Empress Liu (Li Cunxu's wife)

Empress Liu (劉皇后, personal name unknown) (died 926), formally Empress Shenminjing (神閔敬皇后, "the unassuming, suffering, and alert empress"), was the second wife and only empress of Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang (Li Cunxu), the founding emperor of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Later Tang. In traditional histories, she was regarded as a hoarder of wealth who, during her husband's reign, became extremely powerful, with her own orders carrying the same weight as his own. It was the killing of the major general Guo Chongtao by at her order in 926 that created a cascade of military rebellions that led to Emperor Zhuangzong's downfall and death; she was subsequently killed by his adoptive brother and successor Li Siyuan (Emperor Mingzong).

The future Empress Liu was from Cheng'an (成安, in modern Handan, Hebei). Her father, whose name is lost to history, was described to be a capable physician who had a yellow beard, and who referred to himself as Hermit Liu (劉山人). It is not known exactly when she was born, but she was four or five when, during a raid that Li Cunxu's father Li Keyong the Prince of Jin, then a vassal of Tang Dynasty, conducted on Wei Prefecture (魏州), which Cheng'an belonged to, she was captured by Li Keyong's officer Yuan Jianfeng (袁建豐). (As the records of Li Keyong's campaigns only indicated one instance in which he personally raided Wei Prefecture — in 897 — it would appear that that was the likely time when Lady Liu was taken, which would make her born in 892 or 893.) She was taken into the Jin palace at Taiyuan, where Li Keyong's favorite concubine Lady Cao (Li Cunxu's mother) took her and taught her how to play the Sheng, as well as singing and dancing. After she grew up, she became very beautiful, and Li Cunxu was attracted to her.

Sometime after Li Cunxu became the Prince of Jin after Li Keyong's death in 908, there was an occasion when Lady Dowager Cao visited his palace for a feast. At the feast, Lady Dowager Cao had Lady Liu play the Sheng, dance, and sing. After the feast, Lady Dowager Cao left Lady Liu at Li Cunxu's palace, and she thereafter became his concubine. She received the title of Lady of Wei (魏國夫人) and was, among his consorts, only ranked lower than his wife Lady Han the Lady of Wei (衛國夫人, note different character than Lady Liu's title) and first-ranked concubine Lady Yi the Lady of Yan. Initially, however, another concubine of his, Lady Hou, who he took as a concubine in 908 after killing her husband Fu Daozhao (符道昭), a general for Jin's archrival Later Liang, in battle, was his favorite concubine, and he took Lady Hou on his campaigns. Later, however, after Lady Liu gave birth to his oldest son Li Jiji, Li Cunxu believed that Li Jiji was very much like himself and favored both him and Lady Liu greatly. Subsequently, Lady Liu became the one who accompanied him on campaigns. She was said to be intelligent and capable of anticipating Li Cunxu's wishes, such that few other consorts were able to see him.

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