Wang Rong

Wang Rong (; c. 877? –921 ), was a warlord in the final years of the Tang dynasty who later became the only ruler of the state of Zhao during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Late in Tang, he initially tried to chart an independent course between the more powerful warlords Zhu Quanzhong and Li Keyong, but later was forced to become Zhu's vassal, although he continued to govern his domain without much interference from Zhu. After Zhu declared himself the emperor of a new dynasty of Later Liang (as Emperor Taizu), Wang continued to serve as a vassal and was created the Prince of Zhao. Later, though, when the Later Liang emperor tried to seize the Zhao domain by force, Wang broke away from Later Liang and realigned with Li Keyong's son and successor Li Cunxu the Prince of Jin instead. In 921, Wang was overthrown and killed in a coup led by his adoptive son Wang Deming, who subsequently took over his domain and changed back to the birth name of Zhang Wenli, before dying later in the year; Li Cunxu then defeated and killed Zhang's son and successor Zhang Chujin, incorporating Zhao into his Jin state.

Background Wang Rong was probably born in 877.

Subsequently, both Wang Rong and Li Quanzhong's son and successor Li Kuangwei remained enemies to Li Keyong, and in 890, when Emperor Xizong's brother and successor Emperor Zhaozong announced a general campaign against Li Keyong commanded by the chancellor Zhang Jun, he commissioned Wang Rong and Li Kuangwei as two of the commanding generals, although there was no indication Wang Rong actually conducted substantial warfare against Li Keyong on that occasion. (Indeed, it was said that both Wang Rong and Luo Hongxin the military governor of Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei) viewed Hedong as a guard against expansion of imperial power and therefore refused to contribute troops and supplies to the war effort, contributing to Zhang's subsequent defeat by Li Keyong.)

In 891, after defeating imperial forces, Li Keyong decided to attack Chengde, and he initially prevailed over Chengde forces. Li Kuangwei came to Wang's aid, and Li Keyong withdrew.

The battle at Yaoshan, however, led to a development in Wang Rong's favor briefly—as prior to sending Li Sixun, Li Keyong had sent two of his adoptive sons, Li Cunxiao, who was then the acting military governor of Xingmingci Circuit (邢洺磁, headquartered in modern Xingtai), and Li Cunxin, to try to relieve the siege on Yaoshan. As Li Cunxiao and Li Cunxin were rivals to each other for Li Keyong's favors, they did not work well together and would not advance, forcing Li Keyong to send Li Sixun instead. Li Cunxin then accused Li Cunxiao of being in secret communications with Wang Rong and Li Keyong's archrival Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan). Li Cunxiao, angry over Li Cunxin's accusations, broke away from Li Keyong and entered into an alliance with Wang Rong and Zhu. When Li Keyong subsequently attacked Li Cunxiao in spring 893, Wang Rong came to Li Cunxiao's aid, although his forces were then defeated by Li Keyong's. In turn, though, when Li Keyong attacked Wang Rong at Chengde's capital Zhen Prefecture , Li Cunxiao aided him, but Li Keyong's attack continued. (Wang also sought aid from Zhu, but Zhu was then locked in a campaign against Shi Pu the military governor of Ganhua Circuit (感化, headquartered in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu) and could not come to Wang's aid.) It took Li Kuangwei's subsequent arrival from Lulong to defeat Li Keyong and force Li Keyong's withdrawal.

In 897, when an attack by Li Maozhen the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi) forced Emperor Zhaozong to flee from Chang'an to Kuangguo Circuit (匡國, headquartered in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), then governed by Han Jian, Li Keyong wanted to start a campaign to aid the emperor, and therefore wrote Wang Rong and Wang Chucun's son and successor Wang Gao to request them to contribute to the campaign. (There was no record of what Wang Rong's response was, if any.) Li Keyong was subsequently forced to give up on the campaign when his vassal Liu Rengong, whom Li Keyong had installed as the military governor of Lulong after defeating Li Kuangchou, turned against him and became independent. Subsequently, in 898, when Li Keyong considered suing for peace with Zhu Quanzhong in light of his recent setbacks, he wrote Wang Rong and asked Wang to serve as the intermediary between him and Zhu, but Zhu subsequently rejected Li Keyong's overture. Later that year, Emperor Zhaozong gave Wang the honorary chancellor title of Zhongshu Ling .

In 900, when Zhu sent his general Ge Congzhou to attack Yichang Circuit (義昌, headquartered in modern Cangzhou, Hebei), which Liu Rengong had captured earlier and had given to his son Liu Shouwen to govern, Ge had initial successes against Liu Shouwen, but after Wang Rong sent messengers to mediate and Ge encountered torrential rains, Zhu recalled Ge and his troops.

