As part of the First United Front, many members of the Chinese Communist Party had joined the KMT, and they exerted significant influence over its left-wing faction. Mikhail Borodin, the official liaison between the KMT and the Soviet government in Moscow, had spent years cultivating this alliance, while covertly encouraging CCP expansion. This Soviet-backed leftist wing of the KMT came to dominate the nationalist government in Wuhan, which increasingly directed its ire at NRA commander-in-chief Chiang Kai-shek. On 1 April, the Wuhan government, advised by Borodin, issued edicts stripping Chiang of his authority in foreign affairs, financial matters, and communications, and ordered that he leave his command post in Shanghai and go to the front. These orders had no effect, as Wuhan had almost no military authority. The government intended to send a small force to Nanjing with the aim of "disarming" Chiang, but put that plan on hold following Wang Jingwei's return from exile in Europe. Wang, who had travelled back to China at the urging of members of the government, was greeted in Shanghai by Chiang, who offered a power-sharing deal. Wang said that he would consider the deal, and boarded a ship for Wuhan on 7 April. He arrived on the 10th, where he was eagerly greeted by the Wuhan leadership. Having heard from Wang about Chiang's offer, the government decided to turn its limited forces toward Beijing instead. Chiang, on the other hand, was already preparing for a purge of communists in Shanghai.