Wang Jian's siege of Zi Prefecture put Gu in dire straits. In winter 897, Gu had his adoptive son Gu Yao () kill his entire family and then commit suicide. Wang Jian took over Dongchuan and made Hua (whom he formally took as an adoptive son, with the new name of Wang Zongdi) the acting military governor of Dongchuan. The imperial government initially tried to make the official Liu Chongwang () the military governor of Dongchuan, but upon hearing that Wang Jian had already commissioned Wang Zongdi, gave up the attempt and allowed Wang Zongdi to take over as acting military governor (and later, full military governor). (Subsequently, at Wang Zongdi's suggestion (that Dongchuan was too large to be a single circuit), Wang Jian requested, and the imperial government approved, the division of Dongchuan into two circuits, with five prefectures carved out into a Wuxin Circuit (), with its headquarters at Sui Prefecture (遂州, in modern Suining, Sichuan).)
