Aug 5, 2024
Last time we spoke about the beginning of the Northern Expedition.It was a decisive shift in Warlord Era China as Chiang Kai-Shekspearheaded his campaign to reunify China by invading Hunan.Despite staggering odds and limited resources, predominantlysupplied by the Soviets, Chiang Kai-Shek relied on the weakness ofhis adversaries. Initial successes were achieved by exploitingpolitical instability in Hunan, where local warlords were alienatedfrom the populace. Chiang Kai-Shek strategically gained supportfrom local commanders like Tang Shengchih, bolstering the KMT'sforces. The campaign faced logistical challenges, such as difficultterrain and cholera outbreaks, but the KMT’s superior strategy andlocal support led to victories along key river lines. By August1926, the KMT had effectively weakened Wu Peifu’s forces andsecured Hunan, establishing a crucial base for further offQensives.However the KMT’s actions had now drawn the attention of SunChuanfang who was preparing his own offensive.
#111 The Northern Expedition Part 2: The Jiangxi and FujianCampaigns
Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutifulhost Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind youthis podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings andGenerals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about thehistory of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodeson history of asia and much more so go give them a look overon Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over atYoutube and to continue helping us produce this content pleasecheck out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungryfor some more history related content, over on my channel, thePacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japanfrom the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War.
Chiang Kai-Shek’s gamble into Hunan and then Hubei had paiddividends. Wu Peifu had retreated to his stronghold of Wuhan by theend of August. By September the NRA began a siege of Wuchang whilecapturing Hankou and Hanyang. Once Wuchang fell, Wuhan would besecured. Again for those a bit confused, Wuhan more or less refersto the conglomeration of Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang, sometimescalled the “three towns of Wuhan”. Wuhan was the first majorobjection of the Northern Expedition as it held an incrediblearsenal, administrative structures for a government and otherlucrative goodies. Now from the offset of the Northern Expedition,Chiang Kai-Shek and his subordinates chose a divide and conquerstrategy. The first major warlord on their kill list was Wu Peifu.They chose him because of his powerbases proximity to Guangdong andto be frank, he was one of the weaker big warlords. To the east ofcourse was Sun Chuanfang, who now reigned over 5 provinces and hada 200,000 strong army that had proven itself quite effectiveagainst the Fengtian forces. The NRA tried to both avoid SunChuanfang and offer some carrots to him. However Sun Chuanfang hadno desire to join the KMT because he figured it would see himreceive a lesser role than his current position. Yet the strategyof simply leaving Sun Chuanfang alone had worked thus far like acharm. Sun Chuanfang did not come rushing to Wu Peifu’s aid,instead he dragged his feet. It was long enough for the NRA to take⅔’s of Wuhan, now Wuchang was under siege and they were quitevulnerable. As reports came in, indicating Sun Chuanfang waspreparing an offensive, Chiang Kai-Shek did I guess you can say theunthinkable.
Sun Chuanfang had kept his troops at bay, hoping to reap thebenefits of the NRA-Wu Peifu war. As Wuchang became under siege,Sun Chuanfang finally decided to act, preparing a two prongedoffensive against the NRA. Sun Chuanfang transferred 100,000 troopsfrom Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui to aid the 20,000 troops stationedin Jiangxi, concentrated along the Nanxun railway and border withHubei. He was going to use these forces to cut off theWuchang-Changsha railway, easing the way for him to seize Hunan andHubei, adding more gems to his thanos gauntlet. Meanwhile the restof his army, mostly Fujian based, would invadeGuangdong.
Unfortunately for him, he did not expect the unexpected, ChiangKai-Shek preemptively ordered 50,000 men to invade Jiangxi. As SunChuanfang’s forces were advancing towards Jiangxi, the NRA boltedinto northern Jiangxi, descending into the lowland plain nearPoyang Lake. Chiang Kai-Shek’s men were now threatening the capitalof Jiangxi, Nanchang and further south the major city of Ganzhou.It took the 1st Division of the 5th NRA army 3 days to takeGanzhou, while most of southern Jiangxi fell to other NRA forces.Their victories were sped up by the defection of Lai Shihuang,whose Jiangxi 4th Division was one of those Sun Chuanfang haddeployed to defend the province from the NRA. Despite having alarger army, Sun Chuanfang’s forces were by no means unified andwere failing to work together. The NRA 6th army swept throughcentral Jiangxi, smashing the dazed defenders of Nanchang andtaking the city by September 19th. This central sweep was done toattract Sun Chuanfangs fresh troops pouring into northern Jiangxi,who were just getting off steamboats along the Yangtze.
