In April 1928 Chiang Kai-shek was reinstated as commander of the National Revolutionary Army, the position he previously resigned to take responsibility for splitting the KMT during the First Northern Expedition. He proceeded with the Second Northern Expedition and was approaching Beijing near the end of May. The Beiyang government in Beijing was forced to dissolve as a result; Zhang Zuolin abandoned Beijing to return to Manchuria, and was assassinated in the Huanggutun by the Japanese Kwantung Army.