家世

王徽生年不详，只知当唐宣宗在850年代命宰相们为公主们挑选合适的驸马时，王徽四十多岁。他是京兆杜陵人，战国时期魏国著名公子信陵君魏无忌之后，这一支因是王族之后，故改姓王。北周同州刺史王罴为王徽十代祖，其后人后来效力隋朝和唐朝。王徽祖父王察为连州刺史，父王自立为缑氏令。

早期仕途

唐宣宗大中十一年（857年），王徽中进士，任秘书省校书郎。户部侍郎沈询判度支，辟王徽为巡官。当时宣宗正为女儿们挑选合适的驸马，要求宰相们观察中进士的官员，王徽被提名。但他不想与皇室结亲，见宰相刘瑑，以年龄为由辞让，因为他已经四十多岁且多病。刘瑑告诉了宣宗，王徽因而没有被命令娶公主。

宣宗子唐懿宗年间，前宰相令狐綯历任宣武、淮南节度使，王徽都作为掌书记跟随他，官至大理评事。后又被召回拜为右拾遗，前后上疏提了23条建议，人们因而敬重他的洞察力。宰相徐商判盐铁事务，邀王徽为参佐。徐商罢相后为荆南节度使，想邀王徽为他效力，但不知他是否愿意再次离开长安而不敢问。王徽闻知，对徐商说：「我刚中进士的时候，是公照顾我，现在公就要佩戴印绶领军了，下官怎能不跟从呢？」徐商很高兴，奏授王徽殿中侍御史，赐绯，署任为荆南节度判官。

唐僖宗年间

高湜监督御史台时，奏王徽回长安为侍御史知杂兼职方员外郎，后升考功员外郎。任上于咸通十四年（873年）奏请将考簿上的上中下字由红字改为用不易涂改的黑字书写，制止了考功作弊行为。宰相萧仿尤其敬重王徽精通为官之术。乾符初年，迁司封郎中、长安县令。当时翰林学士缺人，萧仿任王徽为翰林学士，改职方郎中、知制诰，三年（876年）九月正拜中书舍人。王徽于延英殿中谢恩，被当面赐以金紫，后又迁户部侍郎、学士承旨，后又改兵部侍郎、尚书左丞，仍任学士承旨。曾奉命授西川节度使高骈功状，六年（879年）作《创筑罗城记》纪念高骈在成都筑大城事。

广明元年（880年）十二月，黄巢农民大军逼近长安，当权宦官田令孜为转移对朝廷军队无力阻止黄巢的指责，归咎首席宰相卢携战略错误，贬之。卢携因而自杀。王徽和裴澈被加同中书门下平章事，代卢携为相，王徽改户部侍郎。但同日，传来黄巢军将攻长安的消息。田令孜带僖宗乘夜逃往成都，王徽等官员们上朝时才知道，为了随驾和躲藏而乱窜。王徽想随驾逃跑，落入荆榛中，坠入崖谷受伤，被黄巢的士兵所获，带回长安。当时黄巢已在长安自称大齐皇帝。中和元年（881年）二月，黄巢想任王徽大齐官职，但即使周围都是白刃，王徽也假装重伤不能说话。黄巢命他回官邸养病，严密监视，派医生为他治病。过了一个多月，守卫懈怠，王徽装作商贩逃到河中。他撕裂绢布写上表文，遣人献上已在成都的僖宗，僖宗遥授他光禄大夫，任为兵部尚书。期间，王徽厚待退居河中的礼部郎中司空图。王徽想去成都会合僖宗，但僖宗诏令他以本官充东面宣慰催阵使。

王徽有雅望，但拜相才一天就遭遇此乱，故没有可称道的建树。

同时，昭义镇历经混乱：当年昭义将成麟兵变杀节度使高浔，又被天井关戍将孟方立所杀。昭义人请监军吴全勖知留后，但孟方立拒绝，称宦官不能为节度使，软禁吴全勖，称希望朝廷派人来代任。三月，朝廷任时任右仆射、租庸使、京城四面催阵使、守兵部尚书王徽为检校左仆射兼潞州大都督府长史、昭义节度、潞邢洺磁观察等使、同平章事。王徽表司空图为副使。但王徽知道孟方立已经完全控制了昭义镇全部五州中在太行山以东的三州，自认不能实际控制昭义，上表坚辞获准，请求任知昭义军事郑昌图为节度使，而司空图也因此没赴任。郑昌图仅三个月后即离任，使孟方立控制了昭义。王徽则被任为诸道租庸供军使、大明宫留守、京畿安抚制置、修奉园陵等使。

