Shortly after, in 935, Xu Zhigao instructed Chen Jue, who was then serving as a supervisory official at the executive bureau of government (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng), to assist Xu Jingqian, relaying to Chen the stories of his friendship with the chief strategist Song Qiqiu, stemming from their youth, that allowed their relationship to thrive despite their frequent disagreements.
[8] According to the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms, Chen Jue then served as the deputy director of palace affairs (宣徽副使, Xuanhui Fushi),[2] although according to the Zizhi Tongjian, he was just the deputy director of one palace hall, Guangzheng Hall (光政殿).
In 940, when Xu Zhigao — who had changed his name to Li Bian by that point — was persuaded by the sorcerer Sun Zhiyong (孫智永) to visit Jiangdu, Chen accompanied him.
Both Chang and Xiao Yan (蕭儼) submitted petitions to Li Bian accusing Chen of abuse of power, and it was said that while Li Bian understood some of the accusations to be true, he did not get a chance to act on them, before he fell deathly ill from poisoning due to pills given him by alchemists.
However, after a short time, Wei and Cha were promoted to be Li Jing's deputy chiefs of staff (樞密副使, Shumi Fushi), and Chen's mother happened to die around that time, forcing him to leave the imperial government to observe a period of mourning.
[10] However, by 946 — although timing was not completely clear — Chen not only had returned to the Southern Tang government, but was serving as chief of staff (Shumishi).
However, the larger city of Fu Prefecture (福州, in modern Fuzhou, Fujian), was in the hands of Li Hongyi, who was a nominal Southern Tang vassal but was ruling the region in de facto independence.
Chen volunteered to head to Fu himself, with Song (who had also returned to the Southern Tang imperial government) supporting him and promising that he would be able to persuade Li Hongyi into surrendering his territory and report to Jinling.
[11] Embarrassed by his failure, Chen, on the way back to Jinling, changed his mind when he reached Jian Prefecture (劍州, note different location than the former Min capital, but also in modern Nanping), claiming that he had been authorized by Li Jing, issued orders mobilizing forces from Jian (former Min capital), Ting (汀州, in modern Longyan, Fujian, Fu (撫州, note different location than Li Hongyi's seat of power, in modern Fuzhou, Jiangxi), and Xin (信州, in modern Shangrao, Jiangxi), putting them under the command of Feng Yanlu, who was then serving as the monitor of the Yong'an Circuit (永安, headquartered at the former Min capital Jian Prefecture) army, and ordering Feng to attack.
Li Jing thus put Yong'an's military governor (Jiedushi) Wang Chongwen (王崇文) in command of a larger army, with Wei and Feng serving as his deputies, in attacking Fu.
[11] The Southern Tang army under Wang put Fu under siege, and it was said that the situation inside the city was desperate, even with an army from Wuyue aiding Li Hongyi (who had changed his name by that point to Li Da to observe naming taboo for Wuyue's king Qian Hongzuo).
Wang Jianfeng, stationed to Fu's southeast, decided to withdraw as well, as did the Southern Tang army to the north.
[12] Li Jing blamed the defeat on Chen and Feng Yanlu for their acting without imperial authorization, and pardoned all of the other generals, but considered executing them.
However, the official Jiang Wenwei (江文蔚), who hated Chen's party, then submitted a harshly worded petition calling for punishment to be rendered against Feng Yanji and Wei as well.
[12] However, after a year, Chen Jue was recalled to the imperial government, and apparently resumed his role as chief of staff.
Li Deming, worried about the continued Later Zhou gains, requested to return to the Southern Tang court to try to persuade Li Jing to cede all of the land north of the Yangtze, and Guo agreed, sending him and Wang back to the Southern Tang court to do so.
Chen thus submitted a petition to Li Jing, arguing that Zhu was untrustworthy and should not be allowed to continue to command an army.
Guo Rong himself subsequently defeated and captured Southern Tang generals Yang, Xu Wenzhen (許文稹), and Bian Hao.
[1] Upon the peace settlement, Li Jing reduced his own use of imperial trappings, including referring to himself as Guozhu (國主, "lord of the state") instead of emperor, and ending the use of his own era name, in favor of Later Zhou's.
Li Jing, knowing of the enmity between Chen and Yan, decided to send Zhong back to the Later Zhou court to verify with Guo.
The edict ordered Song into retirement, demoted Chen to the post of professor at the imperial university (國子博士, Guozhi Boshi) but exiling him to Xuan Prefecture (宣州, in modern Xuancheng, Anhui), and ordered Li Zhenggu to commit suicide.