Wang Sitong

Wang Sitong (Chinese: 王思同) (892 – May 9, 934) was a general of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Later Tang (and Later Tang's predecessor state Jin. In 934, when Li Congke, the adoptive brother of then-reigning emperor Li Conghou, rebelled against Li Conghou, Wang was put in command of the army against Li Congke, and was soon defeated and executed without Li Congke's approval.

Wang Sitong was born in 892, during the reign of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang. His father Wang Jingrou (王敬柔) was an officer of Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing), and his mother was a daughter of Liu Rengong, a late-Tang dynasty warlord who would rule Lulong (although not yet at the time of Wang Sitong's birth — he would take over Lulong in 895, initially as a vassal of the major warlord Li Keyong the military governor (Jiedushi) of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), but later turning against Li and becoming an independent warlord).

In his youth, Wang Sitong served as an officer at his grandfather Liu's headquarters. In 907, Liu's son (Wang's uncle) Liu Shouguang carried out a coup, arresting Liu Rengong and putting him under house arrest. Wang, then 15, fled to Hedong with another uncle, Liu Shouqi (劉守奇), and the officer Li Chengyue (李承約). Li Keyong took them into his army and made them his officers.

After Tang fell (after its last emperor, Emperor Zhaozong's son Emperor Ai, was forced to yield the throne to the major warlord Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan), who established Later Liang), Li Keyong's Hedong Circuit became the center of a new state of Jin, ruled by Li Keyong and then his son Li Cunxu as prince. Wang Sitong continued to serve under Li Cunxu, whose Jin state eventually took over the region north of the Yellow River, causing the river to become the boundary between it and Later Liang, with which it engaged constant wars. During that war, Wang, at Li Cunxu's order, constructed a fortress at Yangliu (楊劉, in modern Liaocheng, Shandong), and thereafter was promoted to be a commander of 10 corps of troops known as the Shenwu (神武). It was in that role that Li Cunxu sent him in 921 to help Li Cunxu's ally Wang Du the military governor of Yiwu Circuit (義武, headquartered in modern Baoding, Hebei), against a Khitan Empire attack.

After Li Cunxu declared himself emperor of a new Later Tang and destroyed archrival Later Liang in 923, taking over Later Liang's territory, Wang Sitong was made either the prefect and/or the defender (防禦使, Fangyushi) of Zheng Prefecture (鄭州, in modern Zhengzhou, Henan). He was said to be magnanimous, and he liked to write poetry, using the alternative name of Jimen Zhanke (薊門戰客, "guest warrior from Jimen" (Jimen being an alternative name for Lulong's capital You Prefecture (幽州))) when doing so. It was said that Li Cunxu's oldest son and presumed heir Li Jiji the Prince of Wei treated Wang as a son. Wang was also said to be respectful to civilian officials, not greedy for money, and seeking to do right. In 926, when Li Cunxu executed the major general Li Jilin (formerly known as Zhu Youqian), it was Wang that he sent to Zhongwu Circuit (忠武, headquartered in modern Xuchang, Henan) to execute Li Jilin's son Zhu Lingxi (朱令錫) the military governor of Zhongwu. (Li Cunxu was subsequently killed after mutinies that rose due to his killings of Li Jilin and another major general, Guo Chongtao, and was succeeded by his adoptive brother Li Siyuan.)

After Li Siyuan became emperor, as he had known Wang Sitong for a long time and believed Wang to have been serving for too long without a proper promotion, he promoted Wang to be the military governor of Kuangguo Circuit (匡國, headquartered in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), and later transferred Wang to Xiongwu Circuit (雄武, headquartered in modern Tianshui, Gansu). During the years that Wang governed at Xiongwu, he was said to be gracious and comforting to his people, both Han and non-Han. In 930, he went to then-capital Luoyang to pay homage to Li Siyuan. Li asked him about the border defense, and he detailed it so vividly and described the 40 forts that he built to defend against Tufan attacks, such that Li stated, "I had heard that Wang Sitong did not pay attention to details. How could that be true?"

At that time, it was believed that a confrontation between the imperial government and two military governors — Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan), and Dong Zhang of Dongchuan Circuit (東川, headquartered in modern Mianyang, Sichuan) — was about to occur. Li, believing that Wang would be a general who can serve in the campaign, thus kept him as an imperial guard general at Luoyang. Shortly after, when Meng and Dong did openly rebel against the imperial government, Li put his son-in-law Shi Jingtang in command of an army against the two circuits and made Wang the forward commander for Shi. He also made Wang the defender of Chang'an.

During the campaign against Xichuan and Dongchuan, it was Wang, along with other generals Wang Hongzhi (王弘贄), Feng Hui (馮暉), and Zhao Zaili (趙在禮), who made a daring surprise attack against the key pass Jianmen Pass, surprising the Dongchuan garrison at Jianmen and allowing the imperial army to take Jianmen, for one time causing Meng to panic and believe that all was lost. However, as the rest of the imperial army could not follow up and meet up with them at Jianmen, they eventually had to abandon Jianmen and rejoin the rest of the imperial army, which subsequently became caught in a stalemate with the Xichuan/Dongchuan armies and was forced to withdraw. After the imperial army's withdrawal, Wang Sitong, for his accomplishments, was made the military governor of Shannan West Circuit (山南西道, headquartered in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi).