If Feng Yuxiang had not defected in the second direct service, could Zhang defeat Wu?

Who did Wu hate most in his life?

Some people say it is Cao Kun. After Feng's death, he and Cao Kun became one of the best direct leaders of Wu. Wu held military power, and Cao Kun became president by bribing members of Congress, which made him addicted to politics. Later, Cao Kun's bribery case aroused a direct and one-sided attack from public opinion on the Beijing government. As a result, Cao Kun and Wu are extremely passive, and Wu is very dissatisfied with Cao's practice. He thinks that Cao Kun is insatiable and ruining his reputation, but he is helpless to this partner and can only swallow the bitter fruit silently. This is Wu's resentment against Cao.

However, Wu complained to Cao Kun that they belonged to the same camp. Therefore, some people put forward different views that Zhang should be Wu's most hated person. After all, since the end of the Zhi-Wan War, the Fengxi Group headed by Zhang has been the main competitor of Wu leading the political situation in the Central Plains. However, some people think that it is not necessary to take their grievances too seriously, because 1926 Guangzhou National Government's northern expedition threatened the two lakes under Wu's control, and Wu was forced to ask Zhang for help. Thus, even if Wu resents Zhang, it is definitely not the most. Otherwise, they wouldn't shake hands so quickly.

Then the question is coming. Who is Wu's biggest enemy? This man was none other than Feng Yuxiang, the founder of the Northwest Army in the Republic of China and Wu's old staff.

Feng Yuxiang, originally a general directly under him, has close ties with Cao Kun and keeps Wu Jing at a distance. Wu thinks Feng is unreliable, so he is wary of him everywhere and always tries to seize the military power from Feng Yuxiang. As a result, the contradiction between the two sides broke out in the second direct service war.

1924 10 10 on 23rd October, just as Wu came to Shanhaiguan to supervise the war and organized his troops to try to suppress the army that swooped down on the straight army position, Feng Yuxiang, who was originally in charge of the interception army from Gubeikou to Chifeng, not only ignored Wu's difficult situation, but led his own military forces to throw its weight around and seize the city. After Feng Yuxiang's troops entered Beijing, they burned two fires, which not only drove the former emperor Puyi and his party out of the Forbidden City, but also put Cao Kun under house arrest, which made the immediate elders complain. In the eyes of many people, Feng Yuxiang's defection led to the complete disintegration of the direct front.

Because Feng's "demotion" happened too suddenly, the straight army was wiped out, and even a regiment's army could easily capture two divisions of the straight army. Wu was badly hurt and was forced to take a boat to the south. Feng's betrayal naturally made Wu gnash his teeth. In order to avenge, Wu would rather bury the hatchet with his former enemy Zhang Bing than trust Feng Yuxiang again. On the contrary, Wu decided to kill him, and soon after returning to Tonghu, he launched an all-out attack on Feng Yuxiang's national army.

Wu's resentment against Feng is so deep that it is easy to be associated with the defeat of Zhi Army in the second direct battle. Admittedly, the fortress is the easiest to be breached from the inside, but if Feng Yuxiang didn't change his mind at that time, would the straight army still have a chance to win the Central Plains?

In fact, even if Feng Yuxiang doesn't defect, there will be "the fifth column" like "Zhang Yuxiang" and "Li Yuxiang" lurking in the corner of Wu. Because according to the situation at that time. Feng Yuxiang is far from being the only one wooed by Feng. In addition to him, Wu's partner, Wang, the deputy commander-in-chief of the "Rebel Army" organized by a direct warlord, was also bought by Zhang with the title of "direct overseer" before the war broke out. Ironically, Wu originally wanted to use Wang's whole journey to monitor Feng Yuxiang's troop movements, but in the end, Feng and Wang joined hands to settle them.

Directly under the senior generals secretly contact Feng Department, and directly under the junior officers are not fuel-efficient lamps. When Feng Yuxiang entered Beijing, the garrison generals outside Beijing also joined Feng Yuxiang's camp to help him control the situation in Beijing. Feng Yurong, the brigade commander of Jiumenkou Garrison who forced Wu to leave Beijing for the front line to direct the battle, was also bought by Feng. However, Feng Yurong did not dare to openly resist, and could only passively wait for Feng Jun's support. Unexpectedly, Feng Jun's offensive was slow and failed to arrive in time. On the contrary, Wu arrived in time, which frightened Feng Yurong and chose to commit suicide to escape his guilt. Therefore, in the direct warlord camp, there is a common phenomenon that "no one in the world can serve". How to fight such a battle?

The centrifugal separation from Germany within the direct warlords accelerated the collapse of Wu Fupei. In addition, the onslaught of more than 70,000 elite new troops trained by Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling also forced Wu to control the commanding heights of Shanhaiguan as much as possible to avoid being used while guarding against possible changes in the rear. According to Zhang Xueliang's recollection, Feng Jun's artillery had an advantage and played a great role. However, even under such advantages, the battle for Feng Jun's entry into GATT was still delayed for more than a month. Feng Jun's main forces, Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling, swooped down on Shanhaiguan, making slow progress. In the end, due to heavy casualties, they had to change the direction of attack and flank Qinhuangdao from Shanhaiguan, which barely opened the situation. From this point of view, if a large number of military and political dignitaries in the immediate family did not fall to Zhang Yifang, it is still unknown who will win or lose the second direct battle. Wu was hit by this defeat, and his resentment against Feng Yuxiang is hard to disappear, so it's not hard to understand (it's just that our Wu and Wu Dashuai always seem unwilling to admit that there is more than one Feng Yuxiang who betrayed him).

(This article is compiled from some reading notes in the History of Northern Warlords. )