During Jin Dynasty
Wang Hong was a great-grandson of the famed Jin prime minister Wang Dao. His father Wang Xun (王珣) served as prime minister during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of Jin, although he lost much of his power after Emperor Xiaowu's death. During Emperor An's reign, when Emperor Xiaowu's brother and Emperor An's uncle Sima Daozi the Prince of Kuaiji served as regent, Wang Hong served on his staff, and, impressed with Wang Hong's suggestions, Sima Daozi wanted to promote him, but Wang Xun, believing his son to be too young for greater posts (Sima Daozi's regency lasted from 397 to 399, so Wang Hong would be only 18 to 20 by this point), declined on his son's behalf. Wang Xun had been very interested in financial matters and earned much money from investments, including loans to commoners, and after his death in 400, Wang Hong burned all of the promissory notes to forgive those commoners' debts. During his three-year mourning period, Sima Daozi's son Sima Yuanxian, who succeeded his father as regent, tried to have him come out of his mourning period and serve as a general, but he repeatedly declined invitations by both Sima Yuanxian and Sima Daozi. After the warlord Huan Xuan defeated and killed Sima Yuanxian in 402 and arrested and exiled Sima Daozi, most of Sima Daozi's old associates did not dare to see him off at the dock of the capital Jiankang, but Wang Hong arrived to do so, and was praised for his faithfulness.
After Huan Xuan seized the throne in 403 and established a new state of Chu, Liu Yu rose in rebellion in 404 to try to reestablish Jin, and Wang joined Liu Yu's army. After Huan Xuan was defeated and killed, Wang was created the Marquess of Huarong in recognition of his contributions. He later successively served as the governor of several commanderies, and he accompanied Liu Yu on his campaign against Later Qin in 416. After Liu Yu took the important city Luoyang, he sent Wang back to Jiankang to pressure Emperor An into granting him the nine bestowments, surprising Liu Yu's chief assistant Liu Muzhi (劉穆之), who had been left in charge of the capital that he was not informed first. Liu Muzhi, in fear and anger, died. Initially, Liu Yu wanted to have Wang succeed Liu Muzhi, but at the recommendation of other officials had Xu Xianzhi replace Liu Muzhi instead. Wang became the governor of the strategically important Pengcheng Commandery (彭城, roughly modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu) instead. While at that post, he wrote articles of impeachment against the official Xie Lingyun, a talented poet who was however inattentive to his responsibilities, leading to Liu Yu's removal of Xie from his posts. In 418, Liu Yu made him the governor of Jiang Province (江州, modern Jiangxi and Fujian), and he was said to be a capable governor.
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