Zhu Jin Zhu Jin ( 朱瑾 ) ( 867 - 918 ) was a warlord late in the Chinese dynasty 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 Zhixùn ( the son of the regent Xu Wen ) , he assassinated Xu Zhixùn , 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 , but was also said to be violent and cruel . In 884 , when Zhu Xuan ' s neighbor Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit came under attack by Qin Zongquan , a former Tang military governor of Fengguo Circuit ( 奉國 , headquartered in modern Zhumadian , Henan ) , who had turned against Tang and was pillaging the nearby circuits , Zhu Quanzhong sought aid from Zhu Xuan , and Zhu Xuan sent Zhu Jin to aid him . After Zhu Jin repelled Qin ' s attack , Zhu Quanzhong , in appreciation , honored Zhu Xuan as an older brother . In 886 , Zhu Jin wanted to capture nearby Taining Circuit , so he sought to marry a daughter of Taining ' s military governor Qi Kerang . Qi agreed . On the set wedding date , Zhu Jin personally went to Taining ' s capital Yan Prefecture ( 兗州 ) , ostensibly to carry out the marriage , but he hid armors and weapons in his train . When he got to Yan , he launched a surprise attack and expelled Qi . He then took over the circuit . Then - reigning Emperor Xizong ( Emperor Yizong ' s son and successor ) thereafter confirmed Zhu Jin as the military governor of Taining , allowing him and Zhu Xuan to each govern a circuit as close allies . As military governor of Taining Circuit . Initially , Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin continued to be allies with Zhu Quanzhong as well , and in fall 887 , when Qin Zongquan launched a major attack on Zhu Quanzhong and Zhu Quanzhong sought aid from them , both Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin personally led troops to aid him . Together with the troops of Zhu ' s own Xuanwu Circuit and Yicheng Circuit ( 義成 , headquartered in modern Anyang , Henan ) , which Zhu Quanzhong had recently taken over , they defeated Qin ; from this point , Qin ' s strength began to wane . In gratitude , Zhu Quanzhong honored both Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin as older brothers . 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 ( 朱珍 ) and Ge Congzhou launch a surprise attack on Tianping ' s Cao ( 曹州 ) 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 winter 891 , Zhu Jin attacked Xuanwu ' s Shan Prefecture ( 單州 , in modern Heze ) , but the Xuanwu officers Ding Hui and Zhang Guiba ( 張歸霸 ) engaged and defeated him . In 893 , with Zhu Quanzhong ' s son Zhu Youyu ( 朱友裕 ) 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 ( 徐州 ) , Zhu Jin tried to go to his aid , but he was defeated by Zhu Youyu and Huo Cun ( 霍存 ) and forced to withdraw . Soon thereafter , Xu Prefecture fell under the attack of the Xuanwu officer Pang Shigu ( 龐師古 ) , 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 ( 朱威 ) 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 . After this series of defeats , both Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin sought aid from Zhu Quanzhong ' s archrival Li Keyong the military governor of Hedong Circuit ( 河東 , headquartered in modern Taiyuan , Shanxi ) . Li Keyong repeatedly sent officers to reinforce Tianping and Taining , but even with Hedong ' s aid the losses mounted . In winter 895 , Zhu Quanzhong and Ge attacked Yan Prefecture and put it under siege . Further , Zhu Jin ' s older cousin Zhu Qiong ( 朱瓊 ) the prefect of Qi surrendered the prefecture to Zhu Quanzhong . When Zhu Xuan sent his officers He Gui , Liu Cun ( 柳存 ) , and the Hedong officer He Huaibao ( 何懷寶 ) to try to lift the siege on Yan , Zhu Quanzhong defeated and captured them . He showed them to Zhu Jin to try to urge him to surrender . Zhu Jin pretended to agree and offered to surrender the seals ( the symbols of his control of Taining ) , but requested that Zhu Qiong be the one sent into the city to retrieve them . When Zhu Qiong entered the city , Zhu Jin had him seized and beheaded , which caused Zhu Quanzhong ' s army to lose morale , so Zhu Quanzhong , after killing Liu and He Huaibao , withdrew . However , he left Ge to continue to watch Yan , but Zhu Jin defended the city and refused to engage Ge . Later in the year , when Ge was set to withdraw , he tricked Zhu Jin into believing that Hedong and Tianping aid forces were arriving ; Zhu Jin thus came out of the city to attack , and Ge defeated him before withdrawing . 