Wen Yanbo (23 October 1006 – 16 June 1097),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Kuanfu, was a

scholar-official The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class. Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...

of the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

who served four emperors over more than five decades. He was a

grand councilor The grand chancellor (''zaixiang, tsai-hsiang''), also translated as counselor-in-chief, chancellor, chief councillor, chief minister, imperial chancellor, lieutenant chancellor and prime minister, was the highest-ranking executive official in th ...

during Emperor Renzong's reign.

During Emperor Renzong's reign

After passing the

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

in 1027, Wen Yanbo first became the magistrate of

Yicheng County Yicheng County () is a county in the prefecture-level city of Linfen, in the south of Shanxi Province, China. The county spans an area of , and is home to 323,517 people as of 2019. Geography Yicheng County is located in southern Shanxi Province ...

. Later he was appointed controller-general (通判) of Jiang Prefecture. Eventually he arrived in the capital

Kaifeng Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the Nort ...

to serve under Emperor Renzong, first as an investigating censor (監察御史) and later as a palace censor (殿中侍御史). In 1038,

Tangut people The Tangut people ( Tangut: , ''mjɨ nja̱'' or , ''mji dzjwo''; ; ; mn, Тангуд) were a Tibeto-Burman tribal union that founded and inhabited the Western Xia dynasty. The group initially lived under Tuyuhun authority, but later submitted t ...

in Song's northwestern region declared their independence, naming their state Xia (known in history as

Western Xia The Western Xia or the Xi Xia (), officially the Great Xia (), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as ''Mi-nyak''Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts and Tibetans, was a Tangut-led Buddhist imperial dynasty of China tha ...

) and invaded Song. Wen Yanbo suggested to Emperor Renzong that marshals in the front line should be given independent authorities to discipline subordinate generals for desertion and cowardice. The rule had been that marshals needed permission from the imperial court first, in order to carry out such orders. Wen argued that this rule may only be implemented during peaceful times, because during times of war, enforcement of military law and concentration of military power is of utmost importance to military commanders. Emperor Renzong took his advice and praised him. In 1040, Western Xia army attacked Yan Prefecture. General Liu Ping (劉平) went to reinforce the city, but was ambushed and trapped in a hill. Liu sent urgent messages asking another general Huang Dehe (黃德和) to reinforce him, but Huang was afraid and deserted in the opposite direction. As a result Liu was captured, and Huang told the emperor that Liu defected, even bribing Liu's servant to corroborate his claims. Emperor Renzong sent Wen Yanbo to Hezhong to judge the case. After careful examinations, Wen discovered the truth, but Huang, who had many " connections" in the capital, attempted to discredit Wen's findings. As a result, Emperor Renzong sent another official,

Pang Ji Pang Ji (died 202), courtesy name Yuantu, was a Chinese politician serving under the warlord Yuan Shao during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Pang Ji was criticised by Cao Cao's advisor Xun Yu as "brave but heedless of other's opinions ...

, to re-investigate the case. Wen told Pang that he should go back as the case was already closed. Eventually Pang accepted Wen's findings and executed both Huang and Liu's servant.

References

* *{{cite book, editor-last= Toqto'a, title= Song Shi ''(宋史)'', trans-title=History of Song , year=1345, ref={{harvid, ''Song Shi'', language=zh, display-editors=etal 1006 births 1097 deaths Ancient Chinese censors Song dynasty chancellors Song dynasty politicians from Shanxi Politicians from Jinzhong