Zhu Wen

Zhu Wen (852-912), the founder of the Later Liang Dynasty in the period of the Five Dynasties, was from Dangshan County of Song Prefecture (the present Dangshan County of Anhui Province).

In his childhood, Zhu Wen was a rogue in the village. Along with his brother, he later joined the forces of the peasant uprising and was appointed Vanguard General on the Southeastern Front and Defence General of Tongzhou Prefecture. But when the uprising army ran short of food and recruits, he surrendered to the Tang army in 882 and was granted the name of Quanzhong (Full Allegiance). Zhu Wen, that is, Zhu Quanzhong, then served as viceroy of Bianzhou city. Relying on his powerful army, Zhu Wen put the emperor Zhao Zong under his control. Later he had Zhao Zong murdered and made his 13-year-old son Li Zhu a puppet emperor. In 907 he abrogated the young emperor, putting an end to the Tang Dynasty. He then usurped the crown and changed his name to Zhu Huang and the empire title to Liang. He also moved the capital to Bianzhou that was given a new name of Kaifengfu. It was known in Chinese history as the Later Liang Dynasty. After that, the other warlords followed his example and styled themselves emperors one after another, thus ushering in a chaotic period of the Five Dynasties and Ten States.

After Zhu Wen took over the power, he made some efforts to reform the corrupt political system passed down from the Tang Dynasty. The Council of Secretaries, which was of great power but controlled by eunuchs in the Tang period, was restructured into the Consulting Council, whose director served as the consultant of the emperor, but with less power than the director of the Council of Secretaries of the Tang Dynasty. And when Qian Liu, the king of the State Wuyue suggested in 910 that he employ 25 eunuchs of the Tang, Tai Zu of Liang answered that he did not need such eunuchs since the reform was being carried out to remove malpractices. Two years after his reign, he restored the salary system for the officials so that they would not abuse the power to exploit the people. Besides, levies on the peasants were lightened.
Some years after Zhu Wen took the throne, Li Keyong, a major opponent warlord died and his son Li Cunxu proclaimed himself King of Jin. Owing to the family feud, the two sides fought a fierce battle in 911 at Gaoyi (the present Caoyi County of Hebei Province) with the army of Liang utterly defeated. So the following year, Emperor Tai Zu himself led an army of 500,000 northward to attack the Jin State. But at the mere sight of Jin’s army, Liang’s vanguard troops fled pellmell. Actually it was only Jin’s patrol of several hundred soldiers. Back to Luoyang, Tai Zu of Liang became badly ill. He sobbed bitterly before his death and said to his loyal ministers, "None of my sons is the match for Li Cunxu after my death. I would not be able to have a place for my grave." He was killed at 60 by his third son, who succeeded to the throne. In 923, Li Cunxu’s army took the capital city Kaifeng and leveled his tomb.