Huang participated in the Long March, and, upon arrival on northern Shaanxi, he was promoted to be the director of the general political and organizational department.

In the beginning of the Second Sino-Japan War, he was the political commissar of 344 brigade, affiliated with the 115 division of Eighth Route Army.

His army accompanied Xu Haidong, fighting in regions across Shanxi, Hebei and Henan.

He later became the state secretary of Hunan, the Commander of Hunan Military Region and its political commissar, the deputy director of the chief staff and director of general logistics, the deputy minister of national defense, the secretary general of the Central Military Commission, and the chief of staff of the PLA.

He was partially rehabilitated, but was denounced and persecuted by Red Guards when the Cultural Revolution began in 1966.