Zhang Zongchang was one of the most infamous Chinese warlords, and much of his life blurs the line between fact, slander, and legend. He was physically imposing and widely regarded as a brute. Zhang was infamous for splitting prisoners’ skulls with his sword and hanging dissidents from telephone poles. Despite this, he was also known to be charming, sociable, and oddly charismatic.

He loved to boast about the size of his penis, which became a core part of his legend. A notorious womanizer and polygamist, he kept between 30 and 50 concubines of different nationalities at the height of his power. Since he couldn’t remember their names or speak their languages, he numbered them instead. His concubines included Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Koreans, Mongolians, and at least one American—according to one journalist, representing 26 different nationalities.

Zhang reportedly ate black Chow Chow dog meat every day because he believed it increased virility. He lavishly spent money and even gave away concubines as gifts to superiors and friends, which helped ensure fierce loyalty from his commanders.

After defeating General Wu Peifu by convincing the enemy army to defect, he let the defectors keep their ranks. He then promoted his own officers, but when there wasn’t enough metal to make proper gold and silver rank stars, he ordered them made out of cigarette-pack foil instead. During the mass promotion ceremony, the officers discovered that their new insignia were already torn apart before the ceremony had even ended.

Although only semi-literate, Zhang Zongchang was famous for writing poetry—much of it considered spectacularly bad, including works with titles like “Poem About Bastards” and “Pray for Rain.”

You tell me to do this,
He tells me to do that.
You're all bastards,
Go ♥♥♥♥ your mother.

"Poem about bastards" credited to Zhang Zongchang