 Long began his military career suppressing anti-Qing rebellion by Republican revolutionaries in China.After the fall of the Qing, he supported Yuan Shikai against Sun Yat-sen. After Yuan created the Empire of China, Long fought against the Guangxi warlords Lu Rongting and Li Liejun, who opposed Yuan's restoration of the monarchy.An opponent of the Constitutional Protection Movement, Long fled southern China to Beijing, where he supported Duan Qirui and the Anhui clique until their defeat in the Zhili–Anhui War.