Guangdong–Guangxi War

The Guangdong-Guangxi War (1920-1921), also known as the First and Second Ao-Gui War, occurred between the Chinese Revolutionary Party and the Old Guangxi Clique.

First Ao-Gui War

When Sun Yat-sen, leader of the Chinese Revolutionary Party, attempted to re-establish himself in Canton in 1917, Lu Rongting, remote from his power base in Guangxi, reluctantly supported Sun for a few years until Sun split with the Guangxi forces over the allocation of troops to commanders. Sun attempted to strip Chen Qunxuan, (one of Lu's important allies in Guangdong), of some units to be assigned to the apparently more loyal Chen Jiongming, the Guangdong warlord who had sponsored Sun's return there.

Sun Yat-sen directed Chen Jiongming, to launch the Guangdong-Guangxi War against Lu Rongting and the Old Guangxi Clique warlords. In October of the same year, Chen captured Guangzhou, and drove the Old Guangxi Clique warlords out of Guangdong, ending the First Ao-Gui War.

Second Ao-Gui War

In 1921, Chen Jiongming, in order to unite the region behind Sun's regime at Canton, pushed into Guangxi, starting the Second Ao-Gui war. Lu sent two forces, one led by his wife's younger brother, Tan Haoming, the other under Shen Hongying, into Guangdong where they drove back the Cantonese and occupied traditionally Zhuang areas at Qinzhou and Lianzhou. But the center at Wuzhou, commanded by Lu's follower Chen Binghun collapsed. Chen Jiongming drove up the rivers while allies came in from the north, forcing Lu Rongting to step down in July 1921 and by August, Chen had occupied Nanning and the rest of Guangxi, ending the war.

Aftermath

Although Chen Jiongming and the Cantonese forces occupied Guangxi until April 1922, their occupation was largely nominal because armed bands of Guangxi loyalists began to gather under local commanders, calling themselves the Self-government Army. Sun Yixian and Chen Jiongming soon split over the continuation of the Northern Expedition. Chen, however, aspiring merely to be the warlord of Guangdong and after the Zhili clique in Beijing recognized his power in the south he abandoned Sun Yixian. By May 1922, the Cantonese forces had evacuated Guangxi leaving a power vacuum.

See also
*New Guangxi Clique