Wang Jingren
Wang Jingren, né Wang Maozhang, was a major general during the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Later Liang. He was originally a general under Yang Xingmi the Prince of Wu in the late Tang Dynasty, but later got into a dispute with Yang's son and successor Yang Wo and forced to flee to the domain of Qian Liu, who, as a Later Liang vassal, later sent Wang to Later Liang, whose Emperor Taizu was impressed with Wang's abilities and therefore made Wang a major general. Wang, however, was not successful in subsequent campaigns against either Wu or Later Liang's northern enemy Jin.
Service under Yang Xingmi
It is not known when Wang Maozhang was born, but it is known that he was from Hefei and that, in his youth, he followed Yang Xingmi in Yang's campaigns to take control of Huainan Circuit. It was said that Wang was brave in battle but lacked an impressive presence on the battlefield. However, once in battle, he always fought alongside his soldiers and earned their respect, as well as Yang's.Campaign aiding Wang Shifan
In 903, when Wang Shifan the military governor of Pinglu Circuit was under attack by Yang's archenemy Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit, Wang Shifan sought aid from Yang. Yang sent Wang Maozhang, with 7,000 men, to aid Wang Shifan. Wang Maozhang first rendezvoused with Wang Shifan's brother Wang Shihui and captured Mi Prefecture. Meanwhile, the Xuanwu forces under Zhu's nephew Zhu Youning was attacking Pinglu's capital Qing Prefecture. In response, Wang Shifan had sent the soldiers from Deng and Lai Prefectures to set up two defensive encampments. Zhu Youning attacked the Deng camp bitterly, with Wang Maozhang standing by and not trying to relieve the Deng camp, so Zhu Youning captured it. He then attacked the Lai camp, but by that point, his soldiers, as Wang Maozhang anticipated, had been worn out. Wang Maozhang then counterattacked with Wang Shifan, and they defeated the Xuanwu troops, killing Zhu Youning and delivering his head to Huainan.Hearing of Zhu Youning's death, Zhu Quanzhong himself headed to the Pinglu front, and, after he arrived about a month later, he initially defeated Wang Shifan's troops. When he then engaged Wang Maozhang, however, Wang Maozhang was able to battle him to a stalemate — while holding a feast in the middle of the battle, impressing Zhu with his fortitude. However, believing that he would be unable to defeat the Xuanwu troops with their numerical advantage, Wang Maozhang withdrew back to Huainan territory with relatively few casualties.
Campaign against An Renyi and Tian Jun
Later in the year, Yang Xingmi's subordinates Tian Jun the military governor of Ningguo Circuit and An Renyi the military prefect of Run Prefecture rebelled against him. Yang sent Wang Maozhang to attack An, but initially he could not achieve success against An in sieging Run Prefecture. Yang thus recalled him and sent him to aid Tai Meng in attacking Ningguo's capital Xuan Prefecture. After a battle in which Tai defeated Tian, who had advanced to engage him, and forced Tian to retreat back to Xuan Prefecture, though, Yang diverted Wang back to Run Prefecture against An.The siege of Run was unable to succeed, however, for more than a year, as An was one of Huainan's most capable officers. Yang thus sought, in vain, to persuade An to submit to him again. By spring 905, however, Wang was able to penetrate Run's defenses by digging tunnels under the city walls. An personally took position up in a tower, and initially the Huainan troops were still hesitant to attack him there. As the officer Li Decheng continued to be polite to An during the siege, however, An surrendered to Li Decheng and was subsequently executed.
