After the death of his father Li Quanlüe (李全略) in 826, Li Tongjie tried to take over Henghai Circuit (橫海, headquartered in modern Cangzhou, Hebei), which his father had been the military governor (jiedushi) of, and he rejected a subsequent imperial edict for him to serve at a different circuit.
To placate Li Tongjie, Emperor Wenzong made him the military governor of Yanhai Circuit (兗海, headquartered in modern Jining, Shandong).
Fearing that the military governor of the nearby circuits would encourage Li Tongjie to resist, Emperor Wenzong bestowed honorific titles on Shi Xiancheng the military governor of Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei), Li Zaiyi the military governor of Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing), Kang Zhimu (康志睦) the military governor of Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Weifang, Shandong), and Wang Tingcou the military governor of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei).
Emperor Wenzong ordered a general campaign against him, and ordered Wu, Wang Zhixing, Kang, Shi, and Li Zaiyi, as well as Li Ting (李聽) the military governor of Yicheng Circuit (義成, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan) and Zhang Bo (張播) the military governor of Yiwu Circuit (義武, headquartered in modern Baoding, Hebei) to converge on Henghai.
Meanwhile, Wu had initial success against Henghai troops, but died in winter 827; the imperial government initially named Li Huan (李寰) the military governor of Baoyi Circuit (保義, headquartered in modern Linfen, Shanxi) to succeed Wu, but after Li Huan not only reported to the battlefield slowly but was also allowing his soldiers to pillage the countryside on the way, Emperor Wenzong instead named Fu Liangbi (傅良弼) the military governor of Xiasui Circuit (夏綏, headquartered in modern Yulin, Shaanxi), and then the imperial guard general Li You (after Fu died on the way to the front) as his replacement.
Emperor Wenzong sent the official Bo Qi (柏耆) to Wei Prefecture to comfort Shi Xiancheng and the troops, and further diverted troops from Yicheng and Heyang (河陽, headquartered in modern Luoyang, Henan) Circuits to help Shi Xiancheng battle Qi Zhishao.
[4] Subsequently, Shi Tang and Li Ting joined their forces and defeated Qi Zhishao, who fled to Chengde.
He found an excuse and executed Wan, and then seized Li Tongjie and his family members, beginning to escort them to Chang'an.