Later Shu

Later Shu was one of the Ten Kingdoms of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, ruling Sichuan from its capital at Chengdu between 934 and 965. Its founder, Meng Zhixiang, had been appointed military governor of Xichuan by the Later Tang after their conquest of Former Shu in 925; he gradually broke with the court, absorbed the neighbouring Dongchuan province and proclaimed himself emperor of Shu in 934, dying only months later. His son Meng Chang succeeded him and, after an uncertain minority, took personal control in the 940s. Under Meng Chang the kingdom enjoyed nearly three decades of peace and became one of the most prosperous and cultured regions of the era, known for its printing, poetry and the court of Lady Huarui. Later Shu briefly expanded north during the collapse of the Later Jin, but its interventions in Shaanxi failed. In 965, a Song army invaded Sichuan, Meng Chang surrendered and the kingdom was annexed, ending the last major independent state in the southwest.