Zhu Youzhen the one in charge of Later Liang.He was hardworking,yes,but not that particularly talented.He neglected his fathers' advisors in favor listening to members of his inner circle--who focused more on monopolizing power and putting their own supporters into the government as opposed to serving their master well. Later Liang was weak both as a matter of geographical problems as well as in leadership. Zhu Wen was a tyrant who was competent but inspired no loyalty from his men. He had no problems with abusing the subjects under his rule and went as far as to rape the wives of his key generals. In the later parts of his life,he even forced his daughter in laws to serve as his mistresses.It became no surprise that his sons and generals had him murdered in a coup. In terms of geography,Later Liang was mostly limited to the center of China,therefore his state was subject to attack from all sides.It wasn't exactly a good site to unify China from. And unlike Jin/later Tang,Later Liang lacked access to warhorses.@darthfanta, why was Later Liang so weak? What happened with Zhu Wen's death that affected them so deeply? I suppose in 923 Zhu Youqian would be in charge of Later Liang. Could they perhaps be a dead weight to prevent the Turkic ruled nations from invading the South? Later Liang was in a stalemate with Jin prior to that betrayal. Perhaps the weakened dynasty could simply sit there and keep absorbing attacks until one of three things happens.
A more powerful Southern Tang can do,but the problem was that they consistently failed to conquer Wuyue. Wuyue was able to consistently defeat Later Tang attempts to conquer it.In conjunction with the dynasties that controlled the north,it was a thorn to Southern Tang attempts to unify the north.The problem though was that just like the Song Dynasty,the Southern Tang was the result of usurpation as well.The first Southern Tang ruler was the adopted son of the de facto ruler of the state of Wu.Upon his adopted father's death,not only did he murder the biological children of his adopted father,but usurped the throne from the legitimate monarchs of Wu.1. A Han Chinese seizes control of the Jin (like happened OTL after its name change to Later Tang).
2. One of the Southern Dynasties such as Southern Tang reunifies Southern China and then after a period of consolidation pushes northward into Later Liang then Jin. Southern Tang had a pretty good performance initially but failed because their conquests exhausted their resources to the extent they could not fend off the gigantic faction that was the Song Dynasty. Perhaps if the Song were replaced by the weaker Later Liang then they'd have breathing room after reaching that period of exhaustion. They could recover, then continue a second period of expansion into Southern Han, then Later Liang.
3. A combination of 1 and 2. The Han Chinese seize back control of the north. The South reunifies, then a unified Han Chinese North and South face off against each other until only one nation remains.
I personally think that a far more interesting possibility would be Wuyue successfully conquering Southern Tang and thus gradually unify the south under it's command.It's also quite mercantile,having based itself in Hangzhou.
As for your point that a Han Chinese seized control of Later Tang,I'm not sure it's accurate--considering that Li Siyuan(the emperor who usurped the throne from Li Cunxu) was an ethnic Shatao Turk as well.
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