Sui and Tang · Official

Wang Hong 鉷

First attested AD 749; died AD 752

Passages: 30
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Wang Hong was an official.

Life and dates

Death

AD 752 天寶十一載
Granted death by strangulation in the Three Guard kitchens
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 226

Attested activity

AD 749 天寶八載
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 134, passage 186
AD 752 天寶十一載
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 134, passage 208
AD 750 明年
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 134, passage 187

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Sibling of Wang Xi (錫)
elder brother 兄 · Uncertain siblings
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 230
Child of Principal mother of Wang Hong (嫡母)
principal mother 嫡母
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 198
Parent of Wang Zhun (準)
son 子
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 195
Sibling of Wang Hua (銲)
younger brother 弟 · Uncertain siblings
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 198

Kinship Role sons · Quantity unspecified
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 228

Career and standing

capital prefect 京兆尹
AD 750 明年 · Appointed
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 187
chief censor 御史大夫
AD 750 明年 · Appointed
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 187
Duke of Taiyuan County 太原縣公
AD 749 to AD 752 天寶 · Enfeoffed
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 205
Ordered
AD 752 天寶十一載 · Execution · Authority Emperor Xuanzong (帝)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 226

Places and affiliations

Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 186

Events and relationships

Forced to death after brother's rebellion
AD 752 天寶十一載 · Legal · Accused
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 226
Relation Client of · Person Li Linfu (林甫)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 192
Relation Rival of · Person Yang Guozhong (楊國忠)
Strongly inferred · New Book of Tang 134, passages 206, 215

Assessments and attributes

Assessment feared for concentrating more than twenty commissioner posts · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 188
Item Self-Raining Pavilion 自雨亭 · Relation Possessed
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 134, passage 229

References in the histories

Search passages

History

30 passages

New Book of Tang, Chapter 134Volume 134 Biographies 59: Yuwen, Wei, Yang, Wang · 30 passages

韋堅之獄，王鉷等方文致，而慎矜依違不甚力，鉷恨之，雖林甫亦不悅。 During Wei Jian's prosecution, Wang Hong and others were busy fabricating the case, but Shenjin hedged and did not throw himself into it. Hong bore a grudge, and even Li Linfu was displeased.

又厚誅斂，向天子意，人雖被蠲貸，鉷更奏取腳直，轉異貨，百姓間關輸送，乃倍所賦。 He also levied crushing taxes to please the emperor. Even when the people had been granted tax relief or loans, Hong would memorialize to collect transport fees, converting goods into exotic commodities. Commoners struggled along the roads to deliver them and often paid double the original levy.

天寶八載，方士李渾上言見太白老人告玉版秘記事，帝詔鉷按其地求得之，因是群臣奉上帝號。 In Tianbao year 8, the adept Li Hun reported that the Old Man of Taibai had revealed the secret chronicle inscribed on a jade tablet. The emperor ordered Wang Hong to search the spot and recover it, whereupon the officials presented the emperor with a superior honorific title.

明年，鉷為御史大夫，兼京兆尹，加知總監、栽接使。 The following year Wang Hong was made chief censor and concurrently capital prefect, with added posts as commissioner of general supervision and grafting.

鉷於第左建大院，文書叢委，吏爭入求署一字，累數日不得者。 Hong built a large compound beside his residence where documents piled up in heaps. Clerks fought to get in for a single signature; some waited days without success.

帝寵任鉷亞林甫，而楊國忠不如也。 The emperor favored Wang Hong second only to Li Linfu — Yang Guozhong did not compare.

然鉷畏林甫，謹事之。 Yet Wang Hong feared Li Linfu and attended him with scrupulous deference.

安祿山怙寵，見林甫白事，稍自怠，林甫欲示之威，托以事召王大夫，俄而鉷至，趨進俯伏，祿山不覺自失，鉷語久，祿山益恭。 An Lushan, secure in imperial favor, had grown somewhat casual when reporting to Li Linfu. Linfu wanted to show him who held power and, on some pretext, summoned Chief Censor Wang. Hong arrived at once, hurried forward, and prostrated himself. An Lushan was visibly unsettled; as Hong spoke on, An Lushan grew ever more deferential.

故林甫雖忌其盛，亦以附己親之。 So although Li Linfu resented Wang Hong's towering power, he also treated him warmly because Hong was firmly attached to him.

