Hunan's Tan Yanxi, Zhao Tihuan and Cheng Chieng also supporting the Constitutional Protection Movement.
However, after capturing Hunan, the Zhili commander Wu Peifu halted the attack on Guangdong and Guangxi province and had a peaceful settlement with the south in July.
Xu Shichang also advocated peace negotiation when he was inaugurated as the president in October, which led to the end of the war.
Parliament was adjourned by its Speaker Lin Sen on January 24, 1920, when a faction of MPs boycotted the assembly, depriving it of a quorum.
The KMT denounced these secret negotiations and the southern parliament moved to Yunnan in August and in Sichuan from September to October.
Chen Jiongming expelled the Guangxi clique from Guangzhou allowing Sun to return by the end of November.
In April 1921, the National Assembly dissolved the military government and elected Sun Yat-sen "extraordinary president".
But the new Guangzhou government, without any foreign recognition, was beset with questions of legitimacy as its form existed outside of the constitution it was mandated to protect.
In the summer of 1922, Sun Yat-sen personally established the division headquarters in Shaoguan to launch the expedition by coordinating the Guangdong, Yunnan, Jiangxi, and Hunan armies.
Meanwhile, the Zhili clique started a national movement to reunite the Northern and Southern governments by having the two rival presidents resign in favor of a restored Li Yuanhong.
In June, the Northern government's president, Xu Shichang stepped down, and the original National Assembly reconvened in Beijing.
To Chen Jiongming, the Constitutional Protection Movement's purpose was achieved, but for Sun the new government was a smokescreen to mask Cao Kun's rule.
Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Ce, and the loyalists were safely escorted by ship to Shanghai.
With the help of the Soviet Union and the alliance with the Chinese Communist Party, Sun retook the Guangzhou government for the third time in 1923.
According to recent published studies, the first government in 1917 was funded by the German Empire which provided two million dollars because Sun had opposed China's entry into the First World War.
The money allowed Sun to bribe the northern navy to defect and pay for the salaries of the National Assembly.
Relations with the Germans became strained when it was revealed that they had supported the Manchu Restoration and that Sun refused to cooperate in the Hindu–German Conspiracy.
Sun Yat-sen also relied on gambling and selling opium to pay for his government which lacked practical revolutionary spirit.