Shi Chaoyi
By 762, however, Pinglu, which was cut off from Tang territory by the rebel Yan state and facing repeated attacks from Khitan and Xi tribes, was in a desperate situation. Hou Xiyi thus took the Pinglu army and attacked the Yan general Li Huaixian at Fanyang, and then, after battling with Li Huaixian, took his army south to the Shandong Peninsula, subsequently assisting other Tang generals Tian Shen'gong () and Neng Yuanhao () in attacking Yan generals in the east. In 762, after Emperor Suzong's death, Emperor Suzong's son successor Emperor Daizong made Hou also the military governor of Ziqing Circuit (淄青, headquartered in modern Weifang, Shandong), governing six prefectures. (The Pinglu name thus eventually displaced the Ziqing name as the official designation of the circuit.) Subsequently, Hou led his Pinglu army in continued campaigns against the final Yan emperor Shi Chaoyi and participated in the campaign ending in Shi's destruction in 763. Li Huaiyu followed Hou in these campaigns and served with distinction, and Hou made him "bingmashi" (), serving as Hou's assistant.