Wang Xu

Wang Xu (王緒) (d. 886) was a warlord the late Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, who controlled Guang Prefecture (光州, in modern Xinyang, Henan) as its prefect from 881 to 885. Subsequently, faced with material demands from Qin Zongquan, who had claimed imperial title, which Wang was unable to meet, Wang Xu forced the people and the soldiers of Guang Prefecture to abandon it and follow him in heading south to modern Fujian. Wang Xu was then overthrown by his subordinate Wang Chao, who eventually took over Fujian and whose family established the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Min.

It is not known when Wang Xu was born, but it is known that he was from Shou Prefecture (壽州, in modern Lu'an, Anhui), and that he was a butcher. In 881, when the Tang realm was overrun by agrarian rebellions — the chief among which was the one led by Huang Chao, who went as far as capturing the imperial capital Chang'an (forcing then-reigning Emperor Xizong to flee to Chengdu) and declaring himself the emperor of a new state of Qi — Wang rose with his brother-in-law Liu Xingquan (劉行全) and, with their 500 men, seized control of Shou Prefecture. After a month, they also captured Guang Prefecture. Wang claimed the title of general, and his army grew to over 10,000 men. At that time, Qin Zongquan was the military governor (Jiedushi) of Fengguo Circuit (奉國, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan). Qin recommended to Emperor Xizong that Wang be made the prefect of Guang Prefecture, and Emperor Xizong agreed.

Later on, however, Qin Zongquan had turned against the Tang imperial government and was on the cusp of claiming imperial title himself. He ordered Wang Xu to pay taxes to him. When Wang was unable to do so, he launched an army to attack Wang. Wang, in fear, gathered 5,000 soldiers from Guang and Shou Prefectures and forced the people to cross the Yangtze River to the south. His army roved through and pillaged Jiang (江州, in modern Jiujiang, Jiangxi), Hong (洪州, in modern Nanchang, Jiangxi), and Qian (虔州, in modern Ganzhou, Jiangxi) Prefectures. By spring 885, Wang had continued south and captured Ting (汀洲, in modern Longyan, Fujian) and Zhang (漳州, in modern Zhangzhou, Fujian) Prefectures, but was not able to hold either for long.

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