# Later Tang
The *Zizhi Tongjian* calls the state Later Tang (后唐) to distinguish it from the Tang of Chang'an.[1](https://pinguji.cn/bookContent/fa5c7a96687a4048b072045f34036c73_17e75652d09c41428fbd64d449d5086e.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Extent under Mingzong | The largest area of any empire in its day[2](https://hkupress.hku.hk/image/catalog/pdf-preview/9789888208104.pdf) |
| Capital geography | Luoyang (洛阳) as 洛京; Weizhou (魏州) built up as 邺都; Bingzhou (并州) built as the Northern Capital[3](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/新五代史/卷60) |
| Central institutions | Bureau of Military Affairs restored 923; three-finance commission with its own commissioner from 930; Duanming Hall Academicians created 926[4](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊五代史/卷149) |
## Founding and history
[Li Cunxu](https://www.edgepedia.org/li-cunxu) (李存勗) proclaimed a restoration of the Tang house and, after the fall of Later Liang in 923, did not halt military expansion, sending an army in 925 to conquer [Former Shu](https://www.edgepedia.org/former-shu) while also setting about imitating the image of a Tang emperor in order to overawe the independent kingdoms of the south.[5](https://toaj.stpi.niar.org.tw/index/journal/volume/article/4b1141f987544c3401876f74e34f1204) • [11](https://www.perlego.com/book/1603205/war-politics-and-society-in-early-modern-china-9001795-pdf) The restoration was visible in administrative names. The *New History of the Five Dynasties* records the pattern: after Later Tang destroyed Liang, Bianzhou (汴州) again became 宣武军; Shanzhou (陕州) reverted from 镇国 to 保义; Huazhou (华州) from 感化 to 镇国; Tongzhou (同州) from 忠武 to 匡国; Yaozhou (耀州) became 顺义; and Danzhou (单州) replaced the Liang name 辉州.[3](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/新五代史/卷60) In the capital system, Luoyang was made the 洛京, Weizhou was built up as 邺都 with its prefecture renamed 兴唐, and Bingzhou was made the Northern Capital while its army kept the name 河东.[3](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/新五代史/卷60)
According to *From Warhorses to Ploughshares: The Later Tang Reign of Emperor Mingzong*, the dynasty's high-water mark came under Mingzong, when it was the largest empire of its day.[2](https://hkupress.hku.hk/image/catalog/pdf-preview/9789888208104.pdf) In 清泰三年 (936) the court created 平凉县 from the former garrisons 安国 and 耀武 and attached it to Jingzhou (泾州), and in the same year transferred 临泾 to the jurisdiction of 原州; it also re-established the lapsed prefectures of 秦州天水 and 陇城 and created 成州栗亭.[3](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/新五代史/卷60)
## Structure, functions, and personnel
The central institutions were largely rebuilt on Tang patterns with Five Dynasties innovations. In the tenth month of 同光元年 (923) the Chongzheng Bureau, which Liang had substituted for the old [Bureau of Military Affairs](https://www.edgepedia.org/bureau-of-military-affairs), was restored as the 枢密院, with the grand councilor [Guo Chongtao](https://www.edgepedia.org/guo-chongtao) (郭崇韬) concurrently Military Affairs Commissioner and one assistant director appointed.[4](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊五代史/卷149) In the fourth month of 天成元年 (926) the Zuyong yuan was abolished and the three finance agencies, salt and iron, census, and expenditure, were restored, with one grand councilor placed in sole charge; in the eighth month of 长兴元年 (930) Zhang Yanlang (张延朗), acting Minister of Works, became the first 三司使, ranked below the Palace Attendant commissioner.[4](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊五代史/卷149) In the eleventh month of 同光元年 (923) Li Shaohong (李绍宏) was made 内勾 over all fiscal registers, an arrangement criticized for multiplying expense, and in 同光四年 (926) Li Qi (李琪) was named State Accounts Commissioner, the title lapsing after him.[4](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊五代史/卷149)
New posts answered practical needs. Because Mingzong had the Military Affairs Commissioner An Zhonghui (安重诲) read dispatches he could not fully understand, Kong Xun (孔循) proposed the new title of Duanming Hall Academician, and in the fifth month of 天成元年 (926) [Feng Dao](https://www.edgepedia.org/feng-dao) (冯道) and Zhao Feng (赵凤) were appointed; from the next year their rank stood above the Hanlin Academicians.[4](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊五代史/卷149) • [6](https://www.donglishuzhai.net/chapter/4524.html) The dynasty also trimmed the bureaucracy: according to the *Jiu Wudai Shi*, in the eleventh month of 同光元年 (923) the court ordered that each court office keep only a core establishment, suspending most supernumerary posts, and in 同光二年三月 (924) it capped the officials a governor might recommend, allowing large garrisons of three or more prefectures three nominees a year, smaller ones two, and defense commissioners one, while prefects could recommend none.[4](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊五代史/卷149) In 长兴二年 (931) it ordered every office to copy out its own rules from the codes, statutes, and the Six Statutes and post them on the walls of its hall within two months.[4](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊五代史/卷149) In 天成三年 (928) an edict tried to restore the graded ladder of merit titles, requiring twelve steps from 武骑尉 to 上柱国, though the order was not enforced against existing practice.[4](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊五代史/卷149)
