3.106 Fall and Rise of China: First United Front

Age of Conquest: A Kings and Generals Podcast

Last time we spoke about the second Zhili-Fengtian War. After the first Zhili-Fengtian War of 1922, the Zhili warlords took control of Beijing. Cao Kun bribed his way into the presidency as Zhang Zuolin retreated to Manchuria to rebuild his army. Zhang appointed key officials and boosted military production, significantly enhancing his army, navy, and air force. The catalyst for the second Zhili-Fengtian War in 1924 was the First Jiangsu-Zhejiang War. Zhang Zuolin declared war on the Zhili clique, accusing them of corruption and oppression. The war saw battles at Rehe, Shanhaiguan, and other locations, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. However, the Zhili forces were plagued by internal betrayal and logistical challenges. Feng Yuxiang's unexpected coup in Beijing further weakened the Zhili's position. Ultimately, the Fengtian army's superior strategy and coordination led to their victory, capturing key cities and forcing Zhili leaders to flee.

#106 the First United Front

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.

The second Zhili-Fengtian war was by far the most intense war to date for China’s Warlord Era. Perhaps up to 450,000 troops participated in battles stretching along the Great Wall Line from Shanhaiguan to Beijing. The casualties were reported to be around 30,000, but estimates for China’s Warlord Era are notoriously flimsy. Ultimately it was won by Feng Yuxiang’s betrayal against Wu Peifu. Feng Yuxiang’s Beijing coup certainly turned the tide, and now he had emerged a major player on the scene. Feng Yuxiang went to work, expelling the former Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi from the Forbidden city and placed Cao Kun under house arrest. Now immediately after Feng Yuxiang had taken Beijing, he began reorganizing his forces into the 1st National Army or better known as the Guominjun. Feng Yuxiang acted as its commander in chief with his co-conspirators Hu Qingyi and Sun Yueh as commanders of the 2nd and 3rd Armies.

Now the Guominjun wer certainly an odd motley crew. The Guominjun’s ideology was a blend of Chinese nationalism, progressive social reforms, military modernization, and ethical governance influenced by Christianity. Feng Yuxiang’s leadership and vision shaped the faction into quite a unique force, striving to create a unified, modern, and moral China. Feng took care of his men’s well being, he educated them, promoted their sense of nationalism. Within his territory Feng promoted education, built schools, and established social welfare programs. He believed that improving the living standards of the common people was essential for national strength and stability. He implemented a series of social reforms in the areas he controlled. These included land reforms aimed at reducing the power of landlords and distributing land more equitably among peasants. His Guominjun would become known for its efforts to combat corruption and inefficiency within its ranks and in the administration of its territories. Feng Yuxiang sought to create a more ethical and efficient government. Feng supported the modernization of China’s infrastructure and industry. This included building railways, improving communications, and promoting technological advancements. The Guominjun was driven by a strong sense of Chinese nationalism, emphasizing the need to unify China and end the fragmentation caused by warlordism. They aimed to establish a central government that could restore national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Guominjun placed a high emphasis on military discipline and modern training methods. Feng Yuxiang’s background in the Beiyang Army influenced his approach to building a modern, professional military force. The Guominjun’s ideological alignment with nationalism and reform brought them into close cooperation with the Kuomintang. The alliance with the KMT was based on shared goals of unification and modernization, though it was sometimes strained by ideological and strategic differences. Because of the geographical distance between their spheres of influence they would be more or less isolated from each other and thus it made it difficult to coordinate actions.

Feng Yuxiang had hoped by imprisoning Cao Kun and exiling Puyi he would gain popular support amongst the Republican and anti-Manchu in the Beiyang government. Feng Yuxiang also proclaimed the Guominjun troops to be the first in the history of the Republic to serve as a national military establishment rather than a personal army. However no one forget his acts of treachery, the coup d’etat certainly gave him a bad rep. One of the few successes he would have was persuading Dr Sun Yat-Sen to come over to Beijing to take part in the new government.

