Yang Shihou
In 915, Yang Shihou died. As Zhu Zhen had long been apprehensive of Yang's hold over the army, he outwardly mourned Yang but was in fact pleased. Zhao Yan and the official Shao Zan () advocated using this opportunity to weaken Tianxiong Circuit, as it had, for most of Tang history up to this point, been a circuit that was "de facto" independent and difficult to control. Zhu Zhen agreed, and ordered that Tianxiong be divided into two circuits, with three of Tianxiong's six prefectures to belong to a new Zhaode Circuit (昭德, headquartered at Xiang Prefecture (), in modern Handan as well). The Tianxiong soldiers resented this division, and mutinied under the leadership of the officer Zhang Yan (), holding the Later Liang-commissioned military governor He Delun () hostage. Zhu Zhen sent a eunuch, Fu Yi (), to try to comfort the Tianxiong soldiers, but was not receptive to Zhang's request that Tianxiong's division be cancelled. Zhang thus decided to surrender the circuit to Jin. Li Cunxu shortly thereafter arrived at Tianxiong and took over control of the circuit. Intense campaigns between the Later Liang army, under Liu Xun's command, and the Jin army subsequently were waged, but the Jin army was continuously victorious over the Later Liang army, and two ambitious surprise-attack attempts by Liu and Wang Tan () on the Jin capital Taiyuan were repelled by Jin. By fall 916, nearly all of the Later Liang territory north of the Yellow River had fallen to Jin. (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 (), during which Zhu Zhen had to personally lead guards to defend the palace gate, but the general Du Yanqiu shortly after crushed the mutineers.)