Wang Jian (Former Shu)
| Wang Jian | |||||||||||||
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| Reign | November 3, 907 – July 11, 918 | ||||||||||||
| Born | 847 | ||||||||||||
| Died | July 11, 918 | ||||||||||||
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| Dynasty | Former Shu | ||||||||||||
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| Posthumous name | |
| Emperor Shenwu Shengwen Xiaode Minghui (神武聖文孝德明惠皇帝) | |
| Temple name | |
| Gāozǔ (高祖) |
Wang Jian (王建) (847 – July 11, 918), courtesy name Guangtu (光圖), formally Emperor Gaozu of (Former) Shu ((前)蜀高祖), was the founding emperor of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Former Shu. He started his career as an army officer under the Tang Dynasty eunuch generals Yang Fuguang and Tian Lingzi, eventually seizing control of the modern Sichuan and Chongqing region, founding his state after Tang's destruction.
Wang Jian was born in 847, during the reign of Emperor Xuānzong of Tang. He was from Wuyang (舞陽, in modern Luohe, Henan), and was said to be ambitious and alert in his youth. However, he was also described to be a hoodlum, abandoning his ancestral craft of baking to be involved in butchering cattle, stealing donkeys, and privateering in salt. His father died while he was still a commoner. At one point, for misdeeds, he was incarcerated at the jail at Xuchang (許昌, in modern Xuchang, Henan), the capital of Zhongwu Circuit (忠武), which Wuyang sat in, but the jailers privately released him. He subsequently stayed with the monk Chuhong (處洪) in the Wudang Mountains, and Chuhong encouraged him to change his ways, predicting that there would be great accomplishments in his future. He thus joined the Zhongwu Circuit army and became an officer under then-military governor (Jiedushi) Du Shenquan.
As of 881, the major agrarian rebel Huang Chao had captured the Tang capital Chang'an, forcing then-reigning Emperor Xizong to flee to Chengdu. Zhongwu's then-military governor Zhou Ji initially submitted to Huang, who established a new state of Qi as its emperor, but at the urging by the eunuch general Yang Fuguang redeclared allegiance to Tang in summer 881. Yang took 8,000 Zhongwu troops and organized them into eight corps, commanded by Lu Yanhong, Jin Hui (晉暉), Wang Jian, Han Jian, Zhang Zao (張造), Li Shitai (李師泰), and Pang Cong (龐從) respectively. He then took the troops northwest to join the other Tang troops in campaign against Huang.
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