With the collapse of the Zhili clique, a more tenuous balance of power emerged in Beijing. Feng Yuxiang’s position in Beijing was weakened each day, because of the maneuvers of Zhang Zuolin. He had moved the Fengtian forces south of Manchuria, proceeding south of the Tientsin-Pukou railway. This effectively gave Zhang Zuolin control over East China from Manchuria down to the Yangtze Valley. Alongside this Zhang Zuolin reached an agreement with Duan Qirui to bring him into the new fold.

A 5 day conference took place at Tientsin from November 11th to 16th, including the new triumvirate of Zhang Zuolin, Feng Yuxiang and Duan Qirui. They discussed the future of the Beiyang government. Feng Yuxiang quickly discovered he had little negotiating power beyond his dominance in Beijing and even that was tenuous as Zhang Zuolin pretty much surrounded them all. Feng Yuxiang found out his trump card, the promise from Dr Sun Yat-Sen that he would come participate in the new Beiyang government was useless as both Zhang Zuolin and Duan Qirui had likewise received the same promise from him. During the conference the new triumvirate agreed Duan Qirui would become a figurehead of the new government with a position called the chief executive. Despite Duan Qirui’s status as the leader of the practically non-existant Anhui Clique, he was more palatable to the surviving Zhili clique warlords than Zhang Zuolin or Feng Yuxiang. They made sure not to make Duan Qirui a president or premier, his role was specifically meant to be temporary, this was done to lure Dr Sun Yat-Sen over to Beijing. Meanwhile Feng Yuxiang and Zhang Zuolin retained their territories and became the military leaders of the new regime.

On November 24th, Duan Qirui arrived to Beijing and assumed his new office. On December 9th the foreign powers recognized Duan Qirui’s new government on the basis he did not alter their pre-existing unequal treaties. This was inevitable as Japan was the leading imperial power in asia and backed both Zhang Zuoli and Duan Qirui. He formed a cabinet without any Guominjun members. It would seem no one had forgotten Feng Yuxiangs treachery, but then again, his Guominjun had no officers with sufficient prestige to be nominated to any posts. Feng Yuxiang had little hope of exerting any control in the new government.

Feng Yuxiang responded the dire situation by resigning his post as inspector general and retired, stating he would spending his future in study and travel. Yet his Guominjun forces still controlled Beijing. Zhang Zuolin took a cue from his move by also resigning his titles, heading over to Tientsin. Thus Duan Qirui with no military power, personally under threat of Feng Yuxiang’s forces in Beijing was facing a daunting situation. He had to try and maintain the peace between the two warlords while forming a government acceptable to the foreign powers. His government then decided to make Feng Yuxiang and Zhang Zuolin defense commissioners of the northwest and northeast respectively. Feng Yuxiang now would control Suiyuan and Chahar, setting up new headquarters in Kalgan. Feng Yuxiang’s new position did not prove lucrative and it was not an adequate power base. His only real ally was the KMT, but he was far to isolated from them, thus he turned to the Soviet Union.Feng Yuxiangs socialist actions had attracted the attention of communists and indeed within his entourage were many communists. The Soviets were enemies with the Empire of Japan. The Empire of Japan backed Zhang Zuolin, so the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The Soviets basically saw Feng Yuxiang as a possible balance against the Japanese who were continuing to expand their influence in Manchuria.

Dr Sun Yat-Sen came to the north alongside the Soviet Michael Borodin. Dr Sun Yat-Sen had pleaded with western nations for a long time to support his government with finance and arms, but none offered anything tangible.

