Campaigners › Commanders
Xu Yuan
Tang prefect of Suiyang who ceded command to Zhang Xun, jointly defended the city and died a captive.
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
Also known as Zi Lingwei
- Roles
- Commanders
Xu Yuan, courtesy name Lingwei, of Yanguan in Hangzhou, was a great-grandson of Xu Jingzong. A jinshi of the late Kaiyuan era, he was prefect of Suiyang when the An Lushan Rebellion broke out. When Zhang Xun arrived with his troops, Xu judged himself the lesser commander, handed him control and took charge of supplies and equipment, sharing the near ten-month defence. Captured when the city fell in 757, he was killed on the way to the rebel court. Han Yu's Postscript rebuts the slander that he feared death and notes he was born in the same year as Zhang Xun. He and Zhang are revered as the Two Loyalists.
Life and times
Dates 709–757 CE