宰相王铎都统行营兵马对抗黄巢，不能取胜。二年（882年）十月，行营都监杨复光想请沙陀叛军李克用加入唐军，王徽同意了。于是王铎以僖宗名义下敕书赦免李克用，召他加入唐军。唐军在李克用的巨大贡献下于中和三年（883年）初击败黄巢、收复长安，王徽因功加尚书右仆射。四月，僖宗诏留忠武军及延州、凤翔、博野军及东西神策军二万人于长安，令王徽护卫诸门，安抚居民，与京畿制置使田从异守长安。

当时，长安因战乱而毁坏，僖宗尚未返回。王徽受任为大明宫留守、京畿安抚制置、修奉园陵等使、御史大夫，任上表奏前庐州刺史郑綮为兵部郎中、知台杂。九月，权知京兆尹事。王徽安抚百姓，百姓开始返回，又修缮宫室，粗略整顿百司。时任淮南节度使的高骈命从事崔致远给王徽写信。四年（884年）十二月，王徽与留司百官上表请僖宗车驾还宫。但宫内外权臣重建官邸，常侵扰百姓，百姓抱怨，王徽试图以法律妥善对抗权臣，因而冒犯了他们，他们以其党羽薛杞为少尹，知府事，希望薛杞剥夺王徽实权，但王徽称薛杞刚丧父，应服丧，拒绝让他就职。这愈发激怒了权臣，王徽因而被免职召去成都。他被授太子少师——当时并无太子，这完全是荣誉职位，并被命令在河中退休养病。大约一百天后，太子少师也被免，光启元年（885年）僖宗回长安后复授太子少师，召回长安，他称病不就。宰相们责王徽不受皇恩，奏贬集州刺史，命他立即赴任。

不数日，田令孜激怒了河中节度使王重荣和时任河东节度使李克用，他们攻打长安，僖宗逃到兴元。乱军入长安后放火，王徽勉强修好的宫阙又化为灰烬。静难军节度使朱玫占领长安，立襄王李煴为帝。田令孜被解职，逃到成都任西川监军使，他的哥哥陈敬瑄在那里当节度使。田令孜被罢后，僖宗念及王徽无罪，诏王徽拜吏部尚书，封琅邪郡侯，食邑千户。王徽想去见驾，但道路被李煴所阻。随后李煴的诏书到了河中，也召王徽。王徽称中风不能走路，拒绝归顺李煴。同年，朱玫被部将王行瑜所杀，李煴逃到河中也被王重荣处决后，僖宗回长安，途经凤翔时，任王徽为御史大夫，但王徽坚称脚有病不就。

唐昭宗年间

文德元年（888年），唐僖宗崩，弟唐昭宗继位，复授王徽太子少师。当他去便殿向昭宗致谢时，昭宗说：「王徽精神还好，怎能仅仅自便？」改授吏部尚书。尽管当时唐朝政府已数遭灾祸，王徽仍能筛选记录，适当处理公务，验看选官、补调官职等。进位检校司空，守尚书右仆射。大顺元年（890年）三月，宣武军节度使朱全忠还上表称王徽等为缙绅名族，宜用为徐郓青兖等道节度使，昭宗从之，但没有任王徽为节度使。十二月卒，赠司空、太尉，谥贞。

评价

• 《旧唐书》史臣曰：徽志吐盗泉，脱身虎口，功名不坠，君子多之。

子

• 王椿

• 王樗

• 王松

注释

Background

It is not known for certain when Wang Hui was born—although he was said to be in his 40s when Emperor Xuānzong (r. 846–859) was asking chancellors to find appropriate husbands for the princesses in the 850s, placing a loose timeframe on the time of his birth. His family was from Jingzhao Municipality (京兆, i.e., the region of the Tang Dynasty capital Chang'an) and claimed ancestry from Wei Wuji (魏无忌) the Lord of Xinling, a famous prince of the Warring States period state Wei, explaining that the line eventually changed its surname to Wang because it was from a house of kings (and Wang meant "king"). Wang Hui's family also traced its ancestry to the Western Wei general Wang Pi (王罴), whose descendants then served Sui Dynasty and Tang. Wang Hui's grandfather Wang Cha (王察) served as a prefectural prefect, and his father Wang Zili (王自立) served as a county magistrate.

