Meanwhile, Emperor Houfei had begun to develop a reputation of being crazed and lacking in virtue. The people instead were hopeful that his cousin Liu Jingsu () the Prince of Jianping, who was an adult and was considered a kind and generous man, could become emperor. Many army officers were hoping to join a rebellion by Liu Jingsu, while Yang Yunchang and Ruan Dianfu, who wanted to hold onto power, wanted to eliminate Liu Jingsu as a potential threat. In 475, they wanted to act on an accusation that Liu Jingsu was plotting rebellion and arrest him, but were stopped from doing so by Yuan and Xiao. In summer 476, however, one of the army officers who was hopeful for a Liu Jingsu rebellion fled to Liu Jingsu's headquarters at Jingkou (京口, in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), falsely telling Liu Jingsu that Jiankang was in disarray and that he needed to quickly proceed to Jiankang and take the throne. Liu Jingsu therefore started his uprising, but his forces lacked good generals. Meanwhile, Xiao sent Huang Hui to attack Liu Jingsu, and Huang, while secretly sympathetic of Liu Jingsu's cause, was hesitant to turn against Xiao because his lieutenants were all Xiao's confidants, and he defeated Liu Jingsu, who was captured and killed.