River, catching Later Liang unprepared and capturing Tianping's capital Yun Prefecture (). In fear and anger over Yun's fall, Zhu demoted Dai (who was Tianping's military governor but who was away commanding the army against Later Tang at the time) and commissioned Wang Yanzhang as the commander of the army against Later Tang instead. Wang quickly attacked and captured the border fort Desheng (德勝, in modern Puyang), intending to use it to cut off the supply line between Later Tang proper and Yun. However, his subsequent battles against Li Cunxu himself were indecisive; further, his commission caused much apprehension in the hearts of Zhao and the Zhangs, as he had long despised what he saw as their wickedness. Zhao and the Zhangs thus defamed him before Zhu, who then removed him and replaced him with Duan Ning. Meanwhile, Zhu also destroyed the Yellow River levee at Hua Prefecture (滑州, in modern Anyang, Henan), causing a flood area, believing that it would impede further Later Tang attacks. Duan prepared an ambitious plan for a four-prong counterattack against Later Tang: Dong Zhang would head toward the major Later Tang city Taiyuan (formerly Jin's capital). Huo Yanwei would head toward Zhen Prefecture (鎮州, in modern Baoding, Hebei, formerly Zhao's capital). Wang and Zhang Hanjie would head toward Yun Prefecture. Duan himself, along with Du Yanqiu, would confront Later Tang's emperor Li Cunxu. However, the Later Liang officer Kang Yanxiao, at this junction, defected to Later Tang, revealing Duan's plan to the Later Tang emperor and pointing out that the plan left the Later Liang capital Daliang defenseless, and pointing out that Wang's and Zhang Hanjie's army was the weakest of the four prongs and could easily be defeated. Li Cunxu decided to take the risky move himself, and advanced to Yun to join forces with Li Siyuan, and then engage Wang and Zhang Hanjie. He defeated them, capturing both Wang and Zhang Hanjie at Zhongdu (中都, in modern Jining, Shandong), and then headed directly toward the defenseless Daliang. With Duan's army trapped north of the Yellow River and unable to come to his rescue, Zhu saw the situation as hopeless. He ordered his general Huangfu Lin () to kill him; Huangfu did, and then committed suicide himself. This thus ended Later Liang. The Song Dynasty historian Sima Guang, in his Zizhi Tongjian, commented: Li Cunxu had Zhu's body buried with respect, but kept