Wang De

Biography

Frontier Origins and Early Enlistment

Wang De hailed from Shuyang Village in Tongyuan Commandery, born into an established family of frontier warriors in northwestern China. Endowed with exceptional physical vigor, he trained rigorously in mounted combat and archery. In his twenties, he campaigned against Western Xia under Commander Zhe Yanzhi, achieving early battle merits. When Jurchen troops encircled Taiyuan during the Jingkang era, Wang volunteered for service and joined Commander Yao Gu's relief columns in Hedong. Amidst widespread military setbacks, Wang De fought bravely, repeatedly spearheading dangerous breakouts and forging his reputation as an indomitable shock warrior. ### Subordinating to Liu Guangshi and Crushing Rebellions Following the founding of the Southern Song dynasty by Emperor Gaozong, Wang De was granted imperial audience and assigned to Liu Guangshi's army as chief vanguard. When Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan instigated their palace coup in 1129, forcing Emperor Gaozong to abdicate temporarily, Wang De marched with Liu's loyalist relief forces to the provisional capital of Hangzhou. In rapid assaults, Wang helped smash the coup plotters. Over subsequent years, as rebel factions and bandits aligned with the puppet Qi state roamed the Jianghuai plain, Wang systematically subdued outlaw armies led by Zhang Yong, Shao Qing, and Li Cheng, securing imperial authority along the Yangtze basin. ### The Battle of Zhegao and Senior Command In the spring of 1141, the Jin prince Wanyan Zongbi unleashed a heavy offensive southwards, clashing with Song forces at Zhegao. Serving as the vanguard of the joint Song divisions under Zhang Jun and Yang Yizhong, Wang De led elite troops across the Shiliang River. Facing armored Jurchen horsemen, Wang De notched an arrow, calmly shot down the enemy lead chieftain, and charged directly into their ranks. His decisive breakthrough triggered a coordinated rout of the Jin armored cavalry. Following the peace accord, Wang was entrusted with commanding the imperial forces at Jiankang, safeguarding the border until his death in 1154.

The Scout at Longde and the Name "Wang the Yaksha"

Wang De's family had lived for generations at the Shuyang stockade of Tongyuan army, where it was noted for its prowess on the northwest frontier; he was strong by nature and skilled with bow and horse, and in his twenties he went beyond the frontier with the Xihé commander Zhe Yanzhi against the Tanguts, rising by heads taken. When the Jin invaded and Yao Gu lay between Huai and Ze, he sent Wang De to scout, and Wang De killed a Jin officer and came back, and was made a probationary commandant of martial advance; asked whether he could go again, he took sixteen horsemen straight into the seat of Longde prefecture and seized alive Yao Taishi, the prefect the Jin had installed, killing with his own hand scores and hundreds while the enemy looked on, too astonished to close with him. Yao Gu sent Yao Taishi in irons to the court, and when Emperor Qinzong asked him how he had been taken, he answered that at the moment of his binding he had seen only a yaksha; and from that time Wang De was called "Wang the Yaksha." In 1127 he came to the court with the relief army by forced marches and was transferred to Liu Guangshi, and he put down Li Yu, a brigand of Jinan, and Zhang Yu of Chiyang. When Liu Guangshi advanced with the vanguard against Li Cheng, Wang De scouted with a hundred horse and met Li Cheng's army at the post bridge of Shangcai in Caizhou; the enemy, taking him for a decoy, were minded to move west, when Wang De suddenly shouted that the great army of the king had come, and they broke and fled in dismay, and he pursued and killed many. Li Cheng gathered his scattered men and came again, and seeing Liu Guangshi with his canopy spread and no armour, knew him for the commander and attacked him; and Wang De brought Liu Guangshi out of the ring back to camp and then led his troops back against Li Cheng and beat him again. In the third year he was promoted commander of the vanguard and stationed at Tianchang, and when the Jin attacked Yangzhou and the western army mostly broke, Wang De moved to Xuanhua; the rebel generals Zhang Yu and Zhang Yan were besieging Hezhou and its governor Zhang Ji asked his help, and Wang De's troops reached the wall so unexpectedly that the rebels broke up, and at dawn he joined battle, killed Zhang Yu and took more than ten thousand men and horses, crossing afterwards at Caishi.

