With the Nanjing–Shanghai area under constant threat of attack from the NPA, a series of independent offensives was launched by NRA and NRA-aligned forces in May 1927. Feng Yuxiang and his "Guominjun" moved first, leaving their base in Shaanxi to march on Luoyang, in Henan. On 10 May, the NRA First and Sixth armies crossed the Yangtze into Anhui, and on 16 May, Li Zongren, based in western Anhui, led the Seventh Army toward Hefei. Concurrently, the Wuhan government launched its own campaign in Henan province led by Tang Shengzhi, whom was appointed to serve as the Wuhan army's commander-in-chief. Aided by the defection of remnants of Wu Peifu's forces, Tang advanced to fight the forces of the "Young Marshal" Zhang Xueliang, Zhang Zuolin's son, pushing them back to a river at Yancheng.