 Emperor Dezong, believing that Guo Ziyi was too lax and had too large of a responsibility area, honored Guo as "Shangfu" (尚父, "like an imperial father") but stripped him of his commands.He divided Guo's responsibility area among Li Huaiguang, Hun Jian, and Chang Qianguang (), making Li the military governor of Binning Circuit (邠寧, headquartered in modern Xianyang) as well as the mayor of Hezhong Municipality, governing seven prefectures.Initially, he had difficulty in getting some senior officers whose reputations matched his own — Shi Kang (), Wen Ruya, Pang Xianhe (), Zhang Xianming (), and Li Guangyi () — to obey him.