At one point, Li Song was studying with several scholars who were teaching him in various matters, and they began to discuss one of the institutions of Emperor Dezong's court that was much criticized — "the Emperor's purchasing" (宮市), where palace eunuchs "bought" items for palace supplies, but effectively were forcibly taking things from merchants and paying either nothing or very little.
Such junior officials included Wei Zhiyi, Lu Chun (陸淳), Lü Wen (呂溫), Li Jingjian (李景儉), Han Ye (韓曄), Han Tai (韓泰), Chen Jian (陳諫), Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi, Ling Zhun (凌準), and Cheng Yi.
As a result, Zhang and his associates Wang Zhongshu (王仲舒) and Liu Bochu (劉伯芻) were exiled without any publicly announced faults.
[2] However, Emperor Shunzong remained seriously ill, and he was often attended to only by the eunuch Li Zhongyan (李忠言) and his concubine Consort Niu.
His associates were also said to be praising each other and comparing each other to such great historical figures as Yi Yin, the Duke of Zhou, Guan Zhong, and Zhuge Liang.
Meanwhile, Wang Shuwen, believing that the key to getting the support from the soldiers and the people to affirm their power was control over the imperial treasury, had himself made the deputy director of finances, serving under the senior chancellor Du You.
Wang Shuwen was said to be so insolent in his exercise of power that, at one point, breaching the protocol that chancellors were to have lunch together, he demanded that Wei meet him during lunch time — angering Wei's senior colleague Zheng Xunyu so much that Zheng went home and refused to exercise chancellor responsibilities from that point on.
After Emperor Shunzong nodded to show approval, Li Chun was created crown prince on April 26.
In summer 805, when Wang Shuwen, wanting to strip the control of the imperial Shence Army from the eunuchs, had the general Fan Xichao (范希朝) made the commanding general of the Shence Army soldiers at the western frontier with Han Tai as his deputy, the eunuchs were alarmed.
For example, when Yang Shi'e (羊士諤), a messenger from Xuanshe Circuit (宣歙, headquartered in modern Xuancheng, Anhui), and Liu Pi, a messenger from Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan), made demands on behalf of their superiors, Wang angrily wanted to execute both of them, but Wei opposed, and Yang was only exiled, while Liu Pi fled back to Xichuan.
Wei Gao's words were soon echoed in petitions submitted by other regional governors Pei Jun (裴均) and Yan Shou (嚴綬), and it was said that Wang Shuwen and his associates were greatly distressed.
Wang Shuwen, anticipating that he would have to leave governmental service to observe a period of mourning for her, held a banquet and invited the other imperial scholars, as well as Li Zhongyan, Ju, and another powerful eunuch Liu Guangqi (劉光奇), to try to defend his actions with these eunuchs, including his attempts to have Yang and Liu Pi executed and his attempts to reform the economic regulations.
[2] The only positive characteristic that they attributed to Wang Shuwen was a sense of duty and a desire to improve the imperial government structure.