鉷事嫡母孝，而與弟銲友愛。 Wang Hong was filial toward his principal mother and deeply affectionate with his younger brother Hua.

銲疾鉷宦達，常忿慢不弟，鉷終不異情。 Hua resented his brother's rise and often treated him with anger and disrespect, failing in brotherly duty — yet Hong's affection for him never changed.

鉷與銲召術士語不軌，術士驚，引去。 Wang Hong and his brother Hua summoned a diviner and spoke of treasonous designs; the man was frightened and left.

鉷畏事泄，托它事捕殺之以絕口。 Hong feared exposure and, on some other pretext, had the man arrested and killed to seal his lips.

王府司馬定安公主子韋會竊語於家，左右往白鉷，鉷遣季鄰收會長安獄，夜縊死，以屍還家。 Wei Hui, son of Princess Ding'an and marshal of a princely household, held private talks at home. Servants reported this to Hong, who sent Jia Jilin to take Hui into the Chang'an jail, strangle him by night, and send the body back to his family.

鉷封太原縣公，兼殿中監。 Hong was enfeoffed as Duke of Taiyuan County and also made director of the palace directorate.

為中丞也，與楊國忠同列，用林甫薦為大夫，故國忠不悅。 While serving as censor-in-chief he sat alongside Yang Guozhong, but when Li Linfu's recommendation made him chief censor, Guozhong took offense.

銲與邢縡善，縡，鴻臚少卿璹子也，以功名相期，鉷因銲亦交縡。 Hua was close to Xing Yi, the son of vice minister of guest affairs Shuo; the two expected great things of each other, and through Hua, Hong came to know Yi as well.

先二日事覺，帝召鉷付告牒。 Two days before, the plot was discovered; the emperor summoned Hong and gave him the denunciation.

鉷意銲與縡連，故緩其事，但督兩縣尉捕賊。 Hong thought Hua was implicated with Yi, so he dragged his feet and only pressed the assistant magistrates of the two counties to catch the rebels.

既至，縡與其黨持弓刃突出格鬥，鉷與國忠繼至，縡黨相語曰：「勿鬥大夫。」 When they got there, Yi and his men rushed out with bows and blades to fight. Hong and Guozhong arrived soon after, and Yi's followers whispered to one another: "Do not fight the chief censor."

國忠奏鉷與謀，帝不信，林甫亦為鉷言，故帝原銲不問。 Guozhong reported that Hong had joined the plot, but the emperor refused to believe it. Li Linfu spoke up for Hong as well, so the emperor pardoned Hua and dropped the matter.

然欲鉷請銲罪，使國忠諷之，鉷良久曰：「弟為先人所愛，義不欲舍而謀存。」 The emperor still wanted Hong to accuse Hua and had Guozhong drop hints. After a long pause Hong said: "My younger brother was beloved by our ancestors; I cannot in conscience abandon him and plot to save myself."

鉷未知，方上表自解，有詔希烈訊鉷矣，有司不肯通奏。 Hong knew nothing of this and was submitting a memorial to clear himself when an edict had already ordered Chen Xilie to interrogate him; the offices would not even forward his petition.

鉷見林甫，林甫曰：「事後矣。」 Hong went to see Li Linfu, who told him: "It is too late."

俄而銲至，國忠問曰：「大夫與否？」 Hua was brought in shortly afterward, and Guozhong asked: "Was the chief censor part of it or not?"

未及應，侍御史裴冕叱銲曰：「上以大夫故官君五品，君為臣不忠，為弟不誼。 Before Hua could reply, attendant censor Pei Mian shouted at him: "The emperor gave you a fifth-rank post for the chief censor's sake, yet as a subject you are disloyal and as a brother you are faithless.

大夫豈與反事乎？」 Would the chief censor ever have joined a rebellion?"

獄具，詔銲杖死，鉷賜死三衛廚。 When the case was closed, an edict ordered Hua beaten to death; Hong was granted the privilege of death by strangulation in the Three Guard kitchens.

冕請國忠，以其屍歸斂葬之。 Pei Mian asked Guozhong to allow Hong's body to be taken home for proper burial.

鉷兄錫，見諸弟貴盛，不肯仕，鉷強之，為太子仆。 Hong's elder brother Xi, seeing his younger brothers rise to wealth and rank, refused office; Hong pressed him until he accepted the post of palace attendant to the heir apparent.