Beiyang clique in power .281911.E2.80.9315.29 Beiyang Army

yuan shikai emperor of china (1915–1916).

during period 1911–15, yuan shikai remained man hold beiyang army together. , followers resisted attempt kuomintang (kmt) insert outsiders chain of command. negotiated £25-million (sterling) loan five-power banking consortium support beiyang army, despite uproar kmt. in 1913 yuan shikai appointed 4 of loyal lieutenants military governors in southern provinces: duan qirui in anhui, feng guozhang in jiangsu, li shun in jiangxi , tang xiangming in hunan. unified beiyang military clique attained maximum extent of territorial control. exercised firm control on north china , yangtze river provinces. throughout 1914 supported yuan in making revisions constitution give himself treaty- , war-making powers substantial emergency powers (the 3 commanders nicknamed newspapers of time angel, tiger , dog. angel duan qirui, tiger wang shizhen , dog feng guozhang).

in december 1915 yuan shikai declared himself emperor. opposed generals , officers of beiyang army, duan qirui , feng guozhang on down. more importantly, many outlying provinces such yunnan openly opposed him. yuan forced down imperial designs. both duan , feng refused support him in power further, , in end prominent beiyang general remain loyal irrepressible zhang xun. yuan died afterward. after death beiyang army split cliques led yuan s principal protégés. duan qirui s anhui clique , zhili clique, founded feng guozhang led after feng s death cao kun , wu peifu, principal beiyang cliques. disunited, power of beiyang army challenged provincial armies such yan xishan s forces in shanxi , zhang zuolin s fengtian clique.