were submissive to Zhu. In late 901, the eunuchs headed by Liu Jishu and Wang Zhongxian (), still fearing that Emperor Zhaozong and Cui were planning to slaughter them, carried out a coup against Emperor Zhaozong, forcing him to pass the throne to his crown prince Li Yu and putting him under house arrest. The eunuchs also wanted to kill Cui, but feared that if they did so, they would face Zhu's wrath, and so only had Cui removed from his secondary post as the director of the salt and iron monopolies. Meanwhile, Cui was secretly exchanging letters with Zhu, planning to counteract against the eunuchs, and Zhu also sent his key advisor Li Zhen to Chang'an to discuss the matter with Cui. Before Zhu actually could act against the eunuchs, though, several officers of the eunuch-commanded Shence Armies, whom Cui had persuaded to turn against the eunuchs, led a mutiny against Liu and Wang in early 902, killing them and their allies and restoring Emperor Zhaozong to the throne. Apparently to reward Zhu's support of Cui in the countercoup, Emperor Zhaozong created Zhu the Prince of Dongping. Despite this, however, Emperor Zhaozong did not turn control of the Shence Armies to Cui and his fellow chancellor Lu Yi, as Cui and Lu suggested, but gave the command of the Shence Armies to the eunuchs Han Quanhui and Zhang Yanhong (). Cui, fearing the implications of this development, persuaded Li Maozhen, who had had a rapprochement with Emperor Zhaozong by this point, to leave a Fengxiang contingent at Chang'an to counteract against the Shence Armies, but the Fengxiang contingent soon became allied with the eunuchs as well. While this was going on, in spring 902, Zhu launched a surprise attack on Huguo, and as part of the campaign quickly took control of the only viable path between Hedong and Huguo, so that Li Keyong could not come to Wang Ke's aid. Without Li Keyong's aid, Wang Ke was quickly forced to surrender, allowing Zhu to take control of Huguo. Despite a subsequent peace overture from Li Keyong, Zhu decided to attack Hedong to see if he could wipe out his long-term rival in one campaign. He put Hedong's capital Taiyuan under siege, but with inclement weather hindering the siege, he was soon forced to give up the siege on Taiyuan. Soon thereafter, Emperor Zhaozong confirmed him as the military governor