Wang Chuzhi (王處直)

Overview

The translated histories identify Wang Chuzhi as an aristocrat, military officer, official, and rebel. This record brings together 31 passages from 7 chapters across 3 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Wang Chuzhi	王處直	Wang Chuzhi
Personal	Chuzhi	處直
Personal name	Chuzhi	處直	Chuzhi
Given	Chuzhi	處直	Chuzhi
Personal name	Chuzhi	處直
Given name	Chuzhi	處直
Personal name	Chuzhi	處直	Chǔzhí
Title	Prince of Beiping	北平王	Beiping Wang
Title	Prince of Taiyuan	太原王	Taiyuan Wang
Surname	Wang	王	Wang
Surname	Wang	王
Personal name	Wang Chuzhi	王處直	Wang Chuzhi
Personal name	Wang Chuzhi	王處直	Wáng Chǔzhí
Title	Wang Chuzhi of Beiping	北平王王處直
Courtesy name	Yunming	允明	Yunming

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · jiuwudaishi:006:s0025, jiuwudaishi:020:s0047, jiuwudaishi:054:s0128
Sex: male
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0187, jiuwudaishi:141:s0075, liaoshi:002:s0039, liaoshi:075:s0088, xinwudaishi:002:s0097

Roles

Aristocrat
Military Officer
Official
Rebel
Ruler
Warlord

Life and dates

Death

Age: 61
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0141
Source Date: Text: 天祐十九年 · Western Year: AD 922
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:141:s0075

Age

Age: 61 · Reckoning: sui
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0141

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 乾化元年六月 · Western Year: AD 911
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:006:s0113
Source Date: Text: 光化三年 · Western Year: AD 900
Explicit · liaoshi:075:s0090
Source Date: Text: 光化三年六月 · Western Year: AD 900
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:020:s0045, jiuwudaishi:020:s0047
Source Date: Text: 六年 · Western Year: AD 921
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:002:s0039
Source Date: Text: 天祐元年 · Western Year: AD 904
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:054:s0139
Source Date: Text: 天祐十九年 · Western Year: AD 922
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:141:s0075
Source Date: Text: 开平四年 · Western Year: AD 910
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:002:s0097
Source Date: Text: 處直分易、定以為帥，亦既重侯 · Western Interval: Start: AD 900 · End: AD 924
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:054:s0187
Source Date: Text: 開平四年十一月 · Western Year: AD 910
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:006:s0025

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Sibling of Wang Chucun (王處存)
Kinship Term: younger maternal brother / 母弟 · Shared Parentage: maternal-half · Subject Relative Age: younger · Line: maternal · Subject Role: younger-brother · Object Role: elder-brother · Intermediary Person Ids: Mother of Wang Chucun and Wang Chuzhi (王處存母)
Kinship Term: elder brother / 兄 · Shared Parentage: full · Subject Relative Age: elder · Subject Role: elder-brother · Object Role: younger-brother · Line: paternal
Parent of Wang Du (王都)
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: father
Kinship Term: adopted son / 養子 · Parentage: adoptive · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Kinship Term: became Chuzhi's son / 為處直之子 · Parentage: adoptive · Subject Role: adoptive-father · Object Role: adoptive-son
Kinship Term: illegitimate son / 孽子 · Parentage: uncertain · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Parent of Wang Yu (王鬱)
Kinship Term: illegitimate son / 孽子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: father · Line: paternal
Parent of Wang Yu (王鬱)
Kinship Term: illegitimate son / 孽子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Child of Mother of Wang Chucun and Wang Chuzhi (王處存母)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son · Line: maternal

Kinship Role: sons · Count: 2 · Note: 諸子尚幼 — sons still young when Du made vice governor
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0155

Career and standing

Label: Grand Guardian / 太保 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 天祐元年 · Western Year: AD 904
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0139
Label: acting governor / 留後 · Action: appointed
Explicit · liaoshi:075:s0092
Label: Honorary Left Vice Director / 檢校左僕射 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0138
Label: Military Governor of Yiwu Army / 義武軍節度使 · Action: appointed
Explicit · liaoshi:075:s0088, liaoshi:075:s0093
Label: commander of horse and infantry of Dingzhou rear guard / 定州後院軍都知兵馬使 · Action: held
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0132
Label: commander / 帥 · Action: held · Place: Yi and Ding / 易、定
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0187
Label: Director of Military Affairs / 都知兵馬使 · Action: held
Explicit · liaoshi:075:s0089
Label: Honorary Grand Commandant / 檢校太尉 · Action: held
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0140
Label: Military Governor of Tang Yiwu Army / 唐義武軍節度使 · Action: held
Explicit · liaoshi:002:s0039
Label: acting governor / 留後 · Action: installed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0132
Title: Prince of Taiyuan / 太原王 · Action: granted · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 天祐元年 · Western Year: AD 904
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0139
Title: Prince of Beiping / 北平王 · Action: held
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0140, xinwudaishi:002:s0097
Status: imprisoned · Action: entered · By Person Id: Wang Du (王都)
Explicit · liaoshi:002:s0039
Status: rebel · Action: entered
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:006:s0025
Status: powerful-regional-lord · Action: held · Label: powerful regional lord / 重侯
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0187
By Person Id: Wang Du (王都) · Action: deposed-to-private-residence
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0141
Action: deposed · Other Person Id: Wang Du (王都)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:141:s0082

