The Chinese Warlord era was an interesting period in history

For example: a converted Protestant warlord named Feng Yuixang was known for "baptizing" his soldiers with a firehose before Battle as a way to Shield them against death.

There was Ma Hongkui, a Muslim hui who ran his territory like his own personal caliphate, beheading criminals, Communists and the Japanese. Many considered him to be one of China's best generals

He also loved icecream and his many, many wives.

When asked what he thought of Communists he responded "I kill them all."

Ma Fuxiang was Mongolian Muslim who styled himself as a new Khan. He held a monopoly over the opium trade using the funds ($15000000 annually) to fund his military adventures. Interestingly he banned opium a few years later because he found out Islam prohibited it.

Mao Zedong was a country teacher and landowner who turned (opportunistically) into a revolutionary, he was alleged to have gotten into knife fights with other local landowners after his conversion to communism

There was Moishe "2 gun" Cohen, a Polish-Canadian Jew and Spy who was famed for selling weapons to Chang Kei Chek and his KMT.

Zhang Zuolin, an illiterate warlord who controlled wealthy Manchuria thought that printing money would make him rich, but it blew up in his face when it caused hyperinflation and ruined the economy. In response he blamed the leading merchants in his domain and had them all shot.

Zhang Zongchang the "dogmeat general" was a man with enormous appetites.
He was known to keep 30 to 50 concubines of different nationalities, including Koreans, Japanese, white Russians, French and Americans who were all given numbers since he could not remember their names.

He also obtained the world's largest pearl somehow.

He loved food. Always keeping a retinue of 70 chefs close by and often threw enormous 40 course meals for him and his guests, handing out French brandy while his people starved. Visitors described his excess as "sinful"

Zhang was also known as the "Three Don’t Knows" since he could never keep count of how much money, soldiers or concubines he had.

His army was made up of former White Russian soldiers dressed up in White Russian army uniforms. He Even had Russian armored trains in his inventory.

Wu Peifu, the "Philosopher General" billed himself as the protector of Confucian values, usually appearing in photographs with the scholar's brush (a symbol of Confucian culture) Wu liked to appear in photos taken in his office with a portrait of his hero, George Washington.

Konstantin Petrovich was a former White Russian soldier who fought for the dogmeat general.

He and his men drove three armored trains through China shooting all they saw and stealing anything that could be moved. His rampage was stopped only when the train tracks were removed.

His Chinese rivals had pulled up the rail and took the opportunity to massacre almost all his mercenaries on board his train. Nechaev managed to survive the incident, but lost a part of his leg in the battle.

He was killed by the Soviets in 1946

Ma Zhanshan was a bandit who fought against both warlords and the Japanese. He was so effective against the Japanese that they paid him to switch sides which he did, he then went back to fighting them even stealing Japanese planes off their own airfields just to annoy them

There was Francis Arthur "one arm" Sutton. An ANZAC vet who lost his arm at Gallipoli. After the war, he became a gold miner and acquired the rights to produce the Stokes Mortar, he sold his services across China including to Zhang Zuolin.

In later life he became a golfer

The 4th "Ma" was Ma Fuxing, a former convict. Who had once fought as a General during the boxer rebellion. He had a harem of Uyghur wives and demanded people refer to him as "Padishah" the Persian word for king.

Ma hoarded money and had a hay cutting machine which he used to cut people’s limbs off which he hung on city walls with a note about why they had been executed.
Feeling that Ma’s excesses were too great, he was later removed from power and executed. They even photographed it

Once during a drought Zhang Zongchang visited a temple to pray for rain. When he entered he slapped a statue and yelled "FUCK YOUR SISTER! HOW DARE YOU MAKE US SUFFER BY NOT GIVING US RAIN! He then ordered his artillery to fire at the sky until it rained.

It rained the next day

After this he gained the nickname "72 cannon chang"

Another nickname he had was "General 86", as legend told that his penis when erect measured up to 86 Mexican pesos

Another thing he did was after seeing a basketball game for the first time, he asked “Why the hell are they fighting over a single ball? We’re the hosts. Are we seriously this poor?” He ordered all the players be given a basketball.

Probably one of the most well known people of the era was Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, a minor Russian aristocrat who went from a cavalry commander in the great war to a Mongol warlord. He aspired to restore the Mongol empire to its former glory with him at its center.

His infatuation with Vajrayana Buddhism and his eccentric personality mixed with brutal and often violent treatment of enemies and his own men earned him the moniker "The Mad Baron" He preferred to call himself “The incarnated God of War and Khan of grateful Mongolia"

In the years before World War I, A Montana cowboy named Fred Barton was employed by Czar Nicholas to help establish a ranch, the largest in the world in Siberia to supply the Russian military with Horses, after the Czar fell he did the same but for the Soviet military.

Soon he left the Soviets and assembled a group of American rodeo stars to drive horses across Mongolia for the warlords of northern China, creating a 250,000-acre ranch in Shanxi. In the process, he also became an unofficial US intelligence asset and created a new breed of horse.

And who exactly did Fred work for you may be wondering?

That's right

Ignaz Trebitsch-Lincoln (known as Chao Kung) was a Hungarian Jew, Protestant missionary, Anglican priest, British MP, German right-wing politician and spy, Nazi, an agent of the Japanese empire, and a Buddhist abbot in China.

Trebitsch-Lincoln had the ability to talk himself into virtually any situation, and into any company.

He made his way to China and worked as a spy for 3 different warlords including Pu weifu and established his own monastery (initiates were to give all their belongings to him)

He also made contact with the Nazis, he offered to rouse Buddhists of the East against any remaining British influence in the area. It was suggested that Trebitsch be allowed to accompany German agents to Tibet to implement the scheme. He proclaimed himself the new Dalai Lama