Huai Army
During the later phase of the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64), provincial governors were allowed to raise their own armies, the "Yong Ying", to fight against the rebels; many of these forces were not disbanded after the rebellion was over, like Li Hongzhang's Huai Army, or Zuo Zongtang's Chu Army. Franz Michael and Stanley Spector, as well as Lo Erh-kang and P'eng Yü-hsin asserted that these regional political-military organisations undercut central governance.