With the death of Chiang Kai-Shek, the Kuomintang (KMT) leadership is thrown into turmoil. Chiang had been the major military and political leader and had managed to sideline his major opponents who had been contending for leadership of the party, Wang Jingwei and Hu Hanmin, in the previous months.

The remaining party leaders and KMT warlord allies meet in Canton to decide on who should be elected as head of the committee and who should command the National Revolutionary Army. The right-wing of the party dominates, since Wang and his allies were driven out by Chiang. A decision is reached after much debate, Hu Hanmin continues his role as premier of the party [2], but this is a role with little function, Li Zongren, military governor of Guangxi, is appointed as the new commander-in-chief of the army.

Tan Yankai as Chairman of the National Government [3] has become the main leader of the KMT, but he has little influence with the army. He holds the political power but must rely on Li to command the soldiers. He gives Li orders to begin preparing the soldiers for a confrontation with the warlord armies. Tan also secretly contacts Wang Jingwei and advises him that returning soon to China could be in his best interests [4].


From “Political Leaders of the Republic of China: Volume 2, 1925-1935”, By Roy Wu, © 1990 University of Hong Kong Press

Tan Yankai may have been the nominal head of the Kuomintang, but he had little support. The right-wing faction saw him as a puppet of Wang Jingwei, with no military influence at all. The left-wing faction thought that he should have supported Wang earlier in the year, but instead he had sat on the sidelines. Tan had to delicately balance the party needs and he reshuffled the positions to keep both factions happy as well as continue the now slightly unsettled alliance with the CCP, against which there was a growing resentment [5].

In addition to this was the growing sentiment that the Kuomintang had to start opposing the northern warlords sooner rather than later, in order to gain international recognition and expand its base of control. Tan would have to ensure that the military had a capable commander for the upcoming Northern Expedition.

Kuomintang leadership as at 15 May 1926:

Chairman of the National Government- Tan Yankai
Chairman of the KMT Executive Committee- Zhang Jingjiang
Head of the Organisational Department-Chen Guofu
National Revolutionary Army Commander-in-Chief- Li Zongren
President of Whampoa Military Academy-Li Jishen


Taken from “Sun Yat-Sen’s Heirs”, By Liao Yanshi, © 1988, Lotus Flower Publishing-Guangzhou, Republic of China

Wang Jingwei returned to Guangzhou on the 30 May 1926 after hearing of the divisions in the Kuomintang leadership, following Chiang’s death. An added advantage for him now, was the fact that his friend Tan Yankai was the party chairman and Wang thought it would not be difficult to sway enough of the party to his side to become its new leader. Wang would find it a more difficult road than he anticipated however and the disagreements between left and right would emerge strongly during and after the Northern Expedition. This was further complicated by Wang’s dislike of the CCP and his attempts to sideline them. When the march north started, many of the communist members of the Kuomintang had already decided not to take part, which made it much more difficult in convincing the people in the north that they were being freed by a progressive force, as well as reducing the aid from the Soviet Union. Eventually the Soviet advisor, Borodin stepped in and insisted that the CCP fully cooperate in order to overthrow the warlords and remake China.
They grudgingly did so, as they still were friendly with some of the left-wing Kuomintang but there was now a deep suspicion amongst them that would contaminate the Northern Expedition and split the Kuomintang, despite the work that Sun Yat-Sen had done in building up a Kuomintang-CCP alliance.

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Chiang Kai-Shek, posing for a picture one week before his assassination.

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Tan Yankai, Kuomintang Chairman.

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Kuomintang members after the party meeting on 15 May 1926.


[1] A coup instigated by Wang Jingwei and the leftists, known as the Zhongshan Warship Incident. Wang attempted to have Chiang kidnapped by the captain of the Zhongshan on his way to Whampoa. Chiang was warned by his wife and organised against the conspiracy, arresting several CCP-KMT members and forcing Wang out of the country. Chiang gained in power after this and was able to control more of the party, despite continuing the alliance with the CCP and the USSR.

[2] Hu was suspected in the assassination of Liao Zhongkai and arrested. In OTL he supported Chiang after the Ninghan Split.

