In 927, he made Li Conghou the mayor of Henan Municipality (河南, i.e., the Luoyang region) as well as the honorary chancellor designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事), as well as the command of the imperial guards.
Shortly thereafter, Li Conghou was made the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered at Kaifeng) and continued to command the imperial guards.
[10] By that point, Li Congrong was the dominant figure at court, and was disrespectful of all high-level officials.
[1] By late 933, Li Siyuan was extremely ill. Li Congrong, concerned about whether the high-level officials would try to divert the succession away from him, tried to seize control of the imperial government by force, but was defeated by forces under the command of then-chiefs of staff Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun and killed.
[1] Upon Li Conghou's taking of the throne, Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun, believing that they were responsible for his becoming emperor, dominated the court scene.
)[11] Zhu and Feng were suspicious of Li Conghou's older adoptive brother Li Congke the Prince of Lu, who then served as the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi), and brother-in-law Shi Jingtang, who then served as the military governor of Hedong.
[1] In spring 934, they further decided to dislodge Shi by moving Li Congke from Fengxiang to Hedong, Shi from Hedong to Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), and Chengde's military governor Fan Yanguang to Tianxiong.
However, a mutiny by a group of soldiers under the officer Yang Siquan (楊思權), who surrendered to Li Congke, led to a chain reaction where the imperial army collapsed, with most of the soldiers surrendering to Li Congke.
However, his original inclination was opposed by the imperial general Kang Yicheng (康義誠) — who, instead, was planning on surrendering to Li Congke himself with the imperial army, but who claimed to be loyal and willing to fight Li Congke on the battlefield.
Li Conghou fled Luoyang with just 50 cavalry soldiers, toward Tianxiong's capital Wei Prefecture (魏州).
[3] When Li Conghou reached Wei Prefecture (衛州, in modern Anyang, Henan, a different prefecture than the capital of Tianxiong), he encountered Shi, who had himself gone from Hedong south, initially intending to support Li Conghou.
Meanwhile, Wang Hongzhi moved Li Conghou to a residence within the Wei Prefecture government.
Li Conghou, knowing that the wine was poisoned, refused to drink, so Wang Luan strangled him to death.