Zhao Yan (Later Liang)

In 908, he was briefly put in charge of Ming Prefecture (洺州, in modern Handan, Hebei) before being recalled to serve in various command posts in the Later Liang imperial guard army.

In 909, he was made the military prefect (團練使, Tuanlianshi) of Su Prefecture (宿州, in modern Suzhou, Anhui), before being recalled to again serve in the imperial guard army.

Because of his contributions and familial relationship to the emperor, Zhao Yan became arrogant and publicly received bribes and gifts, making him very wealthy.

For example, it was said that in 915, it was at the suggestion of Zhao and Shao Zan (邵贊) that led Zhu Zhen to try to divide the powerful army of Tianxiong Circuit (天雄, headquartered in modern Handan) in two, which led, disastrously for Later Liang, to the Tianxiong army revolting and surrendering the circuit to Later Liang's archrival Jin.

The Later Tang emperor took the advice of the former Later Liang officer Kang Yanxiao and his chief of staff Guo Chongtao, crossed the Yellow River to rendezvous with Li Siyuan, and then engaged one of the weaker prongs of Duan's four-prong attack, which was under the command of Wang and Zhang Hanjie.

He crushed Wang's and Zhang's army and captured then, and then directly headed for Daliang, which was left defenseless in Duan's attack plan.

The National Palace Museum in Taipei includes a hanging scroll attributed to him, "Eight Gentlemen on a Spring Outing" (八達春遊圖).