乞伏乾帰
In 408, believing that Later Qin was growing weaker, he built a castle at Kanglang Mountain (嵻崀山, in modern Lanzhou, Gansu) to both prepare to defend himself against Later Qin's enemies and against a potential Later Qin campaign against him. In 409, he captured Fuhan from the Later Qin rebel Peng Xi'nian (彭奚念) and secretly sent messengers to inform Qifu Gangui of this. Qifu Gangui, who was then attending Yao Xing at Pingliang (平涼, in modern Pingliang, Gansu), then escaped and fled back to Yuanchuan to join him. Soon, Qifu Gangui moved his home base to Dujianshan (度堅山, in modern Baiyin, Gansu) but left Qifu Chipan in command of Fuhan. Late that year, Qifu Gangui redeclared independence with the title Prince of Qin, and he created Qifu Chipan crown prince again.