In August 1934, he led the Sixth Army Group out west of the Jiangxi Soviet as pathfinders for what was to become the Long March.

In April 1949, he was promoted to become chief of staff of the Fourth Field Army, leading them into battle in Hengbao, Guangdong, and Guangxi and elsewhere.

This was probably because he used to support Zhang Guotao, who wanted to found another central communist government, and he did not get along very well with He Long in the past.

Reflecting in later years on the struggles he was subjected to, Xiao wrote, “I had been in the Party more than thirty years…had taken part in the Northern Expedition, the Nanchang Uprising, the Southern Hunan Uprising, the Struggle in Jinggangshan, the Long March… The man can be struck down, but his history will stand.” Some years later, Peng sent his nephew to apologise to Xiao for the treatment the latter had received.

[5] In 1991, Xiao Ke played a central role in creating the influential liberal journal Yanhuang Chunqiu in China.

[6][7] The journal was able to publish articles on sensitive topics with the support of Xiao and other high-ranking liberal officials such as Xi Zhongxun and Zhang Aiping.

He wrote a fictionalised account of his experiences leading the Sixth Red Army Group in a breakout of the Nationalist's Fifth Encirclement Campaign, Bloody Heaven (浴血罗霄),[9] for which he was awarded the prestigious Mao Dun Literature Prize.