[2] He served in a variety of appointments at the imperial court and in educational posts in the provinces before being made one of the chief editors of the History of Ming in 1682 with Tang Bin and Xu Qianxue.
[3] However, he was forced to retire in 1689 after being accused by the censor Guo Xiu of colluding with Gao Shiqi and others in the taking of bribes.
Wang also became highly trusted by the emperor; he served as his personal spy, submitting secret memorials about other officials.
[1] The Kangxi Emperor even trusted him to investigate his own son, Crown Prince Yunreng, who was alleged, among a litany of other crimes, to have been involved in the trafficking of children in the Suzhou area.
Wang continued adding to his drafts of the History of Ming, heavily plagiarising many other historians in the process, including Wan Sitong.