However, the campaign ended disastrously after the Later Zhao commander Li Nong defeated Chu Pou at Dai Slope (代陂, east of present-day Tengzhou, Shandong).
The now Emperor Kang made Chu Suanzi his empress and summoned her father to Jiankang to make him Palace Attendant and Master of Writing.
However, Chu Pou was not keen on accepting his position in the capital, as he feared he would hold too much power for being the empress's father (consort kin[5]).
Chu Pou refused to take any more offices in Jiankang, so in 344, he was made Inspector of Yanzhou and set out for Jincheng (金城, in modern-day Yongji, Shaanxi).
He asked to receive a border post instead, so the court sent him to Jingkou, where he held command over Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and Qingzhou and two commanderies in Yangzhou.
However, he refused to take them and returned to his post after the ministers Liu Xia (劉遐) and Wang Huzhi (王胡之) told him to do so to give Sima Yu more responsibility in the state's affair.
With readied troops, Chu Pou marched to Sikou (泗口, located at Xuzhou, Jiangsu), where he planned his next move.
Li Nong destroyed the Jin army and killed Wang Kan, prompting Chu Pou to make a panicked retreat to Guangling.
Upon hearing Chu Pou's defeat, the commander in Shouchun, Chen Kui (陳逵), burnt down the city and fled.
Many Chinese had openly fled in thousands to the south after hearing Chu Pou had led troops to help them, but after he was defeated, many were defenceless and slaughtered by the Zhao army.