Li served as a Jiedushi provincial military governor during the late Tang period and was an instrumental figure in the development of a Shatuo base of power in what is today's Shanxi Province of China.

His father was the Shatuo chieftain Zhuye Chixin, whose people were then living in the Shenwu River (神武川, flowing through modern Shuozhou, Shanxi) region.

Li Guochang was subsequently made the military governor (Jiedushi) of Zhenwu Circuit (振武, headquartered in modern Hohhot, Inner Mongolia).

Li Jinzhong then started a mutiny at Datong's capital Yun Prefecture (雲州), arresting Duan and his assistant Liu Hanzhang (柳漢璋).

If the Son of Heaven is willing to pardon me, I will surely advance south with you gentlemen to accomplish great things, to satisfy our desires.

There are not many years in a life, and I would not want to die old here in the desert.After the Dada nobles heard of his declaration that he did not wish to remain long, they gave up on the plan to kill him.

Zheng then sought and received aid from Qibi Zhang (契苾璋) the military governor of Zhenwu, who launched Tuyuhun and Tujue soldiers to repel the Shatuo.

Qibi then requested imperial sanction and the cooperations of Datong and Tiande (天德, headquartered in modern Bayan Nur, Inner Mongolia) Circuits in operations against him.

He continued to advance into Huang's territory, stationing himself at Tong Prefecture (同州, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi) around the new year 883.

He joined forces with those from Hezhong, Yiwu, and Zhongwu (忠武, headquartered in modern Xuchang, Henan) Circuits, and defeated the major Qi general Shang Rang.

The eunuch monitor of Zhaoyi, Qi Shenhui (祁審誨) and the officer An Jushou (安居受) then secretly sought aid from Li Keyong.

Li Keyong thus took 50,000 soldiers and advanced south to cross the Yellow River, but had to take a roundabout route through Hezhong when Zhuge Shuang the military governor of Heyang Circuit (河陽, headquartered in modern Jiaozuo, Henan) refused to grant him passage.

After Emperor Xizong's return to Chang'an in early 885, Tian and Wang Chongrong came into dispute over control of the salt ponds at Anyi (安邑) and Jie County (解縣, both in modern Yuncheng), which had previously been under the control of the imperial director of salt and iron monopolies, but which Wang Chongrong had taken over during the Huang Chao occupation of the Chang'an region.

Meanwhile, Tian prepared for a campaign against Wang Chongrong by aligning with Zhu Mei the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (靜難, headquartered in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi) and Li Changfu the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi).

Tian reacted by joining Zhu Mei and Li Changfu at Shayuan (沙苑, in modern Weinan), preparing to attack.

As Li Keyong then approached Chang'an, Tian took Emperor Xizong and fled to Fengxiang, and then Xingyuan (興元, in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi).

Zhu Mei and Li Changfu, ashamed of continued alliance with Tian, subsequently turned against him and sought peace with Li Keyong and Wang Chongrong, and Tian was forced to resign and flee to Chengdu to join his brother Chen Jingxuan the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu).

[9] Li Yun's regime initially drew pledges of allegiance from such warlords as Gao Pian the military governor of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu).

He also commissioned Li Hanzhi as the military governor of Heyang and Zhang as the mayor of Henan Municipality (河南, i.e., the Luoyang region).

Li Keyong took control of the region and commissioned An Jinjun as the military prefect (團練使, Tuanlianshi) of the prefectures he took from the Mengs.

Zhu Quanzhong sent Ge Congzhou to reinforce Lu, while sending other officers to attack Li Hanzhi at Ze Prefecture.

[11] In winter 890, Li Keyong's main forces prepared for a confrontation with the imperial and western circuits' troops at Yindi Pass.

When news of this arrived at Chang'an, Wang Xingshi and the eunuch Liu Jingxuan (劉景宣) wanted to seize Emperor Zhaozong and flee to Jingnan's capital Bin Prefecture (邠州), while Li Jipeng and the eunuch Luo Quanguan (駱全瓘) wanted to seize Emperor Zhaozong and flee to Fengxiang.

Emperor Zhaozong's own personal guards fought off both Wang Xingshi and Li Jipeng, who then withdrew and headed for Jingnan and Fengxiang respectively.

He sent his officer Shi Yan (史儼) to Emperor Zhaozong to protect him, while advancing to Wang Xingyu's possession Liyuan Camp (黎園寨, in modern Xianyang).

Luo thus launched a surprise attack at night against Li Cunxin, defeating him and forcing him to withdraw to Ming Prefecture.

Therefore, by fall 898, when Emperor Zhaozong sent the imperial official Zhang Youfu (張有孚) to mediate the enmity between Li Keyong and Zhu, Li Keyong became willing to seek peace, and he tried to use Wang Rong as an intermediary to relay his hope for peace, but Zhu rejected the overture, and the enmity continued.

Meanwhile, at the same time, Zhu assisted Luo in fending off a major attack by Liu, and in light of the victory, Ge made an incursion into Hedong territory, but was fought off by Zhou.

[17] Meanwhile, at Chang'an, Emperor Zhaozong, who had been deposed by the powerful eunuchs in late 900 and replaced by his son Li Yu, Prince of De the Crown Prince, but returned to the throne in spring 901 after being rescued by Shence Army officers loyal to him, had been considering a proposal by the chancellor Cui Yin to slaughter the eunuchs.

On the way to Luoyang, Emperor Zhaozong made a final attempt to seek aid from Li Keyong, as well as Yang Xingmi and Wang Jian the military governor of Xichuan Circuit, sending secret emissaries to them, but neither Li Keyong nor Wang Jian acted on the call for aid.