[4] At that time, or shortly after his birth, he might have been known by the surname of Zhu—because his father Gao Jichang had become an adoptive son of Zhu Yourang (朱友讓), who in turn was an adoptive son of the major warlord Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan).
[7] In 925—by which time Later Liang had been conquered by Later Tang, which Gao Jichang then was a vassal of (and had, therefore, changed his name to Gao Jixing, to observe naming taboo for the Later Tang emperor Li Cunxu's grandfather Li Guochang (and Gao Jixing was carrying the Later Tang-created title of Prince of Nanping))—Li Cunxu launched a major attack to destroy Later Tang's southwestern neighbor Former Shu.
As part of the attack, he assigned Gao the task of capturing three of Former Shu's eastern prefectures on the border with Jingnan Circuit, Kui (夔州), Zhong (忠州), and Wan (萬州) (all in modern Chongqing).
Gao Jixing requested that Kui, Zhong, and Wan become part of his territory, and Li Siyuan initially agreed.
[1][12] Apparently as part of Gao's submission to Wu, Gao Conghui was given the title by Wu's emperor Yang Pu of military governor of Zhongyi Circuit (忠義, headquartered in modern Xiangyang, Hubei, then under Later Tang control); Yang also gave him the honorary chancellor designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事).
He therefore, through his southern neighbor Ma Yin the King of Chu, offered apologies to Li Siyuan, and later also made the same request by writing Later Tang's military governor of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, i.e., the same circuit as Zhongyi), An Yuanxin (安元信).
He then submitted a petition, referring to himself to only to his former Later Tang-approved titles of commander of the Jingnan army and prefect of Gui Prefecture (i.e., not with the ones that Wu had conferred).
[13] In 931, Li Siyuan gave Gao the honorary chancellor title Zhongshu Ling (中書令).
He thus ended using luxurious items, and spent his time enjoying reading classical literature.
Liang, believing that the state was in good hands, sought to retire, and after Gao could not dissuade him from the idea, allowed him to, but built a grand mansion for him on an island and would occasionally visited him to give him many gifts.
[17] Subsequently, Gao requested to establish a liaison office at Southern Tang's capital Jinling, and Li Bian agreed.
[4] In 941—by which time Later Tang had fallen, and its former territory was ruled by Shi Jingtang (Li Siyuan's son-in-law) as the emperor of the succeeding Later Jin—Later Jin's military governor of Shannan East, An Congjin, was plotting to rebel against Later Jin, and he sent emissaries to ask for aid from both Gao Conghui and Later Shu's emperor Meng Chang.
At the urging of his commander of the army, Wang Baoyi (王保義), Gao submitted An's letters to Shi, and offered to aid the Later Jin imperial government in coming operations against An.
[4] In a campaign in 946–947, Emperor Taizong of the Khitan Liao dynasty successfully captured Kaifeng and forced Shi Chonggui to surrender, ending Later Jin.
When the Later Han general Du Chongwei later rebelled against Liu at Tianxiong Circuit (天雄, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei), Gao took the opportunity to attack Shannan East Circuit, but was repelled by its military governor An Shenqi (安審琦).
At the time that Wu claimed imperial title, Southern Han, Min, and Chu all still followed the era names of Later Liang.
If these other circuits wrote rebuking declarations or attacked Jingnan, then they would return the tributes without showing signs of shame.