Prince of Hongnong
However, Xu and Zhang remained in effective control of the headquarters, and Yang Wo was hoping to, but unable to, eliminate them. They considered their own positions precarious, however, and they resolved to kill Yang Wo, divide the domain between themselves, and then submit to Later Liang. On June 9, 908, Zhang sent his subordinate Ji Xiang () into Yang Wo's mansion with soldiers under Zhang's command and killed him in his bedroom. (The reason why only Zhang's soldiers were used was that Xu pointed out that if they mixed soldiers, the soldiers may not cooperate with each other, and Zhang did not want to let Xu's soldiers conduct the assassination.) Zhang and Xu subsequently declared that Yang Wo had died of a sudden illness. When Zhang postured at taking over command of the domain, however, Yan Keqiu spoke up against it and subsequently produced a document, which he claimed to be from Yang Wo's mother Lady Dowager Shi, pleading for allegiance of the officers behind her younger son Yang Longyan. Zhang, rebuffed in his attempt to directly take over, acquiesced and allowed Yang Longyan to take the throne as the new Prince of Hongnong.