Flight to Qian Liu
Later in 905, Yang Xingmi fell deathly ill. He recalled his oldest son Yang Wo, who was then serving as the governor of Xuan Prefecture, from Xuan, intending to pass his authorities to Yang Wo. He sent Wang Maozhang to Xuan to serve as governor, succeeding Yang Wo. As Yang Wo was set to depart Xuan Prefecture, he wanted to take the tents and the headquarters guards with him, but Wang refused to let him do so, drawing his ire. After Yang Xingmi died later in the year and was succeeded by Yang Wo, Yang Wo thus sent Li Jian to attack Wang. When Li's forces reached Xuan in spring 906, Wang, judging himself to be unable to withstand an attack, fled with the soldiers directly under him to the territory of Qian Liu the military governor of Zhenhai and Zhendong Circuits. Qian made Wang his deputy military governor for Zhendong. He later gave Wang the title of military governor of Ningguo — even though Ningguo remained under Yang Wo's control.As Later Liang general
During Emperor Taizu's reign
As Zhu Quanzhong — who had forced Tang Dynasty's final emperor Emperor Ai to yield the throne to him, ending Tang and establishing a new Later Liang as its Emperor Taizu — was impressed with Wang Maozhang, he wanted to summon Wang to him. Qian Liu, who was a vassal of Later Liang and whom Emperor Taizu the Prince of Wuyue, also wanted Wang to persuade Emperor Taizu to attack Hongnong. In 908, Qian thus sent Wang — whose name had been changed to Wang Jingren by this point to observe naming taboo since Emperor Taizu's great-grandfather was named Zhu Maolin — to Later Liang's capital Luoyang to submit strategies on how to conquer Hongnong. Emperor Taizu let Wang retain his title of military governor of Ningguo and further bestowed the chancellor title Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi on him — apparently initially honorary, but eventually having him join the chancellors in policy discussions.In 910, Emperor Taizu commissioned Wang the commander of the Later Liang armies to the north, posturing to attack Later Liang's enemy to the north, Jin. What Emperor Taizu secretly intended, however, was for Wang to prepare to attack Wang Rong the military governor of Wushun Circuit and Wang Chuzhi the military governor of Yiwu Circuit — who were formally Later Liang vassals but whose loyalty Emperor Taizu had suspected. The generals Han Qing and Li Si'an served as Wang's deputy commander and forward commander, respectively, and Wang initially took up position at Wei Prefecture. Later in the year, after the Later Liang officers Du Tingyin and Ding Yanhui took over Zhao's Shen and Ji Prefectures by trick, Wang was set to attack Zhao and conquer it — but Emperor Taizu, believing the warnings by his astrologers that launching an army at that time would bring disaster, recalled Wang to Luoyang, allowing Zhao time to ally itself with Jin and Yiwu and receive aid troops from Jin's prince Li Cunxu. Only after receiving news of a formal Zhao/Jin alliance did Emperor Taizu order Wang to advance north to attack Zhao. Wang thus advanced to Boxiang.
With the Later Liang forces under Wang and the Jin/Zhao forces under Li Cunxu initially separated only by a river, and with the Later Liang forces both having numerical and geographic advantage, Wang was quickly building temporary bridges to try to cross the river quickly to attack the Jin/Zhao army, but Li Cunxu, realizing this, withdrew to Gaoyi, while sending cavalry raiders to cut off the Later Liang army's supply route and prevent them from cutting grass to feed their horses, causing many deaths to Later Liang's horses. In spring 911, after more than a month of stalemate, Li Cunxu sent Zhou to provoke Wang and Han into engaging his troops and crossing the river. They fought for a morning, and the Later Liang army began to tire. Wang's own troops withdrew slightly, when Zhou declared to the other Later Liang troops that Wang was fleeing since he had been defeated — causing a general panic in the Later Liang army and its collapse. Wang, Han, and Li Si'an were able to flee with small groups of soldiers protecting them, but most of the Later Liang army was slaughtered by the Jin/Zhao troops.
In the aftermaths of the defeat, Emperor Taizu removed from Wang the titles of commander of the armies to the north and Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi, and put him under house arrest. However, when he later met with Wang, he stated to Wang that he knew that Wang's command was hindered by the fact that he was a foreigner to the Later Liang troops and that Han and Li Si'an were not fully following his orders; several months later, he restored Wang's offices.