Early Career
Wang Dun was the son of the Jin official Wang Ji (王基), and he married Emperor Wu of Jin's daughter Princess Xiangcheng. He served as an assistant to Emperor Hui's crown prince Sima Yu, and when Sima Yu was falsely accused of crime by Empress Jia Nanfeng and deposed, he risked his life to attend the crown prince's farewell, and received renown from that. He later served as the governor of Yang Province (揚州, modern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu and Anhui). After Sima Rui, then the Prince of Langye, became in charge of the military operations in the area in 307, both Wang Dun and his cousin Wang Dao became key assistants to him, and it was said at the time that the domain was ruled equally by the Simas and the Wangs.
Later, as Jiang (江州, modern Jiangxi and eastern Hubei) and Jing (荊州, modern Hubei and Hunan) Provinces became overrun by agrarian rebels, the strongest of whom was Du Tao (杜弢), the leader of Yi Province (益州, modern Sichuan and Chongqing) refugees who had fled from Cheng Han, Sima Rui put Wang Dun in charge of the western province operations, and Wang's effective coordination allowed the rebels to be eventually suppressed. After suppressing Du Tao, in particular, however, Wang Dun became arrogant and began to see the western provinces as his own domain. After Sima Rui declared himself emperor in 318 (after Emperor Min's execution by Han Zhao), Wang Dun nominally submitted to him, but continued to strengthen his own domain.
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