A different outcome to the Zhili-Fengtian War of 1924?

Because he was so enraged at Feng Yuxiang's betrayal and seizure of Beijing, Wu Peifu himself decided to personally crush the coup and leave command of his forces at the northern pass at Shanhaiguan to his less competent lieutenants. His entire decision was based on nothing more than an irrational outburst of fury, so it seems like a somewhat plausible POD for Wu Peifu to calm himself down and delegate the menial task of retaking Beijing to one of his lieutenants while instead using his own renowned talents to hold the Shanhaiguan pass.

Assuming that Wu Peifu's subordinates can retake Beijing and Wu himself remains in command of the forces defending the northern passes, would we see the Fengtian offensive stall for good, as it had been up until the Beijing coup IOTL? And more importantly, would such a stalemate ensure the continuation of the Northern System for another decade or so?
 
Reading the wikipedia articles, it seems like the Fengtian victory led to the GMD getting more support for the Northern Expedition. Had there been not as decisive a victory, Zhang Zuolin may not have been able to overextend himself and allow the GMD to be as successful as it had been, but at the same time this would have been the second time he lost or at least came to stalemate in a war with Zhili, which may have created problems for his powerbase as a warlord.

And then there is the question of the Japanese. They killed Zhang in OTL because they saw him as becoming too independent or powerful to be controlled. If he loses or otherwise fails his war aims, the Japanese may take further actions to keep their 'puppet' in power, instead of killing him. However, another article (aside from the single book I read some time ago) suggests that Zhang was assassinated not because he was too powerful but because he failed to stop the GMD's advance. If this is true, having Zhili stay around for some more time might hamper the GMD and thus allow the Japanese to tolerate Zhang for a longer period. We may even see a China divided along traditionalist Fengtian (backed by Japan) and liberal, progressive GMD/CCP lines (backed by USSR), though IMO this would eventually result in some decisive conflict ending in unification.
 
Top