Shortly after, he summoned Li Shaohong back from Lulong, apparently considering making him one of the two chiefs of staff (now renamed Shumishi.
[7] At that time, Later Tang was at a crucial juncture in Emperor Zhuangzong's long-term war against Later Liang — while Emperor Zhuangzong's adoptive brother Li Siyuan had recently launched a successful surprise attack against Later Liang's Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong), capturing it, the two states were largely stalemated on the Yellow River boundary.
(Tianping was south of the Yellow River, but Later Liang had recently captured Later Tang's key garrisons Wei Prefecture (衛州, in modern Puyang, Henan) and Liyang (黎陽, in modern Hebi, Henan), north of the Yellow River, and Li Sizhao's son and successor Li Jitao had rebelled against Emperor Zhuangzong and submitted to Later Liang recently.)
At that time, the Later Tang army's military supplies were low, and there were rumors of an impending major Khitan attack to the north.
Li Shaohong advocated negotiating a peace accord with Later Liang — exchanging Tianping for Wei Prefecture and Liyang, with the two states formally setting their boundary at the Yellow River.
Emperor Zhuangzong agreed with Guo, and shortly after launched a surprise attack from Tianping against the Later Liang capital Daliang.
[8] In 925, Emperor Zhuangzong wanted to launch a major attack to destroy Later Tang's southwestern neighbor Former Shu.
However, after Li Shaoqin selected many officers from the former Later Liang army ranks, Emperor Zhuangzong came to suspect him, and cancelled his commission.
With his communication lines with Emperor Zhuangzong cut off, Li Siyuan decided to embrace the mutiny, and he advanced south toward Luoyang.