Wang Jingren

Wang Jingren , né Wang Maozhang (王茂章, name changed 906?), was a major general during the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period Later Liang state. He was originally a general under Yang Xingmi, the Prince of Wu in the late Tang dynasty, but later got into a dispute with Yang's son and successor Yang Wo and was forced to flee to the domain of Qian Liu, who, as a Later Liang vassal, later sent Wang to Later Liang, whose Emperor Taizu (Zhu Quanzhong) was impressed with Wang's abilities and therefore made Wang a major general. Wang, however, was not successful in subsequent campaigns against either Wu or Later Liang's northern enemy Jin.

Service under Yang Xingmi It is not known when Wang Maozhang was born, but it is known that he was from Hefei and that, in his youth, he followed Yang Xingmi in Yang's campaigns to take control of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu). It was said that Wang was brave in battle but lacked an impressive presence on the battlefield. However, once in battle, he always fought alongside his soldiers and earned their respect, as well as Yang's.

Campaign aiding Wang Shifan In 903, when Wang Shifan the military governor (jiedushi) of Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Weifang, Shandong) was under attack by Yang's archenemy Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan), Wang Shifan sought aid from Yang. Yang sent Wang Maozhang, with 7,000 men, to aid Wang Shifan. Wang Maozhang first rendezvoused with Wang Shifan's brother Wang Shihui and captured Mi Prefecture. Meanwhile, the Xuanwu forces under Zhu's nephew Zhu Youning was attacking Pinglu's capital Qing Prefecture . In response, Wang Shifan had sent the soldiers from Deng and Lai Prefectures (both in modern Yantai, Shandong) to set up two defensive encampments. Zhu Youning attacked the Deng camp bitterly, with Wang Maozhang standing by and not trying to relieve the Deng camp, so Zhu Youning captured it. He then attacked the Lai camp, but by that point, his soldiers, as Wang Maozhang anticipated, had been worn out. Wang Maozhang then counterattacked with Wang Shifan, and they defeated the Xuanwu troops, killing Zhu Youning and delivering his head to Huainan.

Hearing of Zhu Youning's death, Zhu Quanzhong himself headed to the Pinglu front, and, after he arrived about a month later, he initially defeated Wang Shifan's troops. When he then engaged Wang Maozhang, however, Wang Maozhang was able to battle him to a stalemate—while holding a feast in the middle of the battle, impressing Zhu with his fortitude. However, believing that he would be unable to defeat the Xuanwu troops with their numerical advantage, Wang Maozhang withdrew back to Huainan territory with relatively few casualties. (Zhu was subsequently able to force Wang Shifan to submit to him.)

Flight to Qian Liu Later in 905, Yang Xingmi fell deathly ill. He recalled his oldest son Yang Wo, who was then serving as the governor (觀察使, Guanchashi) of Xuan Prefecture, from Xuan, intending to pass his authorities to Yang Wo. He sent Wang Maozhang to Xuan to serve as governor, succeeding Yang Wo. As Yang Wo was set to depart Xuan Prefecture, he wanted to take the tents and the headquarters guards with him, but Wang refused to let him do so, drawing his ire. After Yang Xingmi died later in the year and was succeeded by Yang Wo, Yang Wo thus sent Li Jian to attack Wang. When Li's forces reached Xuan in spring 906, Wang, judging himself to be unable to withstand an attack, fled with the soldiers directly under him to the territory of Qian Liu the military governor of Zhenhai (鎮海, headquartered in modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang) and Zhendong (鎮東, headquartered in modern Shaoxing, Zhejiang) Circuits. Qian made Wang his deputy military governor for Zhendong. In 908, Qian thus sent Wang—whose name had been changed to Wang Jingren by this point to observe naming taboo since Emperor Taizu's great-grandfather was named Zhu Maolin —to Later Liang's capital Luoyang to submit strategies on how to conquer Hongnong. Emperor Taizu let Wang retain his title of military governor of Ningguo and further bestowed the chancellor title Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi on him—apparently initially honorary, but eventually having him join the chancellors in policy discussions. The Wu generals Xu Wen and Zhu Jin led troops to resist Wang. Wang initially had success against Xu, nearly trapping and killing him at Zhaobu (趙步, in modern Lu'an), but Xu was able to escape. The Wu troops then regrouped and engaged Wang's troops at Huoqiu (霍丘, in modern Lu'an). Wang withdrew, and with him personally guarding the rear during the withdrawal, the Wu troops were not daring to chase after him, so initially the losses were minimal. However, trouble came when the Later Liang army was crossing the Huai River. When Wang advanced south, he had initially marked the low-water spots of the river with wooden markers to allow the army to cross the river safely. By the time that he was withdrawing, the Wu defender of Huoqiu, Zhu Jing , had moved the markers to deep water spots, such that when the Later Liang army was withdrawing, they were crossing at the wrong spots, and many of them drowned. After Wang returned to Daliang (which Zhu Zhen had made his capital), he died due to illness. He was given posthumous honors.