The Warlord Era (Chinese: 軍閥時代; pinyin: Jūnfá shídài, 1916–1928) was a period in the history of the Republic of China when the country was divided among military cliques in the mainland regions of Sichuan, Shanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia, Guangdong, Guangxi, Gansu, Yunnan and Xinjiang.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warlord_era

The Zhili–Anhui War was a 1920 conflict in the Republic of China’s Warlord Era between the Zhili clique and Anhui cliques for control of the Beiyang government.

On July 14, 1920, the Anhui army attacked the Zhili army on both fronts. Zhili troops were forced to abandon Gaobei (高碑) Hotel and retreated. Two days later, with help from Japanese troops, the Anhui army also succeeded in taking Poplar (杨) Hamlet, forcing Zhili forces to form a second line of defense in the region of Northern Warehouse (Beicang, 北仓). Here the Anhui army’s advance was finally halted.

On July 17 Wu Peifu personally commanded the Zhili army’s western front, performing a daring maneuver, outflanking the enemy and taking the western zone’s Anhui headquarters. He captured the Anhui army’s front-line commander-in-chief Qu Tongfeng (曲同丰) and many of his officers, including the 1st Division commander. After taking the town of Zhuozhou, Wu pursued the retreating enemy toward Beijing. With the exception of the 15th Division, the remainder of the Anhui army on the western front was annihilated. On the same day the Fengtian army attacked the Anhui eastern front. Upon learning of the collapse of the western zone, Anhui’s eastern commander, chief of staff Gen. Xu Shuzheng, fled Langfang to Beijing, leaving his troops to surrender to the combined might of the Fengtian and Zhili cliques.

On July 19, 1920, Duan Qirui realized the fight was over and resigned from his post. On July 23 the combined Fengtian and Zhili cliques entered Southern Garden (Nanyuan, 南苑) for the takeover of Beijing, concluding with the defeat and surrender of the Anhui clique.

Source: Wikipedia, published under the GNU FDL. Retrieved 2014-08-03


According to the Wikipedia article Zhili-Fengtian coalition suffered Several thousand casualties while 35,500 in the Anhui army were killed or deserted. No sources were given for these figures.