Emperor Taizu of Later Liang

Early career

Zhu Wen was born the youngest of three sons, Quanyu, Cun and Wen. His father, Zhu Cheng (朱誠) was an instructor in the Five Classics in Dangshan County, which at that time belonged to Songzhou. There was also a younger sister who married one Yuan Jingchu (袁敬初) of Xiayi County (下邑), near Dangshan, whose father and grandfather had held office on a provincial and prefectural level, but who claimed ancestry from the prominent middle-Tang official Yuan Shuji. (Her son with Yuan, Yuan Xiangxian, would later be an important general during Zhu Wen's Later Liang and the succeeding Later Tang.) Zhu Cheng died while Wen was still a boy, likely about 864, or after. His widow brought her three sons to live in the household of Liu Chong (劉崇) of Xiao County, Xuzhou. Zhu Cheng's mother is known to have been surnamed Liu. It is therefore possible that Liu Chong was a relative of Zhu Wen's grandmother. If this was in fact the case, Zhu Cheng's origin can not have been too obscure since the Liu family was the leading family in the area. The marriage of the daughter into the Yuan family also indicate a family of some standing.

Zhu Wen was brought up to be a family retainer or manor steward, but it is said that the people in the Liu household did not view him highly, except Liu Chong's mother, who in fact had to intercede whenever Liu Chong, displeased with Zhu Wen, caned him. Zhu instead went on to form his own bandit gang, one of many operating between the Yellow and Huai Rivers. In about 877 Zhu Wen and the second brother, Zhu Cun (朱存), joined the rebel army of Huang Chao when it fought its way through the region. Cun was later killed in battle, but Wen rose through the ranks until given a separate command following Huang Chao's capture of the imperial capital Chang'an in January 881.

With this army Zhu Wen attacked and captured nearby Tong Prefecture (同州, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), becoming defense commissioner of that prefecture. Many of the military governors had submitted to Huang Chao following his capture of Chang'an, but soon reverted to the Tang court once they realized that cause was not yet lost. By 882 Huang Chao was effectively surrounded, controlling only two prefectures outside Chang'an, one of which was Zhu Wen's Tong Prefecture. Wen now found the time opportune to change sides. After first assassinating his military overseer Yan Shi (嚴實), sent by Huang Chao to guard against just such a possibility, Zhu Wen surrendered to the Hezhong Circuit (河中, headquartered in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi)'s military governor (Jiedushi), Wang Chongrong. As reward for his timely defection Emperor Xizong of Tang appointed Zhu Wen Grand General of the Imperial Guards and deputy field commander of the armies stationed at Hezhong, also conferring the new personal name Quanzhong – "wholeheartedly loyal."

Xuanwu governor

Campaigns against Huang Chao

Zhu Quanzhong arrived at Bian more than three months after his appointment. The delay probably was related to various duties assigned to him in between, but may also have been due to bargaining over how many men of his own men he was to be allowed to bring with him to his new command. When he surrendered, Zhu brought with him an army of several thousand men, but by the time he left for Bianzhou this army must have been largely dispersed or absorbed into the imperial armies, for he brought with him to Bian only a few hundred men including a core of at least eighty military retainers. These retainers would provide crucial leadership in his early years at Bian. The majority of them had probably served with Zhu under Huang Chao, but some, such as Pang Shigu (龐師古), were new recruits. To the Xuanwu command belonged one of the strongest armies in the region and Zhu now set about making sure that this army become loyal to him personally. The army consisted of two sections: the governor's guard and the main field force, the former acting as the governor's bodyguards. Zhu appointed several of his military retainers as guards officers, such as Ding Hui who was made administrator, and Hu Zhen (胡真) who was made a commander. Zhu Quanzhong's eldest son, Zhu Youyu (朱友裕) was also made an officer, though at this time he was yet a boy. The most important of these appointments was Zhu Zhen (朱珍), who was given special responsibility for selection, training and reorganization. Zhu Quanzhong did retain the hereditary officers in the guards and main army, but the reorganizations and preparations for war against Huang Chao had been entrusted to his own men. The Xuanwu army consisted largely of infantry. Having seen the effectiveness of the Shatou Turks' tribal cavalry during the recapture of Chang'an, Zhu ordered the formation of his own cavalry units. Command of the initial force was entrusted his military retainer Pang. Later as new units were formed, officers were both selected from men who had come with Zhu or recruited locally.

