In various campaigns searching for the main force of Red Army, Chen's units experienced heavy casualties.

In the fifth campaign against the Communists, he finally managed to defeat them, which forced the Red Army to launch its Long March.

In 1943, he was appointed the commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in the Burma Theater until he was replaced by Wei Li-huang because of illness.

He followed Chiang's orders and began to raid the "liberated" areas of the Red Army, which launched the Chinese Civil War.

In August 1947, Chiang appointed Chen as director of the Northeastern Headquarters to command the Nationalist forces against the Communists in that area.

He also dismissed some of the most capable Nationalist commanders, such as Du Yuming, Sun Li-jen, Zheng Dongguo, and Chen Mingren.

After the Nationalist force retreated to Taiwan, Chen went on to hold key civilian government positions such as Vice-Executive of the Kuomintang, Vice President, and Premier of the Republic of China.

One was the Shimen Reservoir, in Taoyuan County, which reduced flooding and increased the rice crop production.