Mr. Ding Zhongjiang wrote a book and read it many years ago.In October last year, Beijing China Friendship Publishing Company planned to recommend this book to mainland readers, and invited me to do some editing and proofreading work before publication, and had the opportunity to meet and get acquainted with Mr. Ding in Beijing. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait have been isolated from each other for more than 40 years, and academic and cultural exchanges have also been artificially closed, and there is little understanding of each other.The Chinese nation is a great nation with a long history and cultural tradition. It has made outstanding contributions to the development of world civilization history with its rich and colorful cultural creation.The development and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation now requires the joint efforts of the whole nation.Isolation and closure are not conducive to the development and construction of national culture.Academic research should understand and absorb the existing achievements in time as its own starting point, but at present, due to the lack of normal communication channels, it is difficult for ordinary scholars to see the academic works and academic journals on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, which seriously affects the flow of academic research work. carry out.A historian in Taipei once wrote that it would be difficult for him to write a convincing history if he could not use the historical archives collected in Beijing.Similarly, taking the history of the Republic of China as an example, mainland scholars will find it difficult to use the archives of the Republic of China period in the Taipei Special Collection for some special research.In recent years, although there are still many man-made estrangements between Taiwan and the mainland, the situation in the strait has begun to change. Cross-strait relations have shifted from tension to relaxation, from long-term isolation to mutual exchanges. Strengthening cross-strait ties and expanding cross-strait exchanges is the general trend. direction.

According to the newspaper: In 1990, cultural exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait had a great development. In terms of publishing, mainland books were directly sold to Taiwan, and there were also many cooperations in publishing books, especially in literary works.From what I have seen and heard in mainland China, the works of Taiwanese writers can be found everywhere in bookstores and book stalls, but the publication of academic works is only a sporadic phenomenon.In this regard, Beijing China Friendship Publishing Company has done a lot of useful work, such as Taiwan's "Bo Yang Edition Zi Zhi Tong Jian", which has been published to 56 volumes (titled "Modern Chinese Edition Zi Zhi Tong Jian").This time, Ding's "Historical History" will be published again.I hope that there will be more works by Taiwanese scholars in the future, and I can meet mainland readers.This book has been reprinted many times in Taiwan and is very popular among readers.According to Mr. Ding, the revised eighth edition will be published in Taiwan at the same time as the mainland edition next year, and he has written a letter to write a preface for it.Over the years, due to work, I have written articles and books on the history of the early years of the Republic of China, and compiled a multi-volume book "Beiyang Warlords 1912-1928". I am a little familiar with the history of Beiyang Warlords. Mr. Ding's book, when the mainland edition of this book is published, takes this opportunity to talk about the origin and development of the Beiyang warlords for readers' reference.

The Beiyang Warlords were a military and political group that originated in the late Qing Dynasty. Yuan Shikai was the head of this group. In modern Chinese history, from 1912 to 1928 was the period of Beiyang Warlords’ rule. Although Yuan Shikai died in 1916 and the Beiyang warlord group also split, the Anhui, Zhili, and Feng factions that successively controlled the real power of the Beijing government, as well as the large and small warlords who controlled a province or region in the north, also came from this group.In order to fight for power and profit, they caused continuous warlord melee.In order to fight for the control of the Beijing government, the big warlords often broke out large-scale wars. With the victory or defeat of the war, the real power of the Beijing government was transferred to the big warlords of various factions.During this period, the so-called president, ruler, and generalissimo of the Beijing government changed many times, and the cabinet prime minister changed more frequently. In just 13 years from 1916 to 1928, there were 38 cabinets, the shortest two. There are only six days, and no matter which faction is in power, it will not last long.Although the Beiyang warlords ruled for only 17 years from 1912, due to successive years of civil wars, they brought unprecedented disasters to the people.Therefore, the emergence and development of the Beiyang Warlords group has left an extremely profound impact on the modern history of China.

The formation of this foreign warlord is a product of modern China, and its historical origin can be traced back to the Hunan Army and Huai Army in the late Qing Dynasty. In 1897 (the 23rd year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), when talking about the evolution of the Qing system, the Qing government said: "Our dynasty established the Central Plains, and at that time only the Eight Banners were used, which was invincible in the world; There are more than 600,000, less than 500,000, which is not as bad as the Eight Banners. It is the bandits in Guangdong, Nian, Sichuan, and Hui. The army is not enough to control the army, so they pay more to train and train the army. To recruit brave men, there are Hunan Army, Chu Army, Huai Army, and Yi Army. It was a Japanese campaign, and it was not enough to train soldiers and bravery, so a new army was added according to the Western method." (See Volume 203, Bing 2 of "General Research on Continuing Documents of the Qing Dynasty").The Xianghuai Army originated when Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang organized a regiment to suppress the Taiping Rebellion Army, and Zeng and Li also started from this.