Zhu soon had the opportunity to test the mettle of his new army. After his flight through Lantian Pass, Huang Chao attacked Cai Prefecture (蔡州, in modern Zhumadian, Henan), and the military governor of Fengguo Circuit (奉國, headquartered at Cai Prefecture), Qin Zongquan, defected to the rebels. Huang then proceeded to attack Chen Prefecture (陳州, in modern Zhumadian), but there the prefect, Zhao Chou, decided to resist even as his prefectural capital was put under siege. With Huang held up at Chen and his armies also meeting resistance in other prefectures, Zhu joined with the other governors of the region in early 884 to call in the man who had spearheaded the recapture of Chang'an – Li Keyong, military governor of Hedong (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) and chief of the Shatuo Turks. In spring 884 the combined forces of Zhu and Li Keyong routed Huang's generals and forced him to abandon the siege of Chen. Suffering a string of defeats from the governmental armies, Huang again managed to flee eastward, but his career had now run its course. He was hunted down and killed later that summer. The final defeat of Huang Chao brought about the surrender of several rebel commanders to Zhu, strengthening his forces and providing him with a second group of officers who would serve him loyally in the years to come.

Campaigns against Qin Zongquan

The death of Huang Chao was not the end of rebellion against Tang imperial sovereignty. Qin Zongquan took over the leadership and declared himself emperor. Qin expanded his territory in all directions, even capturing the eastern capital Luoyang, in 885–886. With the withdrawal of Li Keyong's armies, Zhu was no longer strong enough to defeat them. No help could be gotten from the court either since Emperor Xizong had again been forced to flee Chang'an after quarreling with Zhu's former patron Wang Chongrong. The lack of a central authority left the initiative to Zhu and the other governors.

In Autumn 884, Emperor Xizong bestowed titles on Zhu as honorary dignitary for education with ministerial standing and elevated him to Marquess of Pei. In 885 Zhu married his daughter, the future Princess Changle, to Zhao Yan, son of Zhao Chou, who was already indebted to Zhu for breaking the siege of Huang Chao. With this alliance Quanzhong gained an important buffer between Bian and the rebel capital at Cai. A further opportunity to strengthen his position came in December 886 when the Yicheng Circuit (義成, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan) army, headquartered at Hua Prefecture (滑州), mutinied against the court-chosen governor, An Shiru (安師儒). An suppressed the mutiny, but Zhu then attacked, and easily captured Hua, killing An and commissioning Hu Zhen as An's replacement. In doing so, Zhu also warded off a rival attempt by Zhu Xuan the military governor of Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong)—an ally of Zhu Quanzhong's—to take over Yicheng.

The Yicheng army was reorganized by transferring some of its officers and men to the Xuanwu army and appointing Xuanwu officers to command the rest. Large parts of the Yicheng army had to be left at Hua to guard the Yellow River, but Zhu Quanzhong had gained a strategic reserve. In January 887 the Emperor invested Zhu Quanzhong Prince of Wuxing.

Having beaten off two rebel attacks, Zhu Quanzhong in June/July 886 sent a cavalry commander, Guo Yan (郭言), to attack Qin's capital Cai Prefecture. The attack failed and in late 886 Qin began a campaign against Zhu, heading toward Bian and intending to capture it. In response, Zhu sent Zhu Zhen to the east to recruit additional troops outside his own territory. This served the double purpose of expanding Zhu's armies and easing the supply situation at Bian. During this period, Guo was sent westward into rebel controlled territory. Defeating a major bandit gang, Guo Yen recruited many of the survivors and then fought his way back to Bianzhou with the recruits, the whole expedition lasting about six months. Zhu Zhen, meanwhile, headed toward the comparatively peaceful Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Weifang, Shandong). Defeating the Pinglu army, Zhu Zhen proceeded to recruit the men of the region and seize horses, returning to Bian in spring 887 after only two months, bringing with him, according to the Zizhi Tongjian, ten thousand recruits and one thousand horse. These numbers might be exaggerated, but Zhu Quanzhong's total force might well have reached thirty thousand personnel by this time.

