Wang Shuang

Wang Shuang (died 228), courtesy name Ziquan (子全), was a military general of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. He initially participated in battles against the eastern warlord, Sun Quan, but was defeated and captured. Later, he rejoined Wei and was reassigned to the Western front against Shu, where he was killed in action.

Life

Wang Shuang initially served as a lower ranking officer under Chang Diao (常雕), who was a lesser general of Wei eastern commander, Cao Ren. When Cao led a several tens of thousands strong expedition force composed of cavalry, navy, and foot-soldiers to attack Sun Quan's general, Zhu Huan, Chang was tasked to sneak-attack Middle Island, where enemy families resided. Wang followed Chang, and they landed the island unopposed. At the time, Zhu was busy fighting Wei's main army, so he left his subordinates to handle Wang and Chang after instructing them to lay a trap to the enemies. As planned, Wang and Chang entered the trap Zhu's men set and was ambushed. When they ran back to the shore, they only found out their ships had already been taken and their retreat route sealed. Chang fought to the death, while Wang was captured in battle. 1,000 Wei soldiers died in this single battle, and the rest of the detachment surrendered.

Later, Wang was sent back to Wei (possibly at the time Yu Jin was released), like Niu Jin, who were also a former subject of Cao Ren, they were reassigned to the western front. There, Wang became a subordinate general of Cao Wei western commander, Cao Zhen, and took up the responsibility to resist Zhuge Liang's invasions. During the second defense against Zhuge's aggression, the 1,000 defenders under Hao Zhao successfully repelled the attack, and Zhuge started to retreat after he got wind of the approaching enemy reliefs. Believing that would be a chance for him to make a name, Wang led a cavalry force to pursue Zhuge, but was ambushed and killed by the later.

In fiction

In the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Wang Shuang became renowned throughout Cao Wei for his meteor hammer trademark weapon. Wang Shuang battled against Shu at Chencang (in which he was the vanguard under Cao Zhen), where he severely injured the enemy general Zhang Ni, but was unable to finish him off because of Liao Hua and Wang Ping's intervention. Wang Shuang nonetheless continued his pursuit by closing in near Hanzhong, but was killed by Wei Yan following a fire attack.