When it comes to the warlords of the Republic of China, many people's first reaction is "Beiyang", but there are exceptions to everything, such as the Ma Jiajun, which is notorious on the Internet and has dominated the three provinces of Gansu, Qingdao and Ningbo for nearly a hundred years, came from the Hunan army, and it was also supported by Zuo Zongtang.
In the 17th century, the Sufi sect of Islam was introduced to China and combined with the feudal forces in the northwest to form the unique "eunuch" system of the Hui people. Under the eunuch system, the head of each eunuch has the power to kill and seize the believers, just like a local emperor, so since the end of Qianlong, the rebellion in the northwest has been repeatedly prohibited.
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In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the Taiping Rebellion loosened the Qing government's control over the northwest, and in the first year of Tongzhi, religious leaders in Shaanxi took the lead in rebellion, followed by religious leaders in Gansu. The Qing court urgently ordered Duolong'a, a fierce general of the Eight Banners who was fighting with the Taiping army in the south, to lead his troops north.
The rebels, who were mostly coerced peasants, could not compete with the Taiping army in combat effectiveness, and were quickly defeated by the blows of Duolong'a, and fled to the neighboring province of Gansu. Duolonga set off the first wave of the Qing government's suppression of the Shaanxi-Gansu rebellion, and also laid a solid foundation for Zuo Zongtang to run the northwest in the future, but unfortunately he was killed in the pursuit of the enemy.
Succeeded by his deputy Mu Tushan, who was different from Duo Longa's strong suppression, Mu Tushan led to the resurgence of the rebellion, which was the historical background of the old Hunan army led by Zuo Dashuai into Shaanxi, Gansu and Gansu. Different from Duolong'a's weeding and eradication and Mu Tushan's passive compromise, Zuo Zongtang adopted a strategy of equal emphasis on suppression.
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After clearing the remnants of Shaanxi, Zuo Zongtang needed to face four main Gansu rebels: "Gansu (before the Republic of China, Gansu included Ningxia and Qinghai) from Ningxia to attack, Ma Hualong against Lingzhou, Ma Guiyuan against Xining, Ma Wenlu against Suzhou, Ma Zhanao against Hezhou. ”
Among the four, Ma Hualong and Ma Guiyuan are the most powerful. Ma Hualong is not only "rich in a county, donating military positions", but also a Protestant leader. Taking advantage of his status as the sect leader, Ma Hualong mobilized a wide range of believers, so that his old nest, Jinjibao, had been the center of the rebellion in Gansu for more than a decade.
Ma Guiyuan of Xining was the fourth grandson of Ma Laichi, the founder of Huamen Temple, and had a high religious prestige, but he was young, lacked political and military experience, and had no firm will to oppose the Qing Dynasty. Ma Wenlu and Ma Zhanao are much inferior in strength, and the most important thing is that they do not have hereditary religious positions.
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The Qing government has always pursued Qianlong's strategy of "governing Mu with Mu", but Zuo Zongtang was keenly aware that the root cause of the failure of the ethnic problem in the northwest was that it simply encircled the religious leaders and did not destroy the eunuch system behind it. The control of the sect leader over the people exceeds that of the government, and once the social contradictions intensify, rebellion will inevitably arise.
In response to this situation, Zuo Zongtang first mobilized heavy troops and dealt a heavy hand to Ma Hualong. After the Qing army captured Jinjibao, Zuo Zongtang Lingchi executed Ma Hualong's father and son, beheaded more than 80 of his father, brothers, sons and nephews, and the whole family of women and children was assigned to the army, and all 10,000 believers were relocated to Guyuan and other places in the "bitter world".
Seeing the tragedy of Ma Hualong's family, the leaders of the rebel army in Gansu were anxious, and Ma Zhanao of Hezhou was the first to think of surrendering. In the battle of Taizi Temple, Ma Zhanao and his deputy Ma Haiyan won a surprising victory, killing the commanders of the Qing army, Fu Xianzong and Xu Wenxiu, and beheading more than 140 generals, creating the biggest defeat in Zuo Zongtang's life.
The Qing army was defeated on all fronts, but Ma Zhanao did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, but sent his son Ma Anliang to the Qing army camp to plead guilty. Ma Zhanao's move was in the hands of Zuo Zongtang, and the Hezhou rebels immediately entered the Hunan army system and were organized into the "Ma Qi Third Team".
After becoming the central banner governor of the Qing army, Ma Zhanao immediately threw himself into quelling the rebellion, and after the city of Xining was broken, he successfully ensnared thirteen old sect leaders led by Ma Guiyuan. In order to cover up the secret of the rebellion at the beginning, Ma Zhanao poisoned them, broke their hands and tendons, and sent them to Lanzhou for merit.
Zuo Zongtang supported Ma Zhanao as an agent, and the originally hereditary clerical power was forcibly inserted into a political and military force that was dependent on the government. Ma Zhanao and his son Ma Anliang relied on the power of the Qing government to suppress religious forces for more than 20 years, and finally let the military power and political power take over the religious power.
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In this process, with the decline of the Qing Dynasty, the Northwest Majia Army gradually rose, and eventually became a major warlord during the Republic of China. However, they are also soberly aware that the legitimacy of their rule comes from the appointment of the central government, and once they betray the central government or accept the rebellion of the Japanese army, the clerical forces will immediately counterattack, so it is said that there were no separatist forces in the northwest like the northeast and Inner Mongolia during the Anti-Japanese War, and to a certain extent, thanks to the foresight of the commander Zuo.
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