After Emperor Wen of Chen died in 566 and was succeeded by his young son Emperor Fei of Chen, the Chen Dynasty high level officials became locked in a power struggle, and in 567 Emperor Fei's uncle Chen Xu the Prince of Ancheng killed Liu Shizhi (劉師之) and Dao Zhongju (到仲舉) and took over power. The general Hua Jiao (華皎), the governor of Xiang Province (湘州, roughly modern Changsha, Hunan), apprehensive about Chen Xu's intentions toward him, secretly submitted to Western Liang and Northern Zhou, seeking aid from both. Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou and his regent Yuwen Hu commissioned Emperor Wu's brother Yuwen Zhi (宇文直) the Prince of Wei with an army, and Emperor Ming also gathered his own troops, commanded by his general Wang Cao (王操), to aid Hua. However, when their forces, along with Hua's, encountered the Chen forces, commanded by the generals Chunyu Liang (淳于量) and Wu Mingche at Dunkou (沌口, in modern Wuhan, Hubei), they were defeated by Chen forces, and both Hua and Yuwen Zhi were forced to flee to Jiangling. The Northern Zhou general Yuan Ding (元定) and the Western Liang general Li Guang (李廣) were captured. Wu took this opportunity to seize Western Liang's Hedong Commandery (河東, in modern Jingzhou) as well. Yuwen Zhi blamed the defeat on the Western Liang general Yin Liang (殷亮), and Emperor Ming, while knowing that Yin was not at fault, was unwilling to oppose Yuwen Zhi, and so executed Yin.