The Miao-Liu Revolt, the Affair of Chen Yanzhang, and Wang Nianjing

When Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan made their coup and forced the emperor to abdicate, Liu Guangshi was preparing to punish them and brought Wang De to Jiankang to employ him; and Wang De, advancing on the imperial residence, was foremost among the three armies and quickly helped put down the revolt. Afterwards his ambition brought him into conflict with Han Shizhong: as the rebels fled into Fujian, Wang De insisted on winning the merit himself while Han Shizhong insisted that he serve under him, and sent his own officer Chen Yanzhang to bar his way; Chen Yanzhang drew his sword on Wang De, who killed him and then pursued the rebels, killing Miao Yu and taking Ma Rouji. Miao Fu's party accused Wang De of murder, and he was arrested and imprisoned. Soon afterwards Liu Guangshi employed him as commander of the vanguard, using the blank yellow commission that had been lost by Yang Weizhong to restore his old post, and sent him against the rebel chief of Xinzhou, Wang Nianjing. Marching to Raozhou he found Liu Wenshun, one of Wang Nianjing's men, besieging the town; Wang De came to its relief, and Liu Wenshun asked to surrender, and Wang De accepted his surrender and then put him to death, killing none of his men. He then told his officers that Wang Nianjing, hearing he was lodged at Raozhou, would certainly take no precautions, and taking him unprepared he seized him at the first assault, and for that merit was made grand master of martial display and governor of Rongzhou.

Holding the River at Jingkou, the Fire Oxen of Shao Qing, and the Victory at Sanggen

In 1130 Liu Guangshi held Jingkou and made Wang De commander; when the Jin came south again and Liu Guangshi meant to fall back on Danyang, Wang De begged to hold the river to the death, and the other generals took heart from him; he divided his troops to hold the strong points, crossed the river to raid the Jin and recovered the commanderies of Zhen and Yang. Meeting the enemy again north of Yangzhou, where one man in heavy armour charged the ranks, Wang De rode out and reviled him, and the man came straight for him, and Wang De cut him from his horse with one blow of his sword; the Jin were dismayed, and he rode his cavalry in and killed some ten thousand. In 1131 he put down Shao Qing, the pirate of Xiuzhou: at Chongmingsha he took the flag in his own hand and led his men to tear down the palisade and break into the camp, and Shao Qing's army collapsed; when the remnant challenged again and word came that they meant to use fire oxen, Wang De laughed and said that this was an ancient device which could work once but not twice, and that the enemy, not knowing how to vary it, would be taken. He had his whole army draw their bows full, and at the first clash ten thousand arrows flew, so that the oxen turned back on the rebels and were annihilated; Shao Qing tied his own hands and asked for his life, and Wang De presented his prisoners at the court, where the emperor received him in the side hall, comforted and rewarded him specially, and promoted him to grand master of luminous loyalty and surveillance commissioner of Tongzhou. In 1133, when Liu Guangshi moved to garrison Jiankang and Han Shizhong took his place, Wang De rode with a few dozen men from Jingkou to meet him, and judging that he was about to arrive, stood on foot at the left of the road and proclaimed aloud that "for the killing of Chen Yanzhang, Wang De awaits death at your horse's head." Han Shizhong dismounted and took his hand, saying that he knew him for a brave man and had long since put the trifle out of mind, and feasted him with wine and they parted in good cheer. In 1134, when the Jin raided the north of the river and broke Chuzhou, Wang De crossed the river and retook it, pursuing to Sanggen and capturing one Wanyan myriarch, Lu Bo, and more than ten chiliarchs.

The Victory at Outang, the Command of Liu Guangshi's Army, and the Advance of 1140

