Liu Xiang ( warlord ) Liu Xiang or Liu Hsiang , 劉湘 ( 1888 – 1938 ) was one of the warlord s controlling Sichuan province during the Warlord era of 20th century China . Liu Xiang was born 1 July 1888 , in Dayi , Sichuan , China . He graduated from Sichuan Military College and eventually was promoted to army commander in Sichuan . From 6 June 1921 to 24 May 1922 Liu was both Civil Governor and Military Governor of Sichuan Province , and remained civil governor until December 1922 . He again became both civil and military Governor of Sichuan Province from July 1923 until 19 February 1924 and remained military governor until 27 May 1924 . He was again military governor between 16 May 1925 until he was replaced by Deng Xihou in 1926 . During the period from 1927 – 1938 , Sichuan was in the hands of five warlords : Liu Xiang , Yang Sen , Liu Wenhui , Deng Xihou , and Tian Songyao . No one warlord had enough power to take on all the others at once , so many small battles occurred , pitting one warlord against another . Large conflicts seldom developed , plotting and skirmishing characterized the Sichuanese political scene , and ephemeral coalitions and counter - coalitions emerged and vanished with equal rapidity . However Liu Xiang was the most influential of the Sichuan warlords . Aligning himself with Chiang Kaishek he became General Commanding 21st Army from 1926 to 1935 . He controlled Chongqing and its surrounding areas . This region , sitting on the banks of the Yangtze River , was rich because of trade with provinces down river and therefore controlled much of the economic activity in Sichuan . From this position of strength , between 1930 and 1932 Liu and General Liu Wenhui improved their forces , organizing a small airforce at Chengdu , of two Fairchild KR - 34CA aeroplanes and a Junkers K53 . In 1932 Liu began putting together the " Armored Car and Tank Corps of Chungking " . Armored cars were built in Shanghai based on the GMC 1931 truck with a 37 mm gun and 2 MGs in a crude turret . Liu had a rivalry against his uncle , General Liu Wenhui . In 1935 , Liu Xiang ousted Liu Wenhui , becoming Chairman of the Government of Sichuan Province . A family - brokered peace was arranged which mollified Liu Wenhui with control of the neighbouring Xikang province , a sparsely populated but opium - rich territory on the periphery of Han China and Tibet . At the beginning of the Second Sino - Japanese War Liu Xiang lead the Sichuan 15th Army at the Battle of Shanghai and 23rd Army Group in the Battle of Nanking , and was made Commander in Chief of the River Defence Forces for the Yangtze River . In January 1938 , he ordered his armies of more than 100 , 000 soldiers out of Sichuan to fight against the Japanese . However Liu Xiang soon died in 20 January 1938 , in Hankou , Hubei ; some suspected he was poisoned by Chiang Kai - shek for conspiring with Shandong chairman Han Fuju to turn against Chiang . Liu ' s death and the arrival of the central government in Chongqing in 1938 brought reforms that eventually put an end to the major warlord garrisons . The Sichuan faction broke up and a lot of Sichuan units turned their loyalties over to Chiang Kai - shek and became essentially Central army units and the province a major recruiting ground for the hard pressed Nationalist armies .