Conquest of Henan

Zhu Quanzhong's alliance with Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin did not last long. Even as their armies were returning eastward, Zhu Quanzhong accused Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin of luring eastwards deserters from his own army. With these accusations as justifications, Zhu Quanzhong launched an offensive against Zhu Jin, and his chief commander Zhu Zhen captured Cao Prefecture (曹州, in modern Heze, Shandong) and apprehending its prefect Qiu Hongli while Zhang Guiba (張歸霸) routed Zhu Jin in battle at Jinxiang (金鄉, in modern Jining) and overrun Pu Prefecture (濮州, also in modern Heze). An attempt by Zhu Zhen to seize Tianping's capital Yun Prefecture (鄆州) itself is repelled with loss however, and later both Cao and Pu Prefectures had to be abandoned.

Meanwhile, to the south, Gao Pian, military governor of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), had been killed in a mutiny and the Tang court conferred on Zhu Quanzhong concurrent powers as military governor of Huainan. Zhu Quanzhong sent a deputy, Li Fan (李璠), to take control of the circuit, but on arrival Li Fan found Yang Xingmi, one of Guo Pian's generals, in control of the provincial capital Yang Prefecture (揚州). Yang, while receiving Zhu's emissary Zhang Tingfan (張廷範), refused to accept Li Fan as the acting military governor. With Shi Pu the military governor of Ganhua (感化, headquartered in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu) also displeased because he was not given the Huainan command and launching troops to stop Li Fan and Guo Yan (who was escorting Li Fan) from reaching Yang Prefecture, Zhu had to abandon plans to take over Huainan. Meanwhile, following the defection of one of Qin Zongquan's generals, Zhao Deyin of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern Xiangyang, Hubei, renamed Zhongyi (忠義) by Tang after Zhao's defection), to the Tang cause, Zhu's armies laid siege to Cai.

To purchase supplies for the war against the rebels Zhu sent a military administrator north with 10,000 taels of silver to buy grain from Le Yanzhen, military governor of Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei). However, this mission coincided with a mutiny of the Le's guard during which Zhu's emissary was killed and the money and any grain he had purchased presumably confiscated. In retaliation Zhu dispatched Zhu Zhen with an army who successfully plundered across Wei territory before returning home. Without support from Zhu, Le's son Le Congxun (樂從訓), who was a held out against the mutineers, was defeated, and he was executed along with his father, who had tried to avoid being executed by becoming a Buddhist monk; the Weibo officer Luo Hongxin took over Weibo and made peace with Zhu.

Seizure of Tianping and Taining

With Shi Pu dead and Ganhua under his control, Zhu Quanzhong now concentrated on destroying Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin. He attacked Zhu Xuan himself in 894, defeating Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin's joint forces and killing more than 10,000 men from Tianping and Taining. (Around the same time, Li Keyong's strength was said to be beginning to wane after a costly campaign to defeat his adoptive son Li Cunxiao, who had rebelled against him, while the relationship between Zhu Quanzhong and Yang Xingmi was beginning to become tense again, after Zhu Quanzhong's vassal Zhang Jian (張諫) turned against Zhu Quanzhong and surrendered Si Prefecture (泗州, in modern Huai'an) to Yang, and Zhu, apparently in retaliation, seized a large shipment of tea that Yang had delivered to Bian Prefecture, intending to sell.)

Zhu Quanzhong thereafter dealt blow after blow against Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin, despite reinforcements that Li Keyong was sending them from Hedong. In late 896, he had Ge Congzhou put Taining's capital Yan Prefecture (兗州) under siege, while himself followed to reinforced Ge. When Zhu Xuan sent Tianping and Hedong forces to try to lift the siege, Zhu Quanzhong defeated them, displaying the Tianping and Hedong officers he captured to Zhu Jin, trying to get him to surrender. However, the siege lost its force when Zhu Jin pretended to surrender, but instead used the opportunity to capture a cousin who had surrendered previously (Zhu Qiong (朱瓊) the prefect of Qi Prefecture (齊州, in modern Jinan, Shandong)) and execute Zhu Qiong. Zhu Quanzhong, with the morale lost, withdrew from Yan. However, he left Ge in the vicinity to continue to watch and wear Zhu Jin down.

