His father Zhang Wenli had been an army officer at Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing), but at one point fled to Chengde Circuit and was adopted by Wang Rong the military governor (Jiedushi) of Chengde, who changed his name to Wang Deming.
Initially, Wang Rong's ally Li Cunxu the Prince of Jin, not wanting to create a new enemy, commissioned Zhang as the acting military governor, but after urging by Wang Rong's former subordinate Fu Xi (符習) (who had been commanding Zhao troops that Wang Rong sent to assist Li Cunxu in his campaigns) and after discovering that Zhang had been communicating with Zhu Zhen the emperor of Jin's archenemy Later Liang and Khitan's Emperor Taizu, launched a general campaign against Zhang, with his generals Yan Bao (閻寶) and Shi Jiantang (史建瑭) commanding the Jin troops and Fu commanding the Zhao troops.
When the combined Jin/Zhao troops captured Zhao Prefecture (趙州, in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei) quickly, Zhang Wenli died in shock.
[1] The Jin/Zhao troops quickly put Chengde's capital Zhen Prefecture (鎮州) under siege.
However, under Zhang Chujin and Zhang Chuqiu's leadership, the Chengde mutineers inflicted a number of unexpected losses on the forces Li Cunxu sent against them from fall 921 to fall 922, including:[1] However, Later Liang refused to aid them.