In February 1928, Peng joined general Ho Chien when Ho defected back to Chiang's forces and gained a promotion to full colonel after rejoining Chiang. After rejoining Chiang's Nanking government, Peng was stationed in the mountainous Pingjiang County, northwest of Changsha. His orders were to eliminate local groups of communist guerrillas who had fled to the area following the Shanghai massacre of 1927. Because Peng had secretly joined the Communist Party, he kept his unit passive and began to organize local party branches. Peng made contact with local communist guerrillas, who were nominally attached to the forces of Mao Zedong and Zhu De, and decided to issue a pronouncement for the communists on July 18, 1928.