Jifu saw these as severe criticisms of himself, and, weeping, accused the reviewing officials, the imperial scholars Pei Ji and Wang Ya, of conflict of interest—as Huangfu was a nephew of Wang's. As a result of Li Jifu's accusations, Wang, Pei, Yang, and Wei were all demoted, and it was said that while no harm came to Niu, Li Zongmin, and Huangfu at that time, they were effectively stuck at the positions they previously served without promotion. As a result, they all sought positions as staff members of military governors. (Niu and Li Zongmin would later become key leaders of the "Niu Party," while Li Jifu's son Li Deyu would become a key leader of the "Li Party.") Also around that time, the Shatuo tribes, which had long been vassals of Tang's long-term adversary Tufan, fearing that Tufan was set to move them to the interior of the Tufan state, rebelled against Tufan and surrendered to Tang, under the leadership of Zhuxie Zhiyi (). They were initially settled at Shuofang Circuit (朔方, headquartered in modern Yinchuan, Ningxia) and later moved to Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi); their chieftains of the Zhuxie clan were given the area of Huanghuadui (黃花堆, in modern Shuozhou, Shanxi) as their base of operations. (The Shatuo would eventually become a major part of the Tang army, and would yet later yield the ruling families of Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Han, after Tang's end.) In 809, after much urging by the imperial scholars (翰林學士, Hanlin Xueshi), led by Li Jiang, that he needed to have a crown prince, Emperor Xianzong created his oldest son Li Ning, born of his concubine Consort Ji, crown prince. Also in 809, after the death of another warlord, Wang Shizhen the military governor of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), Emperor Xianzong was initially poised to let Wang Shizhen's son Wang Chengzong inherit Chengde, after Wang Chengzong offered to surrender two of his six prefectures to imperial control. However, after Wang Chengzong reneged on his promise, Emperor Xianzong commissioned the eunuch Tutu Chengcui to command the imperial troops to attack Chengde. (As a result of this campaign's launch, when another warlord, Wu Shaocheng the military governor of Zhangyi Circuit (彰義, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan) subsequently died, he was unable to act against Wu Shaocheng's subordinate Wu Shaoyang, who seized control of the circuit, and