then under the controls of the eunuch Han Quanhui and the warlord Li Maozhen at Li Maozhen's Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi), which was then under siege by another major warlord, Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan), sent the imperial emissary Li Yan to the southeastern circuits to encourage the warlords there to join under Yang's command and attack Zhu. As part of the edicts that Li Yan promulgated, Feng was given the title of military governor of Wuning (武寧, i.e., Ganhua). Meanwhile, by this point, Feng had felt trapped between Yang and Yang's vassal, Tian Jun the military governor of Ningguo Circuit (寧國, headquartered in modern Xuancheng, Anhui), but as he felt that he could depend on his tower ship fleet, he did not join the Huainan power bloc. Tian decided to try to conquer Feng's territory, so he hired the shipbuilders who had previously built Feng's ships to build ships for him, despite those shipbuilders' objections that Tian's territory lacked the type of wood that Feng used and therefore resultant ships would not be as durable. (Tian's response to them was, "Just build them; all I need to do is to use them once.") Tian thus quickly had a fleet built, ready to engage Tian. Feng realized Tian's intentions, and his subordinates Feng Hui () and Yan Jian () suggested that he attack Tian first. He therefore activated his fleet and headed southwest on the Yangtze, claiming to be readying to attack Zhong Chuan the military governor of Zhennan Circuit (鎮南, headquartered in modern Nanchang, Jiangxi), but was instead intending to attack Tian. When Yang sent emissaries to try to stop him from attacking Tian, he refused to listen. However, when he engaged Tian's fleet at Geshan (葛山, in modern Xuancheng), Tian dealt him a major defeat. Having been defeated by Tian, Feng Hongduo gathered the remnants of his fleet and planned to head down the Yangtze to East China Sea. Yang was concerned that he might be able to rebuild his forces and become a threat later, and therefore sent messengers to assure him that if he submitted, he and his army would be well-treated. Feng's army wanted to accept the offer, and when Yang, unarmed, thereafter went to Dongtang (東塘, in modern Yangzhou) to meet Feng, Feng and his army was impressed, and therefore joined