Zeng Guofan's policy in organizing regiment training was to control generals and the army through feudal patriarchal relations.The various departments of the Hunan Army, from the commander to the post commander and soldiers, are recruited into the army from the top, that is, the armed groups maintained by the ties of fellow villagers, relatives and friends, teachers and students.In Wang Ding'an's "History of the Hunan Army", when he talked about the control of the Hunan Army, he had the following description: "The commander wants to build an army, choose a commander, and recruit several battalions. The commander chooses the battalion officer himself, and the battalion officer chooses the sentry officer, and then Under the command, commanders are not in control. Therefore, in a battalion, the fingers and arms are connected, and the brave look at the battalion post, the battalion post looks at the commander, and the commander looks at the commander. They are all like children and fathers and brothers. Or if the commander wants to change the command, then And the army withdraws, and the new commander selects the battalion officers as before. Or recruits them from other places, eliminates them separately, and then forms a new army, and does not follow each other." When talking about the Hunan Army, Wang Kaiyun, a native of Hunan, Said: "The valuable people of the Hunan Army have their own sects, so the upper and lower are close friends"; , it will survive, and its army will be finished." The above-mentioned discussion of the so-called valuable advantages of the Hunan Army precisely reveals the sectarian nature of the Hunan Army.The Li Hongzhang Huai Army that followed was also an army formed by inheriting the method of the Hunan Army.

After the Hunan and Huai armies suppressed the Taiping Army and the Nian Army, part of the army was abolished, and most of them stayed in various places to become the defense army, and gradually replaced the original Eight Banners and Green Battalion to become the regular army of the Qing Dynasty.What followed was that the Hunan and Huai Army Groups controlled the real power of local governments in many provinces and regions across the country.At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the two groups of Hunan and Huaihe occupied the important positions of Governor of Liangjiang and Minister of Nanyang and Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang respectively for a long time. They formed considerable local forces and became the warlords of modern China.Yuan Shikai's new army inherited the mantle of the Hunan and Huai armies, and on this basis developed into a Beiyang warlord group that disastrous the country and the people.

In 1901, Yuan Shikai succeeded Li Hongzhang as Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang, which was an important turning point in his political career.Yuan took advantage of the political, economic, and military power in his hands, and took the team formed during the small station training as the backbone. On the one hand, he took the opportunity to expand the military power in Beiyang, and on the other hand, he continued to install cronies in the central and local governments.Soon, a Beiyang military and political group headed by Yuan was formed, and its power could influence the government.

The most fundamental aspect of Yuan Shikai's management and cultivation of the Beiyang warlord group is to cultivate cronies, form sectarian forces, and control a new Beiyang army that obeys Yuan's orders. Xiangcheng ear".Yuan admired Zeng Guofan's army management method of "starting from regiment training and founding the Hunan Army" very much, and developed it. Under Yuan Shikai, he recruited a group of cronies, confidants, and buddies who were loyal to him.Some of them turned out to be Yuan's relatives, friends, fellow villagers, or children of servants in the family, such as Yuan Naikuan and Zhang Zhenfang.Some graduated from the Beiyang Armed Forces School founded by Li Hongzhang in the late Qing Dynasty, and were reused by Yuan Wei.Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui, and Feng Guozhang, known as the "Three Masters" of Beiyang, as well as Duan Zhigui, Cao Kun, Li Chun, Wang Zhanyuan, Lu Jianzhang, Yang Shande, Lu Yongxiang, Bao Guiqing, and Zhang Huaizhi, all came from this school.Some were recruited and promoted former officers of the Huai Army who were willing to work for Yuan, such as Jiang Guiti, Zhang Xun, Ni Sichong, Meng Enyuan and so on.Some were born in various military schools founded by the Yuan family. For example, at the beginning of the new army, a "military school with battalion" was set up. Army cadres.Later, in Baoding in 1902, the "Beiyang Suiying General Bian School" was established, and in 1905, Beiyang Military Doctor, Ordnance, and Manager (training quartermaster) logistic schools were established. In 1906, the "Baoding Military Academy" was set up to train the military backbone of the Beiyang New Army after its expansion.Yuan Shikai stipulated that "from now on, when training the new army, all the personnel appointed by the Central Military Commission should first be selected for appointment by those who have trained in military preparations and who have led the new army." Selected filling" (see "General Examination of Continuing Documents of the Qing Dynasty", Volume 204, Bing 3).Yuan's standard for employing people is that only the Beiyang faction is his relative.The commanders at the township, association, and standard levels of the new army in the six towns of Beiyang are almost all from the Beiyang department, and there are very few graduates from military training schools in other provinces or students studying in Japan from other provinces.Therefore, most of the military backbones of the six towns of Beiyang are Yuan's protégés and old officials, and they regard Yuan as their parents.Relying on Yuan's training and promotion, these people were quickly promoted to important positions such as Xietong, Zhentong, or commander-in-chief and admiral who held military power and strength.The same is true among civil servants, such as Zhu Jiabao, Qi Yaolin, Sun Baoqi, Zhang Xiluan, Zhao Bingjun, Yang Shiqi, etc., all took refuge in Yuan Shikai and were reused.After being recommended by Yuan to the Qing court in the form of "sponsorship", "secret protection" and "special protection", in just a few years, county magistrates and alternate roads were "exceptionally promoted" to important positions such as governors of various provinces and ministers of various ministries.And Xu Shichang was one of Yuan's staff members, and was quickly promoted to Minister of the Patrol Department of the Qing Government, Governor of the Three Eastern Provinces, Minister of Military Aircraft, Cabinet Bachelor, and Cabinet Assistant Minister, and entered the ruling center of the Qing Dynasty.Relying on Yuan Shikai's recommendation and guarantee, they were promoted and won high-ranking officials and generous salaries. They were officials of the imperial court in name, but they shared honor and disgrace with Yuan in reality, with a strong feudal personal attachment relationship.By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Beiyang warlord military and political group headed by Yuan basically controlled the real power of Zhili, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, and the three provinces of the Northeast, as well as some central ministries, and became a major political force in the late Qing Dynasty.

In 1908, Yuan Shikai was dismissed from office and lived in seclusion in Henan under the suspicion of Zaifeng and other royal relatives. However, because of the protection of his cronies and minions, the Qing government could do nothing about him. When the Wuchang Uprising broke out in 1911, Yuan Shikai was able to make a comeback, and then usurped the victory of the 1911 Revolution, becoming the official president of the Republic of China.He relied on the strength of this military and political group.Afterwards, most of the successive presidents, rulers, marshals, prime ministers, heads of ministries, provincial governors, governors, guards, and other military and political officials of the Beijing government under the control of the Beiyang warlord group came from this group.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, world capitalism entered the stage of imperialism, and China became the target of fierce competition among the great powers. With the increase of investment in China by Europe, America, Japan and other countries, their greedy desire to control China is also increasing.The ancient Chinese Empire is facing an unprecedented national crisis.When this nation was alive and dying, it deeply stimulated all strata of Chinese society, and bourgeois reformers and revolutionaries stepped onto the Chinese political stage one after another.These new factors will inevitably have a certain effect and influence on Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Warlord Group, so it has some different characteristics compared with the Xianghuai Army Group.

