in accordance with his strategy to simultaneously solve the warlord problem that had plagued china for so long and the problem of the extermination of communism together, chiang kai-shek and his followers had hoped that these former japanese puppet regime's warlords who rejoined the nationalists would be able to hold on to the regions long enough for chiang to deploy his own troops by holding off communists. if the communists were victorious in such conflicts, however, the result would still benefit to chiang and china because the power of these warlords would be reduced as their military forces were smashed by the communists, and the warlord problem plagued china for so long could thus be greatly reduced, while at the same time, communists would be weakened by the fights and chiang's own troops would have easier time to take control.