Warlords: Rising from the Northwest Border and Sweeping Across the Powers

After the Fuso Kwantung Army evacuated Haizhou and held the northern part of Linzhou, they officially announced that they had given up on invading China from the south. This news was like a bolt from the blue, and the northern border rebels led by Zhang Chengxiang were immediately struck by lightning, and the people became panic-stricken.

The defeat of the Kwantung Army in the Northeast battlefield also meant that they had completely lost the protection and assistance of Fuso. Once the Second Army of the Northwest Revolutionary Army took down the Pang faction in Jiangbei, it could immediately go north and completely encircle the Zhili Army under Zhang Chengxiang and completely annihilate the rebels.

To make matters worse, at this time, an explosive piece of news came from Huzhou, the heartland of the Southern Government.

The Skeleton Division, which had been defending Nanjing and Shanghai, suddenly marched southward. In less than five days, it captured two major cities in Huzhou and annihilated two division-level combat units of the Huzhou Defense Corps. Faced with the sudden attack of the Skeleton Division, Huang Guangtai had to deal with it carefully. The Skeleton Division's past performance was already dazzling enough, and it also proved from the side that they were an elite division that was more terrifying than other main forces of the Northwest Revolutionary Army.

Under desperate circumstances, Huang Guangtai mobilized two army-level units from the First Army of the Northern Expedition to go south to assist the Huzhou Defense Corps to ensure that Huzhou would not fall further under the attack of the Skeleton Division.

As a result, the pressure on Feng's faction was greatly reduced. Feng mobilized 100,000 troops of the Huizhou Security Corps under his command to march north, shouting "Down with the rebels, support the president" and going straight into the heart of Jiaozhou, making Zhang Chengxiang exhausted and overwhelmed. While letting the army on the northern line continue to put high pressure on Beilong City, he commanded the Fourth Army that was defending Jiaozhou to Dengyun City on the border and engage in a battle with Feng's army.

In Xiazhou in the northwest, the cunning Ma Changfang was greatly psychologically shocked by the successive victories brought by the Northwest Revolutionary Army from the battlefield.

Since the Northwest Revolutionary Army openly declared war on the Southern Government, the Fuso Kwantung Army, and the rebel party led by Zhang Chengxiang, no one believed that the young Su Zhengyang could change the situation of the entire Northern Frontier Government on his own.

But unexpectedly, the Northwestern Revolutionary Army under Su Zhengyang, with its powerful combat effectiveness, amazing fighting will, and world-class military standards, launched a thundering attack, with five armies advancing in unison, from south to north, from Mongolia to the northeastern front battlefield, and brought severe blows to the enemies of the Northern Xinjiang government.

It is no exaggeration to describe Su Zhengyang and the Northwest Revolutionary Army under his command as turning the tide and saving the collapsing building.

Under such circumstances, after three days of detailed thinking, Ma Changfang called Qu Guowei from Huzhou to his territory and reached a preliminary consensus.

Two days later, Ma Changfang made a move that shocked the whole of China. The Ma and Qu factions dispatched a total of 200,000 troops, with Echeng in the south of Huzhou as their base camp, and marched southward. However, their purpose was not to attack Linzhou and bring obstacles to the Northwest Revolutionary Army, but to shout slogans of helping the northern border, eliminating the rebels, and attacking the western route of the Southern Kingdom's Northern Expedition Army. They directly entered Hanzhou and joined forces with the Third Army of the Northwest Revolutionary Army and the remnants of the Hanzhou Wang faction to launch an attack on the 450,000 western route Northern Expedition Army led by Song Yuanfeng.

Following the statements made by Ma Changfang and Qu Guowei, the An and Qian factions, which had been neutral and on hold, also sent a telegram to the whole country, firmly supporting the current President of Northern Xinjiang, Yang Jiakai. The An and Qian factions will jointly send troops and dispatch 150,000 troops to complete the encirclement and suppression of the Southern Government's Western Route Northern Expedition Army together with the Third Army of the Northwest Revolutionary Army.

