Wang Zongbi
In 895, while Wang Jian and Gu Yanhui were locked in a war, Wang Zongbi was captured while attacking Dongchuan. Gu, remembering what Wang Zongbi had revealed to him, spared him and adopted him as a son, changing his name to Gu Chen. By 897, however, Gu was in desperate straits. His own forces and those of his ally Li Maozhen, the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi), had been repeatedly defeated by Wang Jian's forces, leaving Zi Prefecture under siege with no forthcoming aid. Gu gathered his family members, including adoptive sons, and prepared for group suicide. Just before his death, however, Gu stated that Gu Chen had not been his adoptive son for a long time and had no need to die with them, so he pointed at the breaches in the city wall and told Gu Chen to leave. Adoptive son Gu Yao () then killed Gu Yanhui and the other Gu family members before committing suicide himself.