Qin and Han · Official

Wang Wenshu 王溫舒

Attested BC 120 - BC 107

Passages: 22
Chapters: 6
Histories: 3

Overview

The translated histories identify Wang Wenshu as a general, judge, and official. This record brings together 22 passages from 6 chapters across 3 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Wang Wenshu	王溫舒	Wang Wenshu
Title	Commandant of the Capital	中尉
Surname	Wang	王	Wáng
Personal name	Wang Wenshu	王溫舒	Wáng Wēnshū
Personal	Wang Wenshu	王溫舒	Wáng Wēnshū
Personal	Wang Wenshu	温舒	Wang Wenshu
Given	Wenshu	溫舒	Wēnshū

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · hanshu:055:s0059, hanshu:102:s0136, houhanshu:085:s0009, shiji:103:s0062, shiji:114:s0058

Roles

General
Judge
Official

Life and dates

Death

Manner: suicide
Explicit · hanshu:102:s0178

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: BC 120 · Western Year: BC 120
Explicit · houhanshu:085:s0009
Source Date: Text: 元封元年冬 · Western Year: BC 110
Explicit · shiji:114:s0058, shiji:114:s0060
Source Date: Text: 元鼎五年至元封 · Western Interval: Start: BC 112 · End: BC 107
Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:055:s0056, hanshu:055:s0059
Source Date: Text: 元鼎至太初 · Western Year: BC 112
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:103:s0062

Career and standing

Label: Commandant of the Capital / 中尉 · Action: held · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 元封元年冬 · Western Year: BC 110
Explicit · shiji:114:s0058
Office: commandant of justice / 廷尉
Explicit · hanshu:102:s0157
Office: Guangping commandant / 廣平都尉
Explicit · hanshu:102:s0141
Office: Henei grand administrator / 河內太守
Explicit · hanshu:102:s0145
Office: metropolitan commandant / 中尉
Explicit · hanshu:102:s0154, hanshu:102:s0158
Office: privy treasurer / 少府
Explicit · hanshu:102:s0174

Places and affiliations

Place: Yangling / 陽陵
Explicit · hanshu:102:s0136

Events and relationships

Kind: legal · Role: harsh-law-enforcer · Action: enforced-harsh-law
Explicit · hanshu:055:s0059

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: notorious for tiger-hatted enforcers · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · houhanshu:085:s0009

Source notes

Historicity: historical
Explicit · houhanshu:085:s0009

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 27Volume 24b: Treatise on Trade 2 · 1 passage

而御史大夫張湯方貴用事，減宣、杜周等為中丞，義縱、尹齊、王溫舒等用急刻為九卿，直指夏蘭之屬始出。 At this time the Censor-in-Chief Zhang Tang was powerful and in charge of affairs. Jian Xuan and Du Zhou served as Palace Assistant Censors; Yi Zong, Yin Qi, Wang Wenshu, and others, who used harsh severity, became Nine Ministers; and direct investigators such as Xia Lan first appeared.

Book of Han, Chapter 55Volume 46: The Lords of Wan, Wei, Zhi, Zhou and Zhang · 1 passage

公家用少，桑弘羊等致利，王溫舒之屬峻法，兒寬等推文學，九卿更進用事，事不關決於慶，慶醇謹而已。 Treasury was lean: Sang Hongyang squeezed revenue, Wang Wenshu’s faction wielded harsh codes, Ni Kuan’s circle pushed scholarship; ministers jostled for influence while Qing, ever cautious, scarcely decided a thing.

Book of Han, Chapter 102Volume 90: Cruel Officials · 17 passages

王溫舒等後起，治峻禹。 Men like Wang Wenshu who followed outdid him in severity.

後會更五銖錢白金起，民為奸，京師尤甚，乃以縱為右內史，王溫舒為中尉。 When debased coinage drove capital fraud, the court named Yi Zong right metropolitan superintendent and Wang Wenshu commandant of the guard.

溫舒至惡，所為弗先言縱，縱必以氣陵之，敗壞其功。 Wang Wenshu was vicious and freelanced his raids until Yi Zong sabotaged him out of sheer rivalry.

王溫舒 Wang Wenshu.

王溫舒，陽陵人也。 Wang Wenshu came from Yangling.

其頗不得，失之旁郡，追求，會春，溫舒頓足歎曰：「嗟乎，令冬月益展一月，足吾事矣！」 The few he had not caught escaped into neighboring commanderies, and he pursued them until spring arrived. Wenshu stamped his foot and sighed, "Ah, if only winter could be stretched one more month, I could finish my work!"

而尹齊為中尉坐法抵罪，溫舒復為中尉。 Yin Qi's conviction cleared the way for Wang Wenshu's second stint as commandant.

溫舒多諂，善事有勢者； Wang Wenshu curried favor with anyone influential;

溫舒擊東越還，議有不中意，坐以法免。 His Eastern Yue briefing annoyed the throne and cost him his post.

是時，上方欲作通天台而未有人，溫舒請復中尉脫卒，得數萬人作。 He volunteered convict gangs from the guard command to raise tens of thousands of laborers for the Tongtai project.

溫舒匿其吏華成，及人有變告溫舒受員騎錢，它奸利事，罪至族，自殺。 He concealed clerk Hua Cheng until informers tied him to bribery and capital graft; fearing execution he committed suicide.

夫古有三族，而王溫舒罪至同時而五族乎！」 The ancients wiped out three affines; Wang Wenshu destroyed five branches in one blow!"

溫舒死，家累千金。 Even dead he left a thousand pounds of gold.

王溫舒敗後數年，病死，家直不滿五十金。 Years after Wang Wenshu's crash he died sick, leaving less than fifty catties of gold.

與王溫舒俱破東越。 He joined Wang Wenshu to crush Eastern Yue.

王溫舒為中尉，而宣為左內史。 When Wang Wenshu commanded the guard, Xian Xuan governed as left metropolitan superintendent.

是時，郡守尉、諸侯相、二千石欲為治者，大抵盡效王溫舒等，而吏民益輕犯法，盜賊滋起。 Governors who wanted results copied Wang Wenshu until subjects shrugged at crime and bandit armies multiplied.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 85Volume 77: Biographies of Cruel Officials · 1 passage

致温舒有虎冠之吏，延年受屠伯之名，岂虚也哉！ So it was that Wang Wenshu produced underlings called “tiger-hatted” enforcers, and Yan Nian won the nickname “the butcher’s broker”—and those reputations were no idle tales.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 103Biographies of Wan Shi and Zhang Shu · 1 passage

公家用少，桑弘羊等致利，王溫舒之屬峻法，兒寬等推文學至九卿，更進用事，事不關決於丞相，丞相醇謹而已。 The state coffers were running low. Sang Hongyang and his like raised revenue, Wang Wenshu and his sort enforced harsh laws, and Er Kuan and others advanced through scholarship to the rank of the Nine Ministers. Those who handled affairs were the ones promoted, and decisions were no longer referred to the Chancellor. The Chancellor was simply upright and cautious, nothing more.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 114Treatise on the Eastern Yue · 1 passage

中尉王溫舒出梅嶺； The Commandant of the Capital, Wang Wenshu, advanced from Meiling;