Overview
Wang Feng was a general and Official.
IdentityHistorical · Male
Life and dates
Attested activity
BC 30 to BC 25 建始三年至河平四年
BC 33 to BC 7 成帝
BC 33 to BC 7 成帝之世
Works and attributed material
evacuate the court and people onto boats and the city walls
Council proposal · Speaker
- Memorial · Author · With Emperor Cheng (成帝)
asked for leniency toward Yang Rong
Events and relationships
Advised denying books
Continued pressing the case after the emperor refused prosecution
Monopolized power and alienated Wang Shang
Sought allegations against Wang Shang and pressed for investigation
- Relation Marriage ally of · Person Yang Rong (楊肜)
Assessments and attributes
- Assessment ashamed and regretful after his flood proposal failed · Mode narrator
References in the histories
No matching passages.
Book of Han, Chapter 90Volume 79: Feng Fengshi · 4 passages
Book of Han, Chapter 91Volume 80: The Six Sons of Emperors Xuan and Yuan · 2 passages
Book of Han, Chapter 93Volume 82: Wang Shang, Shi Dan and Fu Xi · 14 passages
而帝元舅大司馬大將軍王鳳顓權，行多驕僭。
Meanwhile Wang Feng, the emperor's senior maternal uncle, served as grand marshal and grand general and dominated the government, and his behavior was frequently overbearing and out of line.
商論議不能平鳳，鳳知之，亦疏商。
Wang Shang could not curb Wang Feng in council debate; Feng noticed the friction and kept his distance from him.
大將軍鳳以為太后與上及後宮可御船，令吏民上長安城以避水。
Wang Feng proposed putting the empress dowager, the emperor, and the harem aboard boats and ordering officials and townsfolk onto the ramparts of Chang'an to ride out the supposed flood.
群臣皆從鳳議。
The entire court fell in behind Wang Feng's plan.
而鳳大慚，自恨失言。
Wang Feng was deeply embarrassed and bitterly regretted his rash words.
初，大將軍鳳連昏楊肜為琅邪太守，其郡有災害十四，已上。
Wang Feng had earlier formed a marriage alliance with Yang Rong, governor of Langye, a commandery that had suffered more than a dozen calamities.
商部屬按問，鳳以曉商曰：「災異天事，非人力所為。
Wang Shang ordered his staff to look into the matter. Wang Feng sent word: 'Portents come from Heaven; no mortal official controls them.
商不聽，竟奏免肜，奏果寢不下，鳳重以是怨商，陰求其短，使人上書言商閨門內事。
Wang Shang ignored the hint, memorialized for Yang Rong's removal, and saw the document shelved. Wang Feng's resentment deepened; he began hunting for dirt and had someone memorialize about scandal inside Wang Shang's household.
天子以為暗昧之過，不足以傷大臣，鳳固爭，下其事司隸。
The emperor treated the charges as private indiscretions unworthy of ruining a senior minister, but Wang Feng pressed the case until the matter was referred to the metropolitan superintendent.
及商以閨門事見考，自知為鳳所中，惶怖，更欲內女為援，乃因新幸李婕妤家白見其女。
Once Wang Shang faced investigation over domestic scandal, he realized Wang Feng had set him up. In panic he tried to push his daughter into the palace as a counterweight and used the household of the newly favored Lady Li to present her.
鳳固爭之，於是制詔御史：「蓋丞相以德輔翼國家，典領百寮，協和萬國，為職任莫重焉。
Wang Feng would not let the matter drop, and the emperor had to issue an edict to the censor-in-chief: 'The chancellor exists to support the dynasty with moral authority, to head the bureaucracy, and to keep the realm in harmony—no burden is weightier.
商死後，連年日蝕、地震，直臣京兆尹王章上封事召開，訟商忠直無罪，言鳳顓權蔽主。
After Wang Shang's death, solar eclipses and earthquakes followed year on year. Wang Zhang, the principled governor of the capital, submitted a sealed memorial; when the emperor summoned him and opened it, Zhang argued that Wang Shang had been loyal and blameless and that Wang Feng had monopolized power and blinded the throne.
鳳竟以法誅章，語在《元後傳》。
Wang Feng eventually had Wang Zhang executed on a legal pretext; the story is told in the biography of Empress Dowager Yuan.
是時，太子長舅陽平侯王鳳爲衛尉、侍中，與皇后、太子皆憂，不知所出。
The crown prince's elder maternal uncle, Yangping Marquis Wang Feng, served as Commandant of the Guard and palace attendant; he, the empress, and the crown prince were all anxious and at a loss.