Cun was later killed in battle, but Wen rose through the ranks until given a separate command following Huang Chao's capture of the imperial capital Chang'an in January 881.

[8] Many of the military governors had submitted to Huang Chao following his capture of Chang'an, but soon reverted to the Tang court once they realized that cause was not yet lost.

As reward for his timely defection Emperor Xizong of Tang appointed Zhu Wen Grand General of the Imperial Guards and deputy field commander of the armies stationed at Hezhong, also conferring the new personal name Quanzhong – "wholeheartedly loyal.

It was already known that Huang planned to escape east to Henan through the Lantian pass and the court needed someone to defend the canal route from the south-eastern granaries.

[14] Zhu Quanzhong did retain the hereditary officers in the guards and main army, but the reorganizations and preparations for war against Huang Chao had been entrusted to his own men.

[16] The final defeat of Huang Chao brought about the surrender of several rebel commanders to Zhu, strengthening his forces and providing him with a second group of officers who would serve him loyally in the years to come.

)[10] The Tang court, which by this time had little actual power left, was unwilling to choose sides between the two warlords and decided not to investigate the matter further, merely investing Li Keyong Prince of Longxi.

[citation needed] No help could be gotten from the court either since Emperor Xizong had again been forced to flee Chang'an after quarreling with Zhu's former patron Wang Chongrong.

[citation needed] In Autumn 884, Emperor Xizong bestowed titles on Zhu as honorary dignitary for education with ministerial standing and elevated him to Marquess of Pei.

Large parts of the Yicheng army had to be left at Hua to guard the Yellow River, but Zhu Quanzhong had gained a strategic reserve.

Yang, while receiving Zhu's emissary Zhang Tingfan (張廷範), refused to accept Li Fan as the acting military governor.

Thereafter, in Zhang, Zhu gained a loyal ally under whose administration Luoyang was to recover after years of ruinous warfare and whom he could thereafter rely upon for money and food supplies.

Some time earlier Liu Zhan, the prefect of Chu Prefecture (楚州, in modern Huai'an, Jiangsu), had fled to Zhu Quanzhong due to the turmoil in Huainan.

Zhu Zhen was however victorious in a battle against Shi and proceeded to capture Su Prefecture (宿州, in modern Suzhou, Anhui) to the south.

After planning his response with his private secretary, Jing Xiang, Zhu Quanzhong first pretended to imprison Li Tangbin's family, seemingly upholding the sedition charge, and then leaving for the army's camps at Xiao County.

Zhu sent an army under Ge Congzhou to occupy Lu and the court appointed the bureaucrat Sun Kui (孫揆) as the new Zhaoyi military governor.

[citation needed] To serve as assistant governor at Hua while he himself remained at Bian, Zhu Quanzhong appointed his ex-secretary Xie Tong (謝瞳), one of his earliest followers from the Huang Chao days and a man with a proven administrative record.

[24] Zhu Quanzhong next demanded from Weibo's military governor Luo Hongxin rights of passage, as well as provisions for his upcoming campaign against Li Keyong.

Luo refused on the grounds that provisions were scarce and pointed out that Zhu Quanzhong's men should not have to pass through his province to the north to strike at Li Keyong to the west.

By weakening the position of new governors in this way Zhu Quanzhong could control the various prefectures directly and ensure nobody built up an independent power base to rival his own.

[28] Zhu Quanzhong subsequently reached Chang'an and rendezvoused with Cui Yin, and then proceeded to Fengxiang, where Li Maozhen and Han Quanhui had Emperor Zhaozong issue orders that he return to Xuanwu.

By fall 902, Fengxiang was in a desperate state, but so was Zhu—as his siege was hampered by the rainy weather and the soldiers were becoming ill. At the suggestion of his officer Gao Jichang, he laid a trap for Li Maozhen by having a soldier, Ma Jing (馬景), falsely surrender to Li Maozhen and claim that Zhu's army was so stricken by illnesses that it was withdrawing that night.

Further, under the advice of his ally, the chancellor Liu Can, and Li Zhen, he carried out a slaughter of senior Tang officials from aristocratic family, including forcing some 30 of them to commit suicide at Baima (白馬, in modern Anyang) and then throwing their bodies into the Yellow River.

Liu, as well as the director of palace communications Jiang Xuanhui (蔣玄暉), were thus planning the traditional steps for the regime transition—which would include having Zhu created the prince of a large fief, given the Nine Bestowments, and given other extraordinary honors, before the emperor would yield the throne to him.

Zhu thus became incensed at Liu and Jiang, and not even a subsequent edict in Emperor Ai's name creating him the Prince of Wei (with a 21-circuit fief) and giving him the Nine Bestowments placated him.

While there, Luo pointed out to him that the warlords still resisting him were all claiming that they were intending to restore the Tang emperor's power, and suggested to him that he should quickly take the throne to end such hopes.

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.

[33] 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.

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 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.