Dr Sun Yat-Sen ‘s problem was his hard stance against the unequal treaties. All of the western powers knew, it was Dr Sun Yat-Sen’s priority to get rid of the unequal treaties, thus they all refused to support his efforts. However there was a new nation that did not support the unequal treaties, in fact they even publicly stated so, the Soviet Union. Back in Autumn of 1920, Sun Yat-Sen met with representatives of the Commuturn in Shanghai. Sun Yat-Sen told them he believed Lenin wanted him to be the founder of the CCP, because Chen Duxiu did not have much influence with the people of China, unlike him, he was after all kind of a rockstar. After numerous attempts to gain support from Japan or the West, Sun Yat-Sen began to seriously consider cooperating with the CCP who were being supported by the Soviet Union.

In December of 1921, Sun Yat-Sen met with Hendriks Josephs Franciscus Marie Sneevliet, known as Marin, because why is his name that long haha, in Guilin. Marin was a official representative of the Commiturn, Sun Yat-Sen came to him expressing his admiration for the Russian Revolution and for Lenin. He stated that he wanted to learn more about the Soviet achievement, especially their new economic policies. In August of 1922, the soviet diplomat to China, Adolf Joffe was trying to settle issues regarding Outer Mongolia and the Chinese Far Eastern Railway, to which he had little to no success, but during the process he also met with Dr Sun Yat-Sen. Sun Yat-Sen brought up the idea of cooperating with the CCP, it sounded promising. For a few months the Soviets brainstormed and by the 4th congress of the Communist international decided to get the CCP to agree to such a thing. In July of 1922 the CCP accepted Marin’s proposal to join the Kuomintang in an alliance. This became known as the Sun-Joffe Manifesto and what it resulted in was the First United Front.

In July the Soviets instructed the CCP to join the alliance, but there was a ton of push back. In Hanzhou, Marin met with Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Cai Hesen , Zhang Guotao, Gao Junyu , Maring , and Zhang Tailei. Marin pointed out to them that the Kuomintang was a party of all classes who were trying to promote democratic revolution. The CCP joining the KMT would be in line with Lenin’s outline on the international communist revolution. Many of the CCP leadership pointed out issues, like anti-communist elements in the KMT, but ultimately they all decided it was a good idea as the reality was, the CCP was only 300 members, they needed help to grow. Thus it was decided, some of the CCP leading figures would join the KMT, with the secret intention of persuading KMT members to join the CCP.

According to testimony from Zhou Fohai, a CCP member at the time who would later join Wang Jingwei’s collaborationist government "At that time, the Soviets wanted to collude with Wu Peifu, so it first gave Wu Peifu the honorific title of 'enlightened warlord'. At that time, Sun Hongyi was close to Wu Peifu, while Li Dazhao was close to Sun Hongyi. They took advantage of this relationship and had a secret relationship with Wu Peifu. Li Dazhao went to Luoyang several times, and it seems that there were records in the newspapers at that time. His methods were really clever. Wu Peifu ordered Gao Enhong to appoint Communists as the chief inspectors of the four lines of Beijing-Hankou, Beijing-Fengtian, Jinpu and Longhai. The inspector of Beijing-Hankou was Bao Huicai, and the inspector of Jinpu seemed to be Li Minzhi... Before the Soviets was abandoned by Wu Peifu, it once had an affair with Chen Jiongming. Chen Jiongming... specially summoned Chen Duxiu to Guangdong as its education committee member Chairman of the National People's Congress. At that time, Chen Jiongming's rebellious deeds were already well known, and Guangdong was clearly divided into two factions, Sun and Chen. The Soviets naturally used its strength to shift the situation. So the Soviets colluded with him. Chen Jiongming paid 500 yuan a month to Chen Gongbo to publish the "Qun Bao", which was a result of their collusion. Later, when Chen Jiongming was hiding in Huizhou, Ma Lin and Tan Pingshan went to Huizhou twice to discuss the terms of cooperation. Who would have thought that Chen Jiongming would dare to bombard Guanyin Mountain and endanger Premier Sun. After this rebellious act, Chen Jiongming was despised by the Chinese people. The Soviets was afraid of the attack of public opinion, so it did not dare to openly ally with him. Abandoned by Wu Peifu in the north and isolated from Chen Jiongming in the south, the Soviets, in 1923, followed the orders of the Third International and tried to infiltrate the Kuomintang and carried out its conspiracy to destroy the Kuomintang. "

