Shanxi Advise (Feng Yuxiang)

I've been playing Shanxi recently and I've been struggling with how you're meant to play the backwards mountain warlords. In my game I had the Qing ask for Yan's help in toppling Wu Peifu, I said yes and we succeeded and I was thrust into the Great Plains War very quickly. At first I had no clue how to fight it at all since the Qing vastly outgun and outman you until I found out all you need to do is sit on some VPs for two months to get an armistice in your favor.

The real problem comes afterwards. Shanxi is stuck with virtually no industry, little manpower relative to the rest of China, and no friends.

By the next year I managed to topple most of the Qing during their war with Federalists, but almost immediately I found myself in a 3 way war between Fengtian, the Feds, and the League of Southeast Provinces, all of which are in far better shape as a nation

Is there actual strategy for Shanxi or are you just meant to hope the right factions come out on top in China?(Or predetermine all the outcomes at game start which I really don't enjoy) Or is the entire coup a trap and you should sit up in your mountains and actually do your faction minigame?