In the north along the Yangtze, the NRA offensive ground to a haltwhen Sun Chuanfangs vanguard engaged them. Sun Chuanfangs freshtroops hurled the NRA back towards the Hubei border with a fierce 3day long counter attack. This prompted Chiang Kai-Shek tofrantically reinforce them, seeing the Wuchang besiegers became askeletal crew from the 10th to 16th. It was not a decisive victoryfor Sun Chuanfang, but it certainly was a setback for the NRA whoseposition in the Yangtze valley was vulnerable. Sun Chuanfangs mensteamrolled from Nanking, upriver to Kiukiang in Jiangxi, and hecame with them to personally direct the reinforcements. He landedon September 21st and he set to work ordering his forces to sweepthe lowlands. His men recaptured Nanchang after a few days and mostof Jiangxi fell back under his hand. Sun Chuanfang rounded uphundreds of soldiers, officials and teachers, suspected to becolluding with the KMT and had them executed. Many students, bothmale and female were being targeted based on their short haircuts,this was in a Russian fashion, a fad at the time. He had theirheads impaled on stakes in public places around Nanchang andKiukiang to warn any who would collude with his enemies. SunChuanfang presumed the students teachers were the culpritssupporting the KMT movement and made sure to purge any found doingso.
The second half of September saw the NRA losing control of thesituation, the Northern Expedition was in danger of fallingapart.Sun Chuanfang’s two pronged offensive was pushing the NRAdeep into Hunan and Hubei, while cutting them off from Guangdong.Isolated into those pockets they would become easy pickings. SunChuanfang could also expect support from the battered Wu Peifu whowas stuck in Hubei, things were not looking good for ChiangKai-Shek. Chiang Kai-Shek was also facing issues with his base ofGuangzhou as communists and peasantry groups were disrupting hislogistical support. Chiang Kai-Shek telegraphed the KMT governmentin Guangzhou to settle the then ongoing Canton-Hong Kong Strike,that had erupted as a result of the May 13th incident. ChiangKai-Shek's foreign minister Eugene Chen frantically began releasingmultiple announcements to the media that thousands of ex-strikerswere going to be sent to the front lines to support the NRA. Withthis implicant threat, 16 chaotic months of blockades and strikesagainst Hong Kong and the British suddenly came to astop.
Back over at the Jiangxi front, the fighting was growing moreintense through late September. Several areas the NRA was defendingwere looking dire. By the end of the month, NRA intelligence wasindicating General Chu Peiteh’s 3rd Army were being driven out ofcentral Jiangxi into Hunan and Wang Polings prestigious 1stDivision of the 1st army had been badly mauled and were fleeingacross mountains. Sun Chuanfang began trying to coordinate hisoffensive with Wu Peifu’s trapped forces at Wuchang with aningenious idea of sailing along Lake Tayeh from the Yangtze dikesto land due east of Wuchang. The landing happened on September 25thand initially it sent the NRA 4th army packing. The entire frontbegan to crumble. Yet Sun Chuanfangs position was not entirelysecure either. His 5 provincial armies were not as unified as theNRA and his subordinates' loyalties were not trustworthy. In facthis generals representing separate governments of Jiangsu, Anhui,Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian were all clamoring for provincialautonomy. Many of Sun Chuanfangs administrators urged him to form areal federation providing provincial autonomy.
Both Chiang Kai-Shek and Sun Chuanfang were facing differentissues, but both could see their authority crumble. Sun Chuanfangbegan negotiating with Chiang Kai-Shek, offering to halt hisoffensive into Hunan in exchange for a nonaggression pact betweenthe KMT and his 5 provinces. Chiang Kai-Shek replied in a telegramthat the KMT did not desire to enlarge the war and that if SunChunfang withdrew his forces from Jiangxi, the KMT would withdrawfrom the Jiangxi territories currently occupied. Sun Chuanfang thencounter proposed he would halt his offensive at the Hunan border ifthe NRA withdrew all their forces from Jiangxi. Sun Chuanfang wassomewhat bluffing Chiang Kai-Shek. While his counteroffensive wascertainly impressive, he had actually reached his limit in lateSeptember.
