Tang dynasty
Zhu Wen, originally a salt smuggler who had served under the rebel Huang Chao, surrendered to Tang forces. By helping to defeat Huang, he was granted a series of rapid military promotions. In 907 the Tang dynasty was ended when Zhu Wen, now a military governor, deposed the last emperor of Tang, Emperor Ai of Tang, and took the throne for himself (known posthumously as Emperor Taizu of Later Liang). He established the Later Liang, which inaugurated the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. A year later Zhu Wen had the deposed Emperor Ai poisoned to death.
Yan Keqiu
In 907, the powerful warlord Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan) forced Tang's final emperor Emperor Ai to yield the throne to him, ending Tang and starting a new Later Liang as its Emperor Taizu. Yang Wo, along with several other regional warlords, refused to recognize the Later Liang emperor and continued to use the Tang era name of "Tianyou", but by this point was effectively the ruler of his own domain, then known as Hongnong (as he carried the title of Prince of Hongnong) and later known as Wu (as Yang Xingmi carried the title of Prince of Wu). Nevertheless, by this point, his own powers were limited, as Xu Wen, who was then one of the headquarters guard commanders, as well as fellow guard commander Zhang Hao, had effectively taken over most of Hongnong's governance after killing a number of Yang Wo's associates in a coup earlier in 907. Yan Keqiu's role in the early parts of Yang Wo's administration, if any, is not clear.