Zhao (Five Dynasties period)

Zhao (趙, ~910–~921) was a state early in the Five Dynasties period of the history of China in what is now central Hebei. The ancestors of Zhao's only prince, Wang Rong, had long governed the region as military governors (Jiedushi) of the Tang dynasty's Chengde Circuit (Chinese: 成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), and after the collapse of the Tang in 907, the succeeding Later Liang's founding emperor ("Taizu"), Zhu Wen made Wang, then his vassal, the Prince of Zhao. In 910, when the Emperor tried to directly take over the territory of Zhao and its neighboring Yiwu Circuit (Chinese: 義武, headquartered in modern Baoding, Hebei), Wang Rong and Yiwu's military governor Wang Chuzhi turned against the Later Liang, aligning themselves with Later Liang's archenemy, Jin's prince, Li Cunxu, instead. In 921, Wang Rong's soldiers assassinated him, slaughtered the Wang clan, and supported his adoptive son Zhang Wenli (known as Wang Deming while under Wang Rong's adoption) to succeed him instead. Li Cunxu soon defeated Zhang Wenli's son and successor Zhang Chujin and incorporated Zhao into Jin territory.