In early October the NRA began pushing the enemy back. By the 5thSun Chuanfang’s thrust towards Wuchang had broken and his men wererushing back to the steamers to pull back to Jiangxi. On October3rd the NRA severed communications via that railway at Tehan. Afterthat the NRA reorganized and gradually pressed back down into thelowlands towards the port of Kiukiang and the railway station southof Nanchang. Sun Chuanfang tossed fierce counter attacks,recapturing parts of the railway, threatening the NRA 7th army’sflank. On the 7th, a combined NRA attack tried to overwhelm afortified hill position that dominated the railway line nearYanghsiu. However Sun CHuanfangs inner defensive lines held and bythe days end the NRA had taken a severe beating for their effortsas they pulled back. In the south around Nanchang the battle ragedback and forth. By mid-October the capital changed hands multipletimes as both sides continued to pour reinforcements in the meatgrinder.
The annual holiday known as republic day, commemorating the Wuchanguprising on October the 10th was a morale booster for the NRAforces. Fate would have it, that same day, Sun Chuanfangs reliefcolumns failed to reach Wuchang to aid its desperate defenders.Some of the garrison units secretly negotiated with the KMT andopened the gates of the city to them. As the NRA stormed Wuchang,nearly 100 civilians were trampled to death as people fled thecity. Wu Peifu unable to rally any support, simply bid his timeover in Honan. For the later half of October the combat began todissipate somewhat allowing the NRA to reorganize itself. Anothermajor development emerged, Sun Chuanfang had major problemserupting in Shanghai. In fact Shanghai was only the most apparentsymptom of the problem, in reality Zhejiang was falling into a fullrebellion.
During September and early October, certain units of Sun ChuanfangsZhejiang army began telegraming him demands to block entry intotheir province or the other 4 provinces under his rule anyassistance from the Fengtian forces. A leader emerged, the head ofthe All-Zhejiang Association “Chuan che kunghui”, named ChuFucheng. Now Chu Fucheng had numerous connections amongst prominentZhejiagnese, like Chiang Kai-Shek. Chu Fucheng began orchestratinga counter movement, just before the NRA began attacking Nanchang.On October 15th, his association sent a telegram to Sun Chuanfang,demanding Zhejiang forces fighting for him be returned to dutieswithin their home province and that Zhejiang be given autonomy.Then the civil governor of Zhejiang, Xia Chao began a rebellion,supported by the KMT at Guangzhou.
Now historically, Zhejiang had been quite a loyal province duringthe late Qing dynasty, a time when many were calling for the end ofthe Manchu domination. During the warlord era, three leadingcommanders of the Zhejiang forces had conceded suzerainty overZhejiang territory to powerful warlords outside the province. Thiscaused a situation that saw northern chinese superiors constantlyforced to make conciliations with Zhejiang independence movementsthat sprang up nearly every year since 1916. Zhejiang had neverbeen successfully shaking over their northern overlords. Zhejiangmilitary leaders such as Xia Chao, Zhou Fengqi and Chen Yi, haddefected the the NRA and would become crucial to the KMT conquestof the province. All three of these men had gained politicalinfluence within the province through their military power, derivedfrom the final decade of the Qing dynasty.
Shortly after Yuan Shikai’s death, Xia Chao had led the small Wubeiclique against its rival the Baoding clique led by Governor LuGongwang. As governor Lu Gongwang had the upper hand and did all hecould to undermine Xia Chao who was leading the provincial policeat the time. Xia Chao gradually brushed shoulders with Zhou Fengqiwho worked together to try and overthrow Lu Gongwang. However theAnhui clique gradually took over the province, and appointed LuYongxiang as its military governor. Xia Chao had read the tealeaves and backed Lu Yongxiangs rise, thus maintaining his ownpower. After Sun Chuanfang took over the province in 1924, Xia Chaobecame his vice commander during some of the intense fightingagainst the Fengtian clique. However Sun Chuanfang became weary ofthe local officials power and began a isolated the most powerful,moving them around so they could not network together to overthrowhim.
