The Divided Battlefield of China’s Northern Expedition

While the National Revolutionary Army marched north from Guangdong in 1926, engaging warlords Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang along the Yangtze River and southeastern coast, another critical theater of operations unfolded in northern China. Feng Yuxiang’s National Army opened a northern front against the Fengtian-Zhili warlord alliance along the Yellow River basin and northwestern regions. These two battlefields, though geographically separated, formed a coordinated campaign that struck decisive blows against the Beiyang warlords and their imperialist backers, accelerating the Northern Expedition’s ultimate success.

The Gathering Storm: Warlord Alliances and Imperialist Intrigue

The year 1926 began with ominous developments for China’s revolutionary forces. In January, under imperialist mediation, the Fengtian and Zhili warlords formed an “Anti-Red Alliance,” adopting a strategy of “suppressing both southern and northern reds” while prioritizing the northern front first. This coalition immediately launched large-scale attacks against Feng Yuxiang’s National Army, capturing Shandong, Henan, Rehe, Zhili, and Tianjin within three months. By April 15, they seized Beijing itself, forcing the National Army to retreat and consolidate its defenses around Nankou, north of the capital.

This warlord alliance represented the last gasp of China’s militarist era. The Fengtian faction under Zhang Zuolin controlled Manchuria with Japanese backing, while Wu Peifu’s Zhili clique dominated central China with British support. Their temporary alliance, brokered by foreign powers anxious about growing nationalist and communist influence, aimed to crush the revolutionary threat before it could unite China under a modern government.

The Battle of Nankou: A Pivotal Struggle

The ensuing Battle of Nankou would become one of the most consequential yet overlooked engagements of the Northern Expedition period. After taking Beijing, the Fengtian-Zhili forces pursued the retreating National Army, launching multi-pronged attacks against their fortified positions at Nankou. The opportunistic Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan, sensing the National Army’s weakening position, joined the assault, completing a three-sided encirclement.

National Army commander Zhang Zhijiang (Feng Yuxiang having departed for the Soviet Union in March) organized a brilliant defensive strategy. He divided his forces into eastern and western fronts, with Lu Zhonglin defending against the main Fengtian-Zhili assault while Song Zheyuan launched diversionary attacks against Yan’s weaker Shanxi forces. By June, National Army troops had captured several strategic points including Deshengbao, Yanggao, and Yingxian.

At Nankou itself, the National Army constructed an impressive defensive network based on Soviet military advice. As contemporary accounts describe: “They built three defensive lines stretching fifty kilometers, complete with electrified barbed wire and bunkers capable of withstanding Chinese artillery fire.” These preparations would prove crucial as the battle intensified.

Strategic Stalemate and Political Maneuvering

Through June 1926, an unusual calm settled over the Nankou front. Warlord leaders Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu were distracted by political struggles in Beijing, while frontline commanders showed little enthusiasm for attacking. This changed dramatically after their June 28 meeting, where the warlords agreed to combine forces against the National Army.

The renewed offensive began in earnest by early August, with Wu Peifu personally commanding frontal assaults while Fengtian forces attacked from the east. Despite heroic resistance, the National Army’s position became untenable after floods destroyed supply lines and allied warlords captured key positions at Duolun and Datong. On August 13, they abandoned Nankou, retreating toward Suiyuan and Gansu with about 50,000-60,000 troops.

The Hidden Victory Within Defeat

Though technically a military defeat, the four-month Nankou campaign yielded significant strategic advantages for the revolutionary cause. The National Army’s stubborn resistance:

1. Inflicted over 50,000 casualties on warlord forces
2. Caused widespread defections among Zhili troops
3. Exacerbated tensions between and within warlord factions
4. Crucially, pinned down Wu Peifu’s elite units during the Northern Expedition’s critical early phase

As historian Jonathan Spence notes, “The Nankou campaign created the perfect strategic diversion, allowing the National Revolutionary Army to sweep through Hunan virtually unopposed.” By the time Wu Peifu could redirect forces south in late August, the Northern Expedition had already secured Changsha and was advancing toward Wuhan.

The Northwestern Theater: Forgotten Battles That Shaped History

While Nankou dominated the northern front, equally significant struggles unfolded in Shaanxi and Gansu. In April 1926, Wu Peifu appointed former warlord Liu Zhenhua to attack National Army positions in Shaanxi with a ragtag force of 100,000 (mostly bandits turned soldiers). The ensuing eight-month siege of Xi’an became one of the war’s most brutal episodes.

Defenders under Yang Hucheng and Li Yunlong, numbering fewer than 10,000 ill-equipped troops, endured horrific conditions with support from local communists and student groups. Their successful defense prevented warlord forces from threatening the National Army’s western flank. Similarly, in Gansu, National Army commander Liu Yufen defeated warlord Zhang Zhaokui’s forces near Lanzhou despite being outnumbered two-to-one, securing the northwestern rear.

The Phoenix Rises: Feng Yuxiang’s Dramatic Return

The National Army’s darkest hour became the prelude to its greatest transformation. On September 17, 1926, Feng Yuxiang—fresh from his Soviet Union studies—staged a dramatic comeback at Wuyuan in Suiyuan. Before 50,000 ragged but determined troops, he proclaimed the reorganization of the National Army into the Guominjun (National People’s Army) and formal alliance with the Guangzhou government.

This “Wuyuan Oath-taking” ceremony marked a turning point in Chinese revolutionary history. Feng’s forces, now numbering 60,000 after regrouping, underwent comprehensive reforms:

1. Political commissars were appointed (including communist Liu Bojian)
2. Strict new discipline codes were implemented
3. All troops formally joined the Kuomintang
4. Soviet advisors integrated into command structure

As historian Diana Lary observes, “The Wuyuan reorganization transformed a defeated warlord army into a politically conscious fighting force—the first true ‘national army’ China had seen.”

The Road to Redemption: The Xi’an Relief Campaign

Reorganized and re-energized, the Guominjun launched its first major operation—relieving the besieged Xi’an defenders. Feng appointed Sun Liangcheng as commander of seven route armies totaling 40,000 troops. Despite terrible weather and supply shortages, they broke Liu Zhenhua’s siege on November 27 after fierce fighting, ending one of the war’s longest sieges.

This victory cleared Shaanxi of warlord forces by December 1926, setting the stage for the Guominjun’s eastward advance. As Zhou Enlai later remarked, “After political training at Wuyuan, the Northwest Army became the most formidable force of its time.”

Strategic Consequences and Historical Legacy

The northern campaigns’ significance extended far beyond their immediate military outcomes:

1. They tied down over 200,000 warlord troops that might have crushed the Northern Expedition
2. Demonstrated the power of political mobilization in warfare
3. Created the model for later Communist military-political integration
4. Established Feng Yuxiang as a major national leader

Most importantly, these forgotten battles completed the strategic encirclement of warlord forces, allowing the revolutionary armies to converge on the Central Plains in 1927. As the National Revolutionary Army memorial at Whampoa notes: “Without the sacrifice at Nankou and perseverance at Xi’an, our march north would have taken years longer.”

The 1926 northern campaigns remind us that China’s reunification was not simply won by the famous marches from Guangzhou, but through coordinated struggles across multiple fronts—a testament to the power of unified revolutionary strategy against seemingly insurmountable odds.