 In 941, Qian Yuanguan was deathly ill. After a conversation with his officer Zhang De'an () in which he toyed with the idea of passing the throne to an older member of his clan because of Qian Hongzuo's youth, he ultimately decided on entrusting Qian Hongzuo to Zhang.He died shortly after.As there were rumors that another officer, Dai Yun (), whose wife was a relative to Qian Hongyou's wet nurse, was planning on supporting Qian Hongyou to succeed Qian Yuanguan, Zhang initially kept Qian Yuanguan's death a secret; rather, he had his soldiers ambush, arrest, and kill Dai, and then had Qian Hongyou demoted to commoner rank and changed in name back to his birth name of Sun.