Guominjun

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The Guominjun (Traditional Chinese: 國民軍; Simplified Chinese: 国民军; Hanyu Pinyin: Guómínjūn; Wade-Giles: Kuominchun), or Nationalist Army, refers to the military faction founded by Feng Yuxiang during China's Warlord Era. It was formed when Feng betrayed the Zhili clique during the Second Zhili-Fengtian War with the Fengtian clique in 1924. The Guominjun occupied Beijing and captured Zhili leader Cao Kun as well as expel former Qing Dynasty emperor Puyi from the Forbidden City. The Guominjun was very sympathetic to Sun Yat-sen's Kuomintang regime in Guangzhou but due to geographic isolation was independent of one another. The Guominjun was unusual for being an ideological army with its troops indoctrinated in Christian, socialist, and nationalist teachings. It also cared for its troops with welfare and education programs which was very rare at the time. This created a very determined, cohesive fighting force with high morale. One of its weaknesses was its small size and large territorial coverage meant that troops were spread thin. In late 1925, Fengtian general Guo Songling defected to the KMC; this sparked a war with Zhang Zuolin. The Guominjun was on the losing side until the KMT launched its Northern Expedition. It merged with the Kuomintang's National Revolutionary Army to defeat the Fengtian forces. In 1929, Feng grew increasingly dissatisfied with Chiang Kaishek's regime; the Guominjun launched a full rebellion, the Central Plains War, in 1930. However, Feng was defeated and what was left of the faction was absorbed into the KMT.