Xu Wen
In 919, Xu Wen advised Yang Longyan to claim imperial title. Yang Longyan declined, but claimed the greater title of King of Wu, thus ending connections to Tang. Xu Zhigao remained junior regent, now with the greater titles of "Zuo Pushe" (左僕射, one of the heads of the executive bureau of government (尚書省, "Shangshu Sheng")), "de facto" chancellor as "Can Zhengshi" (), acting overseers of all military matters (知內外諸軍事, "Zhi Neiwai Zhu Junshi"), and military prefect of Jiang. Later in the year, when Wu forces, under Xu Wen, repelled a major attack by Wu's southeastern neighbor Wuyue, Xu Zhigao suggested a surprise attack on Wuyue's Su Prefecture (蘇州, in modern Suzhou, Jiangsu), but Xu Wen, citing the desire for peace between the two states, declined.