## Military style
The core forces were personal and multi-ethnic. According to *From Warhorses to Ploughshares: The Later Tang Reign of Emperor Mingzong*, Li Keyong (李克用) had adopted up to a hundred men skilled in battle or strategy as surrogate sons, the Army of Surrogate Sons (义儿军), the elite of a force mixing Shatuo, inner-Asian, and Chinese soldiers.[2](https://hkupress.hku.hk/image/catalog/pdf-preview/9789888208104.pdf)
## Political influence
The Bureau of Military Affairs handled military affairs and the Secretariat civil affairs.[7](http://szzy.7lue.cn/read/fae1cf09d14af1ce3943c3c21912fd06/f9d1dd7ef657f7fa6b33c3d3999972b4.md)
At court the dynasty asserted ceremonial hierarchy. In 天成四年 (929) it ordered that the names of [Qian Liu](https://www.edgepedia.org/qian-liu) (钱镠) and [Ma Yin](https://www.edgepedia.org/ma-yin) (马殷) be dropped from the endorsement lists of appointment edicts, as a permanent rule.[4](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊五代史/卷149) When Lu Wenji (卢文纪) became vice censor-in-chief in 926, the palace-communication clerks of the garrisons refused the old rite of formal audience; Mingzong, told they were mere courier functionaries, backed the Censorate's restoration of the old etiquette by edict.[4](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊五代史/卷149) The darker side of court life was the power of entertainers and eunuchs: according to one study of Later Tang actor and eunuch intervention in politics, emperors gave actors a share in military and state decisions, some became prefects, eunuchs long held the Military Affairs Commissionership, and the Tang system of eunuch army supervisors continued.[8](http://abslw.com/03/abs2700303.html)
In policy the two reigns diverged. Guo Chongtao, who held power after the conquest of Liang, worked to rebuild a civil government led by the great clans, and the pursuit of Tang legitimacy together with this program is judged a cause of the regime's rapid collapse.[5](https://toaj.stpi.niar.org.tw/index/journal/volume/article/4b1141f987544c3401876f74e34f1204) Li Siyuan (李嗣源), once enthroned, abandoned the pursuit of dynastic legitimacy and devoted himself to preserving the borders and pacifying the people; this realistic policy achieved a longer stability and peace and marks a watershed in Five Dynasties history.[5](https://toaj.stpi.niar.org.tw/index/journal/volume/article/4b1141f987544c3401876f74e34f1204) The court also commissioned a history-writing project on its own reign, on which tenth- and eleventh-century historians, including the *Zizhi Tongjian*, later built.[9](https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/20635/1/Barenghi_Maddalena.pdf)
## Assessment and legacy
Modern historians read the dynasty's trajectory as a watershed: the shift from Zhuangzong's legitimacy-building to Mingzong's consolidation produced the longer peace, while from 926 to 936 imperial government was dominated by men risen from provincial service and the governorships.[5](https://toaj.stpi.niar.org.tw/index/journal/volume/article/4b1141f987544c3401876f74e34f1204) • [9](https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/20635/1/Barenghi_Maddalena.pdf)
Two points remain disputed. On the fall of Zhuangzong, one line of scholarship blames over-investment in legitimacy and a civil government program at the expense of military affairs, while another attributes the collapse to favoritism toward entertainers and eunuchs, the empress's greed, and withheld army rations that provoked mutiny.[5](https://toaj.stpi.niar.org.tw/index/journal/volume/article/4b1141f987544c3401876f74e34f1204) • [8](http://abslw.com/03/abs2700303.html) Historians also read Li Siyuan's own accession differently: whether he was swept up passively by the mutiny at 邺都 or had long intended to replace Zhuangzong, the sources are vague on how far he acted on his own.[10](https://five-dynasties.vercel.app/person/li-si-yuan/)
## References
1. 《资治通鉴》卷第二百七十二（后唐纪一）, https://pinguji.cn/bookContent/fa5c7a96687a4048b072045f34036c73_17e75652d09c41428fbd64d449d5086e.html
2. *From Warhorses to Ploughshares: The Later Tang Reign of Emperor Mingzong*, Hong Kong University Press, https://hkupress.hku.hk/image/catalog/pdf-preview/9789888208104.pdf
3. 《新五代史》卷六十, Wikisource transcription, https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/新五代史/卷60
4. 《旧五代史》卷一百四十九, Wikisource transcription, https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊五代史/卷149
5. 方震华, 后梁后唐正统性与武人政权文儒化研究（台湾学术期刊开放取用平台）, https://toaj.stpi.niar.org.tw/index/journal/volume/article/4b1141f987544c3401876f74e34f1204
6. 《旧五代史·职官志》原文（东里书斋）, https://www.donglishuzhai.net/chapter/4524.html
7. 白寿彝主编《中国通史》第七卷第九章「军制」, http://szzy.7lue.cn/read/fae1cf09d14af1ce3943c3c21912fd06/f9d1dd7ef657f7fa6b33c3d3999972b4.md
8. 后唐伶宦、后妃干政研究（论文摘要）, http://abslw.com/03/abs2700303.html
9. Maddalena Barenghi, *Historiography and Narratives of the Later Tang (923–36) and Later Jin (936–47) Dynasties in Tenth to Eleventh Century Sources*, LMU Munich dissertation, https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/20635/1/Barenghi_Maddalena.pdf
10. 李嗣源（后唐明宗）, 五代十国专门网页, https://five-dynasties.vercel.app/person/li-si-yuan/
11. 📖 [PDF] War, Politics and Society in Early Modern China, 900-1795 by Peter Lorge, 9780415316910, 9781134372850, https://www.perlego.com/book/1603205/war-politics-and-society-in-early-modern-china-9001795-pdf
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › China › Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907 to 979) › States and rulers › Five Dynasties states and rulers*
*Initially written Sep 23, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license