Many people may not imagine that this warlord not only wrote poems and created "special effects" like "mudslides", but he was also an enthusiast who was keen on studying a new type of Western arms - armored troops.

Author: Hammer Jack

Statement: Bingshuo is original, plagiarism will be punished

In 1911, the Revolution of 1911 broke out. Although it ended the Qing Dynasty that had ruled China for nearly 300 years, what was left behind was an era of power in name and status. During the 12-year warlord war between 1916 and 1928, heroes from all over the world appeared one after another, leaving a chaotic mark of the times on the stage of history.

Among them, there is one warlord who can be said to be unique. Many people may not imagine that this warlord not only wrote poems and created "special effects" like "mudslides", but he was also an enthusiast who was keen on studying a new type of Western arms - armored troops.

This person's name is Zhang Zongchang . He has been in power in Qilu for three years. He is a "dog-meat general" who is famous for feeding the common people and worshiping foreign countries.

Zhang Zongchang (1881-1932), known as the "Devil King" and "General Dog Meat", was born in Laizhou, Shandong Province. Because his family was poor, he went to the outside world to "explore Guandong". He once worked as a road construction worker on the China Eastern Railway and had many contacts with Russians, so he can speak fluent Russian. After the Revolution of 1911, he successively served as regimental commander and division commander. He initially took refuge with Feng Guozhang, but due to the defeat in the army, he defected to Zhang Zuolin in 1921. In warlord , he is famous for his ruthlessness.

In April 1925, Zhang Zongchang "contributed" to the Qingdao Massacre. In July, he changed his identity and became the "Governor of Shandong Province", and at the same time served as the commander-in-chief of the Qilu Allied Forces. He sat in the position of provincial governor for three years until he was defeated in the army and went into exile in 1928. He hid in Dalian, Dalian, Japan, and Tibet.

During the three years that Zhang Zongchang was in Shandong, he made countless money and became violent. Although he was called the "King of Shandong", he was despised by the people and was nicknamed the "Dog Meat General". In 1932, pro-Japanese Zhang Zongchang was assassinated in Jinan Railway Station.

Zhang Zongchang has a collection of poems, which contains many "golden sentences" inscribed by him himself. For example, "Xiang Yu pulled up the mountain with his strength, Liu Bang ran away in fear" comes from this. Although the poetry is written like a mudslide, , the "King of Shandong", is not completely useless: he actually relied on his own efforts and built China's first real tank !

So, where did the inspiration come from for Zhang Zongchang to be able to build a tank? In fact, this has something to do with his old club-Zhang Zuolin.

As early as 1918, the French army had used armored forces (a reinforced tank company with a total of 34 "Renault" FT-17 light tanks) in the Siberian region of Soviet Russia. In battles across Siberia, 4 vehicles were captured by the Red Army. Among the remaining 30 vehicles, 10 were sent back to the French Indochina Peninsula, 8 were sent to the Tianjin French Concession to strengthen the garrison, and the remaining 12 were handed over to the "Czech Army" for continued use. After the Czech Army was defeated into Northeast China, these 12 "Renault" light tanks were handed over to the Feng Army in exchange.

In addition to 12 "Renault" light tanks, Zhang Zuolin also purchased 36 additional "Renault" light tanks from the French Boissou Company between 1923 and 1925. As a result, Fengjun became the first domestic warlord force with armored troops. And these "Reno" became the foundation of China's armored forces.

The Fengtian troops are practicing coordinated infantry and tank operations

As a member of Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Zongchang immediately became interested in these "iron bastards dragging tracks forward" after seeing the power of armored troops. After sitting on the throne of provincial governor, he was not satisfied with just owning the so-called "Belarusian armored fleet". As a "devil incarnate", must have its own "Iron Bastard" in order to continue to dominate!

In February 1926, Zhang Zongchang closed down the arsenal in , Dezhou, , and transferred all the machinery and equipment to the Xincheng arsenal in Jinan for operation. At the same time, he also opened up his treasury and purchased many new equipment for the factory. He also hired Hansted, a military expert from the Czech Republic, to manufacture weapons and equipment for himself. Many of them include tanks and armored vehicles!

Under the guidance of Han Xitede, Zhang Zongchang's first Chinese tank was finally completed.However, due to lack of information, the author did not find any more information about this "Made in China" car. Embarrassingly, it was not Zhang Zongchang’s men who took photos of this “Made in China” car, but the officers and soldiers of the US Marine Corps stationed in Qingdao at the time!

In April 1917, after the US military participated in World War I, the desire for the technical branch of "tanks" increased day by day. Unwilling to rely on others, the US military immediately began its own "road to domestic production." In 1918, the prototype "Studebaker" infantry support tank rolled off the assembly line. After the vehicle was completed, it was sent to the French front line for technical testing. However, due to mediocre performance, it was ultimately rejected and became an abandoned son of the US military. The whereabouts of the drawings and prototypes are also unknown.

In terms of design, the "Stubaker" infantry support tank is very similar to the British Mark.V tank. Based on the "Newton Cargo" crawler tractor, its interior is divided into three parts: a separate compartment in the front, a fighting room in the middle (there are two round rotating turrets on the top of the vehicle body), and a rear Engine room (4-cylinder aircraft engine, unknown model). It weighs about 20 tons and has a crew of 5-6 people.

Photos of Chinese "Stubaker" infantry support tanks taken by U.S. Marine Corps officers and soldiers. Zhang Zongchang's Xincheng Arsenal should have produced a total of 1-2 vehicles of this vehicle, but it has never been put into combat.

In August 1928, Zhang Zongchang was defeated and exiled in Japan. As for the domestic tanks that the "Dog Meat General" attaches great importance to and tries to use to dominate one side, the author believes that it is likely that with the change of the Qilu territory, the new owner threw it into the steel plant and turned into a ball of iron again. Bar.