Wang Shifan

Wang Shifan (874 – July 10, 908) was a warlord late in the Chinese Tang dynasty, who ruled Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Weifang, Shandong) from 889 to 905 (formally, as its military governor (Jiedushi) from 891 to 903). He was initially a vassal of the powerful military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan), Zhu Quanzhong, but rose against Zhu in 903 in response to an edict issued by Emperor Zhaozong of Tang. (Whether the edict was actually the will of Emperor Zhaozong was unclear.) After he was defeated by Zhu, he resubmitted to Zhu. In 908, by which point Zhu had taken over the Tang throne and established a new Later Liang as its Emperor Taizu, in response to the plea by the wife of Emperor Taizu's nephew Zhu Youning , who was killed in Wang's resistance campaign, Emperor Taizu ordered that Wang and his entire family be executed.

Background

Wang Shifan was born in 874, during the reign of Emperor Xizong. He had at least one older brother, Wang Shiyue , and at least four younger brothers, Wang Shike , Wang Shihui , Wang Shilu , and Wang Shiyue . In 881 or 882, Wang Jingwu expelled the military governor An Shiru , took over Pinglu, and claimed the title of acting military governor. and was subsequently commissioned as the military governor by Wang Duo.

Late rule In 898, Emperor Zhaozong bestowed the honorary chancellor title of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi on Wang Shifan. In early 903, with Fengxiang's situation becoming increasingly desperate, Han had Emperor Zhaozong issue an edict calling on the military governors around the realm to rise and attack Zhu.

In 907, Zhu forced Emperor Zhaozong's son and successor Emperor Ai to yield the throne to him, ending Tang and starting a new Later Liang (with him as its Emperor Taizu). Wang was thereafter recalled from Heyang to Luoyang and made a general of the imperial guards. Meanwhile, after Emperor Taizu subsequently created many of his sons and nephews' imperial princes, Zhu Youning's wife wept and told him:

Emperor Taizu responded, "I almost forgot about this bandit." He then sent an emissary to Luoyang to order the Wang clan be massacred. When the emissary got to Luoyang, he dug a large pit in the ground and then announced Emperor Taizu's edict. Wang Shifan set up a large feast table and sat with his clan members, and then responded, "No one can escape death, particularly the guilty ones. I do not wish for our bodies to lie around without order between the elders and the children." After the feast started, he ordered that the clan members, from the youngest ones first, be led to the pit to be executed. Some 200 died, including Wang himself and his brothers Wang Shihui and Wang Shiyue. In 925, by which time Later Liang had been destroyed and Li Keyong's son Li Cunxu was the emperor of a newly established Later Tang (as Emperor Zhuangzong), Emperor Zhuangzong ordered that Wang Shifan be given posthumous honors.

Notes and references

New Book of Tang, vol. 187. History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 13. New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 42. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 258, 261, 263, 264, 265, 266.