 It was said that as discipline officer, he was honest, hard-working, harsh, and fierce, and was willing to put people to death for their violation of military disciplines and did not spare his own friends and relatives.As Guo was himself lax toward his officers, he entrusted the matters of discipline to Li, and the army much feared Li.In 763, during the reign of Emperor Suzong's son Emperor Daizong, by which time Pugu Huai'en had taken over the Shuofang army and was in a confrontational posture against the imperial government and another military governor, Xin Yunjing () the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), Pugu, who was then at Hezhong (河中, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi), had a number of Shuofang officers take up strategic positions, and in these maneuvers, Li was stationed at Jin Prefecture (晉州, in modern Linfen, Shanxi).