On January 12th of 1923, the Soviets passed a resolution recognizing the First United Front. Sun Yat-Sen accepted the alliance, but with two reservations; number 1, China would not become a communist nation; number 2 that the Soviets would give up the unequal treaties the Russian Empire previously held over China. On January 26th Sun Yat-Sen and Joffe issued a joint statement, declaring the cooperation between the KMT, CCP and Soviet Union. Now its important to note, Sun Yat-Sen did not believe the Soviet system could or would be functional for China. He believed China’s largest problem was reunification under national independence. The Soviets abolished the unequal treaties that the Russian Empire had made with China and declared Outer Mongolia was part of China resolving that debacle. The Soviets even stated they promised not to carry out a communist revolution within China. Sun Yat-Sen stated publicly he was willing to accept CCP members into the KMT. Now this was clearly only done in order to receive Soviet finances and arms, but secondly, he truly believed their membership would help strengthen the nationalist movement.

Many in the KMT were concerned with this venture. On February 9th of 1924, at Tsinghua University, Sun Yat-Sen was answering questions about the issue where he stated “Russia is Russia, and China is China. Russia has its own ideology, and China has its own ideology. In my previous speech, I mentioned Russia everywhere. I was talking about the organization of its revolutionary party, not its revolutionary ideology.” Now here comes Mr. Borodin. In September of 1923, Borodin was sent to serve as Dr Sun Yat-Sens political advisor, specifically responsible for facilitating the First United Front. Borodin spoke no Chinese, thus he conversed in English. He had a heavy midwestern American accent, which masked his Russian origin, helping him communicate with the largely anglophone and American educated leadership within the KMT. He was accompanied by Ho Chi Minh, yes the future leader of communist Vietnam.

Borodin showed up in early October to Guangzhou where he held some private talks with the CCP. The CCP had been complaining about how the KMT were quite anti-communist in general, how the alliance made no sense if it was agreed there would be no Communist Revolution pushed by the Soviet Union within China. Borodin told them the real purpose of the alliance was actually a reorganization effort and to infiltrate the KMT. "In the newspapers, I talked about the Kuomintang, but for us, what I said was actually the increase in the influence of the CCP... We must never forget that what we are actually doing is to stabilize the CCP. This goal should be remembered forever."

Now despite the new alliance with the Soviets, Sun Yat-Sen did not stop reaching out to the US and Japan causing Borodin headaches. In his report to Stalin, Borodin mentioned that on January 23, 1924, he talked with Sun Yat-Sen "I asked Sun Yat-sen again and again: How long will he hold on to the fantasy that the Chinese people may get some help from the United States, Britain or Japan? Hasn't he been waiting for such help for too long? Isn't it time to sum up the past full of illusions and failures and turn to a new path?" Then in late January of 1924, during the First Congress of the Kuomintang, Sun Yat-Sen expanded upon the Three Principles of the Peoples and this deeply concerned Borodin who reported to Stalin "Sun agreed to the revolutionary program formulated for the Kuomintang, which catered to us; but he disagreed to publicly say that he would establish a united front with us. For this reason, he did not fully trust us." Borodin also came to Sun Yat-Sen about his program stating “You are facing a choice. Do you want to move forward with the 1.5 billion people in the imperialist camp? Or do you want to move forward with the 1.25 billion people who are oppressed by imperialism? You should make a decision”. Although Sun Yat-Sen would accept many of Borodin’s suggestions, ultimately it was Sun Yat-Sen calling the shots, and he butted heads often with Borodin. Borodin stated at one point to those around him "the American spirit was deeply rooted in his mind. Generally speaking, it was difficult to make Sun Yat-sen change his mind."

