Zhang Zuolin

**Zhang Zuolin** was a Chinese warlord and ruler of the Fengtian Clique, a faction of the Republic of China that controlled Northeast China, and would later become the imperial Qing government in the period of the Two Chinas.

## Biography

### Early life

Zuolin was born in 1875 in Haicheng, a county in southern Fengtian province (modern Liaoning) in Northeast China, to poor parents.

When he became old enough to work, he got a job at a stable in an inn, where he became familiar with many bandit gangs operating in Manchuria at the time. As early as 1896 (aged 21) Zhang himself was a member of a well-known bandit gang. During a hunting trip he spotted a wounded bandit (Honghuzi) on horseback, killed him, took his horse and became a bandit himself.

By his late 20s he had formed a small personal army, acquiring something of a Robin Hood reputation. His bandit career was euphemistically referred to as his experience in the "University of the Green Forest", as he was illiterate.

### Imperial army

In 1900 the Boxer Rebellion broke out, and Zhang's gang joined the imperial army. In peacetime he hired his men out as security escorts for traveling merchants. In the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 the Japanese Army employed Zhang and his men as mercenaries. At the end of the Qing dynasty Zhang managed to have his men recognised as a regiment of the regular Chinese army, patrolling the borders of Manchuria and suppressing other bandit gangs.

During the 1911 Xinhai Revolution some military commanders wanted to declare independence for Manchuria; but the pro-Manchu governor used Zhang's regiment to set up a "Manchurian People's Peacekeeping Council", intimidating would-be rebels and revolutionaries. For his efforts in preventing civil disturbance and revolution, Zhang was named the Vice Minister of Military Affairs.

On 1 January 1912 Sun Yat-sen became the first President of the Republic of China in Nanjing. Yuan Shikai, operating out of Beijing, sent other northern military commanders a series of telegrams, advising them to oppose Sun's administration. To gain Zhang's loyalty, Yuan sent him a large shipment of military provisions; Zhang sent Yuan an enormous (and costly) ginseng root in return to symbolize their friendship. Zhang then murdered a number of leading figures in his base city of Shenyang (then known as "Mukden"), and was rewarded with a series of impressive-sounding titles by the nearly defunct Qing court.

When it became obvious to Zhang that Yuan would usurp control of the central government, he endorsed Yuan's rule over that of either Sun or the Manchus. After Zhang put down a rebellion in June 1912, Yuan raised him to the rank of Lieutenant-General. In 1913 Yuan attempted to move Zhang away from Manchuria by having him transferred to Mongolia, but Zhang reminded Yuan of his successful efforts to keep local order, and refused.

In 1915, when it became clear that Yuan intended to declare himself emperor, Zhang was one of the few officials who supported him. Besides political opportunism, Zhang saw Yuan as a central, unifying, and legitimate figure. Furthermore, Yuan had promoted him to military governor of Fengtian to gain his support.

### Taking control

In March 1916, after many southern provinces revolted against Yuan Shikai's government, Zhang supported him, and in the end Beijing accepted Zhang's authority and Yuan appointed Zhang superintendent of military affairs in Liaoning (known as "Fengtian" until 1929). After Yuan died in June 1916, the new central government named Zhang both military and civil governor of Liaoning, the essential components of a successful warlord. The Japanese began heavily aiding Zhang, in an attempt to spread their influence in his clique, and hopefully form a united China aligned with Japanese interests.

In October 1917, Zhang joined sides with Zhang Xun to restore the Qing dynasty in an event which is now called the Manchu Restoration. This was an attempt to strengthen his own power, hoping that it would increase his legitimacy. Republican loyalists were quick to respond with violent force, however Zhang's recruitment of the now more-understood superhumans, and shipments of Japanese artillery and financial aid led to Qing victory. The aftermath of this began the short period known as the two Chinas, where the North was ruled by Zhang Zuolin, and the South by various Republican warlord loyalists.

Zhang Zuolin, now appointed prime minister of the imperial Qing government, lived for the next few years in relative peace, with no major conflict between his government and any other warlords. Many of China's superhumans now took refuge in the imperial Qing government, seeing it as the most acceptant region of superhumans in China. Although the government did not oppress the superhumans, they however still did nothing against hate crimes towards them.

### Southern coalition and assassination

The first phase of the period of the two Chinas would come to an end in 1922, when the warlords of the South formed a coalition to reattempt a deposition of the Xuantong Emperor: Aisin-Gioro Puyi, who was the figurehead of Zhang Zuolin's government. Zhang did not make use of Japanese help this time, a decision which historians guess was possibly a combination of a possible growth in Zhang's national pride, and out of worry of economic debt. This would be the bloodiest of the conflicts between the two Chinas, and superhuman use in warfare was now used by both sides.

The conflict would only come to an end in 1924, when Zhang had supplied the right wing of the Kuomintang with weapons, and convinced them to revolt in Southern China. The rest of the Kuomintang as well as the Chinese Communists in the region would join the revolt. This meant the end of warlord rule in the South, and so the rest of the warlords surrendered to Zhang and joined the imperial Qing government. Zhang's decision to aid the Kuomintang would after the war result in a split of the party, with many joining communist organizations instead. The Kuomintang formed a new Republic of China with a new constitution, and this event marks the beginning of the second phase of the two Chinas.

With Zhang's imperial Qing government at its most powerful and the Japanese influence fading, the Kwantung Army of the Japanese began planning a coup on Zhang, settling with assassinating him. They met with the Emperor Puyi to discuss the coup, promising to give him a less ceremonial role, and even aid in unifying the whole of China, in exchange for being friendly and co-operative with Japanese interests in China.

The Emperor agreed, and on 9 July 1926, Zhang Zuolin, who was leaving Shenyang (Fengtian) to go to Beijing by train, was nearly killed at the Huanggutun railway station. A Japanese superhuman named Tsurumaru Taigahara used his powers of explosive punches to blow up the train, which heavily injured Zhang. Fengtian troops shot and killed the assassin and escorted Zhang away from the train, but were unable to save Zhang, the warlord dying just a few hours later. The use of super soldiers was illegal at the time, and the news quickly spread through telegraph.

The Japanese government denied any superhuman involvement, claiming it to simply have been a regular explosive planted by a rogue officer. In documents that leaked decades after, it was revealed the use of the superhuman instead of just an explosive was done to avoid the potential of them being caught planting the explosive before hand. The event became known as the Huanggutun Crisis, and would delay Japan's plans in China for several years.

### Aftermath

Zhang Zuolin's son, Zhang Xueliang, was made aware of the incident very soon after it had happened in his office in Beijing. Together with the soldiers present in the capital, he began a swift takeover of the government. He had no knowledge of Puyi's involvement in this planned coup, but when the Emperor was caught sneaking off to the harbour to go to Japan, he was placed under house arrest in the Forbidden City. This signalled the failure of Japan's coup. Zhang would slowly distance the imperial Qing government from the Japanese, and eventually join with the Chinese Communists, who had marched close to their borders after the Kuomintang's Northern Expedition.

It is unknown if Zhang truly agreed with the communists and their political philosophy, with many speculating it was simply opportunism, but the decision was seen as the only sensible one by many, as communism was already more popular than warlordism, and it was hard to see their government last much longer. The communists also viewed Japan as a larger threat to China than the warlords, a position that the Southern Republican government of the Kuomintang disagreed with.