Wang Meng

Also known as Zi Jinglue

Wang Meng, courtesy name Jinglue, came from Ju in Beihai; poor in youth, he sold baskets for a living and later lived as a recluse on Mount Hua. When the Eastern Jin general Huan Wen marched into Guanzhong in 354, Wang called on him in a coarse robe and talked about the state of the world while picking lice from his clothes, but declined to go south with him. Introduced to Fu Jian, who took the Former Qin throne in 357, he won the ruler's trust and was promoted five times in a year. As governor of the capital he arrested the empress dowager's lawless brother Qiang De and executed more than twenty powerful relatives and magnates within weeks. In 370 he led the invasion of the Former Yan, routed Murong Ping at Luchuan and took Ye. He died in 375 at fifty-one, urging Fu Jian to leave the Jin alone and watch the Xianbei and Qiang; eight years later Fu Jian's southern expedition collapsed at the Fei River.