In late 895 and early 896, Li Keyong tried to send Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin two major waves of reinforcements, first commanded by the officers Shi Yan (史儼) and Li Chengsi (李承嗣), and the second commanded by his adoptive son Li Cunxin. Both waves of reinforcements had to go through Weibo, and while the first wave went through, Li Cunxin angered Weibo's military governor Luo Hongxin by pillaging the people of Weibo; further, Zhu Quanzhong wrote Luo and warned Luo that he believed that Li Keyong intended to conquer all of the territory north of the Yellow River, including Weibo. Luo thus ambushed Li Cunxin, inflicting heavy losses and preventing Li Cunxin's forces from reaching Tianping, and Luo thereafter became a Xuanwu ally, particularly after Li Keyong's subsequent punitive attack against Weibo was repelled by joint Weibo/Xuanwu forces.

By early 896, Pang Shigu's forces had reached Tianping's capital Yun Prefecture. In spring 897, a joint siege by Pang and Ge captured Yun; Zhu Xuan and his wife were captured in flight; Zhu Xuan was subsequently executed. Zhu Jin abandoned Yan and fled to Huainan with Shi and Li Chengsi, leaving Zhu in control of all of the lands directly east of his own Xuanwu Circuit, all the way to the East China Sea (as Wang Shifan's Pinglu Circuit had become a vassal by this point). However, with the Tianping/Taining/Hedong remnants now part of the Huainan army, the Huainan army's land capabilities were much enhanced in the latter battles against Zhu Quanzhong (whereas it was previously only capable in water combat). Zhu Quanzhong initially took Zhu Jin's wife, who was captured by the Xuanwu army, as a concubine, but at the suggestion of Lady Zhang (who used reversed psychology to show Zhu Quanzhong that this was improper humiliation of Zhu Jin's wife), he allowed Zhu Jin's wife to become a Buddhist nun. He made Ge the acting military governor of Taining, Zhu Youyu the acting military governor of Tianping, and Pang the acting military governor of Wuning (i.e., Ganhua, changing its name back to its earlier name).

Continued expansion

By this point, Zhu Quanzhong was also allied with the chancellor Cui Yin, such that when Emperor Zhaozong (who was then at Hua Prefecture (華州; not the same prefecture as the one in Xuanyi Circuit), the capital of Han Jian's Zhenguo Circuit, after Li Maozhen the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi) attacked Chang'an) considered sending Cui out of the imperial government, Cui used Zhu's influence to force Han and Emperor Zhaozong to change their minds and retain Cui at the imperial court.

Meanwhile, the cousins Wang Ke the military governor of Huguo Circuit (護國, headquartered in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi), an adoptive son of Wang Chongrong's and biological nephew, as Wang Ke's biological father was Wang Chongrong's older brother Wang Chongjian (王重簡), and Wang Gong the military governor of Baoyi Circuit (保義, headquartered in modern Sanmenxia, Henan), a son of Wang Chongrong's brother Wang Chongying, who had succeeded Wang Chongrong and served until his death in 895, had been contending for the control of Huguo. Li Keyong supported Wang Ke, while Zhu supported Wang Gong. In spring 897, Zhu sent Zhang Cunjing (張存敬) and Yang Shihou to put Huguo under siege, but Li Keyong sent his nephew Li Sizhao to defeat Wang Gong's forces and forcing the Xuanwu forces to lift the siege.

In fall 897, Zhu Quanzhong decided to launch a major attack on Yang Xingmi, intending to capture Huainan, after Yang attacked Zhu's ally Du Hong the military governor of Wuchang Circuit (武昌, headquartered in modern Wuhan, Hubei), with Pang Shigu in command of the forward forces and Zhu himself commanding the main Xuanwu forces. He gathered his available forces and sent Pang with 70,000 soldiers from Xuanwu and Wuning Circuits to Qingkou (清口, in modern Huai'an, Jiangsu), posturing to head to Huainan's capital Yang Prefecture (揚州); Ge Congzhou with the forces from Tianping and Taining Circuits to Anfeng (安豐, in modern Lu'an, Anhui), posturing to head to Shou Prefecture (壽州, in modern Lu'an); and Zhu Quanzhong himself with his main forces to Su Prefecture (宿州, in modern Suzhou). The people of Huainan Circuit were greatly shocked and dismayed by Zhu's forces. However, Pang, because he had such an impressive force, underestimated Yang Xingmi's army. Yang Xingmi had Zhu Jin serve as his advance commander, and Zhu constructed a dam on the Huai River. When Yang Xingmi attacked Pang, Zhu released the waters to flood Pang's army, and then attacked Pang with Yang. Pang's army was crushed by the waters and the Huainan forces, and Pang was killed. Zhu Yanshou also defeated Ge's army. Hearing that both of his generals had been defeated, Zhu Quanzhong also retreated. The Battle of Qingkou thus affirmed Yang's control of the territory between the Huai and the Yangtze Rivers. Meanwhile, in spring 898, at Zhu Quanzhong's insistence, Emperor Zhaozong confirmed him as the military governor of Xuanwu, Xuanyi, and Tianping. He then, in conjunction with Weibo forces, attacked three prefectures of Zhaoyi Circuit east of the Taihang Mountains that Li Keyong controlled; the three prefectures soon fell, and Zhu put Ge in charge of the prefectures as the acting military governor of Zhaoyi.

