Li Yuanhong

Li Yuanhong (October 19, 1864 - June 3rd, 1928 OTL) was an important Chinese general and politician during the late Qing dynasty, the early Republican era (1911-1916) and the Warlord period (1916-1928). In The Warlords: China in Crisis, he is the commander of the Republican Guard, tasked with protecting the Executive Committee.

Unwilling cast into a leading role during the Xinhai Revolution, Li became a politically significant figure after the dissolution of the Qing monarchy in 1912. Serving as president for two times, his attempts on reconciliation through negotiations with Northern and Southern Chinese leaders were fruitless as China was torn between Warlords and his base of support controlled by competing cliques in Beijing. In OTL, he was ousted out of power by his rival Cao Kun and died in Tianjin in 1928.

Early Years
Li Yuanhong was born in Hubei province. His education was centered around military affairs, possibly influenced from his father who was a veteran soldier during the Taiping Rebellion. He worked as an engineer in the naval, barely surviving when his cruiser was sunk during the First Sino-Japanese War. He later joined the New Army and became a military officer in the city of Hankou. By 1911, he became one of the leading commanders of the New Army forces in the city.

Xinhai Revolution
As the fervor of revolutionary activity increases, Li became well known for both his crackdowns on revolutionary elements, but of also the benevolent ways he treated the perpetrators.

When mutineers of the New Army overtook the city of Wuchang and Hankou, they needed a high ranking officer to represent the newly formed revolutionary army. Despite having killed several mutineers, Li’s respected status, his support for nationalist sentiment and proficiency in English all fit the match of a ‘modern’ leader. Dragged out from hiding under his wife’s bed, he was forced at gunpoint to be their figurehead for the revolutionary forces. His initial reluctance to cooperate, and his fear of the revolution being a death sentence was soon ebbed away as more and more provinces proclaim independence from the Qing government. Yuan Shikai later negotiated a truce with Li to end the fighting on December 4th, eventually leading to the dissolution of the Qing government.

Vice Presidency: 1912- 1916
Despite Li commanding the rebel army, Sun Yat Sen became the first provisional president in Nanjing, with Li becoming vice president as a compromise. Meanwhile, the north was still under the control of the Qing. A negotiation made Sun step down in favor of Yuan Shikai as president with Li keeping his vice-presidency.

In 1913, he supported Yuan against Sun during the Second Revolution which earned him the enmity of his former comrades. When Yuan pulled off his presidential coup, Li was viewed as a potential threat and confined in Beijing where he became a passive bystander under Yuan's grip. Yuan could never fully trust Li because he wasn't a protégé within the Beiyang Army’s inner circle and because of his past association with the revolutionaries. Li kept his office and honors as vice president but had no power.

Some factions called on Li to claim the presidency when Yuan crowned himself emperor in 1916. He refused for fear of his life but he also declined aristocratic titles granted by Yuan, a decision which would help his standing later on. Li remained in self-imposed isolation at his residence during the monarchic period, and until the death of Yuan.

President: 1st tenure (June 7 1916 to July 17 1917)
When Yuan died, he left a will containing Li's name. The will was an imperial tradition and was not constitutional in the republic. However, the Beiyang generals pressed Li into office, since he was acceptable to the Southern leadership.

Li tried to return to the 1912 constitutional arrangement, but Anhui Clique leader Duan Qirui held the real power. The National Assembly reconvened on August 1, 1916, after having been disbanded over two and a half years earlier.

Duan was eager to pull China into World War I but Li was more hesitant. They conflicted greatly over Duan's decision to cut ties with Germany. Li forced Duan to resign on May 23, 1917, when the premier's secret loans from Japan were exposed. Duan fled to Tianjin to muster his forces, and most generals abandoned the government.

In response, Li asked General Zhang Xun for assistance. In exchange, Zhang asked for the dissolution of parliament which was granted on June 13. Zhang, who was secretly pro-German, unexpectedly occupied Beijing from June 14 to July 12 of 1917 and kept the president prisoner. Zhang then proceeded with a move that would undermine most of his support when he attempted to restore Emperor Puyi and the Qing dynasty on July 1.

Li was released to the Japanese legation where he asked for Duan's assistance in saving the republic. Duan overthrew Zhang and was reinstated as premier. On July 17, distraught from recent events, Li officially resigned from office and moved to Tianjin in retirement.

President: 2nd Tenure (11 June 1922 to 13 June 1923)
He served again as president after Cao Kun forced out President Xu shichang. Li was chosen because he was respected by all of the factions and was hoped to reunify the country. He accepted only with the private assurances that warlord forces be disbanded; they were never honored.

Like his first term, he called back the original National Assembly but he was even more powerless than before. He organized the "Able Men Cabinet" consisting of prestigious experts but it became undone when he arrested the finance minister for graft after examining rumours and circumstantial evidence; a court threw out the charges.

Cao soon harbored presidential ambitions himself and orchestrated strikes to force Li out of office. Cao went as far as trying to bribe the assembly into impeaching him. When Li was vacating the capital, he attempted to take the presidential seal with him but was intercepted. He fled to Japan for medical treatment in 1923.

Beijing Coup and aftermath
When news of the Beijing Coup reached to his residence in Tokyo, Li was initially sceptical of Feng Yuxiang’s move. Nevertheless, he was invited to the national conference on reunification by Sun and Feng. Arriving in Tianjin in December 1924, he was received by an entourage sent from the orders of the Guominjun leader and both discussed several matters on national reunification.

Much to the disdain of Duan, Li was appointed as commander of the Republican Guard to safeguard the capital from military incursions; Feng feared that the coup-de-tat he had engineered might repeat again and he needed a suitable, competent leader to defend it.

Character strategies
Having been president of the Republic twice, Li Yuanhong has a long history of involvement with warlord politics. Despite numerous setbacks, it is this experience that has led Sun Yat Sen to appoint him to the Executive Committee in an advisory capacity.

As a gesture of acknowledging Li’s role in the Xinhai revolution, Sun has granted him command of the Republican Guard, a small elite army that defends the capital.

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