Wang Xingyu
By 893, Li Maozhen and Wang Xingyu were allied with the chancellor Cui Zhaowei, who was secretly informing them all that was happening at Emperor Zhaozong's court. Emperor Zhaozong had, against Du's recommendations, been planning a campaign against Li Maozhen, and Du, despite his opposition, assisted the emperor in planning the campaign. Subsequently, Emperor Zhaozong commissioned the chancellor Xu Yanruo as the new military governor of Fengxiang and put Li Sizhou () the Prince of Qin in command of a newly conscripted imperial army to escort Xu. When Li Sizhou prepared to attack Li Maozhen, his army deserted before it could encounter Li Maozhen's and Wang Xingyu's army. Li Maozhen and Wang Xingyu then approached the capital. Emperor Zhaozong was forced to placate them by executing Ximen, along with the eunuchs Li Zhoutong () and Duan Yu (), and forcing Du to commit suicide. It was said that thereafter, Li Maozhen and Wang Xingyu had a stranglehold over the imperial government, and both eunuchs and imperial officials entered into alliances with them. Whatever those allies of theirs wanted, they would report to Li Maozhen and Wang Xingyu; Li Maozhen and Wang Xingyu would then petition the emperor to demand that those actions be carried out, and Emperor Zhaozong would be forced to agree. Later in the year, however, when Wang Xingyu requested the title of "Shangshu Ling" (), the chancellor Wei Zhaodu secretly opposed on the account that no one had dared to hold that title ever since Emperor Taizong held that title — not even the great general Guo Ziyi, who was bestowed the title but constantly declined it and never used it. Emperor Zhaozong agreed, and he tried to placate Wang instead by giving him the title of "Shangfu" (尚父, "imperial father") and bestowing on him an iron certificate, which was supposed to guarantee that he would never be put to death.