Liu, nicknamed The One-eyed Dragon began his career as a mercenary in the warlord armies of Sichuan Province. On the Long March, Liu was Red Army Chief of Staff and supported the Maoist line against the 28 Bolsheviks. During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) he commanded the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army Soviet Base Area in Northeast China. In 1947, Liu spearheaded the Communist counter-offensive out of Shanxi Province and he and Chen Yi executed the devastating encirclement in the Huai-Hai offensive of 1948-49.