Lady Zhang

Lady Zhang (張夫人, personal name unknown; died 904), titled Lady of Wei during her lifetime, later posthumously honored initially as Consort Zhang with the imperial consort title Xianfei then as Empress Yuanzhen (元貞皇后, "the discerning and virtuous empress"), was the wife of Zhu Quanzhong, a major warlord at the end of the Chinese Tang dynasty, who would (after her death) found the Later Liang. Lady Zhang's son Zhu Youzhen would later be the final emperor of Later Liang.

Background It is not known when Lady Zhang was born. She was from a rich household in Dangshan (碭山, in modern Suzhou, Anhui), where Zhu Quanzhong was from as well. Despite her family's wealth, she married Zhu Quanzhong (who was then still named Zhu Wen) before he became prominent. She was the mother of his fourth son Zhu Youzhen.

In 893, she had the occasion to save Zhu's oldest son Zhu Youyu , who was not her son. At that time, Zhu Quanzhong had put Zhu Youyu in charge of sieging Pengcheng, the capital of Ganhua Circuit (感化, headquartered in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu), then governed by Zhu Quanzhong's rival Shi Pu. Shi repeatedly challenged Zhu Youyu to battles, but Zhu Youyu refused to engage him. When Shi's ally Zhu Jin the military governor of Taining Circuit (泰寧, headquartered in modern Jining, Shandong) made an attempt to relieve the siege in early 893, Zhu Youyu, after defeating Zhu Jin and forcing him to flee, did not give chase. For both of these decisions, Zhu Quanzhong's adopted son Zhu Yougong , who was serving under Zhu Youyu, wrote Zhu Quanzhong secretly and made false accusations against Zhu Youyu. Zhu Quanzhong, in anger, issued a harshly-worded letter to Zhu Youyu's deputy Pang Shigu , ordering him to take over the command from and investigate Zhu Youyu. The letter was accidentally sent to Zhu Youyu instead, and when Zhu Youyu received the letter, he feared punishment, so he abandoned his post and fled to Dangshan, to the house of his uncle, Zhu Quanzhong's older brother Zhu Quanyu to take refuge there. When Lady Zhang heard about this, she persuaded Zhu Youyu to return to Xuanwu's capital Bian Prefecture to meet his father. Under her direction, he knelt down and tearfully apologized. Zhu Quanzhong nevertheless seized him and was prepared to execute him, when Lady Zhang grabbed him and tearfully stated herself, "You have left your army and returned yourself to face the consequences. Nothing could show your intentions clearer." Hearing her statement, Zhu Quanzhong understood what she meant and released Zhu Youyu, sending him to govern Xu Prefecture (許州, in modern Xuchang, Henan) instead.

Zhu Quanzhong came to an understanding that Lady Zhang viewed this as inappropriate, and allowed Zhu Jin's wife to become a Buddhist nun.

Death and posthumous honors Lady Zhang died in 904. After Zhu Quanzhong took over the Tang throne and established a new Later Liang in 907 (as its Emperor Taizu), for reasons unclear in history, he did not posthumously honor her as empress, only as an imperial consort with the title of Xianfei . After Zhu Youzhen became emperor in 913, he posthumously honored her as empress and reburied her at Zhu Quanzhong's tomb.

Notes and references

History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 11. New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 13. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 259, 261, 262.