Campaign against Fengxiang

Zhu Quanzhong subsequently reached Chang'an and rendezvoused with Cui Yin, and then proceeded to Fengxiang, where Li Maozhen and Han Quanhui had Emperor Zhaozong issue orders that he return to Xuanwu. After initial preliminary engagements there, Zhu turned around and focused his attention on first conquering Li Maozhen's other possessions in the Guanzhong region (i.e., the region around Chang'an) first, including, among others, Jingnan Circuit (靜難, headquartered in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), governed by Li Maozhen's adoptive son Li Jihui; he quickly forced the surrender of Li Jihui and other subordinates of Li Maozhen, isolating Fengxiang.

Han sent eunuch messengers to the circuits in the southeast, ordering them to attack Zhu's territory from behind, but most or all of them were intercepted and killed by Zhu's ally Feng Xingxi the military governor of Rongzhao Circuit (戎昭, headquartered in modern Ankang, Shaanxi). Li Maozhen also sought aid from Wang Jian the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan), a major warlord to Li Maozhen's southwest, but while Wang outwardly supported Li Maozhen and rebuked Zhu, he was in secret contact with Zhu and instead used this opportunity to seize Li Maozhen's possessions south of the Qinling Mountains one by one. Li Keyong tried to aid Li Maozhen by sending his nephew Li Sizhao and officer Zhou Dewei to attack parts of Huguo, but a subsequent counterattack by Zhu's nephew Zhu Youning (朱友寧) and officer Shi Shucong (氏叔琮) beat back the Hedong forces and, for some time, actually put Taiyuan under siege again; while the Hedong forces subsequently repelled the Xuanwu forces, for several years thereafter, Li Keyong did not dare to again challenge Zhu Quanzhong's supremacy in the region.

By summer 902, Zhu and his main army had returned to Fengxiang and put it under siege. Li Maozhen made several attempts to counterattack, but each of Li Maozhen's attempts was beaten back by the besieging Xuanwu army. (Meanwhile, Emperor Zhaozong had sent the imperial envoy Li Yan to Huainan to order Yang Xingmi to attack Zhu's territory, but Yang, after launching a campaign but having his food supply delivery hampered by an inadequate supply system, withdrew.) By fall 902, Fengxiang was in a desperate state, but so was Zhu—as his siege was hampered by the rainy weather and the soldiers were becoming ill. At the suggestion of his officer Gao Jichang, he laid a trap for Li Maozhen by having a soldier, Ma Jing (馬景), falsely surrender to Li Maozhen and claim that Zhu's army was so stricken by illnesses that it was withdrawing that night. A major attack by Li Maozhen's army from within the city fell into traps that the Xuanwu army laid, and the Fengxiang army suffered huge losses, such that from that point on, Li Maozhen began considering a negotiated peace with Zhu.

Moving the imperial court to Luoyang

After Emperor Zhaozong returned to Chang'an, he heaped honors and titles on Zhu Quanzhong, including the titles of Deputy Generalissimo of all Circuits (諸道兵馬副元帥, with Emperor Zhaozong's son Li Zuo (李祚) the Prince of Hui serving titularly as Generalissimo) and Prince of Liang. Meanwhile, Zhu's ally Cui Yin was (in Cui's own estimation) in control of the capital and dominated the imperial court. Zhu shortly after departed Chang'an and headed back to Xuanwu, to deal with Wang's uprising, while leaving his nephew Zhu Youlun (朱友倫) at Chang'an with 20,000 Xuanwu soldiers, to continue to defend/control the emperor.

