Sizhao first recaptured Ze (which Ding had captured) and then put Lu under siege. With Ge having been recalled by Zhu by that point, He Delun abandoned Lu, allowing Li Sizhao to recapture it for Li Keyong. Li Keyong commissioned Meng Qian () as the acting military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered at Lu Prefecture). In late 899, Zhu sent Ge to launch a punitive campaign against Liu, putting Liu's son Liu Shouwen under siege at Cang Prefecture (滄州, in modern Cangzhou, Hebei). In spring 900, Li Keyong sent Li Sizhao to attack Xing and Ming Prefectures to try to relieve the pressure on the Lius. Subsequently, though, Zhu recalled Ge, as Wang Rong the military governor of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei) mediated the dispute, and Ge's army was also itself stalled by rainstorms. By that point, Li Sizhao had captured Ming Prefecture. Zhu sent Ge against Li Sizhao, and subsequently arrived himself with reinforcements. Li Sizhao withdrew but suffered substantial losses. In fall 900, Zhu himself launched a major attack on Chengde and Yiwu Circuit (義武, headquartered in modern Baoding, Hebei), whose military governor Wang Gao was an ally of Li Keyong's. He first forced Wang Rong to submit, and then attacked Wang Gao. When Zhu defeated Wang Gao's uncle Wang Chuzhi, Wang Gao abandoned Yiwu and fled to Hedong. The Yiwu soldiers subsequently supported Wang Chuzhi to take over the circuit and sue for peace with Xuanwu by submitting to Zhu. During Zhu's campaign, Li Keyong tried to relieve the pressure on Yiwu by sending Li Sizhao to attack Zhu's Heyang Circuit (河陽, headquartered in modern Jiaozuo, Henan). Li Sizhao quickly captured Heyang's Huai Prefecture (懷州, in modern Jiaozuo, Henan) and then put Heyang Circuit's capital Heyang under siege. However, he was subsequently repelled by the Xuanwu officer Yan Bao () and forced to withdraw. In spring 901, Li Sizhao recaptured Ze, which had again fallen to Xuanwu forces. However, in a subsequent major attack by Xuanwu forces, commanded by Shi Shucong (), against Hedong, the Xuanwu forces advanced all the way to Taiyuan and put it under siege. The city almost fell, and it was said that it was due to nightly counterattacks by Li Sizhao and Li Siyuan that the siege was unsuccessful. With Xuanwu forces bogged down by rain and running out of food supplies, Zhu recalled Shi. Further, Zhaoyi