be restored, and that Gu and Wang return to their own circuits (Wang's having been made the military governor of Yongping Circuit (永平, headquartered in modern Chengdu as well). Wang, however, did not want to give up the campaign against Chen, and initially tried to persuade Wei to maintain the campaign. However, Wang then decided to intimidate Wei into returning to Chang'an so that he could take over the campaign against Chen himself. He thus provoked Gu's officers into killing Wei's subordinate Luo Bao () under accusations that Luo was corrupt, to intimidate Wei. Wei, in fear, claimed to be ill and transferred his command to Wang, returning to Chang'an by himself. Upon his return to Chang'an, he was made the defender of the eastern capital Luoyang, no longer chancellor. (Wang was subsequently able to force Chen to surrender and seize Xichuan to be his own domain.) In 893, after the imperial government had been defeated in an attempt to defeat Li Maozhen (who had been made the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji) but then was no longer following imperial orders and finding ways to intimidate the imperial government) and Li Maozhen's ally Wang Xingyu the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (靜難, headquartered in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), Emperor Zhaozong was forced to order the chancellor Du Rangneng, who had overseen the operations, to commit suicide. He then recalled Wei to the imperial government to serve as Situ (司徒, one of the Three Excellencies), Menxia Shilang (門下侍郎, the deputy head of the examination bureau), and chancellor again, with the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi. Later that year, when Wang Xingyu demanded to be given the title Shangshu Ling (), Wei secretly opposed, pointing out that it was a title that no one had held since the great early Tang emperor Emperor Taizong did so during the reign of his father Emperor Gaozu — and that not even the great general Guo Ziyi had dared to accept the title. At Wei's suggestion, Emperor Zhaozong bestowed the title of Shangfu (尚父, "imperial father"), which Guo did hold late in his career, on Wang, as well as bestowing an iron certificate (), which was supposed to guarantee that he would never be put to death, to try to placate him. However, Wang was not placated, particularly because Wei's chancellor colleague Cui Zhaowei was secretly associating with Li Maozhen and