Zhu Jin

Zhu Jin (867–918) was a warlord late in the Chinese Tang dynasty who would later be a major general of the Wu (also known as Hongnong) state during the subsequent Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. In the late Tang years, Zhu Jin, as the military governor (jiedushi) of Taining Circuit (泰寧, headquartered in modern Jining, Shandong) would form a power bloc with his cousin Zhu Xuan the military governor of Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong), but they were both eventually defeated by Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan). Zhu Xuan was killed, and Zhu Jin fled to the domain of Yang Xingmi the military governor of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu); he would thereafter serve under Yang and Yang's successors, whose domain formed the Wu state eventually. In 918, angry at the arrogance of the Wu junior regent Xu Zhixun (the son of the regent Xu Wen), he assassinated Xu Zhixun, but Xu Wen's troops attacked him; he committed suicide when he saw that there was no escape.

Background Zhu Jin was born in 867, during the reign of Emperor Yizong. He was from Xiayi (下邑, in modern Suzhou, Anhui). His older cousin (or, according to some sources, brother) Zhu Xuan was an officer at Tianping Circuit (and would later be military governor), and so he went to serve under Zhu Xuan. He was said to have great ambitions and to be talented in his youth and was the most ferocious warrior in Zhu Xuan's army,

However, later that year, this relationship would be broken. The ambitious Zhu Quanzhong had designs on Tianping and Taining, and therefore falsely accused Zhu Xuan of inducing Xuanwu soldiers to desert. Zhu Xuan thereafter made counteraccusations. In response, Zhu Quanzhong had his officers Zhu Zhen and Ge Congzhou launch a surprise attack on Tianping's Cao and Pu (濮州, both in modern Heze, Shandong) Prefectures. When Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin engaged the Xuanwu forces, they were defeated and barely escaped with their lives. From this point, they became enemies to Zhu Quanzhong.

In 893, with Zhu Quanzhong's son Zhu Youyu sieging Zhu Jin's ally Shi Pu the military governor of Ganhua Circuit (感化, headquartered in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu) at Ganhua's capital Xu Prefecture , Zhu Jin tried to go to his aid, but he was defeated by Zhu Youyu and Huo Cun and forced to withdraw.

Soon thereafter, Xu Prefecture fell under the attack of the Xuanwu officer Pang Shigu , and Shi committed suicide, allowing Zhu Quanzhong to take over Ganhua. With Ganhua conquered, Zhu Quanzhong sent Pang north to attack Taining. Pang had initial successes against Zhu Jin. Late in the year, Ge attacked Zhu Wei the prefect of Tianping's Qi Prefecture (齊州, in modern Jinan, Shandong). Both Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin personally tried to aid Qi Prefecture, but Zhu Quanzhong then arrived himself and defeated them.

It was said that, by this point, with Tianping and Taining repeatedly under Xuanwu attack, both circuits had been laid waste. They again sought aid from Li Keyong, and Li Keyong sent the officers Li Chengsi and Shi Yan to aid them, going through Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei) with the permission of Weibo's military governor Luo Hongxin. However, a subsequently Hedong relief force commanded by Li Keyong's adoptive son Li Cunxin angered Luo by pillaging the Weibo countryside; Luo fought back and defeated Li Cunxin, and further entered into an alliance with Zhu Quanzhong. When Li Keyong himself then attacked Weibo, the joint Weibo/Xuanwu forces defeated him. Thereafter, no further relief aid would be able to come through from Hedong, and Tianping and Taining grew weaker and weaker. Zhu Jin himself would marry the daughter of the Huainan general Tao Ya as his new wife sometime after he arrived in Huainan. After Yang died in 905 and was succeeded by his son Yang Wo (who carried the title of Prince of Hongnong), Zhu Jin continued to carry the title of deputy supreme commander — a title that he continued to carry after Yang Wo was assassinated in 908 by the officers Zhang Hao and Xu Wen and succeeded by his younger brother Yang Longyan. (Xu killed Zhang soon after their assassination of Yang Wo, and while thereafter Yang Longyan was prince, Xu effectively controlled the governance of the Wu state — which was an independent by that point after Zhu Quanzhong usurped the Tang throne in 907 and established Later Liang as its Emperor Taizu, a title that Yang Wo and his successors refused to recognize.)

Around the new year 914, the Later Liang general Wang Jingren attacked Wu, to try to capture Wu's Shou and Lu (廬州, in modern Hefei, Anhui) Prefectures. Xu and Zhu Jin engaged Wang at Zhaobu (趙步, in modern Lu'an) and found themselves outnumbered, but Xu, with the assistance of the officer Chen Shao , defeated Wang. Wang withdrew with heavy losses.

As Zhu was (outwardly) preparing to leave Jiangdu, Xu Zhixun went to bid him farewell. Zhu held a feast for him, offered him wine, had Zhu's favorite concubine come outside to greet him and sing for him, and presented Zhu's favorite horse as a gift to him. Zhu then invited him into the middle of Zhu's mansion, where Zhu's wife Lady Tao came out to greet him as well as a sign of respect. Xu Zhixun was pleased and took no further precautions, while Zhu already had his elite guards surround the hall. As Lady Tao bowed to Xu Zhixun and he bowed back, Zhu struck him and, as he fell to the ground, Zhu's elite soldiers entered and cut off his head. After Zhu took the head and showed them to Xu Zhixun's soldiers, they all fled. Zhu then entered the palace and showed the head to Yang Longyan, expecting Yang Longyan to be pleased and go along with his actions, stating to Yang Longyan, "I, your servant, have destroyed a harm to the state for Your Royal Highness." Instead, Yang Longyan responded with horror, covered his face, and stated: "You, uncle, have to bear this alone; this has nothing to do with me." (Yang Longyan referred to Zhu Jin as uncle because Yang Xingmi's wife (Zhu Yanshou's sister) was also surnamed Zhu, albeit not in reality related to Zhu Jin, although Yang Longyan was not born of Lady Zhu.) Zhu, in anger, stated, "You son of a maid cannot accomplish great things." He threw Xu Zhixun's head against a pillar, and then was ready to exit the palace. However, by this point, Xu Wen's officer Zhai Qian had already deployed his soldiers around the palace. Zhu tried to climb down the palace walls, but fell and broke his leg. As soldiers approached him, he stated, "I have destroyed a harm for tens of thousands of people, and I will suffer the consequences alone." He then killed himself with his sword. After his death, Xu Wen threw his body into a pond near the capital and slaughtered his family members, although later, after Xu Wen's adoptive son Xu Zhigao informed Xu Wen of the inappropriate deeds that Xu Zhixun had been carrying out, Xu Wen had Zhu's body recovered from the pond and buried.

Notes and references

Old Book of Tang, vol. 182. History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 13. New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 42. Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms, vol. 8. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 263, 266, 269, 270.