Emperor Taizu of Later Liang (後梁太祖), personal name Zhu Quanzhong (朱全忠) (December 5, 852 – July 18, 912), né Zhu Wen (朱溫), name later changed to Zhu Huang (朱晃), nickname Zhu San (朱三, literally, "the third Zhu"), was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician. He was a Jiedushi (military governor) and warlord who in 907 overthrew the Tang dynasty and established the Later Liang dynasty, ruling as its first emperor, ushering in the era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. The last two Tang emperors, Emperor Zhaozong of Tang (Li Jie) and Emperor Ai of Tang (Li Zuo), who "ruled" as his puppets from 903 to 907, were both murdered by him.

Zhu Wen initially served as a general under the rebel Huang Chao, but defected to the weakened Tang dynasty in 882. Taking advantage of the total chaos in the wake of Huang Chao's defeat, Zhu Wen was able to conquer parts of central China after destroying warlords such as Qin Zongquan, Shi Pu, Zhu Xuan, and Zhu Jin, although most of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei remained outside his reach, controlled by rival states Qi, Jin, and Yan respectively. Most of his later campaigns were directed at the Shatuo-ruled Jin state (later to become the Later Tang) based in Shanxi, but they failed because of the Jin leaders, Li Keyong and his son Li Cunxu. Due to his emphasis on unifying the north, Taizu was not able to make any inroads into southern China. Southern China came to be controlled by about seven different states, and the rulers of Yang Wu and Former Shu were not submissive to him.

Zhu Wen used a combination of strict enforcement, ruthless violence and solicitation to ensure his officers stayed loyal to him. Zhu Wen was also a notorious sexual predator who raped not only the wives of his officers Yang Chongben and Zhang Quanyi, but also his own daughters-in-law. Zhu Wen's reign came to an end in 912 when he was murdered in his palace by his son Zhu Yougui, whom he had begotten with a prostitute.

Zhu Wen was born the youngest of three sons, Quanyu, Cun and Wen. His father, Zhu Cheng (朱誠) was an instructor in the Five Classics in Dangshan County, which at that time belonged to Songzhou. There was also a younger sister who married one Yuan Jingchu (袁敬初) of Xiayi County (下邑), near Dangshan, whose father and grandfather had held office on a provincial and prefectural level, but who claimed ancestry from the prominent middle-Tang official Yuan Shuji. (Her son with Yuan, Yuan Xiangxian, would later be an important general during Zhu Wen's Later Liang and the succeeding Later Tang.) Zhu Cheng died while Wen was still a boy, likely about 864, or after. His widow brought her three sons to live in the household of Liu Chong (劉崇) of Xiao County, Xuzhou. Zhu Cheng's mother is known to have been surnamed Liu. It is therefore possible that Liu Chong was a relative of Zhu Wen's grandmother. If this was in fact the case, Zhu Cheng's origin can not have been too obscure since the Liu family was the leading family in the area. The marriage of the daughter into the Yuan family also indicate a family of some standing.

Zhu Wen was brought up to be a family retainer or manor steward, but it is said that the people in the Liu household did not view him highly, except Liu Chong's mother, who in fact had to intercede whenever Liu Chong, displeased with Zhu Wen, caned him. Zhu instead went on to form his own bandit gang, one of many operating between the Yellow and Huai Rivers. In about 877 Zhu Wen and the second brother, Zhu Cun (朱存), joined the rebel army of Huang Chao when it fought its way through the region. Cun was later killed in battle, but Wen rose through the ranks until given a separate command following Huang Chao's capture of the imperial capital Chang'an in January 881.

With this army Zhu Wen attacked and captured nearby Tong Prefecture (同州, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), becoming defense commissioner of that prefecture. Many of the military governors had submitted to Huang Chao following his capture of Chang'an, but soon reverted to the Tang court once they realized that cause was not yet lost. By 882 Huang Chao was effectively surrounded, controlling only two prefectures outside Chang'an, one of which was Zhu Wen's Tong Prefecture. Wen now found the time opportune to change sides. After first assassinating his military overseer Yan Shi (嚴實), sent by Huang Chao to guard against just such a possibility, Zhu Wen surrendered to the Hezhong Circuit (河中, headquartered in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi)'s military governor (Jiedushi), Wang Chongrong. As reward for his timely defection Emperor Xizong of Tang appointed Zhu Wen Grand General of the Imperial Guards and deputy field commander of the armies stationed at Hezhong, also conferring the new personal name Quanzhong – "wholeheartedly loyal."

On May 3, 883 Zhu was appointed prefect of Bian Prefecture (汴州, in modern Kaifeng, Henan) and military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered at Bian Prefecture), the appointment to take effect after the expected recapture of Chang'an. It was already known that Huang planned to escape east to Henan through the Lantian pass and the court needed someone to defend the canal route from the south-eastern granaries. As a former rebel with local knowledge of the area in question, Zhu was a natural choice. It could not have hurt his chances either that Quanzhong had actively sought the patronage of Wang Chongrong, one of the chief architects of the imperial offensive, who he took to calling "uncle" (Quanzhong's mother was also named Wang). Tang forces entered Chang'an half a month after Zhu's appointment and on August 9 Zhu duly arrived at Bian.

As seen above Zhu Quanzhong arrived at Bian more than three months after his appointment. The delay probably was related to various duties assigned to him in between, but may also have been due to bargaining over how many men of his own men he was to be allowed to bring with him to his new command. When he surrendered, Zhu brought with him an army of several thousand men, but by the time he left for Bianzhou this army must have been largely dispersed or absorbed into the imperial armies, for he brought with him to Bian only a few hundred men including a core of at least eighty military retainers. These retainers would provide crucial leadership in his early years at Bian. The majority of them had probably served with Zhu under Huang Chao, but some, such as Pang Shigu (龐師古), were new recruits. To the Xuanwu command belonged one of the strongest armies in the region and Zhu now set about making sure that this army become loyal to him personally. The army consisted of two sections: the governor's guard and the main field force, the former acting as the governor's bodyguards. Zhu appointed several of his military retainers as guards officers, such as Ding Hui who was made administrator, and Hu Zhen (胡真) who was made a commander. Zhu Quanzhong's eldest son, Zhu Youyu (朱友裕) was also made an officer, though at this time he was yet a boy. The most important of these appointments was Zhu Zhen (朱珍), who was given special responsibility for selection, training and reorganization. Zhu Quanzhong did retain the hereditary officers in the guards and main army, but the reorganizations and preparations for war against Huang Chao had been entrusted to his own men. The Xuanwu army consisted largely of infantry. Having seen the effectiveness of the Shatou Turks' tribal cavalry during the recapture of Chang'an, Zhu ordered the formation of his own cavalry units. Command of the initial force was entrusted his military retainer Pang. Later as new units were formed, officers were both selected from men who had come with Zhu or recruited locally.