Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang, personal name Li Cunxu, nickname Yazi, was the Prince of Jin (908-923) and later became Emperor of Later Tang (923–926).
Career
Shortly after his father's death in 908, Li Cunxu won a major victory against the Liang forces in the daring Battle of Sanchui Mound on 3 June. He spent the next fifteen years gradually conquering the economically stronger Liang polity, and, in 913, he drove the Liang from today's Beijing's area. In 917, his forces defeated a large Khitan army. In 923, Li Cunxu declared himself the succeeding emperor of the Tang, founding the Later Tang dynasty. He took the Liang capital Kaifeng later that year and moved his court to the old Tang Eastern Capital of Luoyang the next spring.
Interests
perfoming arts, personally participated in stage perfomances
Connections
Father:
Li Keyong
Prince of Jin, posthumously honored Emperor Wu
Mother:
Lady Cao
Initially the Lady of Jin, later the Lady Dowager of Jin, later Empress Dowager (honored 923), posthumously honored Empress Zhenjian
1-st wife:
Lady Han, later imperial consort with the rank Shufei
It is not known when Lady Han was born, or what her family background was. It is also not known when she married Li Cunxu, but it appeared that it was before his becoming Prince of Jin, for it was said that she was his first-married wife and that a favorite concubine, Lady Hou, was taken in his victory over Later Liang forces and Lady Hou's then-husband, the Later Liang general Fu Daozhao, was killed in battle— which occurred in 908, shortly after he inherited the title of Prince of Jin after his father Li Keyong's death.In any case, she was considered his wife, while the next-two ranked concubines were Lady Yi and Lady Liu.
2-nd wife:
Empress Liu (created 924, killed 926), mother of Prince Jiji
The future Empress Liu was from Cheng'an (in modern Handan, Hebei). Her father, whose name is lost to history, was described to be a capable physician who had a yellow beard, and who referred to himself as Hermit Liu. It is not known exactly when she was born, but she was four or five when, during a raid that Li Cunxu's father Li Keyong the Prince of Jin, then a vassal of Tang Dynasty, conducted on Wei Prefecture, which Cheng'an belonged to, she was captured by Li Keyong's officer Yuan Jianfeng. (As the records of Li Keyong's campaigns only indicated one instance in which he personally raided Wei Prefecture — in 897 — it would appear that that was the likely time when Lady Liu was taken, which would make her born in 892 or 893.)She was taken into the Jin palace at Taiyuan, where Li Keyong's favorite concubine Lady Cao (Li Cunxu's mother) took her and taught her how to play the Sheng, as well as singing and dancing. After she grew up, she became very beautiful, and Li Cunxu was attracted to her.
Son:
Li Jiji
Li Jiji (d. May 28, 926), formally the Prince of Wei, nickname Hege, was an imperial prince of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period state Later Tang Dynasty. He was Later Tang's founder Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang (Li Cunxu)'s oldest son, and was commonly regarded at the time to be Emperor Zhuangzong's heir apparent. As such, he served as the titular commander of Later Tang's campaign to destroy its neighbor Former Shu, albeit with the major general Guo Chongtao in effective control. After Later Tang conquered Former Shu, however, under the command of his mother Empress Liu, Li Jiji killed Guo, leading to a chain reaction of mutinies that doomed Later Tang.
Son:
Li Jitong
Son:
Li Jisong
Son:
Li Jichan
Son:
Li Jiyao
Major concubine:
Lady Yi, later imperial consort with the rank Defei