[3] This position is theoretically the top one in the KMT. In OTL Chiang took over from Tan and became supreme military and political leader, while the premier and other political roles were reduced in importance.

[4] Tan was an ally of Wang, but went along with the other Kuomintang leaders in supporting Chiang after the Zhongshan Incident. Here with Chiang’s death Tan feels that Wang will be able to win back control of the party and also be able to control the military. He may be Chairman, but his support is not huge and he only obtained the position due to Wang leaving.

[5] The Zhongshan Incident and Chiang’s assassination has made the right-wing and moderate Kuomintang members become more concerned about the communists and they are beginning to see why Chiang wanted to be rid of them. The anti-communist faction is led by Li Jishen and Chen Guofu, and Wang Jingwei is distrustful and suspicious of them, despite being the leader of the left-wing of the party that is allied with them.
 

Hendryk

Banned
I'm glad to see sustained interest for counterfactual speculation involving China in the early 20th century. I'll definitely be following this TL's progress.

Now, if I may express a recurring nitpick of mine: it's jarring to have Chinese names transliterated simultaneously in Wade-Giles (Chiang Kai-shek, Kuomintang) and Pinyin (Zhang Jingjiang, etc.). Better stick to a single system for the sake of coherence.
 

Joseph Solis in Australia

DireSituation said:
China with 20,000 nukes?

Damn...


Wait, just how populous is both the Soviet Union and China here?
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With China as a superpower with 20,000 nukes, Soviet Union will think twice on alienating China. Jiang Jieshi had a big mistakes on why is lose the Chinese Civil War and let the Communists led by Mao Zedong to dominate the mainland. The mistakes that I referred is the Jiang's strategy to fight the Communists first before the Japanese, thus losing the Chinese masses support to the KMT. Second is that KMT never institutes land reform. Third is that KMT is full of corrupt elites.

I like to see a multipolar world with the United States, China, Soviet Union, and the Europe as superpowers.
 

LeX

Well this looks quite interesting. The warlord era of China is something I've always found difficult to learn about; I'm glad you're making a TL of it.
 

tukk323

Hendryk said:
I'm glad to see sustained interest for counterfactual speculation involving China in the early 20th century. I'll definitely be following this TL's progress.

Now, if I may express a recurring nitpick of mine: it's jarring to have Chinese names transliterated simultaneously in Wade-Giles (Chiang Kai-shek, Kuomintang) and Pinyin (Zhang Jingjiang, etc.). Better stick to a single system for the sake of coherence.
Click to expand...

I would do that, unfortuantely not all Chinese historical figures have common Wade-Giles so pinyin is the only option, while others are so often used that if I used the pinyin, people may not realise who I'm talking about.

Joseph Solis in Australia said:
With China as a superpower with 20,000 nukes, Soviet Union will think twice on alienating China. Jiang Jieshi had a big mistakes on why is lose the Chinese Civil War and let the Communists led by Mao Zedong to dominate the mainland. The mistakes that I referred is the Jiang's strategy to fight the Communists first before the Japanese, thus losing the Chinese masses support to the KMT. Second is that KMT never institutes land reform. Third is that KMT is full of corrupt elites.

I like to see a multipolar world with the United States, China, Soviet Union, and the Europe as superpowers.
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Unfortunately a Soviet Union and China on equal terms, without being ideological allies makes for a very dangerous border throughout TTL equivalent of the Cold War, think Germany and France pre-WW1 as about the level of antagonism between them.

LeoXiao said:
Well this looks quite interesting. The warlord era of China is something I've always found difficult to learn about; I'm glad you're making a TL of it.
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Thanks, its hard to learn about, but once you do its mighty interesting, remiving Chiang was one of the biggest changes i could think of for this period.
 

tukk323

And here's the next update, just in time for the Turtledoves too :D.

