General Li was a member of the first graduate class of the Whampoa Military Academy.

During the Northern Expedition, he was promoted from platoon leader to regimental colonel in the first corps of the National Revolutionary Army.

In June 1945, he was named deputy commander-in-chief of the 11th war zone and was in charge of the surrender of Imperial Japanese Army units in Shandong Province.

In the late phase of the Civil War, General Li was in charge of the defense of Fuzhou, Fujian when he believed a rumor spread by a local nationalist commander and abandoned his post without a fight.

He was promptly arrested and because the false testimony provided by his chief of staff, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.