a check on this Zhu Quanzhong appointed one of his guard officers, Li Tangbin, in a move clearly modelled after the Tang practice of appointing eunuch supervisors to the armies. Zhu Zhen and Li Tangbin soon began to quarrel and in August 889, while the army was encamped at Xiao County for further campaigns against Shi Pu, Zhu Zhen found an excuse to have Li Tangbin killed. He then reported that he had executed Tangbin for sedition. This was a grave crisis for Zhu Quanzhong as it threatened to spark off a major mutiny in the army. After planning his response with his private secretary, Jing Xiang, Zhu Quanzhong first pretended to imprison Li Tangbin's family, seemingly upholding the sedition charge, and then leaving for the army's camps at Xiao County. On arrival Zhu Zhen came out to greet him only to be seized and killed by Quanzhong's bodyguards in front of the other commanders. Disaster averted, Zhu Quanzhong proceeded to reorganize his army to ensure a similar situation could not arise again. A new chief commander was appointed, but was not given the same powers. Zhu Quanzhong had previously created several special regiments under selected officers, and some of these would now accompany the chief commander to battle and share the field commands. Also a larger number officers than before were given commands of expeditionary armies. In this way no single commander would hold enough power to threaten Zhu Quanzhong again. Meanwhile, to the south Yang Xingmi had been forced to abandon Yangzhou by Sun Ru, a former subordinate of Qin Zongquan. Having divided Zhu Zhen's army between Pang Shigu and Huo Cun, Zhu Quanzhong in spring 890 ordered Pang Shigu to cross the Huai River and attack Sun Ru, but Sun Ru was victorious. April/May 890 the garrison of Suzhou mutinied and defected back to Shi Pu. Zhu Quanzhong personally led an attempt to retake the prefecture without success. It would take a one-and-a-half-year-long siege to recapture Suzhou. To the north Li Keyong had recently suffered defeats from rival governors Helian Duo and Li Kuangwei. Together with Zhu Quanzhong these two now petitioned the court for a campaign against Li Keyong. At court, the chancellor Zhang Jun, said to have been secretly bribed by Zhu Quanzhong, supported the measure, but the majority of the bureaucracy were against. Zhang's fellow chancellor Kong Wei, however, supported Zhang's proposal, and Emperor