2. To The North


Taken from “The Many Headed Dragon: Warlords in China”
By Rodger Stevens
© 1970, Bluewood Books
Philadelphia, USA

To better understand the situation in northern China at the start of 1926, it is necessary to provide a list of the factions of major warlords-
Zhang Zuolin-Fengtian Clique, controlling Manchuria and the north-east
Feng Yuxiang-Guominjun Clique, controlling a large area in the north-west
Wu Peifu-Zhili Clique, controlling the central plains
Sun Chuanfang,-Zhili Clique, controlling the east coast
Yan Xishan, Shanxi Clique, controlling Shanxi province

Beijing was under the control of Duan Qirui, his Anhui Clique had been mostly destroyed and his position as President was in name only [1]. True control was shared between Zhang and Feng, but disagreements between them had finally resulted in all out war and Zhang allied with Wu against Feng.

The Guominjun armies were hard pressed and were soon defeated and most of their soldiers fled, some of them passed through Shanxi, where troops attacked them for encroaching on their territory [2]. Duan was removed from office in April and Feng left China for the Soviet Union, though he would return in a few months. Zhang and Wu were now the most powerful leaders in the north but again disagreements on how to govern broke out. Wu wanted to return Cao Kun to the presidency while Zhang was a monarchist and distrusted the republican government. A weak series of governments ruled from the capital, but had little power and Zhang and Wu retained direct control over their own regions. A more important consequence of the war however, was the fact that Zhili had moved much of its army north, leaving its southern flank exposed to the ambitious Kuomintang government, which was preparing to launch its Northern Expedition.

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Regions of warlord control.


Taken from “Great Moments in Chinese History” by Hsu Win-chin, Republic Press 1990

Li Zongren, speaking at Whampoa Military Academy before the Northern Expedition, 21 July 1926.

-“Students of Whampoa, soldiers of the National Army. I stand here before you as your commander, but also as your comrade. Our nation has been through turbulent times and continues to go through them. But with your courage and determination, along with the vision of a free, united China, left to us by President Sun Yat-Sen, we will prevail. The chaos in the north will be ended and we will restore China as it should be. As I take command of this expedition, I pledge to uphold the values that Sun and Chiang held. Values which will see us victorious over those who still follow the old ways and allow the new ways to usher in a strong China.”

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Soldiers at Whampoa rallying for the Northern Expedition.


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Li Zongren, Commander of the Kuomintang Army.


Taken from “Sun Yat-Sen’s Heirs”, By Liao Yanshi, © 1988, Lotus Flower Publishing-Guangzhou, Republic of China

On the 20 July 1926 the Northern Expedition began. This was the first true military test of the Republic’s National Revolutionary Army and its leadership. The training at Whampoa, Russian arms and advisors, the strong will and morale of the soldiers and the warm welcome they received from most of the common people as they marched north combined to be a deadly combination for the warlords. The first major battle was fought at Changsha in Hunan province, where General Tang Shengzhi was leading a rebellion against Wu Peifu. Tang had been supported by troops from the Guangxi Clique for some time and with the Northern Expedition his army become one of the eight that made up the NRA.

Ironically while the military was strong, in particular Li Zongren led a capable campaign against the northern warlords, politically the Kuomintang was struggling. Chiang’s death had left a power vacuum and three main contenders emerged to take the spotlight. Tan Yankai had no control over the left and right factions of the party and throughout the Northern Expedition he only kept his position as chairman because neither faction wanted to instigate political problems in the middle of the campaign [3].

Wang Jing-wei had managed to gather back much of the power and influence he once had and was slowly garnering support from most of the left and some of the middle ground in the party as well as having support from Tan, the current Chairman. His main problem was that despite his strong party influence, he had very little military power, though this would change by the end of the Northern Expedition. Hu Hanmin represented the moderate right-wing of the Kuomintang and despite his tarnishing by Chiang, he was the most popular man among the moderates. But his support base was small and he didn’t appeal to either of the extremes as a leader.
The final contender for leadership was Chen Lifu, while the other two had been close protégés of Sun Yat-Sen, Chen had come to the party later. However Chen had been close with Chiang Kai-Shek, had the backing of H. H. Kung, one of the richest men in China, and he and his elder brother, Chen Guofu, controlled a large number of interests via the growing secret police organisation they had begun to establish. He had support among the traditionalists, anti-communists and also from the underworld which controlled China’s opium trade [4]. Chen was the closest thing Chiang had to a successor, but he did not have the same military experience and thus his support from Whampoa and the NRA was mild. Whoever could garner the most support from the army generals was the one most likely to emerge as the leader of the Kuomintang.


