Royals › Monarch / Emperor
Li Cunxu
Shatuo prince of Jin who destroyed the Later Liang and founded the Later Tang in 923, then lost his throne and life in a mutiny led by a former actor
Mural of the event “Later Tang Conquers Later Liang”, which this person took part in.
After the establishment of Zhu Wen's Later Liang, it and the northern Shatuo military bloc Later Tang waged decades of bloody contention for hegemony. The two sides fought multiple rounds of extremely brutal tug-of-war for control of the Central Plains central axis.
Also known as Li Yazi · Houtang Zhuangzong · Guang Sheng Shen Min Xiao Huang Di · Li Tianxia
Li Cunxu, childhood name Yazi, was a Shatuo Turk and the eldest son of Li Keyong, Prince of Jin. Succeeding his father in 908, he broke the Liang siege of Luzhou, routed the Liang army at Baixiang, destroyed Liu Shouguang at Youzhou and took Weibo. In 923 he proclaimed himself emperor of Tang at Weizhou; that winter he took Bianzhou, the last Liang emperor Zhu Youzhen killed himself, and the court moved to Luoyang. In 925 Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao conquered the Former Shu for him, but he later had Guo killed on slander. He loved to act alongside players, took the stage name Li Tianxia and made actors provincial governors. In 926 the Weibo troops mutinied, Li Siyuan joined them, and the former actor Guo Congqian rose in Luoyang; the emperor, temple name Zhuangzong, died from a stray arrow. Ouyang Xiu's preface to the actors' chapter of the New History of the Five Dynasties cites him to show that toil raises a state and idleness ruins a man.
Life and times
Dates 885 CE–926 CE
- 911Li Cunxu Wins at Baixiangage 26
- 923Later Tang Conquers Later LiangTook partage 38
- 923Li Cunxu's Eight-Day March on Kaifengage 38
- 926Guo Congqian's Xingjiao Gate Mutinyage 41