Wang Chengzong

Wang Chengzong (王承宗) (died 820) was a general of the Chinese Tang Dynasty who served a military governor (Jiedushi) of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei). He, like his grandfather Wang Wujun and father Wang Shizhen before him, ruled the circuit in a de facto independent manner from the imperial government, drawing two imperial campaigns against him, both of which he withstood. After the defeat of his ally Wu Yuanji in 817, he submitted to imperial authority, and, after his death, his brother Wang Chengyuan left the circuit, ending his family's hold on Chengde.

It is not known when Wang Chengzong was born, although it was known that he was born before his brother Wang Chengyuan, who was born in 801. He was the oldest son of Wang Shizhen, who was then deputy military governor of Chengde under Wang Chengzong's grandfather Wang Wujun. After Wang Shizhen succeeded Wang Wujun as military governor in 801, Wang Chengzong eventually became the acting governor of Chengde's capital Heng Prefecture (恆州, in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei) as well as deputy military governor of the circuit — effectively, Wang Shizhen's designated successor.

Wang Shizhen died in 809, and Wang Chengzong claimed the title of acting military governor. Soon thereafter, his uncle (Wang Shizhen's brother) Wang Shize (王士則), fearing imperial punishments for Wang Chengzong's claiming the title without imperial sanction, fled to territory held by the imperial government and submitted to Emperor Xianzong. Meanwhile, Emperor Xianzong considered forcibly imposing another military governor on Chengde and attacking it if Wang Chengzong refused to yield. The chancellor Pei Ji and the imperial scholar Li Jiang believed such a course of action to be imprudent, pointing out that Chengde would be difficult to conquer. The powerful eunuch Tutu Chengcui, however, advocated a campaign against Chengde, as did Lu Congshi (盧從史) the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi). Emperor Xianzong hesitated, and considered another course of action — making Wang Chengzong military governor, but ordering Wang to surrender two of Chengde's six prefectures, De (德州, in modern Dezhou, Shandong) and Di (棣州, in modern Binzhou, Shandong) Prefectures, to be formed into a new circuit.

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