Zhou Dewei
In 912, when Jin's prince Li Cunxu launched a major attack on Yan (which Liu Shouguang had proclaimed a separate empire by that point with himself being emperor), commanded by his major general Zhou Dewei, Liu Shouqi accompanied Zhou on the campaign. When Zhou put Yan's Zhuo Prefecture (涿州, in modern Baoding, Hebei) under siege, the prefect Liu Zhiwen () initially defended the city against the siege, but when Liu Shouqi appeared at the city walls to persuade him to surrender, he did. Zhou, however, was jealous of Liu Shouqi's easily being able to persuade Liu Zhiwen to surrender, and made a false accusation against Liu Shouqi to Li. When Li subsequently summoned Liu Shouqi to his presence, Liu Shouqi, not sure what Li would do, fled with Zhao and another staff member, Liu Qufei (), to Later Liang. Later Liang's Emperor Taizu commissioned Liu Shouqi as the prefect of Bo Prefecture (博州, in modern Liaocheng, Shandong), and Zhao accompanied Liu Shouqi to Bo Prefecture to serve as his secretary. It was not stated in historical accounts whether Zhao also accompanied Liu Shouqi to Shunhua Circuit (順化, headquartered in modern Cangzhou, Hebei) when Later Liang took it from Yan in 913 and made Liu Shouqi its military governor ("Jiedushi"), but it was said that after Liu Shouqi's subsequent death, Zhao became the secretary to the military governor of Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong).