Emperor Taizu of Later Liang - Reign As Later Liang Emperor

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 Shouguang and Liu Shouwen, who thereafter launched a campaign to try to free his father against his brother Liu Shouguang, both 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:

In 909, Emperor Taizu moved the capital from Daliang to Luoyang, leaving his adoptive son Zhu Youwen the Prince of Bo in charge at Daliang.

Also in 909, Liu Zhijun, then defending Hua Prefecture, became apprehensive when Emperor Taizu, in response to false accusations that the general Liu Han (劉捍) made against Wang Chongshi (王重師) the military governor of Youguo Circuit (佑國, then headquartered at Chang'an), slaughtered Wang and his family. Liu Zhijun made a surprise uprising against Later Liang, surrendering not only his own Zhongwu Circuit to Qi but also capturing Chang'an and presenting it to Qi. Emperor Taizu was quickly able to dispatch Yang Shihou and Liu Xun to recapture Chang'an and force Liu Zhijun to flee to Fengxiang, however, without significant losses on the western border.

Late in 909, Liu Shouguang captured Liu Shouwen in battle, and subsequently proceeded to Yichang and conquered it. He continued to be nominally submissive to Emperor Taizu, and Emperor Taizu made him the military governor of both Lulong and Yichang.

Also nominally submissive to Emperor Taizu, in the north, were Wang Rong's Chengde Circuit (now renamed to Wushun to observe naming taboo for Emperor Taizu's father Zhu Cheng) and Wang Chuzhi's Yiwu Circuit, which, while as they did during Tang times, continued to refuse to submit taxes to the Later Liang imperial government, were often offering tributes to the emperor. In addition, Wang Rong's son Wang Zhaozuo married Emperor Taizu's daughter Princess Puning. However, Emperor Taizu suspected them of eventually turning against him, and therefore decided to seize them by trick. He sent the officers Du Tingyin (杜廷隱) and Ding Yanhui (丁延徽) north with 3,000 men to Wushun's Shen (深州) and Ji (冀州) (both in modern Hengshui, Hebei), claiming to be helping Wushun to defend potential Liu Shouguang incursions. Wang Rong, not wanting to appear disobedient, agreed to let Du and Ding enter those prefectural capitals. Upon entering, however, Du and Ding slaughtered the Wushun garrisons in those cities and held the cities, waiting for a coming Later Liang main army attack, commanded by Wang Jingren. Wang Rong and Wang Chuzhi (who believed that this action also aimed against him) sought emergency aid from both Li Cunxu and Liu Shouguang. Liu refused, but Li quickly dispatched Zhou, and then followed himself. In spring 911, the joint Jin/Wushun/Yiwu forces crushed the Later Liang forces under Wang Jingren at Boxiang (柏鄉, in modern Xingtai), securing Wushun (which then changed its name back to Chengde, and was also thereafter known as Zhao) and Yiwu. The Jin forces advanced as far south as Tianxiong (i.e., Weibo), before withdrawing due to fears that Liu Shouguang might decide to attack from the rear. From this point on, Chengde and Yiwu became firm Jin allies and again resumed the use of Tang era names.

After the Later Liang defeats at Lu Prefecture against Jin and at Boxiang against the joint Jin/Zhao/Yiwu armies, Emperor Taizu wanted opportunities to avenge himself against these enemies, and was irritable and even more violent to his own subordinates after, for some time in 911, he was unable to entice the Jin/Zhao forces into a confrontation. Further, his illnesses were recurring, further causing him to be more irritable. He thought he got the chance in 912 when Jin, with assistance from Zhao and Yiwu, launched an attack on Liu Shouguang (who had declared himself the emperor of a new state of Yan), seeking to destroy Yan. Emperor Taizu decided to try to save Liu by attacking north with a massive army. However, after the forward scouts were defeated and captured by the Jin general Li Cunshen (Li Cunxu's adoptive brother), Li Cunshen and fellow Jin officers Shi Jiantang (史建瑭) and Li Sigong (李嗣肱) misled Emperor Taizu into believing that the defeat was one of a greater scale and that a massive Jin army was approaching. The Later Tang emperor fled in a panic with heavy losses. After the defeat, he became even more seriously ill, and he returned to Luoyang.

Meanwhile, it was said that in his latter years, after Lady Zhang's death, Emperor Taizu became increasingly licentious. (One example would be in in 911, when he was spending the summer at the summer mansion belonging to Zhang Quanyi (who had changed his name to Zhang Zongshi after Emperor Taizu took the throne, to observe naming taboo). While at Zhang's mansion, it was said that Emperor Taizu had sexual relations with nearly all of the women of the Zhang household, causing an insulted son of Zhang Zongshi's, Zhang Jizuo (張繼祚), to consider assassinating him, only to be stopped by Zhang Zongshi, who cited Emperor Taizu's previously saving their house when they were under Li Hanzhi's attack.) It was said that with Emperor Taizu's sons often away from the capital on missions, he would summon their wives into the palace to attend to him, and often had sexual relations with them. He particularly favored Zhu Youwen's wife Lady Wang. Further, although Zhu Youwen was not a biological son, he was the oldest among his surviving sons (as his only older biological son, Zhu Youyu, had died earlier), and he was seriously contemplating passing the throne to Zhu Youwen. In summer 912, when he became deathly ill, he sent Lady Wang to Daliang to summon Zhu Youwen. At the same time, he issued an edict, through Jing, sending his next oldest son, Zhu Yougui the Prince of Ying, out of the capital Luoyang to serve as the prefect of Lai Prefecture (萊州, in modern Yantai, Shandong) and decreeing that he report there immediately. This made Zhu Yougui, whom the emperor did not favor, believe that the next order would be to kill him — for, around that time, it was customary to first exile an official before executing him. Zhu Yougui immediately formed a conspiracy with the imperial guard general Han Qing (韓勍), and thereafter took imperial guard soldiers into the palace. He assassinated Emperor Taizu with the assistance of his servant Feng Ting'e (馮廷諤), and then issued order in Emperor Taizu's name to his brother Zhu Youzhen the Prince of Jun, who was also at Daliang, to execute Zhu Youwen. After doing so, Zhu Yougui publicly announced Emperor Taizu's death and blamed the death on Zhu Youwen, then took the throne. Zhu Youzhen would in turn overthrow him next year and take the throne.