In the winter of 1136 the puppet Qi ruler Liu Yu sent Liu Lin and Liu Ni with three hundred thousand conscripted men by two roads east and west, and the court and people were greatly alarmed, some even proposing to fall back on the river; the palace commander Yang Yizhong, the commanders Zhang Zongyan and Tian Shizhong and Wang De divided the defence, and heavily defeated Liu Ni's army at Outang, so that Liu Ni fled alone and Liu Lin, hearing of it at Shunchang, pulled up his stakes and fled. Wang De pursued to Shouchun without catching them and took four hundred grain boats; his merit was reckoned and he was made assistant commissioner of the Wukang army and then really appointed surveillance commissioner of Xiangzhou. In 1137 he was made deputy commander of the Xihé-Lankuo circuit and commander of the left guard of the marching camp, stationed at Hefei; when Liu Guangshi was relieved as military commissioner, the court ordered Wang De to take over all his troops with Li Qiong as his deputy, and Li Qiong, who had been his equal in rank and was ashamed to be under him, led his men over to Liu Yu, and the next year Wang De was placed under Zhang Jun and his army named the "Sharp Victory Army." In 1140 Zhang Jun ordered Wang De to take Suzhou; the Jin scouts also came to the wall, so Wang De entered the town and the Jin withdrew, whereupon he marched by forced stages and reached the Jin camp at midnight. The Jin general Gao Tongjun drew up his men, and Ma Qin and Yelü Wen challenged with three thousand, and Wang De crossed the river first on horseback with the foot and horse following, calling out to the Jin that he had fought them a hundred battles great and small and broken every famous prince and noble chief among them, and what could they do; whereupon great numbers of the Jin surrendered and Ma Qin and Yelü Wen fled back into the town. Wang De came under the wall, called Ma Qin out and reasoned with him of duty, and Ma Qin came down on a rope from the wall, and Wang De sent his son Wang Shun to storm the town, who was first over; and Ma Qin brought Yelü Wen over with him. Pressing the victory he went straight to Bozhou, where Li Qiong was stationed, and Li Qiong, hearing that Wang De had come, told his men that this man was not easy to withstand, and led his army away. Entering Bozhou, Wang De told Zhang Jun that the army's prestige was now roused and begged to follow the momentum of a splitting bamboo and advance on the eastern capital; but Zhang Jun thought it too difficult and brought the army home. In this campaign Wang De's merit was reckoned first; he was made assistant commissioner of the army, commander of the four flanking columns of the dragon-spirit guard, and then commandant of the imperial horse and foot guards.

The Dispute over the Huai in 1141 and the Battle of Zhegao

In 1141 the Jin, taking advantage of the court's forced recall of the armies, crossed the Huai and came south, their scouts even approaching the Yangtze. Zhang Jun wished to divide his forces to hold the south bank, but Wang De insisted that the two Huai were the screen of the Yangtze and that to abandon the Huai was to lose the lips and thereby freeze the teeth, that the enemy had come from thousands of li away and must be short of grain, and that by striking before they were ready their spirit might be broken, whereas a lost opportunity would cost the whole Huai region; and when Zhang Jun hesitated he insisted that he and his son would cross first, so that Zhang Jun let him cross at once. As he crossed Wang De said that he would breakfast at Hezhou next day, and indeed he took Hezhou by night and brought Zhang Jun's army in at dawn; the Jin withdrew to hold Zhaoguan and were beaten again and fled. At Zhegao the ground was flat and good for cavalry, and heavy rain had swollen the river, so the Jin broke the bridge to stop the Song crossing. On the seventeenth day of the second month Liu Qi's army reached the east bank and had the men build a bridge; the next day the Song armies were all assembled and ready to attack, but Zhang Jun's had not come, and the commander Tian Shizhong wished to wait for him, at which Wang De flew into a rage, saying that this was a perfect moment which, once lost, would never come again, and mounted and prepared to attack himself. Wanyan Zongbi drew up his cavalry in two wings on either side of the road to take the Song in a double embrace; Yang Yizhong led his men across the river upstream and was checked, and Wang De, seeing it, said that the Jin right wing was of strong horse and that he would attack it himself, and led his troops across the bridge in a fierce assault. A Jin officer rode out of the ranks and Wang De shot him dead with one arrow, and charging in the confusion of the enemy's ranks; the Jin resisted with their "crippled horse" corps, and Yang Yizhong had more than ten thousand men advance with long axes like a wall and hew them down, breaking the crippled horse utterly, so that the Jin fled to Purple Gold mountain in Shouchun, where Wang De pursued and broke them again. Liu Qi was wholly won over and said to Wang De that he had long heard of his valour and wisdom as of a god and now saw it with his own eyes, and asked to serve him as an elder brother.

