The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms are at the end of the Tang Dynasty and the head of the Song Dynasty, which is an important historical turning point between the Tang and Song Dynasties. The five dynasties were Hou Liang (907-923) established by Zhu Wen, Later Tang established by Li Cunxun (923-936, later Tang was only counted after Li Cunxun became emperor, before being king of Jin), Later Jin (936-947) established by Shi Jingyao, Later Han established by Liu Zhiyuan (947-951), and Later Zhou (951-960) established by Guo Wei.
If we talk about the time of rule, the Later Liang existed for 16 years, and the five generations were the longest. Of course, the most unfortunate thing is the following week. If it were not for the sudden illness and early death of Zhou Shizong Chai Rong during the Northern Expedition to khitans, there may not have been a Song Dynasty in history, and it is very likely that a unified empire comparable to the Han and Tang Dynasties would have emerged.
If we talk about the territory of domination, the Later Tang Dynasty has the largest area. Later Tang's predecessor was the State of Jin, and in 914, Li Cunxun destroyed Liu Shouguang, who had divided Youzhou, and later annexed Wang Rong's Zhao state (near present-day Shijiazhuang, Hebei), and Wang Chuzhi (between present-day Baoding, Hebei and Beijing). In 923, Li Cunxun destroyed Later Liang and ruled the Central Plains. Two years later, in 925, Li Cunxun sent troops to destroy former Shu, which had divided Xichuan. Soon after, due to the civil unrest in the Later Tang, Xichuan regained and lost, and was occupied by the Later Tang minister Meng Zhixiang, who established Later Shu.
Even after the loss of Xichuan, the later Tang Dynasty was still the largest of the five dynasties, and the northern boundary was roughly bounded by the present-day Great Wall, the Yanshan Mountains and the Khitans. The Khitan was indeed good in fighting, but it was often swept away by the mighty Hou Tang.
The eastern section of the southern boundary of the Later Tang Dynasty was bounded by the Huai River and Yang Wu, who was the most powerful of the Ten Kingdoms (including the Southern Tang dynasty of later Wu), and Yang Wu was bounded by the Huai River, and even had two states on the north bank of the Huai River. But Yang Wu's threat to the Later Tang was not great, why not? Because the Later Tang Dynasty was in Luoyang in the western part of Henan Province, it was relatively far from the Huai River defense line controlled by Yang Wu.
The western section of the southern boundary of the Later Tang Dynasty, if the previous Shu still existed in 924 years, is roughly bounded by the Qinling Mountains, Daba Mountain and Former Shu. Later, Meng Zhixiang controlled Xichuan, but Meng Zhixiang always submitted to Later Tang during the reign of Emperor Mingzong of Tang and Li Siyuan. Moreover, Meng Zhixiang did not learn from Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, but only wanted to keep the descendants of Xichuan Chuan and everything would be fine. The northwestern part of the Later Tang Dynasty was bounded by the Helan Mountains in present-day Ningxia and the Dangxiang Department.
In 936, Later Tang's envoy Shi Jingyao (石敬瑭) of Hedong Jiedu (present-day Shanxi) submitted to the Khitan Emperor Yelü Deguang in order to destroy the Later Tang emperor Li Congke (Li Siyuan's adopted son). What's more, Shi Jingyao recognized Yelü Deguang, who was 11 years younger than himself, as a dry father and became a notorious child emperor. Shi Jingyao ceded to Yelü Deguang sixteen prefectures, including Youzhou (present-day Beijing), Yunzhou (present-day Datong, Shanxi), and Haozhou (in present-day Hejian City, Cangzhou, Hebei Province), and Yelü Deguang sent troops to help Shi Jingyao.
Shi Jingyao's move had a disastrous impact on the northern defense of the Central Plains Dynasty. Without the Yanshan Mountains, an important defensive barrier, it would be difficult for the infantry-based Central Plains army to resist the Khitan soldiers, who were mainly cavalry. Since then, the door of the Central Plains Dynasty has been opened, and it has a clear disadvantage in the confrontation with the Khitans. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty Zhao Guangyi also wanted to take Youzhou at any cost, just to recover the gateway to the Central Plains. Unfortunately, he encountered the Khitan Empire, which was in the ascendancy, and failed twice.
The evil consequences of Shi Jingyao's seed were picked up by his nephew Shi Chonggui, and in 947 AD, the Khitan "Emperor Weng" Yelü Deguang destroyed the Later Jin "Sun Emperor" Shi Chonggui and died in Jin. Soon after, the Later Jin Dynasty made Liu Zhiyuan take advantage of the Khitan retreat to the north and occupy the Central Plains south and establish the Later Han Dynasty.
The Later Han Dynasty ruled for the shortest of five dynasties, with only four years before and after, and was the orthodox dynasty with the shortest reign in history. However, the area of the Later Han Dynasty was not small, basically the same as that of the Later Jin Dynasty.
The following week was a little unusual. After the fall of the Later Han Dynasty, Liu Zhiyuan's younger brother, Hedong Jiedu, made Liu Chong, proclaim himself emperor in Taiyuan and establish the Northern Han Dynasty. The Northern Han Dynasty was very small, occupying only central Shanxi, but its combat effectiveness was very tenacious, and it was a sworn enemy of later Zhou.
