Xu Zhixun (younger)

Xu Zhixun (徐知詢) (died 934), formally Prince Kang of Donghai (東海康王), was the second biological son of Xu Wen, the regent of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Wu. He had tried to, during Xu Wen's lifetime, displace his older adoptive brother Xu Zhigao as the junior regent, but was unable to do so. After Xu Wen's death, he tried to contend for control of the Wu state with Xu Zhigao, as he inherited the command of the large army under Xu Wen's command, but was later detained and stripped of the command by Xu Zhigao. He later continued to serve as a general of the Wu state but without sufficient power to again challenge Xu Zhigao.

It is not known when Xu Zhixun was born, or who his mother was. He was the second oldest known biological son of Xu Wen's, but his older brother Xu Zhixun (elder) was at one point referred to as Sanlang (三郎, "third-born son") by Song Qiqiu, implying that he might have had two other older brothers who died in infancy and therefore were not counted in traditional counting of birth order. He had four younger biological brothers, Xu Zhihui (徐知誨), Xu Zhijian (徐知諫), Xu Zhizheng (徐知證), and Xu Zhi'e (徐知諤). Xu Wen's adoptive son Xu Zhigao was older than he was. It was said that neither he nor the elder Xu Zhixun had any real regard for Xu Zhigao as a brother.

The first historical reference to Xu Zhixun was in 918, when the elder Xu Zhixun, then serving as the junior regent at Wu's capital Guangling (廣陵, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) with Xu Wen stationed at Sheng Prefecture (昇州, in modern Nanjing, Jiangsu), was assassinated by the general Zhu Jin, who then committed suicide. All of Xu Wen's sons, except Xu Zhigao, who was then 30, were then said to be young, so Xu Wen made Xu Zhigao the junior regent, replacing the elder Xu Zhixun. Subsequently, Xu's entrusted official Yan Keqiu suggested replacing Xu Zhigao with Xu Zhixun, but Xu Wen did not do so.

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