His Decline in Old Age and the Year of His Death

In 1142 Wang De was summoned to be commander-in-chief of the imperial armies at Jiankang, and afterwards held the offices of controller of Zhedong and Fujian and deputy commander of Jingnan; his final titles were commissioner of the Qingyuan army, commandant of the imperial horse guard, deputy commander of the horse and foot of the Jinghu circuit and duke of Longxi. In 1145 he incurred the dislike of the powerful chancellor Qin Hui and was demoted to deputy commander of the horse and foot of the Zhedong circuit at large, and later to the same post in the Jinghu circuit. He died in 1154 at the age of sixty-eight, and was posthumously made probationary junior guardian and then junior tutor. As to the year of his death the sources give three versions — the tenth month or the twelfth month of 1154, or 1155; the spirit-path stele unearthed records that he "fell ill and died in the official lodging at Jingnan," and Li Xinchuan's Essential Documents notes that he died at Jingnan prefecture and was given the posthumous name Weiding. Since these and the records of the stele are more reliable than the Song History compiled under the Yuan, Wang De should be held to have died in 1154, the twenty-fourth year of Shaoxing, only the month being in dispute.

Major Activities

The Dreaded 'Wang the Yaksha'

On the battlefield, Wang De consistently rode at the forefront of his troops, wielding heavy sabers and piercing enemy formations with unrestrained ferocity. Jurchen forces and local warlords feared his relentless assault, reverently dubbing him 'Wang the Yaksha'. ### Decisive Breakthrough at Zhegao During the critical confrontation at Zhegao in 1141, Wang De personally led the spearhead division across the river under fire, eliminating the enemy front commanders and shattering the morale of the Jurchen armored vanguard.

His Repute in the Army, His Manner of Fighting, and the Holding of the Huai Defence

Wang De was famed for his ferocity, always charging at the head in battle, wearing heavy armour and wielding a long sword deep in the enemy ranks, so that the enemy were frightened at the sight of him and both the Jin and the brigands stood in awe of his name; hence he was called "Wang the Yaksha" in the army and among the people. His first fame came at Longde, where he entered the seat of government with sixteen horsemen and killed scores and hundreds with his own hand, carrying out both reconnaissance and the capture of a general, his manner being to strike the many with the few and to take the enemy's heart by surprise. Over more than thirty years he campaigned from the northwest into the region of the Huai and the Yangtze, taking part in the suppression of Li Yu of Jinan, Zhang Yu of Chiyang, the rebels Li Cheng and Zhang Yu, the putting down of the Miao-Liu coup, the campaigns against Wang Nianjing of Xinzhou and Shao Qing of Xiuzhou, the beating back of the three hundred thousand men of the puppet Qi under Liu Lin and Liu Ni, the seizure of Suzhou and Bozhou in 1140, and the two great victories of 1141 in the defence of the Huai and at Zhegao; his field of action covered what are now Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu.

In the matter of defence he several times insisted on holding the Huai when the court wished to retire: in 1130, when Liu Guangshi meant to fall back on Danyang, he begged to hold the river to the death, divided his troops to hold the strong points and crossed to raid the enemy, recovering the commanderies of Zhen and Yang; and in 1141, when Zhang Jun wished to hold the south bank, he argued from the image of the lips and teeth, begged to cross first, took Hezhou by night and brought the great army over at dawn. His command first belonged to Liu Guangshi's left guard of the marching camp, and after Li Qiong's defection it was reorganized as Zhang Jun's "Sharp Victory Army"; from 1142 he commanded the imperial armies at Jiankang and tightened their discipline, becoming one of the chief commanders on the Huai and Yangtze front in the early Southern Song. His services were recognized at court: after the taking of Shao Qing the emperor received him in the side hall and rewarded him specially, and after Zhegao Liu Qi offered to serve him as an elder brother. As to his death and titles the unearthed spirit-path stele, Li Xinchuan's Essential Documents and the Song History of the Yuan all differ, and these differences are what later ages must use in fixing his life.

Personal Relations

• Superior Officer: Liu Guangshi (one of the four Restoration Generals of Southern Song)
• Comrades-in-Arms: Yang Yizhong, Zhang Jun, Yue Fei (esteemed contemporary Southern Song commanders)
• Sovereign: Emperor Gaozong of Song (granted repeated honors and trusted him with provincial defence)

Historical Assessment

• History of Song (Song Shi): "Wang De was gifted in combat; facing adversaries, he always placed himself in the vanguard, securing victories in nearly every engagement, thus earning the moniker Wang the Yaksha."
• Liu Guangshi: "Wang De possesses calm fortitude and daring bravery; he is truly a commander capable of confronting ten thousand men."
• Bi Yuan: "In the triumph of Zhegao, Wang De shot down the Jin chief, inaugurating the victory through unrivaled heroism."