As a result, the pressure on the Western Route Northern Expedition Army led by Song Yuanfeng increased greatly, as they faced a force of as many as 600,000. Under this circumstance, Huang Guangtai decisively ordered Song Yuanfeng to withdraw his troops and issued a statement that in the face of the foreign enemy Fuso invading China, the Southern Government, out of consideration for the overall situation, temporarily stopped the Northern Expedition and gave spiritual support to the Northeast Army and other Chinese heroic troops who were fighting against the Fuso Kwantung Army on the front line.

The Western Route Northern Expedition Army began to retreat southward overnight, and this move directly frightened Zhang Chengxiang's two die-hard supporters, the Dongzhou Chen faction and the Mingzhou Yuan faction. Without the Southern Government's Western Route Northern Expedition Army to contain the Third Army of the Northwest Revolutionary Army and other enemy troops, it meant that they would soon face a coalition force of more than 800,000 from seven forces, and they would have no chance of winning at all.

Without waiting for the Third Army to turn around and attack Dongzhou and Mingzhou, Yuan Gongwang, the head of the Yuan faction, and Chen Mingyuan, the head of the Chen faction, announced their surrender at the first opportunity, and put all the blame on Zhang Chengxiang. They announced for the first time the agreement and a series of conspiracies between Zhang Chengxiang and Fuso, and stated that everything was due to Zhang Chengxiang's coercion, and that they would only follow Zhang Chengxiang in launching a rebellion when they had no choice.

In less than half a month, the chaos in the west was completely quelled. Yuan Gongwang and Chen Mingyuan handed over their military power and declared surrender. With great trepidation, they came to Yong'an City under the personal escort of the Third Army led by Tang Yuanfei.

This news was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, and the Jiangbei Pang faction, which had been struggling to hold on, suffered an unprecedented shock at this moment. Pang Jinghong fainted on the spot and became terminally ill. The entire Pang faction's troops were in a panic, and many of Su Zhengyang's father's old subordinates even considered surrendering directly.

In the Jiaozhou Governor's Mansion, Zhang Chengxiang was completely different from the high-spirited man he was half a month ago. His face was ashen and his eyes were depressed as he sat on the sofa. He looked like a dead person who was about to die, completely lifeless.

Zhang Chengxiang is now facing a situation where he is surrounded by enemies on all sides. He even knows very well that if the Ding faction of Hongzhou had not formed a mortal feud with the Duan faction, and Pang Jinghong of Yunzhou knew in his heart that Su Zhengyang would never let him go, now even the Pang and Ding factions would abandon him and surrender directly.

Having lost Fuso's support, Zhang Chengxiang could only rely on the 300,000 troops under his command to hold on.

Fortunately, the army under his command received a large amount of military supplies and economic support from Fuso, and faced with the pincer attack from the Beilongcheng coalition forces and the Feng army in the south, it had not shown any obvious signs of defeat.

But as time went on, the Northwest Revolutionary Army took over the Yunzhou Pang faction, and pressure from various parties gathered in the three provinces of Zhili. It was only a matter of time before Zhang Chengxiang came to an end.

At this moment, Zhang Chengxiang's resentment towards Su Zhengyang had reached its peak.

This unknown dude, who was widely regarded as a good-for-nothing throughout Jiangbei, went against his will in just over a year. He started an uprising in the southern part of Linzhou and formed the so-called Northwest Revolutionary Army. Today, he has the ability to change the entire situation in China.

If Su Zhengyang's Northwest Revolutionary Army had not been too terrifying, he would have already completed his plan and sat in the coveted position.

Today, Zhang Chengxiang is like a rat crossing the street, and everyone is shouting at him to be beaten. Even the ancestral tomb of the Zhang family was dug up by angry people late at night a few days ago. The bodies of the Zhang family's ancestors were left exposed in the wilderness, and Zhang Chengxiang almost died.

Today, Zhang Chengxiang has lost his fame and reputation. If he can no longer defend the three provinces of Zhili, what awaits him will be an abyss of no return.