Weng Wanda

Also known as Zi Renfu · Hao Dongya

Weng Wanda, courtesy name Renfu, came from Jieyang in Guangdong and gained his jinshi in 1526. In Guangxi he helped manage the Annam crisis that ended with Mac Dang Dung's submission. From 1544 he served as supreme commander of Xuanfu, Datong, Shanxi and Baoding, using 600,000 taels to build some 800 li of wall along the western Datong and eastern Xuanfu lines, nearly halving the cost of autumn garrisons. He repeatedly urged that Altan Khan be allowed to send tribute and argued against the plan to retake the Ordos, but was overruled both times. After driving Altan's raiders from Xuanfu in 1549 he was made minister of war, then went home to mourn his father; summoned during the 1550 crisis, he reached the capital late, was slandered by Yan Song and Qiu Luan, and was stripped of office. Recalled as minister of war in 1552, he died before the order reached him, aged fifty-five, and received the posthumous name Xiangyi under Longqing.