Soon afterward, on the same year Zhang controlled Yangzhou, an important center of salt trade on the Grand Canal of China, just north of the Yangtze.

In 1356, Zhang seized Suzhou,[4] the main hub of transportation and commerce of Jiangnan (the "South of the Lower Yangtze" region), and made the city his capital.

[2] Zhang's regime was mostly patterned on the Yuan dynasty model, but made use of some of the earlier traditional Chinese terminology as well.

The Yangtze Delta literati strongly backed the Zhou regime, and because of this, his rival the future Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was highly suspicious of them.

When the highly educated Southern literati came to dominate the civil service examinations, the emperor would set quotas and restrictions on their appointments to curb them.

However, "indolent" Zhang was apparently content to merely control the lower Yangtze region; his two attempts to attack Zhu's territories were both defeated decisively.

[7] The struggle between the two "Kings of Wu" came to the end on October 1, 1367, when Suzhou fell to Zhu Yuanzhang's troops after a 10-month siege.

On every 30 July (Zhang's birthday), the locals of Suzhou celebrated with straw dragon toys hanging at the doors of their houses.

However, the scant historical evidence has been interpreted in various ways, with arguments in favor of Luo having been on the side of other participants in the conflict.