[1] Duan had been placed as president as a figurehead, after the Second Zhili-Fengtian War and his small number soldiers only operated in Beijing.

[2] Yan Xishan tried to remain neutral, which meant that he attacked any forces in his territory, or risk being accused of aiding them.

[3] This is not exactly true. Political infighting began almost after the first battle had been fought. The CCP members started giving power to the poor peasants in areas that the KMT had conquered and staged worker’s uprisings. In addition the KMT left and right began contesting for power and Tan was simply left as Chairman until the each side decided to make their move.

[4] The opium trade in China provided large funds for the Nationalists, particularly via Big-Eared Du’s Green Gang in Shanghai.
 

Hendryk

Banned
tukk323 said:
Li Zongren, speaking at Whampoa Military Academy before the Northern Expedition, 21 July 1926.
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Li Zongren is indeed the best available choice to replace Jiang. The latter's assassination may be a blessing in disguise for the Nationalists.
 

CCA

Hendryk said:
Li Zongren is indeed the best available choice to replace Jiang. The latter's assassination may be a blessing in disguise for the Nationalists.
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Considering though that the premise of the TL is a divided China wracked with warlordism with the future China seemingly collapsing into a nuclear-armed civil war then things might not be so rosy :p
 

tukk323

CCA said:
Considering though that the premise of the TL is a divided China wracked with warlordism with the future China seemingly collapsing into a nuclear-armed civil war then things might not be so rosy :p
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Not quite what the premise is. Its more about what China would be like without Chiang, I simply gave it the warlord label to give people an idea of that much of it would be set in the warlord era.
Also its the Soviet Union and China against each other in the prologue, not different Chinese states.
 

tukk323

[FONT=&quot]3. Clash Of Arms[/FONT]

Taken from “The Many Headed Dragon: Warlords in China”
 By Rodger Stevens
 © 1970, Bluewood Books
 Philadelphia, USA

The Northern Expedition carried out by the Kuomintang government was an astounding success. Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang’s armies were beaten back by the much more modern and capably led armies of Li Zongren and Li Jishen. Everywhere the warlord armies were pushed back, the common people celebrated their liberation and welcomed the new republican soldiers. Much of this support of the Kuomintang by the common people can be attributed to the extreme taxation, poverty and famines that had plagued the warlord controlled regions, while the Kuomintang was seen as being a government for the people, aided by its ties to the CCP. An additional benefit of the victories, other than morale and support was the influx of new young men signing up to join the KMT army. Many wanted to be part of the great revolution which was finally overthrowing the warlords and bringing China into the modern world.

 By the end of the first year both warlords in central China had been utterly defeated their soldiers either dead, exiled or having switched sides to the KMT. After taking the cities of Wuhan, Shanghai and Nanjing the KMT was now in control of a large part of China. There was only one other powerful warlord still to contend with, the Mukden Tiger, Zhang Zuolin-warlord of Manchuria, whose own Fengtian Army outnumbered the KMT forces. [1]

3-1changtsolinxx7.jpg

Zhang Zuolin, The Mukden Tiger.


Textbook and reading material for History 402: China’s Move Into The Modern World, University of Natal, taught by Professor Dineke Weers.
 “Breath Of The Dragon: A Military History Of Modern China”
 © 1999 By Jonathan Drake
 Crescent History Publishing, Pretoria, South Africa

The Battle of Huaibei is a defining moment in modern Chinese history. It marked the end of the corrupt warlord era of the last two decades [2] and showed the world that the revolutionary Kuomintang had the military strength and support that they very well could indeed unify the people of China into a modern nation.

 On the plains north of the city of Zhang had managed to gather all of his elite troops that had served with him for many years. Throughout March the Fengtian and other warlord forces made their way into the plains, travelling along the shores of Lake Taihu and heading south. The main Kuomintang force was stationed in and around Suzhou, but when Li first heard reports of Zhang’s gathering army he quickly organized his generals into action. Li’s meeting with his generals went on for several hours as they discussed the strategy they would need to hold back the far greater numbers of Zhang’s army.

