 With Duan Qirui's Anhui clique using some funds from the Nishihara Loans to invade Outer Mongolia and build up his army, the Fengtian and Zhili cliques, feeling threatened by growing Anhui dominance, created an alliance and banded with the Southern Warlords to take down the Anhui Clique.On July 12, 1920, the warlord coalition officially denounced the Anhui Clique.The Zhili–Anhui War lasted for a week, with the remnants of the Anhui clique escaping to Zhejiang and Shanghai.