Zhu Youwen

Zhu Youwen (; died 912), né Kang Qin (康勤), courtesy name Deming (德明), formally the Prince of Bo (博王), was an imperial prince of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Later Liang. He was an adoptive son of the founding emperor Emperor Taizu (Zhu Quanzhong) and was considered a potential heir to the throne. However, in 912, his older brother (Emperor Taizu's biological son) Zhu Yougui assassinated Emperor Taizu and had him put to death. Background It is not known when Kang Qin was born, and it is also not know the exact circumstances under which he became an adoptive son of Zhu Quanzhong's. However, it is said that in his youth, he was handsome, studious, good at speaking, and good at writing poetry. He eventually became an adoptive son of Zhu Quanzhong's and changed his name to Zhu Youwen, apparently before Zhu Quanzhong became the military governor (Jiedushi) for four circuits (i.e., in addition to his main territory Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan, the circuits of Xuanyi (宣義, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan), Tianping (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong), and Huguo (護國, headquartered in modern Yuncheng, Shaanxi)) in 901 because, after Zhu Quanzhong became the military governor for the four circuits, he commissioned Zhu Youwen as the overseer for budget matters, as well as for salt and iron monopolies. Among Zhu's sons, biological and adopted, Zhu Youwen was the second oldest, younger than Zhu Youyu (who died before the establishment of Later Liang) but older than the rest. During Zhu Quanzhong's campaigns to conquer the surrounding circuits, Zhu Youwen collected taxes and managed the finances to supply his army. It was said that Zhu Quanzhong favored him over the next two oldest biological sons, Zhu Yougui and Zhu Youzhen. Service under Emperor Taizu In 907, Zhu Quanzhong had Tang Dynasty's last emperor, Emperor Ai, yield the throne to him, ending Tang and starting a new Later Liang as its Emperor Taizu. He created his sons imperial princes, and Zhu Youwen, who had become the deputy military governor of Xuanwu before he took the throne, was given the title of Prince of Bo. Emperor Taizu also made Zhu Youwen the mayor of Kaifeng (i.e., the old Xuanwu headquarters), as well as the director of Jianchang Hall — a conversion of the office overseeing financial matters for the four circuits into an imperial institution.