Wang Wujun
Wang Wujun (王武俊) (735 – August 9, 801[1]), courtesy name Yuanying (元英), né Monuogan (沒諾干), formally Prince Zhonglie of Langye (琅邪忠烈王), was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician during the Tang dynasty. He served as a long-time Jiedushi of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in Shijiazhuang, Hebei) during the reign of Emperor Dezong and ruling Chengde in a de facto independent manner from the imperial regime.
Background
Wang Wujun was born in 735 and originally known as Muonuogan. He was from Nujie (怒皆) tribe, of Khitan stock. His grandfather was named Kenagan (可訥干), and his father was named Luju (路俱). During Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's Kaiyuan era (713-741), Luju followed his leader Li Shi (李詩), who took 5,000 households in crossing into Tang borders to submit to Tang. Emperor Xuanzong praised them and allowed them to live in Ji Prefecture (薊州, in modern Tianjin).[2][3]
It is not known when Wang Wujun acquired the name of Wujun, but it is known that by age 14, he was known for his horsemanship and archery, and he became as famous as Zhang Alao (later known as Zhang Xiaozhong) in the region. Both of them later served the army officer Zhang Zhongzhi, who in turn served under the general An Lushan, who then controlled the region.[4]
Service under Li Baochen (Zhang Zhongzhi)
In 755, An Lushan
As Li Baochen grew old and intended to pass the territory to his son
Service under Li Weiyue
Meanwhile, Li Baochen had also been in alliance with several other military governors who were also ruling their circuits independently from the imperial regime and intending to pass their realms to their descendants —
After the defeat, Li Weiyue was even more suspicious of Wang, but his advisors pointed out that there was no one other than Wang who would be capable to command the army. Li Weiyue thus commissioned Wang, assisted by Wei Changning (衛常寧), to attack Zhao Prefecture, and put Wang Shizhen in charge of security at headquarters. Wang Wujun was relieved to get to leave Heng Prefecture, and once he exited the city, initially wanted to flee to Zhang. Wei pointed out that Emperor Dezong had issued an edict promising to give the offices that Li Weiyue wanted to whoever would cut off Li Weiyue's head and advocated for an attack on Li Weiyue. Wang Wujun thus notified Wang Shizhen and involved Li Weiyue's close associate Xie Zun (謝遵) in the plot at well. He made a surprise attack against Heng Prefecture, and Wang Shizhen and Xie opened the city gates to welcome him. Wang Wujun killed Li Weiyue and his associates and surrendered to the imperial government.[7]
Rebellion against Emperor Dezong
Emperor Dezong, in the aftermaths, divided Chengde's seven prefectures into three smaller circuits — with Zhang Xiaozhong receiving three prefectures and the title of military governor of the newly created Yidingcang Circuit (易定滄, headquartered in modern Baoding, Hebei, later renamed Yiwu Circuit (義武)), while Wang Wujun and Kang Rizhi received two prefectures each with lesser titles of military prefect (團練使, Tuanlianshi), of Hengji (恆冀) and Shenzhao (深趙, both headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang). This displeased both Zhu Tao and Wang — as Zhu had wanted Emperor Dezong to give him Shen Prefecture (深州, in modern Hengshui, Hebei), which went to Kang instead (Emperor Dezong gave Zhu two prefectures on paper, De (德州, in modern Dezhou, Shandong) and Di (棣州, in modern Binzhou, Shandong), both then still held by Li Na, and Wang believed that Emperor Dezong had reneged on the promise to reward him with the positions that Li Weiyue had wanted. He was further fearful when he received orders to provide Zhu's army with food and Ma Sui's army (which was then attacking Tian Yue) with horses, believing that Emperor Dezong might be using those orders to divert his power and getting ready to attack him next.[7]
Tian, hearing of Zhu's disaffection, sent emissaries to Zhu to persuade him to turn against the imperial forces and aid him. Zhu agreed, and in turn sent emissaries to Wang, persuading him to join the alliance as well and agreeing to give him Shen Prefecture, which Zhu occupied at the time. Wang was pleased, and agreed to join him and Tian. (Zhu also tried to persuade Zhang to join the alliance, but Zhang refused.) When Emperor Dezong sent emissaries to order Zhu and Wang to advance south against Tian, Wang arrested the imperial emissaries and delivered them to Zhu, thus openly turning against imperial authority. Zhu, as promised, transferred control of Shen Prefecture to Wang, while sending forces to join Wang's in sieging Kang at Zhao Prefecture.[7]
However, by this point, Tian was in desperate straits under siege from imperial forces commanded by Ma, Li Baozhen, and Li Qiu (李艽) at his capital Wei Prefecture (魏州). Zhu and Wang thus advanced south to relieve him, and as they arrived, so did additional imperial forces commanded by Li Huaiguang. Against Ma's advice of waiting until his soldiers had enough rest, Li Huaiguang decided to battle Zhu and Wang immediately. He had initial successes, but Wang cut his soldiers off from each other with a charge, leading to a major defeat for the imperial forces. Zhu and Wang then tried to cut off the imperial troops escape, but Ma then promised to request that Emperor Dezong put Zhu in charge of the entire region north of the Yellow River. Despite Wang's stern opposition, Zhu believed him and did not pursue imperial forces further, so the imperial forces were able to withdraw over a river from Wei Prefecture, and were able to take up a posture against the rebel forces, thus putting the armies into a stalemate. Zhu, seeing that he had been tricked by Ma, apologized to Wang, but Wang, while accepting the apology, thereafter resented Zhu.[7]