Once Zhu returned to Xuanwu, he gathered his army to get ready to capture the two Wang Shifan-held circuits, Pinglu and Taining. However, in summer 903, Wang, in alliance with Yang Xingmi's general Wang Maozhang, crushed and killed Zhu Youning in battle, giving Wang Shifan's badly outnumbered army a brief reprieve. Wang Maozhang, however, then judged the situation to be hopeless and withdrew his Huainan army, leaving Wang Shifan to face Zhu alone. Further, shortly after, Yang would be battling a rebellion against him by his generals Tian Jun the military governor of Ningguo Circuit (寧國, headquartered in modern Xuancheng, Anhui) and An Renyi (安仁義) the military prefect of Run Prefecture (潤州, in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) and be unable to again aid Wang Shifan. Wang Shifan was forced to surrender to Zhu, and, while Zhu allowed him to remain military governor of Pinglu for the time being, would not again pose a threat to Zhu.

Meanwhile, Cui had begun to see the army that Zhu left at Chang'an to be a threat to the security of the imperial government and of himself, and therefore had been trying to recruit a new army to replace the decimated imperial guards and Shence Armies. Zhu realized this and began to suspect Cui of getting ready to turn against him. Further, Zhu Youlun died in a polo accident in winter 903—an accident that Zhu Quanzhong did not consider an accident at all but suspected Cui's involvement in. He sent another nephew, Zhu Youliang (朱友諒), to Chang'an to take over Zhu Youlun's post, and he also sent his soldiers to pretend to be recruits to infiltrate the new army that Cui was building.

With Li Maozhen's army also being rebuilt and with Li Jihui having reverted his allegiance to Li Maozhen (after he was outraged that Zhu had raped his wife during the Fengxiang campaign), Zhu became concerned about his control of the emperor being challenged not only by Cui, but by renewed military efforts of Li Maozhen and Li Jihui. He therefore resolved to forcibly move the emperor to Luoyang, closer to his base at Bian. In spring 904, he submitted a petition to Emperor Zhaozong, accusing Cui of treason, and then had the Xuanwu army at Chang'an surround Cui's mansion and kill him. Zhu thereafter had Emperor Zhaozong, the imperial household, and the populace of Chang'an forcibly escorted to Luoyang. After Emperor Zhaozong reached Luoyang, all the imperial guards were Zhu's elite soldiers, and the emperor became isolated.

The killing of Emperor Zhaozong and the seizure of the throne

As a result of the forced movement of the emperor, the several remaining warlords who were not compliant to Zhu Quanzhong (Li Maozhen, Li Jihui, Li Keyong, Liu Rengong, Wang Jian, and Yang Xingmi, Zhao Kuangning, and Zhao Kuangning's brother Zhao Kuangming the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern Jingzhou, Hubei, not the same circuit as Li Jihui's)) all issued declarations calling for the people to rise against Zhu and restore imperial power. Zhu became apprehensive that while Emperor Zhaozong was under heavy guard, he would nevertheless try to act against Zhu's interests if Zhu left on a campaign, particularly when Zhu could not get Emperor Zhaozong to agree to execute Li Yu (under the reasoning that Li Yu, albeit a child at the time, had wrongly occupied the throne during the eunuchs' coup against Emperor Zhaozong). He came to the belief that he should remove the adult emperor and replace the emperor with a more-easily controlled child. In fall 904, he had Zhu Yougong and Shi Shucong lead soldiers into the Luoyang palace and kill Emperor Zhaozong, and then blamed the incident on Zhu Yougong and Shi, forcing them to commit suicide. He had Li Zuo declared emperor (as Emperor Ai).

Shortly after Emperor Zhaozong's death, Zhu also had nine elder of the deceased emperor's sons (except Emperor Ai) killed, sparing Emperor Ai and his mother (Emperor Zhaozong's wife) Empress Dowager He. Further, under the advice of his ally, the chancellor Liu Can, and Li Zhen, he carried out a slaughter of senior Tang officials from aristocratic family, including forcing some 30 of them to commit suicide at Baima (白馬, in modern Anyang) and then throwing their bodies into the Yellow River.

