Li Cunxu
In winter 911, Liu attacked Yiwu Circuit. Wang Chuzhi sought aid from Jin. Li Cunxu sent Zhou to rendezvous with the Zhao officer Wang Deming (Wang Rong's adoptive son) and the Yiwu officer Cheng Yan (), to attack Yan. By late 912, with Li Cunxu himself also sieging Yan's capital You Prefecture (), the city fell. Liu fled but was captured in spring 913, ending Yan. Li Cunxu took Liu and his father Liu Rengong (whom Liu Shouguang had overthrown and replaced) captive, and was set to return to Taiyuan with them, when both Wang Chuzhi and Wang Rong requested that he took his victory march through Yiwu and Chengde. Li Cunxu agreed, and when he visited Yiwu, Wang Chuzhi and he went to worship at the temple of Mount Heng together. (After the victory tour, Li Cunxu took Liu Shouguang and Liu Rengong back to Taiyuan and executed them.) Thereafter, Wang Chuzhi and Wang Rong submitted a joint petition offering the title of "Shangshu Ling" ()—which no Tang official had dared to use since the early Tang emperor Emperor Taizong carried that title while he was still the Prince of Qin under his father Emperor Gaozu)—to Li Cunxu. Li Cunxu accepted, and thereafter began to organize a provisional government under Emperor Taizong's precedent.