His family was from Fengyi (馮翊, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi) and was descended from the middle-Tang dynasty chancellor Jing Hui.
During the middle of Qianfu era (874–879) of Emperor Xizong, Jing submitted himself for imperial examinations but was not able to pass in the Jinshi class.
[4] After the major agrarian rebel Huang Chao captured the Tang imperial capital Chang'an around the new year 881,[5] Jing left the Guanzhong region (i.e., the region around Chang'an), eventually going to Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan), where, after Huang was expelled from the Chang'an region by Tang forces, his former subordinate Zhu Quanzhong, who had turned against him and became a Tang general, had been made the military governor (jiedushi).
Jing, unable to distinguish himself, resorted to writing snippets of witty words and passing them around in Zhu's army.
However, Jing did not want to be an army officer and requested a civilian position, and therefore was initially made the overseer of the communication station at Xuanwu, to be in charge of communiques with the imperial government and other circuits.
During Zhu's subsequent campaigns against the rebel general Qin Zongquan, who declared himself emperor at Cai Prefecture (蔡州, in modern Zhumadian, Henan), Jing participated in the strategy sessions.
[4] It was said that, because Zhu Quanzhong's thoughts and actions were unpredictable, other staff members often found it difficult to give him advice.
[7] By 893, Zhu Quanzhong's army was worn out after having put Shi under siege at Ganhua's capital Xu Prefecture (徐州) for years, and one of the staff members, Zhang Tao (張濤), had suggested to Zhu in a letter that the failure to capture Xu was the result of the army having been launched on a day of ill fortune.
Subsequently, Zhu's general Pang Shigu (龐師古) was able to capture Xu, and Shi committed suicide.
Meanwhile, one of Shi's beautiful concubines was a Lady Liu, who had previously been the wife of Shang Rang, a chancellor in Huang Chao's administration.
"[11] In 905, Zhu conquered the domains of two brothers who were warlords opposing him—Zhao Kuangning the military governor of Zhongyi Circuit (忠義, headquartered in modern Xiangyang, Hubei) and Zhao Kuangming the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern Jingzhou, Hubei).
He then, without initially planning it, decided to head east to attack Yang Xingmi the military governor of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu).
Jing advised him against it, pointing out that he had terrorized the other warlords already through his quick victory over the Zhaos, and that a failed campaign against Huainan would damage his reputation.
[11] However, it appeared that this was the exception, not the norm, for it was stated that Zhu's gradual consolidation of power was largely done with the advice of Jing.
The actions that the emperor took during the time of the dynastic transition was largely out of Jing's counsel.In 911, Emperor Taizu bestowed the honorific title of Guanglu Daifu (光祿大夫) on Jing and made him the acting minister of defense (兵部尚書, Bingbu Shangshu) and a chief imperial scholar at Jinluan Hall (金鑾殿).
[4] One of those orders was to send Emperor Taizu's son Zhu Yougui the Prince of Ying out of the capital Luoyang to be the prefect of Lai Prefecture.
[14] In 917, Zhu Zhen, who had moved the capital from Luoyang to Daliang, prepared for a grand ceremony to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth south of Luoyang at Zhao's suggestion, against Jing's advice that given Later Liang was locked in a war with its major rival Jin, the resources should be better conserved.
When Zhu was at Luoyang, Jin's prince Li Cunxu took the opportunity to capture the border outpost Yangliu (楊劉, in modern Liaocheng, Shandong), on the south bank of the Yellow River, which largely formed the boundary between Later Liang and Jin at that time (Later Liang to the south, Jin to the north), after Later Liang had lost large amounts of territory north of the Yellow River in the preceding years.
In light of this surprise attack, Jing submitted a petition to Zhu:[15] The empire has suffered repeated defeats and continually lost territory.
[15] In 921, Wang Rong the Prince of Zhao, a major ally of Jin, was assassinated by his adoptive son Zhang Wenli, who, anticipating that Li Cunxu would attack him, sought to submit to and seek aid from Later Liang.
Wang was subsequently able to recapture Desheng (德勝, in modern Puyang, Henan), another important outpost on the Yellow River, from Later Tang and briefly cut off the communications between Li Siyuan and the main Later Tang territory, hoping to force Li Siyuan to flee.
Under Duan's plans, Duan and Du Yanqiu would lead the main forces and confront Later Tang's Emperor Zhuangzong; Huo Yanwei would take an army and head toward Later Tang's Anguo (安國, headquartered in modern Xingtai, Hebei) and Chengde (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei, i.e., formerly Zhao territory) Circuits; Dong Zhang would launch an attack from Kuangyi Circuit (匡義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi)—formerly Jin territory, but which had become Later Liang territory after Emperor Zhuangzong's cousin Li Jitao, who ruled it, defected to Later Liang earlier in the year—toward Later Tang's main territory around Taiyuan; and Wang Yanzhang and Zhang Hanjie would head toward Yun Prefecture.
In winter 923, before Duan was able to actually implement his four-pronged attack, however, Emperor Zhuangzong took his army south of the Yellow River to rendezvous with Li Siyuan; together, they defeated and captured Wang and Zhang Hanjie (whose army was the weakest of the four prongs), and then directly headed for Daliang, with Duan's main force trapped north of the Yellow River (having crossed it earlier in the year in preparation of launching the four-prong attack) and unable to come to Daliang's aid.
[2] Hearing of Wang's defeat, Zhu, desperate by this point, summoned Jing to the palace and apologized to him for not listening to him, asking him whether he had any strategies left for defending Daliang.
When Your Imperial Majesty wanted to commission Duan Ning, I spoke gravely against it, but the wicked men encouraged you into doing so, and that led to the disaster of today.
Given that this is the situation, even if Zhang Liang and Chen Ping [(both key strategists for Emperor Gaozu of Han)] were to come alive again today, they cannot help Your Imperial Majesty.
Subsequently, Zhu had his imperial guard officer Huangfu Lin (皇甫麟) kill him, ending Later Liang.