to Liao proper, but died on the way, and was succeeded by his nephew Emperor Shizong, who continued back to Liao proper (to fend off a succession challenge by Emperor Taizong's younger brother Yelü Lihu). Liao generals in the Central Plains region initially continued to try to hold the territory, but gradually lost control due to the Han resistance. Liu launched his army, with Shi Hongzhao serving as his forward troop commander, intending to take the Luoyang-Daliang region, but after Shi initially was bogged down in a siege of Ze Prefecture (澤州, in modern Jincheng, Shanxi), considered recalling Shi. It was after Yang and Su Fengji opposed it (based on the rationale that if he showed weakness, the prefectures that already showed willingness to submit to him would rethink their positions, and Liao might be able to recover from the losses) that he rethought the plan, and, after consulting Shi further, allowed Shi to continue the campaign. (Shi was eventually able to get Ze's prefect Zhai Lingqi () to submit, allowing Shi to continue to advance to Luoyang and get the region to submit to Liu.) After Liu entered Luoyang, he made Yang permanent chief of staff. Liu entrusted the matters of the military to him and Guo, and the matters of government to Su Fengji and Su Yugui. Shortly thereafter, Du Chongwei, the Liao-commissioned military governor of Tianxiong, who had submitted to Later Han, rebelled when Liu tried to move him to Guide Circuit (歸德, headquartered in modern Shangqiu, Henan). Liu sent the general Gao Xingzhou to command the Later Han troops against Du, with Liu's half-brother Murong Yanchao serving as Gao's deputy. Disputes soon rose between Gao and Murong over strategy — Gao wanted to surround the city and wear out Du's troops, while Murong wanted to immediately siege the city, and went as far as claiming that Gao's refusal to attack immediately was due to a marriage between Gao's daughter and Du's son. With Gao and Murong having disagreement, Liu decided to personally head to Yedu to oversee the campaign. When he arrived there, Gao continued to advocate the slow siege strategy, wanting to wear out the city's food supply and pointing out that the city was well-defended, so an aggressive attack would cause many casualties. With Murong continuing to accuse him, he also went to Su Fengji and Yang to plead his case — stuffing feces