 It is not known when Yang Renquan was born, but it is known that he was from Hu Prefecture (湖州, in modern Huzhou, Zhejiang).During the reign of Wuyue's second king Qian Yuanguan, he became a commander of his headquarter guards, and was said to be capable and intelligent.The first historical reference to Yang was in 933, when Qian Yuanguan was dealing with his younger brother Qian Yuanxiang (), who was then the acting prefect of Ming Prefecture (明州, in modern Ningbo, Zhejiang), and was said to be arrogant and unlawful in his actions, often making inappropriate requests to Qian Yuanguan and being cruel toward his staffers.