After having served as a lieutenant in the Kuomintang army, he joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1927.

During Chengdu Battle it captured 8100 soldiers of Kuomintang army and forced the surrender of 17,700 KMT soldiers with a large quantity of ammunition.

Assigned to the Chinese border area he watched the defeat of the last remaining units of the Kuomintang armies on the mainland.

Wu maintained a power base in Hubei and Henan in central China until he was confronted by the Kuomintang army during the Northern Expedition in 1927.

Amongst the refugees were the defeated remnants of the Kuomintang Nationalist armies and also a "fair number of common criminals".

He spends most of the story trying to keep power in the hands of the workers rather than the Kuomintang army and resolving a conflict between him and his wife, May.

Prior to 1949, Lushan was a frequent training and marshalling area for the nationalist Kuomintang army.

He came from Yunnan, and held several senior posts in the Kuomintang army.

In 1926 Li allowed his soldiers to enroll in Kuomintang armies, but kept personal control of his troops.

He was voted as acting commander to lead the Kuomintang armies for the rescue of Chiang.