 Unlike the Mongols and Tibetans, the Muslims refused to secede from the Republic, and Ma Qi quickly used his diplomatic and military powers to make the Tibetan and Mongol nobles recognize the Republic of China government as their overlord, and sent a message to President Yuan Shikai reaffirming that Qinghai was securely in the Republic.He replaced "Long, Long, Long, Live the reigning Emperor", with "Long live the Republic of China" on inscriptions.Ma Qi developed relations with Wu Peifu, who tried to turn Gansu military leaders against Feng Yuxiang.