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 ( 李承嗣 ) and Shi Yan ( 史儼 ) 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 ( 李存信 ) 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 . In 897 , Pang and Ge jointly attacked Tianping ' s capital Yun Prefecture ( 鄆州 ) and captured it . Zhu Xuan tried to flee but was captured and delivered to Zhu Quanzhong to be executed . Meanwhile , Zhu Jin , running low on food supplies himself , left his officer Kang Huaizhen ( 康懷貞 ) in charge of Yan and headed south with Li Chengsi and Shi to raid the former Ganhua Circuit ( now renamed Wuning Circuit ) for food . When Zhu Quanzhong heard this , he sent Ge to launch a surprise attack on Yan . Kang surrendered , leaving Zhu Jin without a base to return to . When he tried to head for Yi Prefecture ( 沂州 , in modern Linyi , Shandong ) , the prefect Yin Chubin ( 尹處賓 ) refused to receive him . He , Shi , and Li Chengsi had to further flee to Hai Prefecture ( 海州 , in modern Lianyungang , Jiangsu ) . Faced with the prospect of further Xuanwu attack , they crossed the Huai River into Huainan Circuit to submit to Huainan ' s military governor Yang Xingmi . Yang was very pleased , and he personally went to Gaoyou ( 高郵 , in modern Yangzhou , Jiangsu ) to welcome them . He bestowed on Zhu Jin the title of military governor of Wuning ( i . e . , not giving him a title that was inferior to his own ) and also gave Shi and Li Chengsi honored titles . It was said that , previously , the Huainan forces were only familiar with water combat ; now , with the infusion of Tianping , Taining , and Hedong army soldiers , the Huainan army ' s land combat capabilities were greatly enhanced . ( Zhu Jin ' s wife was captured and initially taken by Zhu Quanzhong as a concubine , but soon thereafter , under persuasion by his wife Lady Zhang , Zhu Quanzhong allowed Zhu Jin ' s wife to become a Buddhist nun . Zhu Jin himself would marry the daughter of the Huainan general Tao Ya ( 陶雅 ) as his new wife sometime after he arrived in Huainan . ) As Huainan / Wu / Hongnong general . The newly constituted Huainan troops would soon be under severe test . Zhu Quanzhong , having conquered Tianping and Taining , decided to make Huainan his next target , so he gathered his available forces and sent Pang Shigu with 70 , 000 soldiers from Xuanwu and Ganhua Circuits to Qingkou ( 清口 , in modern Huai ' an , Jiangsu ) , posturing to head to Huainan ' s capital Yang Prefecture ; Ge Congzhou with the forces from Tianping and Taining Circuits to Anfeng ( 安豐 , in modern Lu ' an , Anhui ) , posturing to head to Shou Prefecture ( 壽州 , in modern Lu ' an ) ; and Zhu Quanzhong himself with his main forces to Su Prefecture ( 宿州 , in modern Suzhou ) . The people of Huainan Circuit was greatly shocked and dismayed by Zhu ' s forces . However , Pang , because he had such an impressive force , underestimated Yang Xingmi ' s army . Yang Xingmi had Zhu Jin serve as his advance commander , and Zhu constructed a dam on the Huai River . When Yang Xingmi attacked Pang , Zhu released the waters to flood Pang ' s army , and then attacked Pang with Yang . Pang ' s army was crushed by the waters and the Huainan forces , and Pang was killed . Zhu Yanshou also defeated Ge ' s army . Hearing that both of his generals had been defeated , Zhu Quanzhong also retreated . This battle thus affirmed Yang ' s control of the territory between the Huai and the Yangtze Rivers . In 899 , Yang and Zhu Jin attacked Xu Prefecture . Zhu Quanzhong initially sent Zhang Guihou ( 張歸厚 ) to relieve the attack on Xu , and then also led an army himself . When Yang and Zhu Jin heard that Zhu Quanzhong was about to arrive , they withdrew . In 902 , after Emperor Zhaozong had been forcibly taken to Fengxiang Circuit ( 鳳翔 , headquartered in modern Baoji , Shaanxi ) , then ruled by Li Maozhen , by the eunuch Han Quanhui . Zhu Quanzhong , who had been summoned to the capital Chang ' an by the chancellor Cui Yin , put Fengxiang Circuit ' s capital Fengxiang Municipality under siege . Emperor Zhaozong sent the Zhang Yan , the son of the former chancellor Zhang Jun , on whom he bestowed the imperial clan surname of Li ( and thereafter , Zhang Yan was known as Li Yan ) , to Huainan as an imperial emissary . Li Yan bestowed the title of supreme commander of the southeastern circuits on Yang and created him the Prince of Wu , ordering him to attack Zhu Quanzhong . As part of the order , Zhu Jin was given the title of military governor of Pinglu Circuit ( 平盧 , headquartered in modern Weifang , Shandong ) ( which was then under the rule of Wang Shifan ) . Yang also bestowed on Zhu Jin the title of deputy supreme commander of the southeastern circuits . 