Before he departed Huainan's capital Yang Prefecture (揚州), one of the guard commanders under him, Xu Wen, stated to him:[1] The Prince is chronically-ill, but his oldest heir is being sent out to another circuit.
If you receive an order summoning you back, unless it is through a messenger that I send with the Prince's own writing, be careful and do not return.Yang Wo, believing Xu was advising him out of good faith, wept and thanked him.
Xu and the other guard commander, Zhang Hao, however, opposed Zhou's proposal, pointing out that Yang had fought these years to leave the state to his family.
Yang Wo wanted to take the tents and screens used by the governor, as well as his guards, with him, but Wang refused to let him leave with those things and soldiers.
In 906, he sent Chen Zhixin (陳知新) to attack Wu'an Circuit (武安, headquartered in modern Changsha, Hunan), then under the rule of Ma Yin.
Chen captured Wu'an's Yue Prefecture (岳州, in modern Yueyang, Hunan) and expelled the Ma-commissioned prefect Xu Dexun.
However, a joint declaration by Yang Wo and Wang Jian calling for the entire realm to rise against Later Liang failed to effectuate a large-scale revolt.
[5] Later in the year, Yang Wo sent Liu Cun and Chen Zhixin to launch a major attack on Ma (who had submitted to Later Liang and was created the Prince of Chu), with his trusted officer Xu Xuanying (許玄應) as the army monitor.
[5] Meanwhile, Later Liang's Emperor Taizu decided to attack Hongnong's vassal Lei Yangong the military governor of Wuzhen Circuit (武貞, headquartered in modern Changde, Hunan), ordering Ma and Gao Jichang the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern Jingzhou, Hubei) to attack Lei.
Yang Wo sent the generals Ling Ye (泠業) and Li Rao (李饒) to try to aid Lei, but they were defeated, captured, and executed by Xu Dexun.
[5] It was said that when the assassins entered Yang Wo's bedroom, he tried to convince them to turn against Zhang and Xu, offering them prefects' positions.