Zhang Zuolin was born in a poor peasant family in the northeast, and since he was a child, he has traveled from east to west and lived a hard life. Later, in desperation, he threw himself into the green forest and became a bandit. In 1900, due to the invasion of northeast China by Tsarist Russia, Zhang Zuolin began to organize insurance teams in the local area to maintain local law and order. Later, the Qing government began to edict Zhang Zuolin and appoint officers to his local troops.
With the changes in the situation in the northeast and the Russo-Japanese War, warlord wars and other reasons, Zhang Zuolin relied on his unique style of leading troops and the excellent combat ability of the troops, and finally became the commander of the Fengtian Twenty-seventh Division in 1912. After that, Zhang Zuolin used various means to take control of Fengtian, Heilongjiang, and Jilin in unison. And his fengzhi army also directly dominated the northeast at that time and became the king of the northeast.
In 1922, Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin, who controlled the six provinces of Guannei, had a conflict, and the two major factions immediately turned their swords against each other, thus beginning the first direct fengzhi war. However, at that time, Zhang Zuolin's strength was not enough, and he was easily defeated by Wu Peifu and could only retreat to the northeast.
After this battle, Zhang Zuolin also thought bitterly and immediately rectified military affairs. He relied on the rapid development of his hometown in the northeast and purchased a large number of advanced weapons. In 1924, he again went out to fight with his direct family, this time, Zhang Zuolin raised his eyebrows and exhaled, and directly beat Wu Peifu away. In 1925, Zhang Zuolin took advantage of the victory and began to integrate the various units of the Beiyang Army, plus his own Fengzhi Legion, and the strength of the troops he controlled reached 350,000, reaching its peak.
So, how strong is Zhang Zuolin's strength at this time?
1. Controlled territory
After winning the Second Zhifeng War, Zhang Zuolin's provinces expanded rapidly in addition to Fengtian, Jilin, and Heilongjiang in the northeast. The Fengzhi Army and the reorganized subordinate units quickly occupied northern China, and even crossed the Yangtze River into Shanghai. At that time, including the three northeastern provinces, Rehe, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Beiping and Tianjin, Zhang Zuolin controlled nine provinces and two cities. The areas occupied later were originally the treasure territories of the direct family, and after a battle, they all belonged to Zhang Zuolin.
2. Powerful troops
In addition to the large number of guards and reorganized units mentioned above, Zhang Zuolin actually owns the Northeast Air Force and the Northeast Navy. After the defeat in the First Zhifeng War, Zhang Zuolin not only purchased a large amount of army equipment, but also purchased many ships and aircraft. Because he was "arrogant" to buy only the best and most expensive, he could say that he had advanced weapons that other forces did not have at that time.
For example, Zhang Zuolin has 5 aviation brigades and more than 200 aircraft. This scale is much stronger than that of ordinary small countries. For another example, Zhang Zuolin also established 3 naval units and more than 20 naval ships, which can be said to be the naval hegemony at that time.
In addition, in order to maintain a large army, Zhang Zuolin also relied on the industrial base in the northeast to establish a large number of military factories. These arsenals could produce not only rifles and ammunition themselves, but also heavy artillery, field guns and artillery shells in batches. With this strength, it was enough to dominate all the warlords at that time.
3. The peak of power
After the strength of the Feng clan grew in a large-scale and large stage, the warlords in the south could not see it, and united multiple forces to begin to attack Zhang Zuolin. At this moment, Zhang Zuolin's good "brother" Guo Songling suddenly led an army to rebel. At the same time, Feng Yuxiang, the commander of the Nationalist Army in Beijing, also sent a telegram to attack Zhang Zuolin. Because of the internal and external attacks, Zhang Zuolin was defeated several times, and he directly asked the Japanese for help. Then, under the joint attack of the Japanese soldiers and the Feng army, Zhang Zuolin successfully eliminated Guo Songling's troops and turned around to attack Feng Yuxiang. The other warlords did not expect that the king of the Northeast would be able to control the Japanese army, and they all retreated. In the end, relying on the strong strength of the Bong army and the support of the Japanese, the third Zhifeng War was won.
In 1926, when the National Revolutionary Army began the Northern Expedition, Zhang Zuolin convened a meeting in Tianjin, formed the An Guo Army, and became the commander-in-chief of 15 provinces, preparing to fight against the revolutionary army. In 1927, Zhang Zuolin was appointed Grand Marshal of the Army and Navy of the Beiyang Military Government in Beijing, and exercised administrative power on behalf of the Republic of China, at this time, the power in Zhang Zuolin's hands reached its peak.
However, after helping Zhang Zuolin, the Japanese also put forward conditions and began to expose the ambitions of wolves, and they proposed the "New Five-Way Pact of Manchuria and Mongolia" in an attempt to gradually encroach on Manchuria and Mongolia. Of course, Zhang Zuolin knew the minds of the Japanese and did not want them to succeed, so he signed a "reading" word on the agreement.
This "reading" word was sent to the Japanese and directly blew them up. It is precisely because of this that the Japanese finally understand that this king of the Northeast is really difficult to deal with and difficult to control.
In 1928, the Northern Expeditionary Army launched an attack on the Fengshi, and Zhang Zuolin could not resist it and prepared to negotiate peace. As the Northern Expeditionary Army's attack became more and more fierce, Zhang Zuolin had to return to the northeast and planned to retreat to preserve his strength. It was also at this critical moment that in the early morning of June 3, Zhang Zuolin was injured and killed by the Japanese on his way back to Fengtian from Beijing.
Zhang Zuolin's life from the poor grass to the peak of power and military power, and then to the death of the bomb, is really a roller coaster development, and even, some netizens say that he is indeed a generation of tyrants. However, it is a pity that he, despite so many resources, did not take the right path, or even devote useful forces to the revolution.
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