Li Zhen (李振) (died November 20, 923[1][2]), courtesy name Xingxu (興緒), was an important official of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Later Liang.
It is known that he was a great-grandson of the mid-Tang general Li Baozhen, and that his grandfather and father, whose names were lost to history, were both prefectural prefects.
[3][4] In 898, after Zhu Quanzhong, who was then military governor of not only Xuanwu but also Xuanyi Circuit (宣義, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan), had further expanded his territory by conquering Tianping (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong) and Taining (泰寧, headquartered in modern Jining, Shandong) Circuits, he sent his deputy military governor Wei Zhen (韋震) to Chang'an to request that Emperor Zhaozong (Emperor Xizong's brother and successor) make him the military governor of Tianping as well.
[5] In 900, the powerful eunuchs, led by Liu Jishu, overthrew Emperor Zhaozong and put him under arrest, replacing him with his son Li Yu, Prince of De.
He therefore resolved to assassinate the emperor, and therefore sent Li Zhen to Luoyang to coordinate this matter with Jiang Xuanhui (蔣玄暉) the director of palace communications (whom Zhu had put in charge of monitoring the emperor), as well as his adoptive son Zhu Yougong (朱友恭) and officer Shi Shucong (氏叔琮).
[7] When Wang received the order, he feared that Zhu would bear past grudges against him, and begged Li Zhen to have at least his family spared.
[3] Later in 905, as Zhu was planning on seizing the throne soon, Zhu's ally, the chancellor Liu Can, advocated a mass purge of high-level Tang aristocrats, a proposal that Li Zhen also supported, as Li Zhen still hated these aristocrats, whose careers were largely launched from passing the Jinshi examinations.
Zhu therefore had a group of some 30 high-level Tang aristocrats gathered at Baima Station (白馬驛, in modern Anyang), and then forced them to commit suicide.
[10] While Li continued to serve as the director of imperial governance, neither he nor Jing was listened to much by Zhu Zhen, even though nominally they were the most honored officials of the state.
[11] In 923, Li Cunxu, whose Jin state by that point controlled nearly all of the territory north of the Yellow River, claimed imperial title as well, establishing a new Later Tang as its Emperor Zhuangzong.
The two states were gearing up for a major confrontation on the battlefield, and Zhu Zhen put the general Duan Ning in command of the Later Liang army, against Jing's and Li's advice and against their subsequent requests to replace him.
With Daliang defenseless (because all the soldiers had been given to Duan in anticipation for the attack against Later Tang), Zhu Zhen panicked and committed suicide, ending Later Liang.
Hearing of the edict, Li Zhen went to see Jing Xiang and suggested that they go see Emperor Zhuangzong together to beg for pardon.