two former followers of Zhuge Shuang, Zhang Quanyi, the mayor of Henan Municipality (河南, i.e., Luoyang) and Li Hanzhi the military governor of Heyang Circuit (河陽, headquartered at Meng Prefecture (), in modern Jiaozuo, Henan), had been battling each other with Li Hanzhi eventually fleeing to Li Keyong, who dispatched an army to reinstate Li Hanzhi. Hard pressed Zhang turned to Zhu for aid. Zhu responded by sending an army under Ding Hui and Niu Cunjie (). They defeated Li Keyong's army and secured Heyang Circuit for Zhu Quanzhong. Thereafter, in Zhang, Zhu gained a loyal ally under whose administration Luoyang was to recover after years of ruinous warfare and whom he could thereafter rely upon for money and food supplies. By June/July 888 the siege of Cai Prefecture had been ongoing for more than a hundred days. As general commander of the south-eastern front, Shi was formally in charge of the operation, Zhu Quanzhong submitted a petition to the court making accusations against Shi and demanding his removal from the post of general commander. Some time earlier Liu Zhan, the prefect of Chu Prefecture (楚州, in modern Huai'an, Jiangsu), had fled to Zhu Quanzhong due to the turmoil in Huainan. Intending to provoke Shi to take up arms Quanzhong now ordered Zhu Zhen to lead an army east and restore Liu to his prefecture – as to reach Chu Zhu Zhen would have to pass through Shi's Ganhua Circuit. As expected this was too much for Shi to bear and he ordered his armies to attack Zhu Zhen. Zhu Zhen was however victorious in a battle against Shi and proceeded to capture Su Prefecture (宿州, in modern Suzhou, Anhui) to the south. Zhu Quanzhong then ordered subordinate commander Pang Shigu to attack Ganhua's capital Xu Prefecture (). In February/March 889 Pang defeated Shi in a battle at Lüliang. Meanwhile, Cai Prefecture had finally been captured in January/February 889. Qin Zongquan was taken captive and, after passing through several hands, ended up in the care of Zhu Quanzhong who entrusted his own manager-adjutant Li Fan with the delivery of the prisoner to Chang'an, where the imperial government executed Qin. In April/May Zhu Quanzhong was elevated to Prince of Dongping. During these firsts years as governor Zhu Quanzhong had put much trust in his chief commander, Zhu Zhen, so much that Zhen became powerful enough to challenge Quanzhong's authority. To put