Wu Peifu
As Wu Peifu's armies were being overrun by the Kuomintang forces of Chiang Kai-shek, during a breakfast interview with a westerner Wu Peifu was noticed carrying an old book; the interviewer asked him the title, and Wu replied, "'The Military Campaigns of the Kingdom of Wu. They didn't have any machine guns or airplanes then." Wu never held a political office during his years as a warlord.