[citation needed] The National Revolutionary Army, military arm of the KMT, captured the three cities of Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang in a series of battles from August to October 1926 during the early stage of the Northern Expedition,[3][8] and merged their municipal governments to form Wuhan.

[9] After the Wuhan area had fallen to the KMT, local workers organized themselves into left-leaning trade unions, which grew to around 300,000 members by the end of the year.

Chiang initially invited the government to move to Wuhan but later demurred and tried to keep the members of the central committees in Nanchang, Jiangxi, where his headquarters was located.

[14] By the time the government moved to Wuhan with its left-leaning leadership including Sun Fo, Xu Qian, T. V. Soong, the peasant and labor movement led by communists and leftists of Kuomintang was in full swing in Hunan and Hubei.

[25] Controlling much of Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong and Jiangxi,[26] the Wuhan government began challenging Chiang's authority,[3] and launched a propaganda campaign against him from January 1927.

Although the Wuhan government was reluctant to alienate the communist-leaning workers, they could hardly tolerate the ongoing social trend, as they were beginning to create severe financial downturn.

[31] Instead, the rural insurgents started to govern themselves, which in response alienated much of the NRA officials as the Kuomintang military leadership were generally opposed to peasant self-rule.

Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren met with him to urge him to end the collaborative relations with the CCP as the president of the Wuhan government, but Wang stated that he would "pick up side with the workers and farmers",[36] and proposed to tolerate the communists for the time being.

[37] At a KMT senior officials' meeting in Shanghai on the following day, Wu Zhihui went so far as to kneel down and beg for Wang's assent to Chiang's proposals.

In the fourth Plenary Session of the 2nd KMT Central Committee held in Nanjing, a consensus was reached on how to resolve the KMT-CCP dispute: Consent to Wang Jingwei's proposal of temporary tolerance of the Communist Party.

He thought that the meeting would be held as planned, but unexpectedly, Chiang Kai-shek rallied the anti-communist factions of Hu Hanmin and Li Jishen to "exterminate the communists" on 12 April, and formed a rival government in Nanjing (Chinese: 南京国民政府).

[41] The Wuhan government responded by accusing Chiang and his followers of being the puppets of foreign imperialists and criticised his close cooperation with Shanghai's merchant class, arguing that he helped to oppress workers and peasants.

[42] On 18 April, the same day of the formation of the Nanjing government, during a public rally in Wuhan, Wang delivered a speech in which he severely condemned Chiang Kai-shek.

As result, the NRA's 14th Division under Xia Douyin rebelled in western Henan and marched against Wuhan in May, supported by Sichuan warlord Yang Shen.

[43] On 1 June, Communist International (Comintern) representatives Mikhail Borodin and M. N. Roy received a secret telegram from Joseph Stalin with orders for the Wuhan government, which later became known as the "May Instructions".

In an effort to counter both the CCP and Chiang's Nanjing faction simultaneously, Wang sought the backing of Guominjun leader Feng Yuxiang, who controlled large parts of northern China.

[50] Unbeknownst to Wang Jingwei, Feng Yuxiang had dispatched Li Mingzhong to get in touch with Chiang Kai-shek, and managed to meet him in Xuzhou on 19 June.

Compared to the nominal titles that Wang had offered, Chiang agreed to provide Feng with 2.5 million yuan monthly from July 1927 to cover military expenditures, and did not demand that he sever ties with the Wuhan government.

[52]  "Article 11 on the KMT–CPC Union" had been passed by the expanded Central Committee on 30 June, and it suggested that the communists should consider breaking ties with the Wuhan government.

Apart from this, the two leaders decreed that the workers and farmers' movements in Hunan and Hubei be put on hold so as to rescue the united front with the KMT left wing.

[56] Though most of the NRA was loyal to Chiang Kai-shek or various warlords who joined the KMT before or during the Northern Expedition, the Wuhan government commanded its own military force.

The so-called "Wuhan Army" was less strong and well-armed than the rest of the NRA,[59][60] and suffered from the defection of right-leaning commanders and their troops to Chiang's side.

[61] Commanded by Tang Shengzhi, the Wuhan army was too weak in numbers and equipment to truly rival Chiang's followers or to defeat the northern warlords.