1. The Beiyang warlord group headed by Yuan Shikai, from the perspective of the development and change of political forces in the late Qing Dynasty, its origin is the continuation of Li Hongzhang's Westernization School.The Westernization School in the late Qing Dynasty had three characteristics: one was to hold the real power of the Qing government in the modern industry, the other was to hold military power, and the third was to deal with foreign countries politically and economically.The three characteristics of the Westernization School, Yuan Shikai’s Beiyang Warlord Group, not only inherited all of them, but also developed to some extent. Apart from the general commonality of the Xianghuai Clique in the late Qing Dynasty, the most prominent political characteristic was the implementation of the New Deal by the Qing government. formed and developed in. In 1895, the failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 shocked the government and the opposition.Faced with the turbulent situation at home and abroad, some people in the Qing ruling class put forward various reform ideas.The military is an important tool for state governance, so the voice for reforming the military is the highest.The Qing court also issued a series of edicts, arguing that retraining the "new army" is the "key" to self-improvement and "the most important thing to save the time".Yuan Shikai took the newly built army as his team and began to manage and cultivate his own political power, taking advantage of the Qing government's implementation of the "New Deal" to expand his military and political power.Training the new army, setting up patrol police, building schools, establishing a constitution, all these new things with a capitalist color were all used by Yuan, and they were regarded as the "head of the New Deal" by the ruling and opposition parties at that time.Its political power also snowballed like a snowball, and finally became a major political faction that could influence the government in the late Qing Dynasty.The reason is that the development of Chinese capitalism during this period had a much stronger impact on China's economy and politics than China's original natural economy and petty commodity economy.This new factor penetrated and affected all aspects of society in the late Qing Dynasty, including of course Yuan Shikai's Beiyang warlord group.This group flaunts the word "new" everywhere, and compared with the modern warlords of the Xianghuai system, it has an obvious capitalist color. After 1905, the revolutionary movement represented by the China Tongmenghui developed rapidly, and the constitutional movement of the upper class of the bourgeoisie gradually rose.Yuan Shikai saw that there was no way out for the declining Qing Dynasty. "If there is no constitution, there will be revolution, and the two must be one of them." , Even the memorial, talking about constitutionalism.This objectively contributed to the combination of Yuan and the constitutionalists. In 1906, Zheng Xiaoxu, Zhang Jian, and Tang Shouqian formed the "Preliminary Constitutional Association" in Shanghai, united with the constitutionalists in various provinces, and demanded that the Qing government implement constitutionalism.Yuan Shikai tried his best to win them over, gave strong support to the activities of preparing a constitutional association, and won over Yang Du, who was unique among the constitutionalists, and recommended him to explain constitutional issues to the Queen Mother and the royal family.Therefore, domestic constitutionalists regarded Yuan as the backbone of the constitutional movement, and even praised him in the newspapers as a "giant enlightened hand."During the Revolution of 1911, the Beiyang warlord group was able to steal the national power. Apart from having a new type of army such as Beiyang Six Towns, the support of domestic constitutionalists was also an important factor. 2. The social nature of China at that time and the influence of the aggressive forces of the great powers in China in the early years of the Republic of China determined that the Beiyang Warlord Group was not only a representative of feudal forces in politics, but also had a certain connection with imperialist forces.Especially after 1916, most of the various factions in this group had imperialist backgrounds and backgrounds, and some even completely became aggression tools of imperialism.However, the development and changes of history are extremely complicated, and the relationship between the various factions in Beiyang and the imperialist countries also manifests in various forms.Some are in close collusion with imperialism politically, economically, and militarily, openly and blatantly selling out national interests;This was determined by the differences in the political interests and starting points of the two parties, as well as the differences in the specific international and domestic environments at that time.Starting from their aggressive interests in China, the imperialist countries do not absolutely support a certain faction of warlords according to their needs.The warlords of various factions sometimes arouse strong resistance and struggle of the Chinese people due to the invasion of China by the imperialist powers.An example is as follows: 1. The relationship between Japanese imperialism and the Anhui warlords is well known to scholars who study the history of the Republic of China.During the period when the Anhui warlords headed by Duan Qirui controlled the Beijing government (1916.6-1920.8), China was an independent sovereign country on the surface, but actually depended on Japan everywhere and was directly or indirectly manipulated by it.The collusion between Japan and Anhui was a product of the specific international environment during the First World War, when the European and American powers had no time to look around, and Japan took the opportunity to expand its aggressive power in China.During this period, Japan strongly supported the Anhui warlords politically, economically and militarily.Duan Qirui's so-called "unification of force" launched wars against the southern law-enforcement provinces year after year, trying to eliminate the law-enforcement movement represented by Sun Yat-sen against the