Zhu, however, then decided that he would attack Wang for communicating with Li Keyong. He approached Zhen Prefecture and attacked it, burning its southern gate. Wang, in fear, sent his assistant Zhou Shi to plead with Zhu, pointing out both that Wang had parlayed with Li Keyong to achieve peace and that the Chengde people had been loyal to the Wang family for generations and would fight fervently for Wang Rong. Zhu agreed to peace, but had Wang send his oldest son Wang Zhaozuo and the sons of many Chengde officers to Xuanwu to serve as hostages and had Wang also surrender a large amount of silk. He then withdrew, and he gave a daughter in marriage to Wang Zhaozuo. Wang Rong thereafter became a vassal of Zhu's.

After Zhu forced Emperor Zhaozong to move the capital from Chang'an to Luoyang and then assassinated Emperor Zhaozong in 904, he forced Emperor Zhaozong's son and successor Emperor Ai to yield the throne to him in 907, ending the Tang dynasty and establishing a new Later Liang with Zhu as its Emperor Taizu. Wang Rong, whose Chengde Circuit had been renamed Wushun Circuit by this point (to observe naming taboo as Zhu's father was named Zhu Cheng ,

In 910, Wang Rong's mother Lady He died. Emperor Taizu sent imperial messengers to mourn her and issued an edict formally recalling Wang to active status from his mourning period. The nearby circuits also all sent mourners—including Hedong, whose military governor was Li Keyong's son and successor Li Cunxu the Prince of Jin, who was one of the few regional rulers who refused to recognize the Later Liang emperor's authority. When the Later Liang emissary happened to see the Jin emissary, he was surprised. After he returned to the Later Liang capital Kaifeng, he informed this to Emperor Taizu and indicated his suspicions that Wang Rong and Wang Chuzhi might be secretly aligning with Jin. As Luo Hongxin's son and successor at Weibo, Luo Shaowei the Prince of Ye, had recently died, Emperor Taizu wanted to use this opportunity to take effective control of Weibo, Wushun, and Yiwu. In winter 910, as it happened at that time that Liu Rengong's son and successor Liu Shouguang the Prince of Yan (who had seized Lulong after overthrowing his own father Liu Rengong and putting Liu Rengong under house arrest), who was a nominal Later Liang vassal as well, was posturing to attack Yiwu, Emperor Taizu sent his attendants Du Tingyin and Ding Yanhui to take two corps of Weibo soldiers north to Wushun's Shen and Ji (both in modern Hengshui, Hebei) Prefectures, claiming to be helping Wushun and Yiwu to defend against Liu Shouguang's attack. Wang Rong's general Shi Gongli , who was the defender of Shen Prefecture, suspected the Later Liang army's intentions, and therefore suggested to Wang that he should refuse the offer. Wang, not wanting to create any disputes between his army and the Later Liang imperial army, ordered Shi to vacate his troops from Shen. Soon thereafter, however, Du and Ding seized the controls of Shen and Ji Prefectures, respectively, slaughtered the remaining Wushun soldiers therein, and built up the defenses to wait for the arrival for the main Later Liang imperial forces commanded by the general Wang Jingren. Wang ordered Shi to attack the Later Liang forces, but could not recapture the two prefectures quickly. He thereafter sought emergency aid from both Liu Shouguang (who refused) and Li Cunxu (who agreed). Li Cunxu, with Wang Chuzhi also urging action from him, immediately launched his troops, with his general Zhou Dewei advancing first and he himself following, and headed for Zhen Prefecture to aid Wang Rong. From this point on, Wushun (which then changed its name back to Chengde) and Yiwu renounced their loyalty to Later Liang and restored their use of the Tang dynasty era name of Tianyou (which Jin, as well as two other states that did not recognize Later Liang imperial authority (Qi and Wu), also used), and in effect became completely independent polities. Wang Rong also sent his adoptive son Wang Deming, along with 37 corps of the Zhao troops, to accompany Li Cunxu in his campaigns in the subsequent years.

In summer 914, Wang Rong and Zhou jointly attacked Xing Prefecture, but after initial setbacks against Yang, withdrew.