The northern boundary of Later Zhou basically inherited the border between the Later Jin and Later Han dynasties and the Khitans. Since this was the endless North China Plain, the Later Zhou soldiers also struggled to defend the Khitan cavalry. The southern line of the Later Zhou Dynasty, compared with the Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Han, did not change, and was bounded by the Huai River with the Southern Tang. However, after the Zhou Dynasty, kaifeng was relatively close to the Huai River defense line, and there was a certain danger. The southwestern border of the Later Zhou Dynasty and the border between the Later Tang and the Former Shu remained basically unchanged.
Of course, the boundaries of the Later Zhou mentioned above are all the situation before the reign of Emperor Chai Rong of Zhou. Guo Wei reigned for only four years, and he still had to carry out reforms to change the law, and did not have the time and energy to expand by force. Chai Rongnian was rich and powerful (33 years old at the time of his reign) and aimed to unify the world. Although Chai Rong reigned for only five and a half years, he took the Fourteen Prefectures of Huainan in the Southern Tang Dynasty in the southeast, completely changing the slightly passive situation before the Later Zhou. The Southern Tang dynasty lost the fourteen prefectures of Huainan and was forced to submit to The Later Zhou, and the southeast line was worry-free.
To the southwest of Later Zhou, Chai Rong took four major cities on the northern later Shu line, including Qin Prefecture (present-day Tianshui City, Gansu Province) and Feng prefecture (Feng County, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province), before attacking Huainan, basically relieving Later Shu of its threat to the Central Plains. In the north, Chai Rong in the last year of his life, the Northern Expedition to the Khitan And regained the three states. Unfortunately, in the general attack of Youzhou, he inexplicably fell ill and was forced to take the class. Even so, the area of the Later Zhou was still larger than that of the Later Jin and Later Han. Although the Later Jin And Later Han Dynasties had Hedong, they did not have Huainan, and the area of the Fourteen Prefectures of Huainan was larger than that of Hedong. After 959, Zhou also took Liaozhou (辽州, in modern Zuoquan County, Jinzhong, Shanxi).
In this way, the smallest dynasty in the five dynasties has only hou liang. Saying that the area of Hou Liang is small does not mean that the ability of Hou Liang Zhu Wen is worse than that of Shi Jingyao, Liu Zhiyuan, and Guo Wei, after all, Zhu Wen is in an era where strongmen are born.
Zhu Wen started his career in Bian Prefecture (汴州, in present-day Kaifeng, Henan Province), and after more than 20 years of eastern expeditions to the west, he finally made a country. The southeast boundary of Houliang is bounded by the Huai River and Yang Wu. The southwest boundary of the Houliang has basically not changed, and it is roughly bounded by the eastern qinling mountains and the former Shu.
However, the other boundaries of the rear beam are very narrow. Li Cunxun, a generation of military geniuses who were directly north, divided Shanxi, bringing great disaster to Zhu Wen. In the Battle of Baixiang in 908 AD, the Jin army defeated the Liang army, and the Liang army was no longer able to move north. In addition, Ding Hui, the general of Lu Prefecture (潞州, in present-day Changzhi, Shanxi), which originally belonged to Later Liang, suddenly raised the state to jin, posing a fatal threat to the eastern capital Kaifeng.
North of the river, Wang Rong divided several prefectures around present-day Shijiazhuang. Although Wang Rong claimed to be a vassal to Liang, he was a land snake and often went to and fro with Li Cun. The northeast region of Houliang did not even pass the Yellow River, and Liu Shouguang of the Yan state occupied Youzhou, Cangzhou and other places, so that Houliang's power on the northern front basically did not come out of the Dezhou-Xingtai line.
In the northwest of Later Liang, that is, in the central part of present-day Shaanxi Province (Yan'an), in the west (Baoji), and in the eastern part of Gansu Province (Qingyang), there was also a Qi state, founded by Li Maozhen. In other words, Hou Liang was in the northwest direction, out of Chang'an (Xi'an, Shaanxi), and basically "went abroad". However, north of the State of Qi, there was also a Shuofang Jiedushi of Houliang in the area of present-day Yinchuan, Ningxia.
Although the rear beam is the smallest of the five generations, there is one thing that the other four generations do not have. During the Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou dynasties, there was a small Jingnan kingdom in the area of present-day Jingzhou (Jiangling) in Hubei Province. Sandwiched between Shu (Former Shu and Later Shu), Wu (Yang Wu and Southern Tang), Zhongyuan (Tang, Jin, Hanzhou) and MaChu, Jingnan was the land of four wars. The founder of Jingnan was Gao Jichang, who was originally Zhu Wen's grandson. Zhu Wen was very important to Gao Jichang and sent him to guard Jingzhou (江陵), and Hou Liang directly controlled the important town of Jiangling in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which gave Hou Liang a certain advantage on the southern front. It was only after Zhu Wen's death that Gao Jichang did not deal with The Later Liang lord Zhu Youzhen very well, and was considered a semi-independent unit.