him many gifts. Liang, in retirement, also still occasionally visited him and gave him advice. After Liang's retirement, he entrusted the affairs of the state to Sun. In 936, believing that Wu's regent Xu Zhigao was interested in seizing the Wu throne, Gao wrote him to encourage him to do so. Xu eventually did so, in 937, ending Wu and establishing Southern Tang, and thereafter changing his name to Li Bian, as Li was his original family name. Subsequently, Gao requested to establish a liaison office at Southern Tang's capital Jinling, and Li Bian agreed. During Later Jin In 941 — by which time Later Tang had fallen, and its former territory was ruled by Shi Jingtang (Li Siyuan's son-in-law) as the emperor of the succeeding Later Jin — Later Jin's military governor of Shannan East, An Congjin, was plotting to rebel against Later Jin, and he sent emissaries to ask for aid from both Gao Conghui and Later Shu's emperor Meng Chang. Meng declined the overture, and Gao wrote An, urging him not to rebel. An, in anger, instead reported to Shi that Gao was planning to rebel against Later Jin. At the urging of his commander of the army, Wang Baoyi (), Gao submitted An's letters to Shi, and offered to aid the Later Jin imperial government in coming operations against An. Subsequently, when An did in fact rebel, both Gao and Ma Xifan sent fleets and food supplies to aid the Later Jin commander of the operations against An, Gao Xingzhou. Gao Xingzhou was subsequently able to defeat An, and An committed suicide. After An's defeat, Gao requested Shi's nephew and successor Shi Chonggui that Later Jin gave him Ying Prefecture (郢州, in modern Jingmen, Hubei); Shi Chonggui declined. During Liao and Later Han In a campaign in 946-947, Emperor Taizong of the Khitan Liao Dynasty successfully captured Kaifeng and forced Shi Chonggui to surrender, ending Later Jin. Emperor Taizong claimed to also be the emperor of China, and, initially, the Later Jin regional governors submitted to him. Gao Conghui also did so, and offered tributes to him. At the same time, though, Gao also sent emissaries to one of the holdouts, Liu Zhiyuan the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), urging Liu to claim imperial title. He promised to support Liu if Liu would later give him Ying Prefecture, and Liu