Early career

Wang Hui passed the imperial examinations in the Jinshi class in 858, during Emperor Xuānzong's reign. He started his official career as a copyeditor (校书郎, Xiaoshu Lang) at the Palace Library. When the official Shen Xun (沈询) served as the director of finances, he invited Wang to serve under him as a traveling reviewer. At that time, Emperor Xuānzong, who was looking for appropriate husbands for his daughters, asked the chancellors to look among the officials who had passed the Jinshi examination, and Wang's name was mentioned. Wang, however, did not want to marry into the imperial family, and he met the chancellor Liu Zhuan to decline on the account of age, as he was already in his 40s, as well as poor health. Liu thus informed Emperor Xuānzong, and Wang was not ordered to marry a princess.

Later, during the reign of Emperor Xuānzong's son Emperor Yizong, when the former chancellor Linghu Tao served successively as the military governor (Jiedushi) of Xuanwu (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan) and then Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), Wang served as Linghu's secretary. Wang was subsequently recalled to Chang'an to serve as You Shiyi (右拾遗), a low-level advisory official at the legislative bureau (中书省, Zhongshu Sheng), and it was said that while serving there, he submitted petitions making 23 suggestions, causing people to respect him for his insight. When the chancellor Xu Shang also served as the director of salt and iron monopolies, he invited Wang to serve as an assistant. Later, after Xu was relieved of his chancellor post and made the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (荆南, headquartered in modern Jingzhou, Hubei), he wanted Wang to serve under him, but did not dare to ask, as he did not know whether Wang would be willing to leave the capital again. Wang heard about this, and he stated to Xu, "When I had just passed the Jinshi examination, it was you, Lord, who regarded me well. Now that you, Lord, will be receiving a seal and a military command, how can your subordinate not follow you?" Xu was pleased, and he had Wang made his assistant.

During Emperor Xizongs reign

Later, when Gao Shi (高湜) oversaw the office of imperial censors (御史台, Yushi Tai), he had Wang Hui recalled to Chang'an to serve as a supervising censor Shi Yushi Zhiza (侍御史知杂), as well as Zhifang Yuanwailang (职方员外郎), a low-level official at the ministry of civil service affairs (吏部, Libu). From that latter position, Wang was later promoted to Kaogong Langzhong (考功郎中), a supervisory official at the ministry of civil service affairs. The chancellor Xiao Fang particularly respected Wang for his administrative abilities. Wang was later made Sifeng Langzhong (司封郎中), still a supervisory official at the office of civil service affairs, as well as the magistrate of Chang'an County (one of the two counties making up the capital), but as at that time, the ranks of imperial scholars (翰林学士, Hanlin Xueshi) was severely lacking, Xiao had him made an imperial scholar and also Zhifang Langzhong (职方郎中), also a supervisory official at the ministry of civil service affairs; Wang was also put in charge of drafting edicts. He was later made Zhongshu Sheren (中书舍人), a mid-level official at the legislative bureau. Yet later, he was made chief imperial scholar (翰林学士承旨, Hanlin Xueshi Chengzhi) and deputy minister of census (户部侍郎, Hubu Shilang). While serving as chief imperial scholar, he also successively served as deputy minister of defense (兵部侍郎, Bingbu Shilang) and then Shangshu Zuo Cheng (尚书左丞), one of the secretaries general of the executive bureau (尚书省, Shangshu Sheng).

In late 880, as the major agrarian rebel Huang Chao was approaching Chang'an, the powerful eunuch Tian Lingzi, in order to deflect blame for the imperial forces' inability to stop Huang, blamed the leading chancellor Lu Xi for erroneous strategies and had Lu demoted. (Lu, in response, committed suicide.) Wang and Pei Che were made chancellors (with the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi) to replace Lu. However, on the same day, news arrived that Huang was about to attack Chang'an. Tian took Emperor Xizong and fled toward Chengdu, and the officials scrambled to either try to follow the emperor or to hide. Wang tried to follow the emperor in flight, but in his attempt to do so fell into a bush in a valley and was injured. He was captured by Huang's soldiers, who took him back to Chang'an, where Huang had declared himself emperor of a new state of Qi. Huang tried to force Wang to accept a commission in the Qi government, but Wang pretended to have been so severely injured that he could not speak, even when swords were placed against him. Huang had Wang returned to his mansion to recuperate, under close watch, and he sent doctors to treat Wang. After about a month, though, when the guards had relaxed, Wang disguised himself as a merchant and fled to Hezhong (河中, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi). He submitted a report to Emperor Xizong (who was then at Chengdu), and Emperor Xizong had him remotely made the minister of defense (兵部尚书, Bingbu Shangshu).