northern warlords, and Japan provided money and weapons to support it behind the scenes.The relationship between the two parties is just like what Xu Shuzheng, a representative of the warlords of the Anhui clique, said: "The growth and decline of our Northern Army has the same interests as the Japanese temple cabinet" (see page 2 of "Xu Shuzheng's Confidential Telegram").According to statistics from the Ministry of Finance of Japan, during the tenure of the Temple Cabinet (1916.10-1918.9), Japan’s newly established loans to China amounted to 38,645 yen. It tripled in two years" (see page 353 of Takeo Suzuki's "Research on Nishihara Loan Data").In exchange for Japan's support, Duan Qirui only needs to give money, arms and weapons, and any national sovereignty and national interests can be auctioned off at a low price. From railways, mines, factories to various taxes, they are all borrowed by the Anhui Department for various purposes. Mortgage and guarantee, for which Japan obtained various privileges and interests in China (for the specific historical facts, please refer to my book "Warlords of the Anhui Clan and Japan").The relationship between Japan and Anhui can be regarded as a typical example during the period of the Northern Warlords. 2. Compared with the relationship between Japan and Anhui, the relationship between Japan and Zhang Zuolin is slightly different.There has long been collusion between Rifeng. After the Zhiwan War in 1920, Zhang Zuolin’s ambition to control the central government in Beijing increased greatly, so he moved closer to Japan more actively. He personally expressed to Japan that he hoped to pay attention to its value in the northern political situation in the future, and he was very willing to replace the collapsed Anhui Clan status, and "adopt a genuine goodwill policy" towards Japan.Japanese Prime Minister Hara Kyoshi thought: "Zhang wanted to rely on Japan to expand his power, but we need to treat Zhang well for the development of the three northeastern provinces. The interests of both of us coincided with each other." 9, pp. 135-138).Japan's support for the Feng family is more based on the basic point of safeguarding its so-called "special interests of Manchuria and Mongolia".Japan has always regarded Northeast China as its sphere of influence, and does not allow European and American countries to interfere.On May 17, 1921, the Japanese Cabinet made the following stipulations on the policy of the Feng faction: "For Zhang Zuolin to reorganize and enrich the internal affairs and armaments of the three eastern provinces, so as to establish and consolidate his power in the region, the empire can directly or indirectly provide assistance. However, the empire did not adopt an attitude of further support for its request for help from the empire in order to achieve its ambitions for the central political circle.” Japan’s “purpose of aiding Zhang Zuolin was not to assist Zhang personally, but to assist Zhang Zuolin because he possessed real power in Mongolia. In order to consolidate our special status to Manchuria and Mongolia" ("Japanese Diplomatic Chronology and Main Documents" below).Proceeding from this basic point, Japan maintained a non-intervention and non-intervention stance towards the first Zhifeng war in 1922, even though the Feng faction suffered a defeat. In 1924, General Guo Songling of the Feng Faction turned against Zhang Zuolin and led his troops back to Fengtian from Guannei. Zhang Zuolin's dominance was in jeopardy.The Japanese garrison in Fengtian immediately intervened, causing Guo Songling to be defeated and killed, and Zhang was able to turn the crisis into safety.This is the basic reason why Japan adopted completely different attitudes in the two incidents of the Zhifeng War and Guo Songling's rebellion against Feng. In 1928, in the face of the victory of the Northern Expeditionary Army, the Fengtian warlords suffered successive military defeats. At this time, Zhang had become an obstacle for Japan to safeguard its "special interests of Manchuria and Mongolia" (if Zhang was defeated and retreated to the three eastern provinces, it might cause the Northern Expeditionary Army to march outside the pass) Then, the Japanese Kwantung Army conspired to blow up Zhang Zuolin in Huanggutun, paving the way for Japan to directly invade and occupy the three eastern provinces.Here, the relationship between Japan and Zhang Zuolin's Feng family is different from the relationship between Japan and Anhui. 3. Among the Beiyang warlords, the relationship between the Zhili warlords and Britain and the United States is more subtle and subtle, not as open and explicit as the Japanese Anhui and Rifengjian.However, it is an indisputable fact that Britain and the United States supported Zhili to resist the expansion of Japanese power in China.During the governance period of the Anhui system, when sharp conflicts and struggles occurred between the Zhili and Anhui warlords, the public opinion in the Chinese, British and American newspapers openly supported some political ideas of Zhili Wu Peifu, and the anti-Japanese and anti-Anhui stance was very clear.In the Zhili-Anhui War, the Zhili defeated the Anhui faction, and British and American newspaper reporters in China were elated. They praised Wu Peifu, touting Wu as "a hero in China" and "the only patriot among Chinese soldiers."Former U.S. Minister to China Reinsch wrote a letter to the Beijing government, expressing support for Wu's idea of ​​holding a National Assembly after the Xuanwan War, and believed that "there is no other way than this" (see "Morning News" on August 27, 1920).There is no doubt that Western countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States have regarded Wu Peifu as a suitable person for their China policy in China, and the Zhili have always regarded Britain and the United States as their allies.After the Beijing government under the immediate control was established, it faced financial difficulties. With the help of the United Kingdom and the United States, in August 1922, the Bank Group Meeting of Britain, the United States, France, and Japan agreed to grant the direct Beijing government an installment loan of US$5 million, and the four countries stationed in China The envoys report