In the aftermaths of the imperial forces' defeat, Tian was grateful to Zhu, and offered to subjugate himself and Wang to Zhu — in effect, offering the emperor title to Zhu. Zhu declined, crediting Wang rather than himself for the victory. At the suggestion of Zhu's staff member Li Ziqian (李子千) and Wang's staff member Zheng Ru (鄭濡), they decided to each claim a princely title to show independence from imperial authority, but keep Tang's
As self-proclaimed Prince of Zhao
Meanwhile, though, as Zhu Tao's and Wang Wujun's troops were continuing to battle Tang imperial troops on Tian Yue's soil, all three of them were becoming financially drained. They pinned their hopes on alliance with Li Xilie, who had even greater pretensions, who was then ruling Huaixi Circuit (淮西, headquartered in modern Xuchang, Henan), which was then wealthy. They, along with Li Na, thus sent emissaries to Huaixi, suggesting to Li Xilie that he take imperial title. Li Xilie did not do so immediately, but began to claim titles greater than the ones bestowed him by Emperor Dezong.[9] (Li Xilie would eventually declare himself to be the emperor of a new state of Chu in spring 784, although without further pledge of allegiance by the four.)[10]
Meanwhile, in summer 783, an incident would occur to further to erode the alliance between Zhu and Wang. The imperial general Li Sheng had wanted to cut off the supply lines between Lulong and Weibo by capturing Lulong's Zhuo (涿州, in modern Baoding) and Mo (莫州, in modern Cangzhou) Prefectures, and therefore joined forces with Zhang Xiaozhong's son Zhang Shengyun (張昇雲) in sieging Zhu's general Zhang Jingji (鄭景濟) at Qingwan (清苑, in modern Baoding). Zhu left his general Ma Shi (馬寔) at Weibo and personally relieved Qingwan, defeating Li Sheng and Zhang Shengyun and forcing them to withdraw back to Yi Prefecture, under Zhang Xiaozhong's control. Upon defeating Li Sheng and Zhang Shengyun, however, Zhu did not immediately return to Weibo, and Wang sent his subordinate Song Duan (宋端) to Zhu, urging him to return to Weibo as soon as possible. When Song met Zhu, Song was harsh in his words, and Zhu threw a fit of anger—causing Wang to be fearful and to apologize to Ma in person. Zhu's angers subsided, and it was said that he continued to treat Wang as an ally, but that Wang's secret resentment toward Zhu grew even more. Wang subsequently responded to an overture by Li Baozhen into forming a secret alliance, although he also continued in alliance with Zhu, Tian, and Li Na.[9]
In fall 783, soldiers from Jingyuan Circuit (涇原, headquartered in modern
Resubmission to Emperor Dezong
As a result of Wang Wujun's removal of his own royal title, Emperor Dezong recommissioned him as the military governor of Chengde Circuit — adding Kang Rizhi's two prefectures to his territory, although not Zhang Xiaozhong's three prefectures.
Meanwhile, in the aftermaths of Wang's and Li Baozhen's victory over Zhu, De and Di Prefectures, which Zhu had taken over, surrendered to Wang and were incorporated into Chengde, formally under the command of Wang's son Wang Shizhen.[2] By 790, however, Zhao Gao (趙鎬) the prefect of Di Prefecture had offended Wang and was refusing Wang's summons. Meanwhile, there were rumors that Li Na, whom Tian Xu's older brother Tian Chao (田朝) served under as prefect of Qi Prefecture (齊州, in modern Jinan, Shandong), was planning to escort Tian Chao back to Weibo to vie for control of Weibo Circuit. Tian Xu feared this, and, under suggestion by his staff member Sun Guangzuo (孫光佐), he sent gifts to Li Na to please him and persuade him to send Tian Chao to Chang'an — and further suggested Li Na to accept Zhao's submission. Li Na therefore accepted Zhao's surrender and took Di Prefecture, despite Wang's attacks. Tian further cemented the relationship with Li Na by sending Sun to Pinglu's headquarters at Yun Prefecture (鄆州), announcing an imperial edict (which Tian Xu had forged) declaring Di Prefecture to be part of Pinglu Circuit. In anger, Wang Wujun sent his son Wang Shiqing (王士清) to attack Weibo's Bei Prefecture (貝州, in modern Xingtai, Hebei), occupying four counties of Bei Prefecture. In winter 790, Emperor Dezong, wanting to put an end to the campaigns between these circuits, ordered Li Na to return Di Prefecture to Chengde; Li Na demanded that Wang return the four counties of Bei Prefecture to Weibo first. Wang did so, and subsequently, Li Na returned Di Prefecture to Chengde.[14]
In 792, Li Na died, and his son
In 794, when Li Baozhen died, his son Li Jian (李緘) tried to take control of his Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi) and sought material aid (in forms of a loan) from Wang. Wang firmly rebuked him, and subsequently, without support from neighboring circuits or Zhaoyi's own officers, Li Jian gave up his attempt to seize the circuit. In 796, Emperor Dezong bestowed on Wang the greater honorary chancellor title of Zhongshu Ling (中書令).[17] Wang died in 801 and was posthumously honored with the same ceremony that had been used for the great general Hun Jian. Wang Shizhen succeeded him.[2]
Notes and references
- ^ "中央研究院".
- ^ a b c d Old Book of Tang, vol. 142.
- ^ According to the Zizhi Tongjian, a Xi leader named Li Shi submitted to Tang in 732, but it is not clear whether that Li Shi was the same Li Shi whom Luju followed. See Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 213.
- ^ a b c New Book of Tang, vol. 211.
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 217.
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 226.
- ^ a b c d e f Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 227.
- ^ "中央研究院".
- ^ a b Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 228.
- ^ a b c d Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 229.
- ^ a b Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 230.
- ^ "中央研究院".
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 231.
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 233.
- ^ The character for Duo is not in Unicode.
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 234.
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 235.