In 904, Zhu's wife Lady Zhang died. She was said to be a moderating influence and a wise advisor to Zhu, and it was said that after her death, his violent and licentious tendencies became out of control.

In fall 905, Zhu carried out against the Zhao brothers, quickly defeating them and forcing them to flee (Zhao Kuangning to Yang, Zhao Kuangming to Wang Jian), allowing him to absorb the Zhaos' territory. He was originally planning to returning to his own territory after this, but then changed his mind and decided to attack Yang. His army, however, was hampered by the storms and unable to inflict any real damage on Yang's territory before being forced to withdraw.

Reign as Later Liang emperor

The new Later Liang emperor created the deposed Tang emperor the Prince of Jiyin, and moved him to Cao Prefecture, under secure guard. (He would, however, have the Prince of Jiyin poisoned in 908.) He posthumously honored his parents, as well as ancestors up to four generations, as emperors and empresses. He made Jing Xiang his chief advisor, making decisions in conjunction with Jing before having Jing announce them to the chancellors.

Most circuits around the former Tang realm reacted to the transition by submitting to the new emperor's authority. The only exceptions were regions controlled by Li Keyong (thereafter becoming known as Jin), Li Maozhen (thereafter becoming known as Qi), Yang Xingmi's son and successor Yang Wo (thereafter becoming known as Wu), and Wang Jian (thereafter becoming known as Former Shu). Li Keyong, Li Maozhen, and Yang continued to observe the Tang era name of Tianyou, thus acting as if they were still part of the defunct Tang state, while Wang shortly after declared himself the emperor of a new Former Shu state. Liu Rengong initially did not react; however, shortly after, he was put under house arrest by his son Liu Shouguang, who took over Lulong; both Liu Shouwen, who thereafter launched a campaign to try to free his father against his brother Liu Shouguang, and Liu Shouguang nominally submitted to Later Liang.

Shortly after becoming emperor, apparently intending to deal a crippling blow to Jin, Emperor Taizu sent Kang Huaizhen north to put Lu Prefecture, then under the command of Li Sizhao, under tight siege; he later went to Lu himself to reinforce the siege. Li Keyong initially sent Zhou Dewei to try to lift the siege, but was unable to do so. In spring 908, Li Keyong himself fell deathly ill, forcing Zhou to withdraw back to Taiyuan. Li Keyong died shortly after and was succeeded by his son Li Cunxu. Emperor Taizu, believing that Lu would fall easily in the aftermaths, not only withdrew himself but also withdrew part of the siege army, under the command of Liu Zhijun, to guard against a potential Qi attack. Li Cunxu, realizing that the Later Liang army had been weakened, launched a surprise assault on the Later Liang army sieging Lu, crushing it and lifting the siege, thus stabilizing the security of the Jin state. When Emperor Taizu received news of the death, he lamented:

If one were to have a son, the son should be like Li Yazi [("Yazi" being Li Cunxu's nickname)]. It is like Li Keyong had not died. As for my own sons, they are just like a group of pigs and dogs.

Personal information

Parents

Father: Zhu Cheng (朱誠), posthumously honored Emperor Wenmu (文穆皇帝) with the temple name of Liezu (烈祖) (honored 907)

Mother: Lady Wang (died 891), Lady Dowager of Jin, posthumously honored Empress Wenhui (文惠皇后)

Consort and issue

Empress Yuanzhen (元貞皇后) (honored 912) of the Zhang clan (张氏 )

Zhu Youzhen (朱友貞) (888–923), the Prince of Jun (created 907), later emperor

Zhu Youzi (朱友孜), the Prince of Kang (created 913?, executed by Zhu Youzhen 915)

Consort Shi, Lady of Wuwei, of the Shi clan (石氏), younger sister of Shi Yanci (石彥辭) Baron of Wuwei

Zhaoyi Chen, of the Chen clan (陳昭儀 陳氏), later Buddhist nun (tonsure 909)

Zhaorong Li, of the Li clan (李昭容 李氏)

Meiren, of the Duan clan (段美人), younger sister of Duan Ning

Wife of Zhu Jin

Unknown:

Zhu Youyu (朱友裕) (died 904), posthumously created Prince of Chen (created 907)

Zhu Yougui (朱友珪), the Prince of Ying (created 907), later emperor

Zhu Youzhang (朱友璋), the Prince of Fu (created 907)