to their respective governments.Japanese Minister Kohata believed that this decision favored the immediate family and suggested that the government reject this resolution.The loan was rejected due to objections from the Japanese government.Although the United Kingdom and the United States carried out various activities to facilitate this loan, Japan always refused to change its position against the loan under the pretext of not giving aid to any party in China.This clearly reflected Japan's hostile attitude towards the Zhili warlords supported by Britain and the United States.However, the relationship between Britain and the United States and the direct lineage is not as open and explicit as the relationship between Japan, Anhui and Japan. Whether the imperialist powers support the warlords of various factions in Beiyang is based on their immediate interests in China. There are many examples of such things in today's international politics. 3. The rule of Beiyang warlords in the early years of the Republic of China was full of contradictions and conflicts between old and new in politics, economy, culture and ideology.Intensified class contradictions and violent political turmoil are the characteristics of this period.During this period, China, no matter the south or the north, was in the midst of warlord wars for a long time.According to statistics from the book "Detailed Records of Civil War in Sichuan" published in 1932, from the early years of the Republic of China to 1932, Sichuan warlords fought 478 times, with an average of two wars per month. Larger-scale wars spread to neighboring Yunnan, Guizhou, and Shaanxi. , four provinces of Hubei.This is the case in Sichuan Province, and there are no statistical data on the frequent outbreaks of warlord warlords all over the country, but you can imagine it by analogy.There are two reasons for this phenomenon. One is the existence of a large number of local agricultural economies, that is, feudal economies, and the other is the aggressive policy of the empire to divide spheres of influence.In the early years of the Republic of China, 90% of the country's population was agricultural, and the transportation between regions was inconvenient and the connection was not close. Except for the coastal areas, all provinces in the interior were closed, and each region could exist independently on its own. It provided the objective conditions for warlords big and small to separate themselves.In a province or a region, they closed their doors to themselves, ruled as kings and hegemony, and became independent kingdoms. They regarded the territories they ruled as personal private property, and even formed hereditary feudal family-style rule, such as Fengxi in the Northeast. The Beiyang warlords tried their best to maintain and strengthen the feudal ruling order politically, and the result would inevitably lead to the intensification of various social contradictions.Frequent wars, serious search and plunder, and natural disasters have resulted in the bankruptcy of the rural economy.Some of the bankrupt peasants became the source of soldiers for warlords to expand their armies, but there were also people who took risks everywhere. They formed armed groups with each other in a primitive way of resistance. ", a strange social phenomenon in which soldiers and bandits are indistinguishable.In order to strengthen their means of repression, the rulers purchased foreign guns and cannons to develop their armed forces.At the same time, in order to expand their sphere of influence, they waged wars by force from time to time to snatch the territory occupied by other warlords.The big warlords competed with each other for control of the central government, and wars broke out from time to time; the small local warlords constantly provoked armed conflicts to annex territories.This is the social root of the years of war between warlords in the early Republic of China. The Revolution of 1911 overthrew the Qing Dynasty and ended the feudal system in China that lasted for more than two thousand years.The revolution liberated people's minds, and the concept of a democratic republic began to take root in the hearts of the people. The contradiction between the new trend of thought and the old order was increasingly colliding and becoming more intense. However, anyone who tried to restore the old system of absolute monarchy suffered a shameful failure. , the rapid failure of Yuan Shikai's Hongxian monarchy and Zhang Xun's restoration proves this point.The reactionary rule of the Beiyang warlords was constantly impacted by waves of resistance from people of all walks of life.Mr. Sun Yat-sen hated the reactionary warlord regime deeply. He once pointedly pointed out: "The tyranny of Manchuria, the tyranny of countless robbers, is more poisonous than before."In order to overthrow the rule of the warlords, Mr. Sun Yat-sen has been fighting unremittingly for a long time. His ideal was not realized until the victory of the Northern Expedition in 1928 and the final destruction of the Beiyang warlords. The above is just a general introduction to the formation of the military and political group of the Beiyang Warlords and its several characteristics as a whole. If it is inappropriate, I would like to ask the Fang family to correct me. At present, there are not many works on the whole history of the Beiyang Warlords in mainland China. Mr. Ding Zhongjiang wrote a book, which is a masterpiece of more than two million characters. The book is extensive and vivid, including serious historical facts and celebrity anecdotes involving the political circle of the Republic of China. At the same time, it cites many useful historical materials for reference, from which readers can understand the whole picture of the historical development and changes in the early years of the Republic of China. When the book "Historical History" comes out in the mainland, it will definitely be welcomed by the academic circle and readers, especially it is written by a Taiwanese scholar. Before the publication of this book, as far as I know, I corrected some errors in the book (some of which were obviously made by the author). For details, please refer to the "Postscript" attached to the book, so I will not repeat them.