By the end of 1923, Chiang Kai-Shek led Dr Sun Yat-Sen’s delegation to the Soviet Union. Chiang Kai-Shek reported back to Sun Yat-Sen “The strategy and purpose of the Soviet Union’s so-called ‘world revolution’ is more dangerous to the independence movement of Eastern nations than Western colonialism.” Sun Yat-Sen replied that he believed Chiang Kai-Shek was over-worrying and that he “deeply believed that only by allowing the Chinese Communist Party members to be under the leadership of our party and under the unified command of our party can we prevent them from creating class struggles and hindering the progress of our national revolution. If our Northern Expedition is victorious, the Three Principles of the People can be implemented as scheduled. By then, even if the Soviet wants to sabotage our national revolution, it will be impossible. Moreover, the Soviet Union only recognizes our party as the only party leading the revolution in China, and strongly urges its CCP members to join our party and obey its leadership, but does not deny that China has no possibility of implementing its communism. Therefore, it still insists on its decision to ally with Russia and tolerate the CCP”

Trouble soon brewed in June of 1924, many leading KMT figures wrote to Sun Yat-Sen accusing the CCP of raising the banner of anti-imperialism and anti-militarism causing the KMT to suffer scorn from western powers and Chinese nationalist scorn. Sun Yat-Sen knew of the problem, it was largely CCP students led by Chen Duxiu making a scene. He explained "The Chinese young students headed by Chen Duxiu are self-righteous. They initially wanted to monopolize Russian relations and prevent Russia from interacting with our party. Peter used Russia's help to establish his own faction and compete with our party. If I suspect Chen Duxiu and implicate Russia, it will be exactly what Chen Duxiu is planning and help him succeed. If (Chen Duxiu and others) do not obey our party, I will abandon them." Sun Yat-Sen also tried his best to restrict the CCP to be in his own direct orbit. Chen Duxiu had been repeatedly criticizing Sun Yat-Sen's policies in his newspapers, so Sun Yat-Sen went to Borodin to correct the issue. “Since the CCP have joined the KMT, they should obey party discipline and should not publicly criticize the KMT. If the CCP do not obey the KMT, I will expel them; if the Soviet Union protects the Chinese Communist Party, I will oppose the Soviet Union.”

Sun Yat-Sen honestly failed to see the threat that the CCP really posed. He truly believed the CCP joined the KMT was not a cooperation between two equal parties. He believed the KMT was China’s only revolutionary party while the CCP were just a group of scholars who supported Leninism. He never really took them seriously, but he also made sure never to give them arms when they continuously demanded them.

As for the CCP, they regarded the KMT as quite backwards, many leaders in the CCP thought Dr Sun Yat-Sen was no different than the warlords. When Marin proposed to the CCP that they join the KMT, Chen Duxiu raised opposition arguing "the purpose and foundation of the revolution of the CCP and the KMT are different. The KMT's policies of alliance with the United States, Zhang Zuolin and Duan Qirui are too incompatible with communism. Outside Guangdong Province, it is still regarded as a political party fighting for power and profit. The Sun Yat-sen faction of the KMT has always been absolutely intolerant of the opinions of new members and cannot give them power". A lot of the CCP resented what they saw as Sun Yat-Sen appeasing the right while disenfranchising them.

Once the First United Front was established, the Soviets took over management of the Chinese Eastern Railway and began occupying Outer Mongolia. Then money and arms began pouring in, military advisors came to help create Sun Yat-Sens Northern expedition. Sun Yat-Sen dispatched Chiang Kai-Shek to Moscow to investigate their politics and military, while Borodin was made the KMT’s organization trainer.

