Guangxi Clique
Becoming chairman of the government of Guangdong in 1931, he turned against Chiang Kai-shek in the south after the arrest and release of Hu Hanmin and allied with New Guangxi Clique army commanders; another civil war might have broken out as a result if there had been no September 18 Incident in Shenyang, which reminded all sides of the necessity to unite. From 1931-36 he was Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Army Group.