Wang Ke (王珂) was a warlord late in the Chinese Tang dynasty, who ruled Huguo Circuit (護國, headquartered in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi) as its military governor (jiedushi) from 895 (when he succeeded his uncle Wang Chongying) to 900 (when he was forced to surrender to Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan)).
By the end of the year, Wang Xingyu had been defeated and was killed by his own subordinates in flight; Li Maozhen and Han were forced to sue for peace.
[3] In 896, Emperor Zhaozong gave Wang Ke the honorary chancellor designation of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事).
[4] In 898, Wang Ke went to Hedong's capital Taiyuan to personally marry Li Keyong's daughter.
[4] In late 900, Emperor Zhaozong was briefly deposed by a group of powerful eunuchs led by Liu Jishu.
[5] Wang Ke, when receiving the news, was incensed at the eunuchs, but before he could launch an army against them, Emperor Zhaozong was restored in a countercoup.
In particular, after Zhu made a major attack on Yang Xingmi the military governor of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) but was repelled by Yang, he persuaded Qian Liu the military governor of Zhenhai (鎮海, headquartered in modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang) and Zhendong (鎮東, headquartered in modern Shaoxing, Zhejiang) Circuits, Zhong Chuan the military governor of Zhennan Circuit (鎮南, headquartered in modern Nanchang, Jiangxi), Du Hong the military governor of Wuchang Circuit (武昌, headquartered in modern Wuhan, Hubei), and Wang Shifan the military governor of Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Weifang, Shandong) to accuse Yang of aggression against them and request Emperor Zhaozong to appoint Zhu the commander of an operation against Yang.
Wang Ke reacted by jointly submitting a petition with Li Keyong, Wang Rong the military governor of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei) and Wang Gao the military governor of Yiwu Circuit (義武, headquartered in modern Baoding, Hebei) accusing Zhu of aggression against them and asking that Yang be appointed the commander of an operation against Zhu.
May you, lords, tie him up with a rope.Zhu then launched his attack, with he himself heading toward Huguo's capital Hezhong Municipality (河中), while sending Zhang Cunjing to attack Jin (晉州, in modern Linfen, Shanxi) and Jiang Prefectures to cut off any path of aid that Li Keyong might send.
Jin and Jiang Prefectures were caught by surprise, and their prefects, Tao Jianzhao (陶建釗) and Zhang Hanyu (張漢瑜) quickly surrendered, allowing Zhu to cut off communications between Hezhong and Hedong Circuit.