Places and affiliations

Place: Ding / 定 · Relation: held
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0187
Place: Dingzhou / 定州 · Relation: ruled
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:006:s0025
Place: Yi / 易 · Relation: held
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0187

Works and attributed material

Kind: judgment · Role: subject · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0187, jiuwudaishi:054:s0188, jiuwudaishi:054:s0189
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Zhang Cunjing (張存敬)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0133, jiuwudaishi:054:s0135, jiuwudaishi:054:s0136

Events and relationships

Kind: ritual · Role: sponsor · Action: erected-virtuous-governance-stele-and-dragon-tower
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:141:s0076, jiuwudaishi:141:s0078
Kind: defection · Role: rebel · Action: sided-with-Jin
Explicit · xinwudaishi:002:s0097
Relation: allied-with · Person Id: Wang Rong (王熔)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:006:s0025

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: favored an illegitimate son and lost his state · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0187, jiuwudaishi:054:s0188
Assessment: wealth and honor lasted so long that benevolence and righteousness were neglected; successive ruin followed · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0189

Source notes

Historicity: historical
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0128

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 6Volume 6 Book of Later Liang 6: Taizu Annals 6 · 2 passages

Open chapter

時鎮州王熔、定州王處直叛，結連晉人，故遣將討之。 Wang Rong of Zhenzhou and Wang Chuzhi of Dingzhou had rebelled and joined the Jin, so troops were sent against them.

矧又王熔、處直未曾削爵除名，若翻然改圖，不遠而復，必仍舊貫，當保前功。 Wang Rong and Chuzhi have not been stripped of rank; if they turn back soon, they keep their posts and their past merit.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 20Volume 20 Book of Later Liang 20: Biographies 10: Xie Tong, Si Maye, Liu Han, Wang Jinrao, Gao Shao, Ma Sixun, Zhang Cunjin, Kou Yanqing · 1 passage

Open chapter

又移師以攻中山，至懷德驛，大破定人五萬眾，王處直乞降，捍復單馬入州，安撫而回。 He marched on Zhongshan next; at Huaidi post fifty thousand men of Ding were shattered; Wang Chuzhi sued for peace; Han rode in alone again to calm the city and came back.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 54Volume 54 Book of Later Tang 30: Biographies 6: Wang Rong, Wang Zhaohui, Wang Chuzhi · 16 passages

Open chapter

王處直。 Wang Chuzhi.

〈（《王處直傳》，原本止存王都廢立之事，而處直事闕佚。 (The Biography of Wang Chuzhi in the original preserved only the matter of Wang Du's deposition and installation, while Chuzhi's affairs were missing.

今考《舊唐書》列傳云：處直，字允明，處存母弟也。 Examining the biographies in the Old Book of Tang, it states: Chuzhi, courtesy name Yunming, was the younger maternal brother of Chucun.

初為定州後院軍都知兵馬使，汴人入寇，處直拒戰，不利而退，三軍大噪，推處直為帥，乃權知留後事。 At first he was commander of horse and infantry of the Dingzhou rear guard army. When the Bian forces invaded, Chuzhi fought them but was driven back. The three armies raised a clamor and installed him as commander, and he then acted as acting governor.

汴將張存敬攻城，梯衝雲合，處直登城呼曰：「敝邑於朝廷未嘗不忠，於藩鄰未嘗失禮，不虞君之涉吾地，何也？」 The Bian general Zhang Cunjing attacked the city with scaling ladders and battering rams massed like clouds. Chuzhi mounted the wall and called out, "Our humble district has never been disloyal to the court nor discourteous to neighboring prefectures. I did not expect Your Lordship to enter our land—why?"

處直報曰：「吾兄與太原同時立勳王室，地又親鄰，修好往來，常道也。 Chuzhi replied, "My elder brother and Taiyuan at the same time established merit for the royal house. Our lands are close neighbors, and maintaining friendly relations is the constant way.

天祐元年，加太保，封太原王。 In the first year of Tianyou he was promoted to Grand Guardian and enfeoffed as Prince of Taiyuan.

後仕偽梁，授北平王、檢校太尉，不數歲，復歸於莊宗。 Later he served the Liang, was appointed Prince of Beiping and Honorary Grand Commandant, and within a few years returned to Zhuangzong.