In the autumn of 1927, Liu Zhennian scolded: "Zhang Jingyao is full of nonsense, Ban Pingxiu eats and sleeps, how can such a person not be defeated in battle." Zhang Jingyao was the commander of the Second Army of the Zhilu Coalition Army, and Ban Pingxiu was the deputy commander, which repeatedly lost battles against Feng Yuxiang's troops in Henan and Anhui and retreated to the area around Lunanteng County.
Liu Zhennian, who was the brigade commander of the Second Army, was very dissatisfied with the incompetence of Zhang Jingyao and Ban Pingxiu, the two superiors, and Feng Yuxiang's troops attacked fiercely, and the deputy commander Ban Pingxiu was helpless, so he proposed to Zhang Zongchang, commander-in-chief of the Zhilu Coalition Army, to hand over about 2,000 remnants to Liu Zhennian for rectification.
Most of Liu Zhennian's subordinates objected, saying: "Zhang (Zongchang) and Chu (Yupu) are about to be destroyed, so why should we take up this mess?" ”
Liu Zhennian said: "Before the Han Dynasty died, there were Later Han, they don't do it for us!" My generation has applied what we have learned and made meritorious achievements, and this is also the time. After that, Liu Zhennian drove to Linyi with the remnants of Ban Pingxiu, organized into a regiment, and changed it to the command of Fang Yongchang, commander of the Fourth Army.
In Linyi, Liu Zhennian made a bold move and strictly reorganized the training, which suddenly changed the appearance of this crippled team. Fang Yongchang greatly admired Liu Zhennian's ability to govern the army, appointed him as the brigade commander of the new brigade, and promoted Liu Zhennian to Zhang Zongchang as the chief of staff of the army.
In the summer of 1928, the Northern Expeditionary Army attacked Shandong, Zhang Zongchang was defeated and retreated to Jidong, and Fang Yongchang was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Jiaodong Defense, and Liu Zhilu, commander of the 13th Army, as the deputy commander, and commanded the remnants of the Zhilu Coalition Army to Jiaodong in order to make a comeback in the future. Soon, Fang Yongchang fled to Dalian and handed over the troops to Liu Zhennian, who declared himself a military commander and began to set up his own portal.
In May of the same year, Liu Zhennian and Liu Zhilu were stationed in Changyi, Pingdu, and Yexian counties. After Liu Zhilu established relations with the Nationalist government in Nanjing, he attempted to annex Liu Zhennian's troops and territory.
On June 10, in the name of a meeting, Liu Zhilu stripped three of the four brigade commanders of the Fourth Army of their military powers and retained them as senators and advisers. Liu Zhennian was furious when he heard the news, and immediately contacted the various units of the Fourth Army to refuse Liu Zhilu's reorganization. Therefore, Liu Zhilu led the Thirteenth Army to besiege Ye County in an attempt to coerce Liu Zhennian into submission. Liu Zhennian waited sternly, and the two sides launched a fierce battle in the area around Yecheng. On the 13th, Liu Zhennian led his entire army to rush out of Yecheng and defeated Liu Zhilu at Fulu Mountain in the west of the city.
In early July, Liu Zhilu joined forces with Zhang Zongchang's other remnants, Gu Zhen, Zhong Zhenguo, and others, to besiege ye county with heavy troops. Liu Zhennian instructed the representatives of the people of Ye County to go out of the city to ask liu Zhilu to stop the artillery attack on the city so as not to kill the people.
Liu Zhilu asked the deputies to convey to Liu Zhennian: "Since the commander-in-chief (Fang Yongchang) has abandoned his army and fled, the Fourth Army should be under the command of our deputy commander. If the resistance does not obey the order, I will use cannons to raz the city and destroy the rebel army. ”
Liu Zhennian showed no weakness and ordered continued resistance. Just at this time, Fang Yongchang returned to Ye County from Dalian, and he angrily rebuked Liu Zhennian: "Ye County is the hometown of Zhang Zongchang (Zhang Zongchang), and it is also a certain hometown of our side, and at present the war is urgent, I will not deal with it for the time being; see how you perform in this battle, and then deal with it after the war." ”
That night, Liu Zhennian commanded the left wing army to take the lead in attacking Phoenix Mountain, 29 miles southwest of the city, just when the Dalian Japanese reconnaissance plane skimmed over the sky, Liu Zhilu was suspicious, thinking that Liu Zhennian had Japanese support, he led his troops to retreat westward, Fang Yongchang commanded the whole army to cover the attack, Liu Zhilu fled to Qingdao, electrified the field.
