After Emperor Mingzong took the throne, he confirmed Ma Yin's title of "Shangshu Ling". Meanwhile, with Gao Jixing taking an increasingly confrontational attitude with the Later Tang court, including seizure of a major shipment of Former Shu wealth that Li Jiji (prior to Emperor Zhuangzong's death and his own suicide) sent toward Luoyang, as well as the seizure of three prefectures that formerly belonged to Former Shu, Emperor Mingzong sent the general Liu Xun () to attack Jingnan. Ma sent Xu Dexun with a fleet toward Jingnan, but stopped Xu's fleet at Yue Prefecture. Meanwhile, Gao defended Jiangling and refused to engage Liu, who soon became bogged down in his attack due to rains and illnesses afflicting his army. Emperor Mingzong sent the chief of staff Kong Xun to the front to examine the situation, and Kong tried to entice Ma to join the battle as well by sending a gift of clothes to the Chu army and horses and jade belts to Ma personally, and requesting that Ma send food supplies to Liu's army — a request that Ma apparently did not openly reject but never carried out. Eventually, Liu was forced to withdraw, and Jingnan became effectively independent of Later Tang after that point.