 After Zhu, who was then intent on seizing the throne, assassinated Emperor Zhaozong in 904 and replaced him with his son Emperor Ai, in 905, Zhu, at the advice of his close associates Liu Can and Li Zhen, began demoting and killing Tang aristocrats en masse.Wang was first demoted to be the census officer at Zi Prefecture (淄州, in modern Zibo, Shandong), and then ordered to commit suicide at Baima Station (白馬驛, in modern Anyang, Henan), with fellow former chancellors Pei Shu, Dugu Sun, Cui Yuan, Lu Yi, as well as the officials Zhao Chong (趙崇) and Wang Zan (王贊).At Li Zhen's request (as Li Zhen, who was unable to pass the imperial examinations, resented these traditional aristocrats for claiming to be free from taint), Zhu had their bodies thrown into the Yellow River (as Li Zhen put it, to taint them).