Wang Ke

Wang Ke (王珂) was a warlord late in the Chinese Tang dynasty, who ruled Huguo Circuit (護國, headquartered in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi) as its military governor (jiedushi) from 895 (when he succeeded his uncle Wang Chongying) to 900 (when he was forced to surrender to Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan)).

Background His biological father Wang Chongjian (王重簡) was an older brother to Wang Chongrong, who would become a powerful warlord as the military governor of Huguo. As Wang Chongrong was sonless, he adopted Wang Ke as his own son. (Wang Ke's cousins Wang Gong and Wang Yao (王瑤) would later accuse Wang Ke of not being actually Wang blood but a servant in origin, but that accusation did not appear reliable even in contemporary times.) After Wang Chongrong was assassinated by his officer Chang Xingru (常行儒) in 887, then-reigning Emperor Xizong commissioned another older brother of Wang Chongrong's, Wang Chongying (Wang Gong's and Wang Yao's father), who was then the military governor of neighboring Shanguo Circuit (陝虢, headquartered in modern Sanmenxia, Henan) as the new military governor of Huguo, while making Wang Gong the acting military governor of Shanguo (and later, full military governor) and Wang Ke the commander of the armed forces (行軍司馬, Xingjun Sima) at Huguo.

Emperor Zhaozong's rejection of Li Maozhen's, Wang Xingyu's, and Han Jian's proposal brought a violent reaction from them, who marched on the imperial capital Chang'an and killed the chancellors Li Xi and Wei Zhaodu; they subsequently forced Emperor Zhaozong to issue a new edict moving Wang Gong to Huguo, Wang Xingyu's brother Wang Xingyue (王行約) from Kuangguo Circuit (匡國, also headquartered in modern Weinan) to Baoyi, and Wang Ke to Kuangguo. Meanwhile, Wang Xingyue was attacking Huguo, and Wang Ke sought aid from Li Keyong. Li Keyong, denouncing Li Maozhen, Wang Xingyu, and Han for killing Li Xi and Wei, marched south. When Wang Yao tried to block his path, he captured Jiang Prefecture and executed Wang Yao, and subsequently arrived at Huguo to rendezvous with Wang Ke. He then proceeded toward Jingnan. By the end of the year, Wang Xingyu had been defeated and was killed by his own subordinates in flight; Li Maozhen and Han were forced to sue for peace. Emperor Zhaozong then officially commissioned Wang Ke military governor of Huguo.

In 898, Wang Ke went to Hedong's capital Taiyuan to personally marry Li Keyong's daughter. During his absence from Huguo, Li Sizhao defended the circuit. Later in the year, Emperor Zhaozong bestowed the greater honorary chancellor title of Shizhong (侍中) on him. Later in 898, the Baoyi and Xuanwu forces again attacked Huguo; when Wang Ke sought aid from Hedong, Li Sizhao repelled the Baoyi and Xuanwu forces. Wang Ke, when receiving the news, was incensed at the eunuchs, but before he could launch an army against them, Emperor Zhaozong was restored in a countercoup. Hearing of the emperor's restoration, Wang Ke was the first among military governors to submit tributes to the restored emperor, drawing imperial favor for him.

Defeat and death Meanwhile, though, the bad blood between Wang Ke and Zhu Quanzhong continued to develop. In particular, after Zhu made a major attack on Yang Xingmi the military governor of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) but was repelled by Yang, he persuaded Qian Liu the military governor of Zhenhai (鎮海, headquartered in modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang) and Zhendong (鎮東, headquartered in modern Shaoxing, Zhejiang) Circuits, Zhong Chuan the military governor of Zhennan Circuit (鎮南, headquartered in modern Nanchang, Jiangxi), Du Hong the military governor of Wuchang Circuit (武昌, headquartered in modern Wuhan, Hubei), and Wang Shifan the military governor of Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Weifang, Shandong) to accuse Yang of aggression against them and request Emperor Zhaozong to appoint Zhu the commander of an operation against Yang. Wang Ke reacted by jointly submitting a petition with Li Keyong, Wang Rong the military governor of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei) and Wang Gao the military governor of Yiwu Circuit (義武, headquartered in modern Baoding, Hebei) accusing Zhu of aggression against them and asking that Yang be appointed the commander of an operation against Zhu. This allowed Emperor Zhaozong to decline both petitions. Meanwhile, by 901, Li Keyong had suffered defeats that caused his strength to wane, allowing Zhu to start reconsider another campaign to conquer Wang Ke's domain as a step in ultimately defeating Li Keyong. He therefore sent Wang Ke on a journey to Chang'an to pay homage to the emperor but sent assassins to kill Wang when he reached Zhenguo.

Notes and references

Old Book of Tang, vol. 182. New Book of Tang, vol. 187. History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 14. New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 42. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 260, 261, 262.