Nishihara released a generous dole of funds to the Zhili wing of the Northern militarist group whose troops promptly reoccupied the capital, routing General Zhang’s forces. The Anhui and the Zhili cliques divided power between them. Duan was restored as Prime Minister. Feng, the leading commander of the Zhili faction, replaced Li as President. However, refusing to accept the return of the twice-discredited militarists to Beijing, in the summer of 1917 the Guomindang members of the parliament decamped to the South where they constituted a rebel nationalist government headed by their long-time
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