 Wang played both sides — outwardly announcing agreement with Zhu, while secretly sending messengers to Li Maozhen urging him to resist Zhu — and yet at the same time sent Wang Zongji and Wang Zongdi north, seeking to seize the prefectures south of the Qinling Mountains that Li Maozhen still controlled.By spring 902, Li Maozhen's adoptive son Li Jizhong () the military governor of Zhaowu Circuit (昭武, headquartered at Li Prefecture) abandoned Li Prefecture, allowing Xichuan forces to seize it.Subsequently, Wang Zongbo and Wang Zongdi captured Xingyuan, and Li Maozhen's adoptive son Li Jimi (), then the military governor of Shannan West, was forced to surrender as well.