Xia Chao was unhappy with how Sun Chuanfang treated him and hebegan rallying the local gentry to demand provincial autonomy andthe adoption of a new constitution. Sun Chuanfang responded bydispatching his subordinate Lu Xiangting to Hangzhou on January25th of 1926 to be Zhejiangs new military governor. Lu Xiangtingshowed up with his forces and positioned them along every importantroute in the province. Thus the attempt to succeed was snapped inthe bud. Xia Chao thus put on a smile and welcomed Lu Xiangting,tossing a party for him when he arrived to show his submission sohe could maintain his position. In secrecy Xia Chao began buildingup police and security forces to start a rebellion and he had grownquite the private army, nearly 5000 men strong.
Thus at this point Xia Chao held the position of chief of Zhejiangspolice and civil governor over the province; Zhou Fengqi and ChenYi were both divisional commander’s over the 3rd and 1st divisions,who had received their positions through Xia Chao. After united the5 provinces, Sun Chuanfang had transferred Zhou Fengqi’s 1stdivision to garrison the capital of Nanking and Chen Yi’s 3rddivision to defend northern Jiangsu. These moves were specificallydone to remove two the Zhejiangs largest provincial military unitsfrom their home areas. Sun Chuanfang likewise had moved over to hisnew HQ in Nanking and this prompted Xia Chao to presume he wouldrule over Zhejiang, but of course that did not happen.
The year of 1926 produced good conditions for an uprising to takeplace in Zhejiang. Poor harvests in 1925 and 1926 led to aneconomic crisis which was exacerbated by over taxation by SunChuanfang. Then the NRA launched their northern expedition, led bythe Zhejiangnese Chiang Kai-Shek. Once the NRA began theiroffensive, Xia Chao sent word to the KMT and formed a secretagreement with Chiang Kai-Shek. As civil governor, Xia Chaopromised to officially defect if Wuchang fell to the NRA. The KMTlikewise notified him their contact Niu Yongjian in Shanghai wouldcreate an uprising to help him against Sun Chuanfang. Thus Xia Chaoconspired with the KMT to weaken Sun Chuanfangs rear area while thebloody battle over Jiangxi was at its height. Xia Chao was going toreceive a new title under the KMT, equivalent to military governor,to be chairmanship over the provincial military committee. Backover in Guangzhou in early October the KMT congress approved themotion.
Xia Chao sent word to Zho Fengqi, asking him to bring his 3rdbrigade back to Zhejiang, but Zhou Fengqi could not risk such amaneuver, basically some of his most important units were literallyhostages to Sun Chuanfang’s Nanking HQ. Furthermore if he tried toadvance to Zhejiang he would be moving directly through areas heldby other units loyal to Sun Chuanfang. However on October 14th,some of Zhou Fengqi’s reserve forces at Nanking did attempt toescape, but they were apprehended and disarmed, very few made itback to Zhejiang. Over at Xuzhou in northern Jiangsu, Chen Yi andhis 1st division refused Xia Chao’s appeal to rebel against SunChuanfang. Without these two men and their divisions, Xia Chao wasfacing a huge gamble with his little rebellion. He hoped theelement of surprise would allow him to capture Zhejiang andpossibly Shanghai as well.
On October 16th, Xia Chao declared independence for Zhejiang andboarded 2500 men of his personal army aboard trains set forShanghai. It was not long before Sun Chuanfang received reports viatelegrams about what Xia Chao was doing. It is alleged Chen Yi mayhave leaked information about Xia Chao’s rebellion to Sun Chuanfanghoping to receive a promotion. As Xia Chao’s force of unseasonedarmed policemen approached Shanghai they found the tracks blockedand were forced to march by foot against prepared defensivepositions. The promised communist uprising in Shanghai failed tomaterialize as local CCP and KMT members were still debating how togo about creating a rebellion in the city. Many CCP members urgedaction, but they lacked sufficient arms to really do anything.After a very brief fight on the 17th within Shanghai’s westernsuburbs the Zhejiang, Xia Chao was forced to pull out after forcesloyal to Sun Chuanfang led a decisive counter attack. Xia Chao thenfrantically sent telegrams to Sun Chuanfangs subordinates claiminghe had been deceived into defecting over to the KMT. Xia Chao thenpulled his men back to Chiahsing. Meanwhile at Hangzhou crowdsgathered demanding autonomy for the province.
