Wang Wujun (王武俊) (735 – August 9, 801[1]), courtesy name Yuanying (元英), né Monuogan (沒諾干), formally Prince Zhonglie of Langye (琅邪忠烈王), was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician during the Tang dynasty.
Zhang was then defending Heng Prefecture (恆州, in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), and Wang Wujun persuaded him to submit to Tang.
Meanwhile, Zhu Tao the acting military governor of Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing) attacked Li Weiyue from the north and was quickly able to persuade two key Chengde officers, Zhang Xiaozhong the prefect of Yi Prefecture (易州, in modern Shijiazhuang) and Kang Rizhi (康日知) the prefect of Zhao Prefecture (趙州, in modern Shijiazhuang), to submit their respective prefectures turn against Li Weiyue.
Wang Wujun was relieved to get to leave Heng Prefecture, and once he exited the city, initially wanted to flee to Zhang.
He made a surprise attack against Heng Prefecture, and Wang Shizhen and Xie opened the city gates to welcome him.
[7] Emperor Dezong, in the aftermaths, divided Chengde's seven prefectures into three smaller circuits — with Zhang Xiaozhong receiving three prefectures and the title of military governor of the newly created Yidingcang Circuit (易定滄, headquartered in modern Baoding, Hebei, later renamed Yiwu Circuit (義武)), while Wang Wujun and Kang Rizhi received two prefectures each with lesser titles of military prefect (團練使, Tuanlianshi), of Hengji (恆冀) and Shenzhao (深趙, both headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang).
This displeased both Zhu Tao and Wang — as Zhu had wanted Emperor Dezong to give him Shen Prefecture (深州, in modern Hengshui, Hebei), which went to Kang instead (Emperor Dezong gave Zhu two prefectures on paper, De (德州, in modern Dezhou, Shandong) and Di (棣州, in modern Binzhou, Shandong), both then still held by Li Na, and Wang believed that Emperor Dezong had reneged on the promise to reward him with the positions that Li Weiyue had wanted.
Zhu and Wang thus advanced south to relieve him, and as they arrived, so did additional imperial forces commanded by Li Huaiguang.
Against Ma's advice of waiting until his soldiers had enough rest, Li Huaiguang decided to battle Zhu and Wang immediately.
He had initial successes, but Wang cut his soldiers off from each other with a charge, leading to a major defeat for the imperial forces.
At the suggestion of Zhu's staff member Li Ziqian (李子千) and Wang's staff member Zheng Ru (鄭濡), they decided to each claim a princely title to show independence from imperial authority, but keep Tang's era name in order not to completely break from Tang.
They pinned their hopes on alliance with Li Xilie, who had even greater pretensions, who was then ruling Huaixi Circuit (淮西, headquartered in modern Xuchang, Henan), which was then wealthy.
[9] In fall 783, soldiers from Jingyuan Circuit (涇原, headquartered in modern Pingliang, Gansu), then at Chang'an in preparation for deployment to the Weibo front, were angry that they were not given sufficient rewards, and they mutinied, forcing Emperor Dezong to flee to Fengtian (奉天, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi).
Huige sent 3,000 soldiers to aid Zhu Tao in his efforts to further advance south to capture the eastern capital Luoyang.
[11] Hearing the news, Ma Shi lifted the siege on Bei Prefecture and joined forces with Zhu.
However, the Huige general assisting Zhu, as well as Yang Bu (楊布) and Cai Xiong, advocated for immediate attack.
The next day, May 29, 784,[12] the armies battled, and the overly confident Zhu was defeated by Wang's and Li Baozhen's forces.
Zhu, with a few thousand remaining soldiers, feared annihilation at Wang's and Li Baozhen's hands and fled to De Prefecture.
After defeating Zhu, Wang returned to Heng Prefecture and declined the additional title of military governor of Lulong, and Emperor Dezong agreed.
Wang Wujun felt that he could take advantage of Li Shigu's youth, and therefore sent an army to De and Di Prefectures, readying an attack on two Pinglu forts — Geduo[15] (in modern Binzhou) and Sancha (三汊).
Emperor Dezong ordered that Zhang Shenglin be removed from his office as military prefect of Hai Prefecture (海州, in modern Lianyungang, Jiangsu) and detained.
However, Wang used this excuse to attack Yiwu, capturing Yifeng (義豐, in modern Baoding) and seizing 10,000 people.
In 796, Emperor Dezong bestowed on Wang the greater honorary chancellor title of Zhongshu Ling (中書令).