Hu Tsung-nan was one of the more capable Kuomintang generals. He had graduated from Paoting Military Academy, helped organize the Whampoa Military Academy, and had commanded a division in the Northern Expedition and an army during the pursuit of the Communists on the Long March. One of the three generals Chiang Kai-shek trusted most, he was put in charge of watching the Communists when he would probably much rather have been fighting the Japanese.

However, he also unaccountably retreated from Sinyang in the fall of 1938 and thereby ceded control of the Pinghan Railroad to the Japanese. Li Tsung-jen was unable to discipline Hu because of the latter's close ties to Chiang. At the close of hostilities, Hu accepted the surrender of 110 Division at Lo-yang.

During the Chinese Civil War that followed the Japanese surrender, Hu drove the forces of P'eng Te-huai out of Yenan, in March 1947. However, he was finally stopped in August 1947 at Shachiatien, a battle often considered the turning point of the Chinese Civil War. P'eng recaptured the Yenan area in April 1948 and embarked on the conquest of northwest China.