In the third year of Tiancheng in the Later Tang Dynasty (928), Zhang Yongde was born in a rich family in Yangqu, Bingzhou. When Zhang Yongde was four years old, his biological mother Ma was divorced and raised by his grandmother, who later served his stepmother, Liu, but was known for her filial piety.

Later, when Guo Wei, Taizu of the Zhou Dynasty, was a guard official, he was friendly with Zhang Yongde's father Zhang Ying, so he married his daughter to Zhang Yongde. When Guo Wei was the privy envoy of the Later Han Dynasty, he recommended Zhang Yongde as the official escort class. In the third year of Qianyou of the Later Han Dynasty (950), Zhang Yongde was sent to give Lu Shuai a birthday gift. At that time, Emperor Yin of Han was planning to get rid of Guo Wei's power, so he sent people to slaughter Guo Wei's relatives, Zhang Yongde was in Luzhou at this time, and when he heard that there was a secret edict granted to Guo Yu, he knew that his life was in danger, so he said to Guo Yu: "Are you going to kill me soon?" Although I have no resentment in my death, I am afraid that I will endanger your clan. Chang Yu was stunned: "Where do you say this?" Zhang Yongde said: "Today's traitorous people are in power, Guo Gonggong vows to eliminate traitors for the country, I can do a modest effort in this matter, if the big thing is successful, it is your merit, and it is not too late to die." Chang Yu thought so, and ordered the guards to be strictly guarded and entertained. personally said to Zhang Yongde: "What are the chances of your father-in-law's big event?" Zhang Yongde replied: "It is almost a certainty." It didn't take long for Guo Wei to successfully raise troops and send an envoy to the place where Changyu congratulated Guo Wei on his achievements and apologized: "The old man is almost a big deal." often sent Zhang Yongde back to Zhou Taizu.

In the first year of Guangshun of the Later Zhou Dynasty (951), after the Taizu Guo Wei of the Later Zhou Dynasty became the emperor, he named him to marry Zhang Yongde's daughter as the princess of the Jin Kingdom, and awarded Zhang Yongde as the general of the left guard, the fourth class of the inner temple Zhixiaodi, the commander of the horse, and the history of the Linghe Prefecture. In the second year of Guangshun (952), Zhang Yongde was promoted to the palace capital Yu Hou and the training envoy of the Lingenzhou regiment, and soon moved to the command of the palace and the defense envoy of Sizhou, when he was only twenty-four years old.

In the first year of Zhou Xiande (954), not long after Zhou Shizong Chai Rong ascended the throne, Liu Chong, the ancestor of the Northern Han Dynasty, took the opportunity to collude with the Khitan joint invasion. Zhou Shizong personally conquered, and the Northern Han army fought in Gaoping, the battle did not start for long, after the Zhou generals Fan Aineng, He Hui conveniently fled and surrendered to the Northern Han with the army. When the situation was critical, Zhao Kuangyin and Zhang Yongde each led 2,000 troops to fight back, Zhang Yongde's subordinates were good at cavalry and archery, and under the leadership of Zhang Yongde, they bravely killed the enemy, and inflicted heavy losses on the Northern Han and Khitan coalition forces, and turned the tide of the war, won the battle of Gaoping, and surrendered Liu Chong's army of more than 7,000 people.

When the army was stationed in Shangdang, Chai Rong lay in the tent at night, summoned Zhang Yongde and said to him: "The army that surrendered in the Battle of Gaoping does not need to be killed, but the generals below Fan Aineng, I will deal with them by military law!" Zhang Yongde replied: "If Your Majesty only wants to stick to the frontier, it is okay to deal with it in this way, but if you want to expand the territory and expand the territory and the four seas, you should severely punish the mistakes of the generals to rectify military discipline." When Zhou Shizong heard this, he threw his pillow on the ground and shouted goodness. The next day, he ordered the killing of Fan Aineng and He Huifang, two generals, and the military prestige was greatly enhanced.

After resting, the Zhou army led the army to besiege Taiyuan City, and Zhang Yongde, Fu Yanqing, and Shi Yanchao marched into Xinkou to guard against Khitan reinforcements. Taiyuan City is forty miles in circumference, and the Hou Zhou army is three hundred steps away from the city, and the city is surrounded twice. From April to June, the Later Zhou army besieged Taiyuan for two months and could not be defeated, and the Khitan sent reinforcements, Shi Yanchao died in battle, and the Zhou army was frustrated, so the division could only leave. Zhang Yongde was awarded the Wuxin Army Festival Envoy for his military exploits, and after returning to the division, he was moved to the Yicheng Army Festival Envoy.

Zhang Yongde's father, Zhang Ying, was killed by his subordinate Cao Cheng and others because of his strict personality and forced to marry the daughter of his subordinates when he was serving as a defense envoy in Anzhou, and Cao Cheng and others fled to the Southern Tang Dynasty because they were afraid of punishment.

In the second year of Xiande (955), when the Later Zhou decided to attack the Southern Tang Dynasty, Zhang Yongde took the initiative to ask for help because he had killed his father's enemy and fled to the Southern Tang Dynasty. After the Zhou army attacked to Shouchun, the famous general Liu Renzhan of the Southern Tang Dynasty held the city and was difficult to overcome, Zhang Yongde sent tired soldiers to lure the enemy out of the city, and then pretended to be defeated, with the elite cavalry as an ambush, lured ** into the ambush of the Zhou army, and annihilated, Liu Renzhen was only spared death.

In the third year of Xiande (956), after Zhou attacked the Southern Tang Dynasty again, Zhou Shizong Chai Rong personally conquered, and Liu Renzhen sent Cao Cheng and other three people who killed Zhang Yongde's father to Zhou Shizong's camp with a prisoner car, intending to seek peace, Chai Rong gave these three people to Zhang Yongde under the edict, and let these three people obey the law.

Zhao Kuangyin and Zhang Yongde led the vanguard to the Purple Mountain, and the Southern Tang Dynasty built a number of well-organized camps in preparation for this war. There is a high ground in the west of the enemy's camp, you can overlook their military camp from above, Zhang Yongde chose to choose a person who is good at shooting and hid next to the high slope, Zhao Kuangyin sent troops to feint to attack the enemy's first camp, and pretended to be defeated and fled, the south ** is really credulous, the whole army poured out of the nest, Zhang Yongde immediately climbed the high ground, galloped into the enemy camp from the hidden place, and the enemy lost the camp and had to disperse. The next day, they attacked the second camp, and the Zhou army attacked the north gate** and fled from the south gate. At that time, Han Lingkun was in Yangzhou, repeatedly attacked by the south, so he intended to retreat, Zhou Shizong was furious, and sent Zhang Yongde to lead the army to aid him, Zhang Yongde defeated more than 1,000 Sizhou troops in Quxiyan, and soon the army was stationed in Xia Cai.