Later, Li Yijian was made the military governor (Jiedushi) of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern Xiangfan, Hubei). During Emperor Dezong's reign, 500 Jiangxi soldiers had been stationed at Shannan East to help defend it against the de facto independent Zhangyi Circuit (彰義, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan), and the soldiers were paid by the central government director of finances. By the time that Li was military governor, the originally stationed Jiangxi soldiers had largely died, but Shannan East was still receiving funds for them. Li Yijian found this to be inappropriate and turned down the funding for them. After three years, he was transferred to Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan) to serve as its military governor. Prior to Li's service there, Wang Yong () the prefect of Xi Prefecture (雟州, in modern Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan) had, because of his corruption, angered the non-Han tribes of the region, who thus left the Tang-controlled areas. After Li arrived at Xichuan, he had Wang removed, and he sent letters to the non-Han chieftains pointing out that it was in their interests to be in Tang territory, and the non-Han tribes thus resubmitted. Meanwhile, the army of Sichuan had been accustomed to play two styles of music known as the Fengsheng Style () and Shunsheng Style (), created by the generals Wei Gao and Yu Di, respectively. Li, believing that it was the central government's prerogative rather than local governors' to create new styles of military music, had the music stopped.