On the 18th a mass meeting of political activists gathered atHangzhou proclaiming independence and support for the KMTgovernment in Guangzhou. Xia Chao publicly joined the KMT and soonmany significant Zhejiang provincial officials joined. Xia Chaothen accepted his new title as provisional chairman and tookcommand of the new 8th NRA army. They were roughly 10,000 strong,completely untrained and poorly armed. Those loyal to Sun Chuanfangbegan fleeing northwards en masse as Xia Chao went to workappointeding new officials. Already forewarned of the insurgency,Sun Chuanfang transferred loyal troops from Nanking by rail to theZhejiang border. By the morning of the 20th, his troops wereadvancing across the border and wrecking amateurish defensesestablished by Xia Chao’s men near Chiahsing. Both sides hadrailway cannons, but Xia Chao’s men proved inept at their use. XiaChao fled, leaving behind 6000 untrained and hopeless outmatchedtroops. By the evening Sun Chuanfang had effectively crushed theZhejiang independence movement as he rounded up hundreds ofcaptured Zhejiang rebels, machine gunning them down at night. Thestreets of Hangzhou were looted by Sun Chuanfangs men who carriedout terrible massacres upon the civilian population.
Xia Chao had tried to flee into the Zhejiang hillside in his carbut was captured quickly in a nearby town. He was promptly shot inthe streets, decapitated and his head was sent over to Nankingwhere it was placed on a spike as a warning to others. Chen Yi wasthen appointed the new governor of Zhejiang, adding to the claimsit was perhaps he who sold out Xia Chao.
Meanwhile Chiang Kai-Shek had all his uncommitted troops tossedinto the Jiangxi warzone. Included in these were the 4th class ofofficers recently graduated in October from the Whampoa Academy. Itwas certainly a baptism under fire for these young recruits. Thereinforcements allowed the NRA to finally crack Sun Chuanfangsgrowingly demoralized forces. Sun Chuanfangs southern defensiveline was the first to begin to sag under an assault by the 2nd and14th NRA armies. The 14th NRA army by the way was a unit thatrecently defected from Sun Chuanfang. By October 27th SunChuanfangs forces in southern Jiangxi were in a full retreatheading north through Nanchang. As the battle carried intoNovember, the NRA began to concentrate along the Xiu valley for anassault against the Kiukiang-Nanchang defensive line. Reinforced bythe 4th Army’s 10th division led by Chen Mingshu, the 7th armyswept down the lowland and attacked Tehan. The enemy's defensiveline crumpled there allowing the NRA to cut the railway line,isolated Sun Chuanfangs south near Poyang Lake. The NRA thencaptured the ports of Kiukiang and Hukou along the Yangtze, furtherstrangling Nanchang. By the 9th, Nanchang fell and Sun Chuanfangsmen were in a general retreat heading down the Yangtze valley. Themomentum of the NRA offensive now saw them sweep through Jiangxi.Chiang Kai-Shek began sending agents to Sun Chuanfang againoffering him positions with the KMT.
During the Jiangxi campaign, both sides had deployed their besttroops into what essentially became a two month meat grinder. Thecasualties would be the highest incurred during the NorthernExpedition. According to some KMT records, the final weeks push tocapture the Kiukiang-Nanchang railway cost the NRA 20,000casualties and for Sun Chuanfang, nearly 40,000. Overall thecampaign saw the NRA suffer 100,000 casualties. The NRA victory sawthem acquire an incredible amount of war materials, greatlyexpanding their military capabilities. At Nanchang alone the NRAhad suffered 4000 casualties, but took 15,000 prisoners and 20,000rifles, enough to arm an entire corps. A major reason for the heavycasualties was the NRA lack of heavy artillery.
Early in the summer of 1926, when the Northern Expedition hadkicked off with the invasion of Hunan, the 1st Army led by HoYingqin assembled along the border of Guangdong and Fujian. Beingone of Sun Chuanfangs 5 provinces, Fujian posted a threat to theNRA’s flank if he entered the war. Ho Yingqin had concentrated hismen at Swatow primarily to defend the border, but if theopportunity arose he could very well invade Fujian. In Septemberonce the Jiangxi campaign began, the 1st Army and Sun ChuangfangsFujian allies began engaging in border skirmishes. Sun Chuanfanghad actually already given orders to his main commander in Fujian,Zhou Yingren to invade Guangdong, but Zhou Yingren had dragged hisfeet until late September. Zhou Yinren had 4 armies under hiscommand, over 30,000 troops in all. When he finally launched hisattack, directed primarily at Swatow, Ho Yingqin had more numbers,but Ho Yingqin had prepared a formidable defensive line over ruggedcoastal terrain. Zhou Yingren’s late offensive was quitecharacteristic of the poor coordination amongst Sun Chuanfangsforces, a weakness the NRA figured out early and exploited. Inanother tactical blunder, Sun Chuanfangs navy, operating offFujian’s coasts and riverways, was ordered to support Zhou Jinren’sassaults with naval bombardment. The navy did so, but did nottarget Swatow where the majority of pressure was being exerted. Themain reason for this would turn out that Sun Chuanfangs mainadmiral had already begun secretly negotiating with the KMT todefect.
