Lady Zhang

Lady Zhang (張夫人, personal name unknown) (died 904), titled Lady of Wei during her lifetime, later posthumously honored initially as Consort Zhang with the imperial consort title Xianfei then as Empress Yuanzhen (元貞皇后, "the discerning and virtuous empress"), was the wife of Zhu Quanzhong, a major warlord at the end of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, who would (after her death) found the Later Liang. Lady Zhang's son Zhu Youzhen would later be the final emperor of Later Liang. Background It is not known when Lady Zhang was born. She was from a rich household in Dangshan (碭山, in modern Suzhou, Anhui), where Zhu Quanzhong was from as well. Despite her family's wealth, she married Zhu Quanzhong (who was then still named Zhu Wen) before he became prominent. She was the mother of his fourth son Zhu Youzhen. During Zhu Quanzhong's campaigns After Zhu Quanzhong became a prominent warlord (military governor (Jiedushi) of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan)), Lady Zhang, as his wife, was created the Lady of Wei. It was said that she was understanding, intelligent, and respectful, and even though Zhu was harsh and violent in his character, he feared her. He often consulted her on important decisions, and she often made the right decisions. It was often became of her intercession that people that he wanted to kill were saved. On one occasion, when Zhu had already embarked on a campaign, she believed that the campaign was unwise and sent a messenger to inform him of her opinion. Because of her opinion, he cancelled the campaign and returned. In 893, she had the occasion to save Zhu's oldest son Zhu Youyu, who was not her son. At that time, Zhu Quanzhong had put Zhu Youyu in charge of sieging Pengcheng, the capital of Ganhua Circuit (感化, headquartered in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu), then governed by Zhu Quanzhong's rival Shi Pu. Shi repeatedly challenged Zhu Youyu to battles, but Zhu Youyu refused to engage him. When Shi's ally Zhu Jin the military governor of Taining Circuit (泰寧, headquartered in modern Jining, Shandong) made an attempt to relieve the siege in early 893, Zhu Youyu, after defeating Zhu Jin and forcing him to flee, did not give chase. For both of these decisions, Zhu Quanzhong's adopted son Zhu Yougong, who was serving under Zhu Youyu, wrote Zhu Quanzhong secretly and made false accusations against Zhu Youyu.