In May of 1924 Borodin helped found the Whampoa Military Academy. There officers of the National Revolutionary Army were trained, the backbone of the KMT. They would all under the leadership of Dr Sun Yat-Sen’s number two, Chiang Kai-Shek. The quality of the education was guaranteed by regular visits from Soviet Officers. Many future big names would graduate from the academy, such as Lin Biao and Zhou Enlai. Borodin also established the Peasant Training institute, where a young Mao Zedong would serve. Things were not at all rainbows and sunshine. On May 1st of 1924, a large celebration was held in Guangzhou for the Peasant department. Sun Yat-Sen gave a speech calling on everyone to fight for national liberation and to put the theme of class struggle in a secondary position. This certainly did not sit well with the CCP, whose members began calling for breaking the alliance and arguing the KMT would lose the support of the Soviet Union. Borodin happened to be away at the time, and when prompted, Sun Yat-Sen kept saying they would resolve the matter when he returned. Frantic telegrams were sent and by June 20th Borodin returned.

On June 25th a meeting was held with the leaders of the KMT and CCP. Borodin agreed with the point that the CCP was a party within the party of the KMT, but also stated the KMT had to give some ground to the CCP if they wanted to keep favor with the Soviet Union. Suddenly a wave of anti communist statements were lobbed from prominent KMT members, such as Wang Jingwei. They further launched a petition to expel certain communists. On July 15th in retaliation, Chinese workers in Shamian went on strike. Despite these setbacks the First United Front remained firm. Mao Zedong would see an appointment as Minister of Propaganda of the KMT. His job entailed hunting down newspapers and anyone who distributed leaflets, demanding they come to the Propaganda Department for review prior. In the next episode, if not a future one, Mao Zedong’s propaganda department would have a lot of work ahead of them.

Now all the way back to when I mentioned Sun Yat-Sen and Borodin visited Feng Yuxiang. Borodin came bearing a similar deal to what the KMT/CCP had with the Soviet Union and at first Feng Yuxiang was uncooperative. Yet cooped up in his Kalgan HQ, Feng Yuxiang had no backers, he was very low on funds. Most importantly he lacked arsenal facilities. Feng Yuxiang had struggled to cope, hunting everyone for backers, but the Northwest was not easily accessible. When he made orders with private traders bound for coastal ports, they were simply seized by local warlords who controlled coastal areas. Without domestic capabilities or access to the sea, Feng Yuxiang was pretty much screwed. Thus he caved into the Soviets

An agreement was bought for Soviet financial aid and munitions by February of 1925, brokered by Borodin. From April to August, war materials began to pour into Feng Yuxiangs camp. The cargo was divided into two shipments, traveling over the trans siberian railway from Moscow to Verkhne Udinsk, then south over caravan trade routes to Maimaicheng. In 1925 it took 500 mongol carts to move the small arms, ammunition, rifles and field guns from Maimaicheng to Ulaan Baater, then over motor vehicles to Pingdichuan, to a station on the Beijing-Suiyuan railway all the way over to Fengzheng. It was a heavy haul to be sure: 5,000 cases of petroleum, 1,000 boxes of ammunition, 15,000 rifles, 15 million rounds of rifle ammunition, 27 colt machine guns, 630,000 machine gun ammunition, 1,000 entrenching tools, 30.000 hand grenades, and 100 poods of explosives. Another haul in 1925 included 64,000 rifles, 15.000 carbines, 72 million rounds of rifle and carbine ammunition, 189 machine guns, 6.45 million rounds of machine gun ammunition, 66 field guns, 18,000 revolvers, 5 million rounds of revolver ammunition, 50 field kitchens, 150 twowheel carts, and 16,000 swords. With a new supply line, Feng Yuxiang would distance himself from Zhang Zuolin. The triumvirate was becoming undone and a new war was looming.

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While it seemed a decent compromise had been established with the triumvirate of Zhang Zuolin, Duan Qirui and Feng Yuxiang, dark clouds were emerging. The Guominjun and Kuomintang were both getting in bed with the Reds and soon everyone would be mobilizing for another grand war.