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 Dynasty 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 ( 陳紹 ) , defeated Wang . Wang withdrew with heavy losses . Late in 914 , then - Later Liang emperor Zhu Youzhen ( Zhu Quanzhong ' s son ) tried to replace Wang Yin ( 王殷 ) the military governor of Wuning ( who had been commissioned by his predecessor and older brother Zhu Yougui , who had assassinated Zhu Quanzhong and taken the throne but was soon overthrown by Zhu Youzhen ) with his cousin Zhu Youzhang ( 朱友璋 ) . Wang Yin , in fear , submitted to Wu and sought aid from Wu . Zhu Jin thereafter led a relief force to try to save Wang Yin , but he was intercepted and defeated by the Later Liang generals Niu Cunjie ( 牛存節 ) and Liu Xun ; he thereafter withdrew . Niu and Liu thereafter captured Xu Prefecture , and Wang and his family members committed suicide . By 916 , Xu Wen , who was still in control of Wu ' s governance , had removed himself from Yang Prefecture and permanently stationed himself at Sheng Prefecture ( 昇州 , in modern Nanjing , Jiangsu ) , leaving his oldest son Xu Zhixùn in charge at Yang Prefecture . That year , the officers Ma Qian ( 馬謙 ) and Li Qiu ( 李球 ) seized Yang Longyan and launched their troops to attack Xu Zhixùn . Xu Zhixùn was fearful and decided to flee , but was dissuaded by the official Yan Keqiu , and their opposing camps settled in that night . The next day , Zhu Jin , who had been stationed at Run Prefecture ( 潤州 , in modern Zhenjiang , Jiangsu ) . Looking at Ma ' s and Li ' s camp , Zhu assured Xu Zhixùn that there was nothing to be concerned about , and he yelled at Ma ' s and Li ' s troops ; in fear , Ma ' s and Li ' s troops disassembled , and they were captured and executed . In winter 916 , with Li Keyong ' s son and successor Li Cunxu the Prince of Jin requesting Wu to enter an alliance to jointly attack Later Liang , Xu Zhixùn and Zhu Jin led troops north toward Song ( 宋州 , in modern Shangqiu , Henan ) and Bo ( 亳州 , in modern Bozhou , Anhui ) Prefectures . They crossed the Huai River and put Ying Prefecture ( 潁州 , in modern Fuyang , Anhui ) under siege . In spring 917 , however , after Zhu Youzhen dispatched the general Yuan Xiangxian to aid Ying Prefecture , the Wu troops withdrew . Death . As of 918 , Xu Zhixùn had become so arrogant and so unreasonable in his actions that he was even openly humiliating Yang Longyan , who was his sovereign . Meanwhile , the relationship between Zhu Jin and Xu Zhixùn , apparently initially cordial , had become frayed over a series of incidents — including an occasion when Xu Zhixùn tried to rape one of Zhu ' s maid servants , and Xu Zhixùn ' s display of displeasure over Zhu ' s having a greater title ( deputy supreme commander ) than he did . He therefore established a Jinghuai Circuit ( 靜淮 ) at Si Prefecture ( 泗州 , in modern Huai ' an ) and made Zhu the military governor , to send Zhu away from the capital Guangling ( i . e . , Yang Prefecture ) . Zhu became hateful of Xu Zhixùn as well , but outwardly pretended to continue to honor Xu Zhixùn . As Zhu was ( outwardly ) preparing to leave Jiangdu , Xu Zhixùn 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 Zhixùn was pleased and took no further precautions , while Zhu already had his elite guards surround the hall . As Lady Tao bowed to Xu Zhixùn 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 Zhixùn ' 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 Zhixùn ' s head against a pillar , and then was ready to exit the palace . However , by this point , Xu Wen ' s officer Zhai Qian ( 翟虔 ) 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 Zhixùn had been carrying out , Xu Wen had Zhu ' s body recovered from the pond and buried .