Question: The Battle of Nanning was fought between the invading Yunnan Army, allied to which faction of Chinese statesman, political and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China?

Context articles: Liu Yongfu
Chiang Ching-kuo
Chiang Kai-shek
Tomb of Zuo Zongtang
Tang Ching-sung
Wellington Koo
Second Battle of Guilin
Zuo Zongtang
Second Battle of Nanning
Nanning–Kunming High-Speed Railway

Liu Yongfu () (1837–1917) was a Chinese soldier of fortune and commander of the celebrated Black Flag Army.
 Liu won fame as a Chinese patriot fighting against the French Empire in northern Vietnam (Tonkin) in the 1870s and early 1880s.
 During the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885) he established a close friendship with the Chinese statesman and general Tang Ching-sung, and in 1895 he helped Tang organise resistance to the Japanese invasion of Taiwan.
 He succeeded Tang as the second and last leader of the short-lived Republic of Formosa (5 June–21 October 1895).
Chiang Ching-kuo (Shanghai/Ningbo dialect: ] ) (27 April 1910 – 13 January 1988), Kuomintang (KMT) politician and leader, was a Chinese statesman and the son of Generalissimo and President Chiang Kai-shek and held numerous posts in the government of the Republic of China (ROC).
 He succeeded his father to serve as Premier of the Republic of China between 1972–78 and was the President of the Republic of China from 1978 until his death in 1988.
Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887 – April 5, 1975), also romanized as Chiang Chieh-shih and known as Chiang Chungcheng, was a Chinese statesman, political and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China.
The Tomb of Zuo Zongtang () is the tomb of Zuo Zongtang, a Chinese statesman and military leader of the late Qing dynasty.
 The tomb dates from 1886, and is located in Tiaoma Town of Yuhua District, Changsha, Hunan, China.
 It has been categorized as a provincial level key cultural heritage in 1996 by the Hunan Provincial Government.
Tang Ching-sung () (1841–1903) was a Chinese general and statesman.
 He commanded the Yunnan Army in the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885), and made an important contribution to China's military effort in Tonkin (northern Vietnam) by persuading the Black Flag leader Liu Yung-fu to serve under Chinese command.
 His intelligent, though ultimately unsuccessful, direction of the Siege of Tuyen Quang (November 1884–March 1885) was widely praised.
 He later became governor of the Chinese province of Taiwan.
 Following China's cession of Taiwan to Japan at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) he became president of the short-lived independent country Republic of Formosa (Taiwan).
V. K. Wellington Koo (29 January 1888 – 14 November 1985), whose Chinese name is variously romanized as Koo Vi Kyuin, Ku Wei-chün, and Gu Weijun, was a Chinese statesman of the Republic of China.
 He was one of China's representatives at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919; served as an Ambassador to France, Great Britain and the United States; was a participant in the founding of the League of Nations and the United Nations; and sat as a judge on the International Court of Justice in The Hague from 1957 to 1967.
 Between October 1926 and June 1927, while serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Koo briefly held the concurrent positions of acting Premier and interim President of the Republic of China.
 Koo was the first and only Chinese head of state known to use a Western name publicly.
The Second Battle of Guilin was fought between the invading Hunan Army, allied to the forces of Chiang Kai-shek, and the forces of the New Guangxi clique personally commanded by Li Zongren.
 Li was facing a second invasion by the forces of the Yunnan Army (also allied to Chiang Kai-shek) targeted at Nanning.
 Li was forced to withdraw his forces from Guilin.
Zuo Zongtang, Marquis Kejing (also romanised as Tso Tsung-t'ang; ] ; 10 November 1812 – 5 September 1885), sometimes referred to as General Tso, was a Chinese statesman and military leader of the late Qing dynasty.
The Battle of Nanning was fought between the invading Yunnan Army, allied to Chiang Kai-shek's faction, and the defending forces of the New Guangxi clique.
Nanning–Kunming High-Speed Railway (formerly known as the Yunnan-Guangxi High-Speed Railway) is a high-speed railway in China's Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
 It connects the Guangxi capital of Nanning with the Yunnan capital city of Kunming.
 It will have a total length of 715.8 kilometres of electrified double-track railways, built to the Grade 1 standard.
 Positioned as part of China's "long-term railway network plan", to improve the layout and the development of South-Western China with critical infrastructure.
 It will be Yunnan Province's first high-speed transport corridor to the sea.
 With future Pan-Asian railways to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam planned or under construction, this railway will be seen as a crucial link between the economic powerhouse of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone and Indochina under the Chinese One Belt-One Road policies.