At that time, the Wu and Chu forces were fiercely attacking the Principality of Liang (modern eastern Henan), whose prince Liu Wu was Emperor Jing's younger brother. Emperor Jing ordered Zhou to immediately head to Liang to save the principality. Zhou refused to specifically follow that instruction, reasoning that the proper strategy would involve first cutting off the Wu and Chu supply lines, thus starving them. So he headed to the north-east of Liang and around the Wu and Chu forces to cut off their supplies. The strategy was effective. Wu and Chu, unable to capture Liang quickly and realizing that their supplies were dwindling, headed north-east to attack Zhou. After being unable to get a decisive victory against Zhou, the Wu and Chu forces collapsed from starvation. Liu Pi fled to Donghai, but the citizens killed him and sought peace with Han. Liu Wu, the prince of Chu, committed suicide. The other principalities involved were all eventually defeated. Zhou's effective strategy was praised and admired by the other generals, but not by the wealthy Prince Wu or his powerful mother, the empress dowager Dou, who would bear a grudge against Zhou for the rest of their lives because of Zhou's refusal to save him first. Post-Rebellion career In the aftermath of the war, Zhou was made prime minister and was well-trusted by Emperor Jing. After Zhou unsuccessfully tried to persuade Emperor Jing not to depose his crown prince Liu Rong in 150 BC, however, Zhou lost the favour of the emperor. Prince Wu and Empress Dowager Dou, still bearing grudges, also attacked him incessantly whenever they could. Emperor Jing's empress Wang Zhi joined their ranks when he stood in the way of a promotion of her brother Wang Xin. The Empress Dowager wanted to create him a marquess for his intercession with the emperor after the Prince of Liang was involved in the assassination of nearly a dozen ministers (including Yuan Ang) as part of a dispute over the imperial succession. Zhou repeatedly rebuffed his candidacy as insufficiently meritorious. Zhou had a further disagreement over the policy towards Xiongnu defectors. Emperor Jing wanted to bestow them with honours to encourage future Xiongnu defections, while Zhou, who considered them to be traitors, wanted to simply let them live in obscurity. As a result, Emperor Jing removed Zhou as prime minister in 147 BC. Death During 143 BC, Zhou was summoned