difficult Wu to aid Jingnan if Later Tang attacked again; he therefore accepted Gao's tributes but refused to accept him as a vassal. In spring 928, Xifang captured Jingnan's Gui Prefecture (歸州, in modern Yichang, Hubei), but soon Jingnan forces recaptured it. Also in spring 928, Ma sent Yuan Quan (), Wang Huan (), and his son Ma Xizhan () to attack Jingnan. Gao himself engaged the Chu forces, but Ma Xizhan was able to lay a trap for him at Liulang Ford (劉郎袱, in modern Jingzhou) and defeat him. The Chu forces then approached Jiangling. In fear, Gao sued for peace and returned Shi to Chu. (When Ma Yin subsequently questioned Wang why the Chu army did not go ahead and try to capture Jiangling, Wang pointed out that Jingnan served as a buffer zone between Chu and Later Tang, Wu, and the Shu region. Ma understood Wang's point and did not question him further.) In summer 928, the Wu generals Miao Lin () and Wang Yanzhang () were attacking Chu's Yue Prefecture, and they were set to rendezvous with Jingnan forces. Xu Dexun defeated and captured them, however, and it is not clear whether Jingnan forces actually participated in the battle. Soon thereafter, Gao again requested to be a Wu vassal. With Xu Wen's having died and his adoptive son Xu Zhigao now regent, Wu agreed to accept Gao as a vassal and created him the Prince of Qin. Emperor Mingzong thereafter ordered Ma Yin to attack Gao. Ma sent Xu and his son Ma Xifan to advance to Shatou (沙頭, in modern Jingzhou). When the armies engaged, Gao's nephew Gao Congsi () challenged Ma Xifan to a one-on-one combat, but the Chu officer Liao Kuangqi () instead took the challenge and killed Gao Congsi in the one-on-one combat. Gao Jixing then sued for peace, and Ma Yin agreed, recalling Xu and Ma Xifan. In fall 928, Emperor Mingzong commissioned the general Fang Zhiwen () to attack Jingnan, and he summoned the troops from many circuits to converge at Xiang Prefecture to prepare to attack Jiangling. However, before the Later Tang forces could converge and attack, Gao himself died around the new year 929. The Wu emperor Yang Pu commissioned Gao Conghui as the new military governor of Jingnan. Subsequently, Gao Conghui, who had not been supportive of Gao Jixing's resistance against Later Tang, submitted a petition to