After the war, Liu Zhennian taunted Liu Zhilu: "Qian Donkey is huge, and the technique stops this ear!" ”
After defeating Liu Zhilu, Liu Zhennian was appointed by Fang Yongchang as the commander of the First Division, still stationed in Ye County. However, he had both doubts and jealousy toward Yongchang, and He Yisan, commander of the Third Division stationed in Penglai, looked for an opportunity to get rid of Fang Yongchang, and then contacted Liu Kaitai, the commander of the Fang Regiment, to get rid of Fang Yongchang's close associate, Zhang Shouting, commander of the Second Division stationed in Huang County.
On September 28 of the same year, after conspiring with Liu Kaitai and Liu Zhennian, they shot and killed Zhang Shuting, commander of the Second Division, and many of his close associates. Fang Yongchang was shocked to hear that the Second Division had changed, and fled to Penglai He Yisan, where He Yisan's attitude was ambiguous. Fang Yongchang saw that the situation was not good, and fled back to Dalian with a few of his cronies.
At this point, Liu Zhennian successfully replaced Fang Yongchang and stationed himself in Yantai, while accepting the title of the Provisional First Army given by Chiang Kai-shek in the name of the Nationalist Government in Nanjing. Liu Zhennian served as commander and commander of the First Division, Liu Kaitai as commander of the Second Division, and He Yisan remained commander of the Third Division.
At this time, Liu Zhennian greatly expanded his strength, and he was both soft and hard, and the remnants of Zhang Zongchang and other miscellaneous troops scattered throughout Jiaodong, such as Gu Zhen, Zhong Zhenguo, Liu Xuanlai, Shi Zhongcheng, and other departments, either annexed by force, or gently persuaded, basically cleaned up, and were organized into 5 infantry divisions, one regiment each for cavalry, artillery, and special agents, and a battalion of engineers, reinforcements, and communications.
At the same time, the combined forces of Zhang Zongchang and Chu Yupu were disarmed by Bai Chongxi's troops in the area of Changli and Luanzhou and reorganized into 7 divisions, and Zhang and Chu fled to Dalian. But they still had ambitions not to die, and Zhang Zongchang gathered a cadre of generals such as Chu Yupu and Cheng Guorui at the Dalian Westward Journey Villa in December, and the secret merchants once again marched into Shandong.
On February 19, 1929, Zhang Zongchang and Chu Yupu led Fang Yongchang, Huang Fengqi and other old troops to land at Longkou. Liu Kaitai, commander of the Second Division, Li Xitong, commander of the Fourth Division, and Shi Zhongcheng, commander of the Fifth Division, who had originally been attached to Liu Zhennian, rebelled against Liu Zhennian.
Zhang Zongchang sent Liu Zhennian's Baoding military academy classmate Lang Guanyi to persuade Liu Zhennian to obey the orders to collect the compilation, and Liu Zhennian proposed to kill Fang Yongchang first, and then talk about the issue of adaptation. Zhang Zongchang had no choice but to order Fang Yongchang to leave the army for a while. However, after Fang Yongchang left, Liu Liu Zhennian did not obey the order, and Zhang Zongchang decided to solve it by force.
The second, fourth, and fifth divisions under Liu Zhennian's command defected, leaving only the First Division and He Yisan's Third Division in his headquarters, and then he was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to reduce the troops to the newly formed Third Division, with Liu Zhennian as the division commander and He Yisan as the deputy division commander.
Zhang Zongchang's troops seemed to be quite numerous, but they were all reorganized from the rout remnants, and the military discipline was poor and the combat effectiveness was low. In a surprise counterattack in late April, Liu Zhennian won a complete victory, crushing Zhang Zongchang's main force, capturing more than 5,000 prisoners alone. Liu Zhennian led his troops in pursuit of victory and captured the old governor Chu Yupu at Fushan County. On August 20, Liu Zhennian sent someone to secretly shoot Chu Yupu to death.
Liu Zhennian expelled Fang Yongchang, killed Chu Yupu, and expelled Zhang Zongchang, and for a while became famous and became a warlord who divided Jiaodong, he himself was full of pride and ambition, boasting: "If I have 30,000 horses, I can run rampant in the domain." ”