During the first stage of the Chinese Civil War, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek ordered General Xue to lead the Guangdong First Army to attack the Chinese communists during the Fifth Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet, forcing them to start the Long March and his forces chased the retreating communists all the way to Sichuan and Guizhou, until the communist forces retreated across the great swamplands and finally escaped to Shaanxi Province. He then turned his forces around and marched unstopped to Central China and defeated the famed Red Army commanders like He Long and Ye Ting of the communist area which they controlled and forced them out of these strongholds. For these accomplishments, Chiang Kai-shek hailed him as "a true example of a Chinese officer".