<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the Nationalists, against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926 . The purpose of the campaign was to reunify China, and the expedition was divided into two phases . The first phase was interrupted by the political split in the Kuomintang following the formation of the Nanjing faction in April 1927 against the existing faction in Wuhan . The split was partially motivated by the purge of the Communists within the party, which marked the end of the First United Front, and Chiang Kai - shek briefly stepped down as the commander of the National Revolutionary Army . </P> <P> The campaign was resumed in January 1928 with the return of Chiang to the commanding post, and the Nationalist forces advanced to the Yellow River by April 1928 . Strings of victories by the Nationalists toward Peking, with the assistance of allied warlords including Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang, forced Zhang Zuolin of the Fengtian clique out of the capital city . Zhang was assassinated shortly after by the Kwantung Army on his way back to Manchuria, and his son Zhang Xueliang took over as the leader of the Fengtian clique . In June 1928, Zhang Xueliang announced Manchuria would be accepting the authority of the Nationalist government in Nanjing, effectively ending the Northern Expedition . </P>

What was the intent of the northern expedition