Fall and death As the years went by, it was said that Wang Rong took the loyalty of the Zhao people for granted, and he lived luxuriously, building many manors and gardens for his enjoyment. (While his mother Lady He was alive, she curbed his wasteful tendencies, but after her death, those tendencies grew more and more.) He did not pay attention to the governance of his state, and he entrusted those matters to his staff members, particularly the commander of the army Li Ai and the eunuch Li Honggui . He also spent much time in worshipping Buddhas and Taoist gods, as well as alchemy. The expenditures increased greatly, and the people began to suffer under heavy tax burdens. In particular, he liked visiting his manor in the mountains to the west of Zhen Prefecture's main city; on his visits, he often took around 10,000 men with him to guard him, further exacerbating the expenditure situation and tiring out the army. Meanwhile, wanting Wang Deming to serve the commander of his personal guards, he recalled Wang Deming from his service under Li Cunxu against Later Liang, and replaced Wang with Fu Xi .

In winter 920, when Wang Rong was again visiting the mountains, Li Honggui pointed out that by frequently spending time away from headquarters, he was exposing himself to the risk of mutiny, and also was not showing enough concerns to Li Cunxu's war efforts against Later Liang, which Li Cunxu was personally leading. Wang initially agreed to return to Zhen Prefecture, but another eunuch, Shi Ximeng , accused Li Honggui of falsely alarming Wang. Wang agreed, and therefore decided to stay at the manor without stating when he would return to Zhen Prefecture. Li Honggui thereafter had the officer Su Hanheng take Wang Rong's guard soldiers into the manor to state their grievances. When Wang would not listen, the soldiers killed Shi. In anger and fear, Wang immediately returned to his headquarters at Zhen Prefecture. That night, he had Wang Zhaozuo and Wang Deming slaughter Li Honggui and Li Ai, as well as their clans. Also killed were tens of other families of Li Honggui's and Li Ai's associates, including Su's. Many of Su's associates were arrested, and the army fell into a sense of terror.

After Li Honggui's and Li Ai's death, Wang Rong entrusted the affairs of the state to Wang Zhaozuo. Wang Zhaozuo, however, alienated the soldiers by being arrogant and harsh, including killing many of Li Honggui's associates. 500 soldiers who were commanded by Li Honggui considered deserting, but could not resolve to do so. At that time, it happened that Wang Rong was awarding army soldiers with cash, but Wang Rong, despising the guards for killing Shi, ordered that the guards receive no rewards, causing the guards to be further terrified. Wang Deming, who at this point was considering turning against his adoptive father, falsely informed the guards that Wang Rong was planning to slaughter them all, further drawing their anger and fear.

One night in spring 921, the guard soldiers were feasting. One of them stated that he knew what Wang Deming was thinking, and that they should rebel. The other soldiers agreed, and they entered the headquarters. At that time, Wang Rong happened to be making sacrifices in a Taoist ceremony, and two soldiers rushed in and cut off his head. The officer Zhang Youshun then went to Wang Deming's mansion, urging him to take over the circuit. Wang Deming agreed. He changed his name back to his birth name of Zhang Wenli, and then slaughtered Wang Rong's clan, including Wang Zhaozuo, only sparing Wang Zhaozuo's wife (the Later Liang emperor Zhu Youzhen's sister, who had been given the title Princess Puning), but submitted a petition to Li Cunxu, pledging loyalty. Li Cunxu's initial reaction was wanting to attack Zhang, but his staff members persuaded him to commission Zhang the acting military governor of Chengde to avoid having to fight wars on two fronts, so Li Cunxu initially did so. However, after Zhang, himself worried about Li Cunxu's intentions, made overtures to not only Zhu Youzhen but also the Khitan Emperor Taizu, Li Cunxu, also with Fu's urging, declared a general campaign against Zhang. Zhang, upon hearing of Li Cunxu's declaration, died in fear, and was succeeded by his son Zhang Chujin. Zhang Chujin initially was able to hold out against Jin forces, but by fall 922 Zhen Prefecture had fallen. Zhang Wenli's family was slaughtered. Meanwhile, Wang Rong's body, which had been left unburied in a burned mansion, was recovered by Wang Rong's former subordinates and buried properly. (Wang Zhaohui had escaped the slaughter after being hidden and protected by some soldiers loyal to Wang Rong, but did not reveal his identity until years later, during the reign of Li Siyuan, who succeeded Li Cunxu; he married Fu's daughter and would eventually have a civil service career that lasted at least to the time of Later Zhou.)

Personal information Father Wang Jingchong (Prince Zhongmu of Changshan) Mother Lady He, honored as the Lady Dowager of Wei (died 910) Children Wang Zhaozuo (killed by Zhang Wenli 921) Wang Zhaohui (born 912) Adoptive Child Wang Deming , né Zhang Wenli

Notes and references

Old Book of Tang, vol. 142. New Book of Tang, vol. 211. History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 54. New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 39. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 255, 256, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 266, 267, 268, 269, 271.