Prince of Hongnong
In 907, the powerful warlord Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan) forced Tang's final emperor Emperor Ai to yield the throne to him, ending Tang and starting a new Later Liang as its Emperor Taizu. Yang Wo, along with several other regional warlords, refused to recognize the Later Liang emperor and continued to use the Tang era name of "Tianyou", but by this point was effectively the ruler of his own domain, then known as Hongnong (as he carried the title of Prince of Hongnong) and later known as Wu (as Yang Xingmi carried the title of Prince of Wu). Nevertheless, by this point, his own powers were limited, as Xu Wen, who was then one of the headquarters guard commanders, as well as fellow guard commander Zhang Hao, had effectively taken over most of Hongnong's governance after killing a number of Yang Wo's associates in a coup earlier in 907. Yan Keqiu's role in the early parts of Yang Wo's administration, if any, is not clear.