Yang Wenguang (; died 1074) was a general in ancient China's

Northern Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...

. In history, Yang Wenguang was the son of Yang Yanzhao; however, he is the grandson of Yang Yanzhao in the popular fictionalized stories of Yang clan warriors.

Biography

In 1044,

Fan Zhongyan Fan Zhongyan (5 September 989 – 19 June 1052), courtesy name Xiwen (), was an accomplished statesman, writer, scholar, and reformer of the northern Song dynasty. After serving multiple regional posts and at the imperial court for over two de ...

was dispatched to the

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

area and met with Yang Wenguang. He was impressed and took Yang as his subordinate. In 1052, Yang Wenguang followed

Di Qing Di Qing (1008–1057), formerly romanized as Ti Ch'ing, was a Chinese military general of the Northern Song dynasty. He often wore a mask in battle. He led campaigns against the Western Xia and the Nong Zhigao rebellion in Guangxi. He was kno ...

in the expedition to

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

and helped defeat

Nong Zhigao Nong Zhigao (; modern Zhuang language: ; ) (1025–1055?) was a Zhuang people, Zhuang (Nùng people, Nùng) chieftain and the only emperor of Dali (大曆; 1041), Nantian (南天; 1045–1052), and eventually Danan (大南; 1052–1053). Today ...

's rebellion. Afterwards he was promoted by Emperor Yingzong. Later, he built several

forts A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from ...

and successfully resisted several

Western Xia The Western Xia or the Xi Xia ( zh, c=, w=Hsi1 Hsia4, p=Xī Xià), officially the Great Xia ( zh, c=大夏, w=Ta4 Hsia4, p=Dà Xià, labels=no), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts ...

invasion attempts. During Emperor Shenzong's reign, he was stationed in

Dingzhou Dingzhou, or Tingchow in Postal Map Romanization, and formerly called Ding County or Dingxian, is a county-level city in the prefecture-level city of Baoding, Hebei, Hebei Province. As of 2020, Dingzhou had a population of 1.1 million. Dingzhou ...

. He offered the emperor his strategy on recovering lost territories from the

Khitans The Khitan people (Khitan small script: ; ) were a historical nomadic people from Northeast Asia who, from the 4th century, inhabited an area corresponding to parts of modern Mongolia, Northeast China and the Russian Far East. As a people desce ...

shortly before he died at the frontier.

In fiction

In fiction, Yang Wenguang is the son of

Yang Zongbao Yang Zongbao (楊宗保) is a character in the '' Generals of the Yang Family'' legends. In these largely fictionalized stories, he is the son of general Yang Yanzhao and Princess Chai, the husband of Mu Guiying and the father of Yang Wengua ...

and

Mu Guiying Mu Guiying (穆桂英) is a legendary heroine from ancient China's Northern Song dynasty and a prominent figure in the ''Generals of the Yang Family'' legends. She is the wife of Yang Zongbao and mother of Yang Wenguang. Brave, resolute and loyal ...

References

* Toqto'a et al., '' History of Song'', vol. 272 (Wenguang, grandson of Yang Ye) * Mei Yi (梅毅), ''The Unknown Generals of the Yang Family'' (鮮為人知的楊家将), Nanchang: Jiangxi People's Press, 2011. 1074 deaths Song dynasty generals The Generals of the Yang Family characters Year of birth unknown {{china-mil-bio-stub