In late September Ho Yingqin’s 1st army received a majorbreakthrough. A well-timed defection of two brigade commandersunder Zhou Yingren, provided Ho Yingqin with vital intelligence onhis enemy’s troop placements and defenses. Ho Yingqin unleashed hisoffensive, driving a thrust directly into Sun Chuanfangs southernflank. They were attacking what was known as the coastal road thatleads to Shanghai. On October 9th, in order to distract the Fujianforces already penetrating the border of Guangdong near Sungkou, HoYingqin had some of his troops cross the Fujian border to captureYungting. By the 10th Yungting was seized as Sungkou was likewisetaken by October 13th. Then Ho Yingqin counterattacked the rear ofthe Fujian forces threatening their lines of communication.During the rest of October the 1st Army infiltrated the lightlydefended back country of Fujian. The populations of these partswere mainly Hakka who had suffered under the rule of Sun Chuanfang.The Hakka people saw the invading NRA as salvation, because by thispoint they had established a good reputation for not plundering andmolesting peoples where they went. Local militias known as“mintuan” began assembling, to a number possibly 10,000 strongaiding the NRA. The NRA welcomed them warmly into the ranks forming3 Fujianese divisions, one independent brigade and 3 regiments.With the additional manpower, the NRA was quickly isolating anddefeating Zhou Yingrens forces. One of the last fortified positionsat Tingchou saw the recently arrived 14th army working in tandemwith Fujianese allies to take it. As Zhou Yingren pulled back helost 500 rifles and machine guns, some cannons, ammunition and manymen, greatly bolstering the NRA.
Zhou Yingren and his men found themselves in unfamiliar mountainheights, with their straw footwear quite unsuited to defendthemselves against constant hit and run tactics by the localmintuan. Along the coast, Zhou Yingren’s attempts to attack theports of Chao’an and Swatow had ground to a halt and by October14th his men had been pushed back to Changzhou. The NRA pressed itsoffensive simultaneously along the coastal road and down theinterior valleys making it impossible for Zhou Yingren tocoordinate a proper defense of Chanzhou. By November 8th Changzhouhad fallen. Zhou Yingren pulled further back up the coast toTung’an where he mounted a defense, but the NRA seized Chuanzhou,Xienyu and Yangtai in the meantime. From late September untilDecember Ho Yingqin had conquered the southern part of Fujian, themost populated parts by far and was now pressing upon the walledprovincial capital of Fuzhou, lying just across the MinRiver.
The defenders of Fuzhou were quite demoralized. Zhou Yingrenpleaded with Sun Chuanfang to dispatch reinforcements from theadjacent Jiangxi, but he was preoccupied with fighting there andquelling the rebellion in Zhejiang. Zhou Yingren had to do bestwith what he had. Unfortunately for him, many in the Fujianese navyand maritime forces had not just defected to the NRA, but theyadded their cannons to shelling Fuzhou from the coast and Min riverbank. Then the commander of the Fuzhou garrison, Li Shengchun,simply opened the gates to the city to the NRA. Fuzhou wassurrendered basically without any real fight on December 9th.Trapped within the city, the Fujian governor screamed as he wasarrested “Idon’t understand what has happened! Our forces and weapons weresuperior but you have captured me!”With just under 2000 troops left of his original 60,000, ZhouYingren limped away to Zhejiang, Fujian and effectively fallen tothe NRA.
I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcastis only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generalsover at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over atYoutube and to continue helping us produce this content pleasecheck out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals.If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a lookover at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot tome.
Chiang Kai-Shek was utilizing every trick in the book to divide andconquer Sun Chuanfang’s 5 province empire. As formidable as SunChuanfang was, he was losing in a battle of wits and now two of hisprovinces had fallen victim to the NRA. Could the warlord turnthings around, or would he be forced to join to lose to theKMT?
