Wang Guangyang

The Hongwu Emperor struggled with trusting his close advisors, and shuffled around or eliminated his most powerful ministers with some frequency. In the third year of his reign, 1370, Li Shanchang – the most powerful and respected individual in the bureaucracy – fell ill and was unable to work, leaving the Imperial Secretariat without a manager. Wang Guangyang was in Shaanxi at the time, and was summoned to the capital to take the position Vice Chancellor of the Left (左丞) to cover Li's workload. Appointed Vice Chancellor of the Right (右丞), the junior of the two positions, was Yang Xian. Wang Guangyang seems to have been content to allow Yang to do most of the work for both of them, as Yang was able to make decisions unilaterally. Still Yang felt jealous of Wang and resented sharing power. So Yang suggested to the censor Liu Bing (劉炳) that he should impeach Wang for "failing to uphold his mother" (奉母無狀). When Liu sent a memorial to the throne, the emperor believed it, and transferred Wang out of the capital and back to his hometown in Gaoyou. Wang had not been home in over a decade, and according to his own poetry he was not particularly unhappy about his transfer. After a second memorial from Liu later that year, Wang was ordered to remove himself all the way to distant Hainan. Li Shanchang evidently communicated to the emperor that Wang's impeachment had been orchestrated on false pretenses by Yang Xian, so the emperor had Yang executed. Wang was recalled to the capital, given his old job back, and enfeoffed as nobility. His specific title was "Loyal and Diligent Earl" (忠勳伯), with a sinecure of 360 dan. Early the next year, Li Shanchang retired from office. His co-worker, Grand Chancellor of the Right (右丞相) Xu Da, left the capital on a military campaign. Wang Guangyang was thereupon promoted to Grand Chancellor of the Right, with Li Shanchang's associate Hu Weiyong promoted to Vice Chancellor of the Left. The two of them were solely responsible for managing the Imperial Secretariat, with the other two positions unfilled or unattended. Wang Guangyang and Hu Weiyong sat atop the Hongwu Emperor's bureaucracy for the next two years, then Wang fell out of favour and was sent away from the capital again, this time to Guangdong Province in a position of authority. After some time, during which Hu was promoted twice, Wang returned to the capital, appointed to the lower office of Senior Censor (左御史). At one point while in this office, Wang submitted a memorial denouncing his old boss Li Shanchang, whom the emperor forgave. In 1377 Wang was promoted back to his old role of Grand Chancellor of the Right. During his decade long tenure holding high ministerial positions in the capital, Wang seems not to have accomplished much for his government. Characterised as weak-willed and inattentive, he avoided offering any solid advice for or against the decisions of his monarch, instead just writing poetry and – according to later writings of the emperor – overindulging in drink. The Hongwu Emperor admonished him many times.