First United Front
In 1924, he joined under orders the Kuomintang (First United Front), promoting cooperation between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang. In 1925, he led the May Thirtieth Movement in Shanghai. He went to the Whampoa Military Academy in Canton in 1926, where he became a military instructor in the political department, aiding the work of Zhou Enlai. In the Northern Expedition of July, he stayed in Canton. In September after the North Expedition forces liberated Wuhan, he went to Wuhan to become the chief military instructor of the Republic of China Military Academy. After Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei launched a purge against the communists in succession in April and July 1927, he was sent to Jiujiang, where he helped organize the Nanchang Uprising.