王敬 / Wang Jing (Western Regions, late Han)

Overview

王敬 / Wang Jing is the late-Han Western Regions chief clerk in Hanji 838 whose investigation of Zhao Ping’s death turns into an unauthorized killing of 于阗王建. His profile is a cautionary frontier case: ambition, local rivalry, and unverified accusation combine to make a Han envoy create the disorder he is supposed to clarify.

Current Profile

Wang Jing receives the Western Regions post after Zhao Ping, the previous officeholder, dies in Khotan. The source says Dunhuang administrator Ma Da sends him to investigate after Zhao Ping’s son reports 居弥王成国’s claim that King Jian arranged the death through a Xiongnu doctor.

The investigation is captured before Wang Jing reaches Khotan. Chengguo tells him that Khotanese people want Chengguo as king and that Wang can use the death of a Han official as justification. Wang Jing treats this as a chance to gain merit, invites King Jian to a banquet, tries to seize him during the toast, and becomes responsible for the killing even though Chengguo’s registrar Qin Mu does the beheading.

The result is immediate loss of legitimacy. Wang Jing retreats upstairs with King Jian’s head and claims imperial authority, but Khotanese forces do not accept the claim. 输僰 kills Wang Jing and displays his head, after which Khotan’s own succession conflict continues.

Key Characteristics

• Frontier official whose investigation mission is redirected by a hostile local ruler’s accusation.
• Ambitious actor who reads the accusation as a chance for merit before confirming the charge.
• Banquet plotter whose seizure attempt depends on coercive surprise rather than open adjudication.
• Failed representative of Han authority because his claim of imperial command does not persuade Khotanese actors.
• Source case for rumor-driven frontier intervention and escalation.

Evidence

• Investigation assignment: Hanji 838 says Ma Da sends Wang Jing to investigate Zhao Ping’s death after Chengguo’s accusation reaches Dunhuang.
• Ambition and capture by local rivalry: Hanji 838 says Wang Jing is ambitious and treats Chengguo’s story as an opportunity.
• Banquet killing: Hanji 838 says Wang Jing invites King Jian to a feast, orders him surrounded, and lets the scene become a beheading by Qin Mu.
• Failed command claim: Hanji 838 says Wang Jing announces he acted by imperial command, but Khotanese forces kill him anyway.
• Consequence: Hanji 838 says his death is followed by Shubo’s failed self-enthronement and Anguo’s installation.

Qualifications

This page is bounded to Hanji 838 and does not reconstruct Wang Jing’s wider official career. The source presents the Xiongnu-doctor story as an accusation transmitted by Chengguo, not as a verified cause of Zhao Ping’s death. Wang Jing’s exact formal authority as Western Regions chief clerk remains source-scoped.

What Changed

• Created the page from Hanji 838’s Western Regions incident.
• Added Wang Jing as a case of investigation authority being converted into destabilizing frontier intervention.

Relationships

• 居弥王成国 - hostile local ruler whose accusation redirects Wang Jing’s mission.
• 于阗王建 - ruler Wang Jing targets and kills through the banquet plot.
• 于阗国 - polity destabilized by Wang Jing’s intervention.
• 输僰 - Khotan general who kills Wang Jing after rejecting his imperial-command claim.
• 谣言驱动的边疆干预 - concept grounded in Wang Jing’s failed investigation and killing.