Wang Lang (pronunciation^ⓘ; diedc.December 228[a]^[2]),courtesy nameJingxing (景興), was a Chinese politician and minor warlord who lived during the lateEastern Han dynasty of China. He served notably in the Han central government as Administrator ofKuaiji Commandery and in the later state ofCao Wei during theThree Kingdoms period. He was also a maternal great-grandfather of Sima Yan, the founding emperor of theJin dynasty, through his granddaughterWang Yuanji's marriage withSima Zhao.

Wang Lang was from Tan County (郯縣),Donghai Commandery (東海郡), which is around present-dayTancheng County,Shandong. His original given name was "Yan" (嚴) but he changed it to "Lang" (朗) later.^[3] He started his career as a Palace Gentleman (郎中) due to his academic proficiency, particularly with theChinese Classics. When his teacher Yang Ci (楊賜)^[4] died in late 185, he left his post and went back to his home county to mourn him. Later, he servedTao Qian, the Governor ofXu Province, where he advised Tao Qian and several other warlords to pledge allegiance toEmperor Xian, citing theSpring and Autumn Annals. Tao Qian then sent an envoy to the Han central government inChang'an to pledge allegiance to the Emperor, and in return received the appointment "General Calming the East". The Han central government also appointed Wang Lang as the Administrator ofKuaiji Commandery.

During Wang Lang's tenure as Administrator ofKuaiji Commandery, Wang Lang banned the worship ofQin Shi Huang, a widespread custom among locals, believing that he was a ruler without virtue.^[5] Wang also formed a secret alliance with theShanyue tribes. When the warlordSun Ce started hisJiangdong campaign, Wang Lang financed the Shanyue leaderYan Baihu to fight Sun Ce, but Yan Baihu and the other Shanyue clan leaders lost to Sun Ce; at the time,Liu Yao, another warlord in theJiangdong region, had also lost to Sun Ce in battle. Yan Baihu had become the head of a loose confederation composed of bandits and local officials, including Wang Lang, and he again gathered soldiers numbering tens of thousands. Despite opposition from his adviserYu Fan, Wang Lang directly joined Yan Baihu in military operations against Sun Ce's forces, but they were defeated.

Wang Lang then escaped to Dongye (東冶). There, he gained the support from the Chief of Houguan (侯官長) and attempted to rebuild his power^[6] with support from Zhang Ya (張雅), a rebel leader with a strong army. They succeeded in killing Han Yan (韓晏), the Commandant of the Southern Region (南部都尉) appointed by Sun Ce, but were ultimately defeated byHe Qi, a general under Sun Ce.

Wang Lang tried to go further south toJiao Province to recuperate, but was caught up and defeated by Sun Ce.^[7] He then conducted a very humble speech to appease Sun Ce, who later accepted his surrender.

Despite surrendering, Wang Lang entered into a self-imposed retirement from public life, refusingZhang Zhao's request to serve Sun Ce. Eventually he was contacted by one ofCao Cao's spies and was asked to join Cao Cao in the new imperial capital,Xuchang, where the Han central government was based. Although he was initially hesitant, he became convinced after reading a letter from his old friend,Kong Rong, who praised Cao Cao and urged him to go to Xuchang. Thus, he travelled north and reached Xuchang about a year later. Cao Cao highly valued Wang Lang's talent and appointed him as Critical Grandee, and Advisor to the Army of the Excellency of Works. Wang Lang later served in key appointments in Cao Cao's vassal kingdom of Wei after the latter was enfeoffed as a vassal king by the threatenedEmperor Xian, the last emperor of the Han dynasty.^[8] In 220, after Cao Cao's death, his sonCao Pi became king, promoting Wang Lang as Censorate Grandee and enfeoffed him as Marquis of Yueping Village. Later that winter, the Emperor was wrongfully forced to abdicate to Cao Pi, who established the state ofCao Wei to replace the Eastern Han dynasty(which was then re-established by Shu Han). After becoming the emperor, Cao Pi appointed Wang Lang as theMinister of Works and enfeoffed him as the Marquis of Anling Precinct. During Cao Pi's reign, Wang Lang made several suggestions regarding both military and civilian matters, such as security and the reduction of the state's employees and expenditures.

In 226, whenCao Rui came to the throne, he promoted Wang Lang from a district marquis to a county marquis under the title "Marquis of Lanling", increasing his marquisate to 1,700 taxable households, from his previous 1,200.

Wang Lang was later sent toYe (in present-dayHandan,Hebei) to visit the tomb ofEmpress Wenzhao, Cao Rui's mother. She had yet to be canonized as Empress at that point, so Wang Lang was given the tally and document that permitted him to do so, as well as the proper sacrificial animals for this. A special tomb was to be built for her as well. During his visit, he saw the populace was short on material; thus, he wrote to advise Cao Rui to be frugal, and to reduce the scale of the building of his extravagant palaces and ancestral temples.Wang Lang was later promoted to the position ofMinister over the Masses.

After Wang Lang objected to Cao Rui's palace-building project, he noticed that Cao Rui had a small imperial harem and wrote to Cao Rui stating that an emperor should have more concubines in order to continue the imperial bloodline with more offspring. This time, Cao Rui wholeheartedly agreed with Wang Lang and started expanding the size of his imperial harem. Wang's advice had a profound influence: Nine years after Wang Lang's death, Cao Rui even ordered beautiful married women all be formally seized unless their husbands were able to ransom them, and that they would be married to soldiers instead – except that the most beautiful among them would become his concubines. Despite protests from some officials (including Zhang Mao), this decree was apparently carried out, much to the distress of his people.^[9]

Wang Lang later focused on academic works and had published several books that were well received at the time. He died in 228 and was given theposthumous title "Marquis Cheng" (成侯), literally meaning "marquis of establishment".^[b] He was succeeded by his sonWang Su, who continued serving as an official in Wei.

In the 14th-century historical novelRomance of the Three Kingdoms, Wang Lang died at the age of 76 in 228. Despite his age, he led a group of soldiers and set up camp to do battle withZhuge Liang. In the novel,Cao Zhen was defeated by Zhuge Liang. Cao Zhen called for his subordinates to help, and Wang Lang decided to try to persuade him to surrender (even thoughGuo Huai was sceptical that it would succeed) and engaged Zhuge Liang in a debate, but was soundly defeated. Zhuge Liang among other things scolded him as a dog and a traitor, from the shock of which he fell off his horse and died on the spot. There is no record of this in history, and instead, it is said that he merely sent a letter to Zhuge Liang recommending that he surrender. The letter was ignored.

A famous story of Wang Lang was recorded inA New Account of the Tales of the World:

BothHua Xin and Wang Lang were fleeing in a boat. One person hoped to board, but Hua Xin was hesitant. Wang Lang said:" Fortunately the boat is still spacious. Why not?" Later, the bandits pursuing them approached, and Wang wanted to abandon the person whom they took along. Hua Xin said: "This is why I was originally hesitant. Now that we have accepted his entrustment of himself, can we abandon him because of emergency?" Therefore they carried and saved him as before. This is how people determined who is better between Hua and Wang.

— Volume 1. Virtuous Conduct,A New Account of the Tales of the World^[11]

• Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms

• Chen, Shou (3rd century).Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi).
• de Crespigny, Rafe (2007).A biographical dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Leiden: Brill.ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0.
• Luo, Guanzhong (14th century).Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi).
• Pei, Songzhi (5th century).Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi zhu).

• 228 deaths
• Cao Wei government officials
• Han dynasty warlords
• Government officials under Cao Cao
• Political office-holders in Zhejiang
• Politicians from Linyi

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