 A rundown of the numbers at first glance seems to overwhelmingly favour the warlords. Zhang had four army corps which made up the bulk of his most loyal soldiers from the north, each of which had 30,000 men. He had also managed to bring in the forces of several allies, namely Tang Yulin and Zhang Jingyao, who contributed another 50,000 men. And finally the remnants of the Central China warlord armies had been placed under the command of Xu Kun who was eager to avenge the series of defeats his commander, Sun had suffered near Nanchang. He had at least 20,000 men under his command. In addition to this the warlord forces had several other armies spread out between Peking and Nanking, which were in place in case of any of the other Nationalist forces tried to make any further moves north.

 In contrast the Kuomintang only had an army of just over 100,000 men garrisoned at Suzhou and many of the units in this army had been battered and experienced casualties in the previous campaign, thus many of the actual units were under strength from their original numbers. However because of this, the men in this army had a great deal of experience and were likely the best fighting force in China at the time. In addition to this they were far better equipped than their foes. The NRA soldiers were almost all supplied with Hanyang 88 rifles, a very reliable copy of the German Gewehr 88 and had more modern artillery devices than the warlord armies. Much of the lack of equipment amongst the warlord troops can be contributed to the miserly nature of their leaders, which is described in detail in Bennett’s Money From A Stone: Greed of the Warlords and Hu’s Lords Of Ruin. While the pay of many warlord soldiers was substantial and they lived far more luxuriant lives compared to most civilians in warlord controlled areas, this was not reflected in the standard of their supplies and equipment, much of which had to be traded for or bought on the black market [3].

 The final and, in my opinion, most important multiplier [4] was the army officers and commanders. While Zhang’s army had some decent commanders, including Xu Kun-perhaps one of China’s best military leaders at the time, as well as Zhang Zongchang and Li Jinglin, but on the whole it was lacking sorely in competent leadership. Even Zhang’s direct forces had generals that were very cautious and held back constantly during combat. The officers were even worse. The system of corrupt, kleptocratic rule that governed the warlord territories spilled over into the military, such that any man in a position above his fellow soldiers would abuse his power and privileges. Thus the soldiers were hardly likely to be keen to follow their officers, who were even less likely to inspire their men.

 The NRA forces however had some of the best generals in China and several of them were present at Huaibei, Li Zongren-who had commanded his own separate forces and land before joining the KMT [5] and would go on to command the most successful Chinese army in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Bai Chongxi had two divisions under his command and some brilliant tacticians, namely, Chen Jitang, Zhang Fakui and Xue Yue. Also participating in the battle was Chen Cheng, a young soldier who would demonstrate his leadership qualities for the first time at Huaibei, taking command of his unit when the captain was killed and would go on to hand the Chinese Communists their final defeat at Harbin in 1945.

3-2Huaibai.jpg

Details of the Battle of Huaibei from Interpedia.


 [1] Without Chiang’s decision to implement a communist purge in April, the KMT forces have not been split and confused and been able to defeat Wu and Sun much quicker. In addition Li Zongren and Li Jishen have made better military decisions without Chiang’s pride interfering in operations. There are still some strong anti-communist forces in the KMT, though without total military control they have decided to wait until the Northern Expedition has been completed.

 [2] Strictly speaking the warlord era had not been going on for two decades, and it certainly didn’t end with this battle. There still numerous warlords in the west and north who would remain independent for some time and others that would go on to work with the Kuomintang government.

 [3] Many soldiers in fact provided their own weapons and equipment, as the relics they were given were susceptible to jamming or outright failure. This added to their own personal costs and meant that some units were well-equipped while others were very under-equipped. This isn’t to say this is the case with all of the warlord troops but a large number of them certainly.

 [4] Force multiplier is not a phrase used in TTL, people simply use multiplier when talking about military combat factors.

 [5] Li Zongren was the leader of the Guangxi Clique which in OTL was closely allied with Chiang until 1928 and turned against him in the Central Plains War, with Chiang gone the Guangxi remain a vital part of the NRA.
 
