In 884, on his way to his new post as the military governor (jiedushi) of Yichang Circuit (義昌, headquartered in modern Cangzhou, Hebei), Le Congxun (樂從訓) the son of Le Yanzhen the military governor of Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei), enticed by the group of women that accompanied Wang, ambushed Wang and killed him, taking the women captive.
In 864, he was made the deputy minister of rites (禮部侍郎, Libu Shilang), and in that capacity oversaw the imperial examinations for two years.
[1] In 870, by which time Wang was referred to as the minister of defense (兵部尚書, Bingbu Shangshu) and the director of the salt and iron monopolies, Emperor Yizong made him the minister of rites (禮部尚書, Libu Shangshu) and gave him the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事), making him a chancellor de facto.
[3] As both the powerful eunuch Tian Lingzi[1] and the chancellor Zheng Tian believed Wang to be capable, Wang was soon recalled to serve as Zuo Pushe (左僕射), one of the heads of the executive bureau (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng), and in 876 was restored to the chancellorship with the designation of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi as well as the title of Menxia Shilang (門下侍郎), to assist dealing with the deepening crises of multiple agrarian rebellions, the largest of which were led by Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao, who by that point had merged their armies.
Pei fled, while Wang Xianzhi and Huang parted ways and continued their campaigns against Tang forces.
[5] In 878, the imperial general Zeng Yuanyu (曾元裕) defeated and killed Wang Xianzhi in battle, but the agrarian rebels thereafter came under Huang's banner and continued to threaten Tang rule.
In 879, Wang Duo offered to oversee the operations, so he was made the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern Jingzhou, Hubei) and the supreme commander of the imperial forces in the southern circuits, to oversee the operation against Huang; he also carried the honorary titles of acting Situ (司徒, one of the Three Excellencies) and Shizhong (侍中).
The title of supreme commander was instead bestowed on the general Gao Pian, the military governor of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu).
In spring 882, Wang was made the military governor of Yicheng Circuit (義成, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan) and the supreme commander of the imperial forces as well as the director of taxation.
Wang also soon led the armies of Xichuan, Dongchuan (東川, headquartered in modern Mianyang, Sichuan), and Shannan West (山南西道, headquartered in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi) forces and approached Chang'an, rendezvousing with other Tang imperial generals to encircle the Chang'an region, intending to recapture it.
[6] With the Tang imperial forces converging, one of Huang's key followers, Zhu Wen, then defending Tong Prefecture (同州, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), surrendered to Tang, and Wang commissioned him as the military governor of Tonghua (同華, headquartered at Tong Prefecture).
Le Yanzhen submitted a report blaming bandits for Wang's death, and the greatly weakened Tang court could do nothing about it.