[2] In 910, Emperor Taizu gave him the honorary title of acting Sikong (司空, one of the Three Excellencies) and, in addition to command of the Tianxing Army, gave him the title of commander of forces at the eastern capital (i.e., Bian Prefecture, which by this point was known as Daliang, with Emperor Taizu having established Luoyang as capital).
Zhao informed this to Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youzhen agreed with the plot, and further sent his close associate Ma Shenjiao (馬慎交) to Tianxiong Circuit (天雄, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei) to persuade the major general Yang Shihou the military governor of Tianxiong to join the plot, and Yang agreed.
Zhu Youzhen further persuaded the elite Longxiang Army (龍驤軍) soldiers then at Daliang to join the plot as well, and then prepared to rise and attack Luoyang.
In 914, he stationed the general Kang Huaiying (康懷英) at Yongping Circuit (永平, headquartered in modern Xi'an, Shaanxi), to guard against Qi.
The Tianxiong soldiers resented this division, and mutinied under the leadership of the officer Zhang Yan (張彥), holding the Later Liang-commissioned military governor He Delun (賀德倫) hostage.
(During the campaign, the Later Liang morale was sufficiently shaken such that there was even a mutiny against Zhu Zhen at Daliang itself, led by the officer Li Ba (李霸), during which Zhu Zhen had to personally lead guards to defend the palace gate, but the general Du Yanqiu shortly after crushed the mutineers.
(Zhu had wanted to create her empress, but she continuously declined in light of the fact that he had not yet offered sacrifice to heaven and earth to solemnify his reign.
[8] Later that year, at Zhao's suggestion, Zhu prepared a grand ceremony to sacrifice to heaven and earth at Luoyang, and departed Daliang to do so, despite the contrary advice of Jing.
After he left Daliang, however, Jin forces attacked and captured the border fort of Yangliu (楊劉, in modern Liaocheng, Shandong), south of the Yellow River.
When the news of Yangliu's fall arrived at Luoyang, it greatly shocked the imperial officials who were attending to Zhu at that point, and there were rumors that Jin had further captured Daliang.
[10] In 918, Li Cunxu gathered all the elite Jin troops that he could garner, and decided to launch one massive attack on Later Liang.
During Jin's campaign against Zhao, the new Later Liang supreme commander Dai Siyuan was able to attack Wei Prefecture (衛州, in modern Puyang, Henan) and surprise the Jin garrison there, capturing it; this allowed Later Liang to regain its foothold north of the Yellow River and greatly recover in its morale.
Wang quickly attacked and captured the border fort Desheng (德勝, in modern Puyang), intending to use it to cut off the supply line between Later Tang proper and Yun.
However, his subsequent battles against Li Cunxu himself were indecisive; further, his commission caused much apprehension in the hearts of Zhao and the Zhangs, as he had long despised what he saw as their wickedness.
Meanwhile, Zhu also destroyed the Yellow River levee at Hua Prefecture (滑州, in modern Anyang, Henan), causing a flood area, believing that it would impede further Later Tang attacks.
He defeated them, capturing both Wang and Zhang Hanjie at Zhongdu (中都, in modern Jining, Shandong), and then headed directly toward the defenseless Daliang.
The Song dynasty historian Sima Guang, in his Zizhi Tongjian, commented:[4] The Lord of Liang was temperate, respectful, frugal, and self-controlled.
However, he trusted Zhao and the Zhangs, such that they wielded power and misused it, and he distanced himself from Jing and Li [Zhen], not listening to them, leading to the destruction of the dynasty.Li Cunxu had Zhu's body buried with respect, but kept his head at the imperial temple.
It was not until after Later Tang itself fell that Shi Jingtang, the emperor of the succeeding Later Jin, ordered that Zhu's head be properly buried.