Page:Who's who in China 3e.djvu/268

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WHO'S WHO IN CHINA

him. In 1910 General Feng became commander of the Third Regiment, 16th Battalion, 5th Brigade, 3rd Division of the Imperial Army, having under him 500 soldiers, with station at Fangsnan Hsien, Chihli. Subsequently his regiment was reorganized and became the Provost Guard Regiment of the Metropolis. The number of persons under his command was then increased to 2,000. In 1913, Yuan Shih-kai trained 10 new Mixed Brigades. General Feng's regiment was taken in, reorganized and became the 16th Mixed Brigade, composed of two battalions of infantry and one regiment of artillery. In 1916 General Feng's Mixed Brigade was sent to Anhui, by Yuan Shih-kai to defend that province from the impending attack by the republican troops from the neighbering provinces which had responded to General Tsao Ao's revolt against Yuan's monarchical movement. But Yuan Shih-kai soon died and General Feng's troops were left in Anhui. As a result of the Chang Hsun's monarchical attempt, Li Yuan-hung vacated the presidency and Tuan Chi-jui came into power again. This happened in July 1917. In August 1917 General Tang Chi-yao declared independence in Yunnan in open defiance of Tuan Chi-jui. Then came Kuangtung, Kuangsi and southern Hunan, and General Feng was ordered to proceed with his troops to Szechuan which was being threatened by attacks from Yunnan. General Feng moved his troops first to Wu-Yueh, Hupei, on the Yangtze and then to Changte, Hunan. There he made acquaintance with General Wu Pei-fu who had been commanding the Sixth Brigade of Marshal Tsao Kun's Third Division in Hunan.

After the Chihli-Fengtien struggle in the summer of 1920, in which General Wu Pei-fu, the responsible head of the Chihli side, came out victorious, and General Feng with his 16th Mixed Brigade played a very important part for Chihli, the two generals became very close friends. Subsequently General Feng's troops were, at the suggestion of General Wu, transferred to Honan. In June 1920 he received the Second Class Tashou Paokuang Chiaho. In August 1921 the late General Yen Hsiang-wen, then commander of the Second Division, was appointed Tuchun of Shensi. At the recommendation of General Wu Pei-fu, General Feng was appointed Co-Director for Military Affairs of Shensi and at the same time his Mixed Brigade was reorganized to become the 11th Division. Upon the sudden and mysterious death of General Ten Hsiang-wen which occurred in the same month—August 1921-General Feng was appointed Acting Tuchun of Shensi still commanding the 11th Division. While in Shensi General Feng sought a compromise with and between the different contending military leaders and finally brought that province back to peace again. In the spring of 1922 the civil war between Chihli and Mukden warlords broke out. General Wu Pei-fu transferred General Feng's troops to participate in the fight and appointed him the Commander of the Rear Defence Forces. His troops played a decisive part in this armed struggle which resulted in the victory of Chihli. In May 1922, General Feng was appointed Tuchun of Honan. In July he was made the “Yang Wu Chiang Chun" a member of the College of Marshals. In October he was conferred the second Order of Merit. On October 31, he was appointed Inspector General of the National Army with headquarters in Peking. Upon receiv-