He Ning
In 936, in order to test Shi's loyalty, Li Congke issued an edict moving him to Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong) and moving Song Shenqian () the military governor of Heyang to Hedong, to replace him. In response, Shi rebelled and sought aid from Khitan Empire's Emperor Taizong. (The Khitan Empire would later be known as Liao Dynasty, but at that time was not yet known as Liao.) Initially, the general that Li Congke sent to attack Hedong, Zhang Jingda, was quite successful, putting Hedong's capital Taiyuan under siege, but after Liao relief force, personally commanded by Emperor Taizong, arrived there, Zhang's army was crushed and itself surrounded by the combined Liao/Hedong forces at Jin'an Base (晉安寨, near Taiyuan). Li Congke ordered Zhao Dejun to aid Zhang's surrounded army, and, at the suggestion of the chancellor Zhang Yanlang and the imperial scholar He Ning, sent Zhao Yanshou with an army to rendezvous with his father.