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Wendell

This is a period in Chinese history rife with alternate history potential that is too little explored. I look forward to seeing where this ends up.
 

tukk323

4. The Decisive Battle

North of the city of Huaibei two armies stand ready to face each other in the battle which will decide the outcome of the Northern Expedition. On one side is Li Zongren, NRA Commander-in-Chief, Guangxi warlord and Kuomintang soldier, on the other is Zhang Zuolin, the lord of Manchuria, the Northern Tiger and self-proclaimed Grand Marshal of the Republic of China.


20 March 1927
East of Huaibei
Anhui Province, Republic of China

General Li Zongren, military commander of the National Revolutionary Army looked over his men as they prepared for the most difficult battle of the entire Northern Expedition. Despite being some of the best soldiers from Whampoa, they were sorely outnumbered by Zhang’s forces, most of the other sections of the army were still keeping order at Nanjing and Wuhan, the need to keep these important urban centres secure was a high priority and they could be attacked by any of the other warlords at any moment. So He Yingqin remained in Nanjing along with much of the Kuomintang leadership, while Li Jishen had three armies at Wuhan, and he was here facing off against all that the northern warlords could gather against him.

Despite the fierce morning sun, Li refrained from squinting his eyes. The warlord forces were no doubt going to arrive any minute and he hoped that his plan would work, if not Zhang’s troops would pour into central China and split the KMT-held territory that had taken so much blood and effort to win. The sudden sound of gunfire pulled him out of his thoughts, that would be Bai’s units engaging the arriving enemy forces. He told his generals to get ready, they would be making their move soon.


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The battle begins.


Textbook and reading material for History 402: China’s Move Into The Modern World, University of Natal, taught by Professor Dineke Weers.
“Breath Of The Dragon: A Military History Of Modern China”
© 1999 By Jonathan Drake
Crescent History Publishing, Pretoria, South Africa

Li strategy may have been fairly simple, but it was also effective. The warlord forces were using their overwhelming numbers to simply attack the NRA head on and hope that they would force them into a surrender o retreat eventually. Li had rightly predicted that they would do this and devised a plan to deal with it. Li had placed the bulk of his units behind the mountains and hills northeast of Huaibei. Bai Chongxi would have his units displayed nearer to the city and present as a target for the warlord soldiers. When enough of the enemy had charged forward at Bai’s men, Li and his soldiers would outflank the warlord forces, driving into their sides. The plan also hinged on General Tang Yulin, a Fengtian commander in the warlord armies. Tang had met with Li several times in secret in the previous few weeks and was sympathetic to the Kuomintang cause. Li had managed to convince him to use this battle to turn on his hated allies and join the NRA.

As Li forces engaged the shocked warlord soldiers from the west, Tang had positioned his force where it could do the most damage to the surprised forces. Tang gave the order for his men to turn on their allies after Li’s soldiers had forced the warlord troops to retreat some distance and absolutely shattered their remaining morale. Most of the warlord commanders saw the deteriorating situation and gave orders for their men to retreat in order to preserve what they could of their own forces. This led to much confusion and an orderly retreat turned into a debacle with most of the warlord forces taking heavy casualties. In addition to this Zhang Zuolin was killed when his horse threw him off, scared by a nearby artillery strike and he cracked his skull on a rock on the ground. Some of the warlord commanders put up resistance over the next week or so, but they were easily dealt with, as they were isolated from each other and captured or killed. By the morning of 30 March, the NRA was completely victorious having driven the warlord army from the region completely and securing central China for the Kuomintang. News of the battle quickly spread and other warlords were standing down and pledging their loyalty to the Kuomintang. Huaibei represented the end of the Northern Expedition and the destruction of the remaining northern warlords, in fact even the new leader of what remained of Fengtian, Zhang Xueliang-the former leaders son, joined the Kuomintang in another six months, when they were recognised as the legitimate government of China internationally. China had overcome the second stage of revolution [1] and was well on its way to progressing into a modern nation. However there were several more internal bumps that would occur before the road begun to smooth.


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General Tang Yulin, leading his officers to meet with General Li after the battle

[1] Drake considers the Xinhai Revolution the first stage and the Northern Expedition the second stage.
 
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