Wang was then planning to join the emperor in Chengdu, but he was then commissioned to review the Tang troops in the east. At that time, the chancellor Wang Duo was in overall command of the operations against Huang, but Tang forces had not been able to gain a decisive victory over Qi. The eunuch monitor of the army, Yang Fuguang wanted to invite the Shatuo rebel Li Keyong to join the Tang cause, and Wang Hui agreed with the proposal. Wang Duo then issued an edict in Emperor Xizong's name pardoning Li Keyong and summoning him to join the Tang imperial cause. After Tang forces, with Li Keyong as a major contributor, defeated Huang and recaptured Chang'an early in 883, Wang, for his contribution, was made You Pushe (右仆射), one of the heads of the executive bureau.

Meanwhile, Zhaoyi Circuit (昭义, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi) had been going through much turmoil—as the officer Cheng Lin (成麟) had killed the military governor Gao Xun (高浔) in a mutiny in 881 and was in turn killed by another officer, Meng Fangli. The people of Zhaoyi then asked the eunuch monitor Wu Quanxu to act as military governor, but Meng rejected this (claiming that a eunuch should not be a governor) and put Wu under house arrest, instead claiming that he wanted the imperial government to send a replacement. The imperial government commissioned Wang Hui to serve as Zhaoyi's military governor. Wang, however, knowing that Meng had full control of three of Zhaoyi's five prefectures (i.e., the ones east of the Taihang Mountains), believed that he would not be actually able to exercise control, and so declined the commission. The circuit was then instead given to Zheng Changtu, although Zheng left his post just three months later, leaving Meng in control.

At this time, Chang'an was in shambles due to the warfare, and Emperor Xizong had not returned to Chang'an. Wang was made the director of Daming Palace and acting mayor of Jingzhao, overseeing the recovery effort. It was said that Wang comforted the people, such that the people began to return. However, the powerful individuals inside the palace (i.e., eunuchs headed by Tian) and outside were trying to reconstruct their mansions, and they often infringed on the people's rights. When the people complained, Wang tried to exercise the laws properly against the powerful people, and thus offended them. They thus had another official, Xue Qi (薛杞), made Wang's deputy, with the intent that Xue would strip Wang's actual authority, but Wang, citing the fact that Xue's father had just died and that he should thus be observing a period of mourning, refused to let Xue take office. This further angered the powerful people, and Wang was stripped of his posts and summoned to Chengdu. He was then made a senior advisor to the Crown Prince — an entirely honorary post as there was no crown prince at the time — and ordered to retire to Hezhong. About three months later, even that honorary post was stripped, although a similar post was conferred after Emperor Xizong returned to Chang'an in 885, and Wang was recalled to Chang'an, although he declined the post on account of illness. The chancellors, rebuking Wang for not accepting the imperial largess, had him made the prefect of Ji Prefecture (集州, in modern Bazhong, Sichuan) and ordered him to report immediately.

Immediately after, though, Tian provoked Wang Chongrong and Li Keyong into attacking Chang'an, and Emperor Xizong fled to Xingyuan (兴元, in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi). The warlord Zhu Mei, the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (静难, headquartered in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), took over Chang'an and declared an imperial prince, Li Yun the Prince of Xiang, emperor. Tian was removed from his post and fled to Chengdu to serve as the eunuch monitor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu), where his brother Chen Jingxuan was military governor. After Tian's removal, Emperor Xizong sent an edict summoning Wang to serve as the minister of civil service affairs (吏部尚书) and creating him the Marquess of Langye. Wang wanted to report to Emperor Xizong, but the roads were blocked off by Li Yun. Subsequently, Li Yun's edict arrived at Hezhong, also summoning Wang. Wang claimed to have suffered a stroke and to be unable to walk, and he refused to submit to Li Yun. After Zhu was killed by his own subordinate Wang Xingyu later in the year, and Li Yun was then executed by Wang Chongrong when he fled to Hezhong, Emperor Xizong returned to Chang'an. He made Wang chief imperial censor (御史大夫, Yushi Daifu), but Wang declined on account of illness.

During Emperor Zhaozongs reign

Sometime after Emperor Xizong died in 888 and was succeeded by his brother Emperor Zhaozong, Wang Hui was again made advisor to the Crown Prince. When he went to the palace to thank Emperor Zhaozong, Emperor Zhaozong stated, "Wang Hui's spirit is still strong. How could he just take the easy way out?" Emperor Zhaozong then made him minister of civil service affairs again. It was said that, even though the Tang imperial government had suffered through many disasters by this point, Wang was still able to sort through the records and grant offices appropriately. He was thereafter made acting Sikong (司空, one of the Three Excellencies) and You Pushe. He died around the new year 891 and was given posthumous honors.

Notes and references

• Old Book of Tang, vol. 178.

• New Book of Tang, vol. 185.

• Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 254, 255, 256.