 Immediately prior to taking the throne, Emperor Wu had sent Zhou Wenyu and another major general, Hou Andu, west against Wang Lin, an independent general still claiming loyalty to Liang, and Wu was one of the generals who served under Zhou and Hou.When Wang subsequently defeated the Chen troops, capturing Zhou and Hou as well as three other generals, Xu Jingcheng (), Zhou Tiehu (), and Cheng Lingxi (), Wu was not captured, and was able to take his forces back to Jiankang.Subsequently, Wu was assigned to operations in the modern Jiangxi region to defend against a possible attack from Wang (who had by this point declared Emperor Yuan's grandson Xiao Zhuang Emperor of Liang) as well as to keep the local warlords in check.