Xu Gong was an official of Wu commandery at the end of the Eastern Han. Wikidata's Chinese label is 許貢, written 许贡 in simplified characters, and the Chinese Wikipedia article is also under 許貢, so the title is unchanged. Wikidata gives his manner of death as capital punishment and his death year as 200, while Chinese Wikipedia dates his life as unknown to about 197. The two do not agree and are set out side by side below.[1][2]
Offices in Wu commandery
Chinese Wikipedia says that in the Chuping years, 190 to 193, he served as commandant of Wu commandery and was a friend of the noted scholar Xu Jing, who had fled Dong Zhuo's disorder to Jiangdong and was sheltered by Xu Gong and others. His superior was the governor of Wu, Sheng Xian of Kuaiji. When Yuan Shu's forces entered Yang province, the Zhou brothers of Kuaiji were defeated by Yuan Shu, and one of them, Zhou Yong, was killed by Xu Gong on the road home to Kuaiji. Around 194, Sheng Xian left office because of illness and Xu Gong became governor, while Zhu Zhi, an old subordinate of Sun Jian, became commandant. After taking up the post Xu Gong tried to persecute his predecessor Sheng Xian. The noted Wu man Gao Dai helped Sheng Xian hide in the house of Xu Gong's subordinate Xu Zhao, so Xu Gong seized Gao Dai's mother to lure him out and harm him, and Gao Dai escaped with the help of friends.[2]
Defeat by Sun Ce
The article says that in 195 Sun Ce used the pretext of striking at Liu Yao, who held Jiangdong against Yuan Shu, to break away from Yuan Shu, defeated Liu Yao and pacified Danyang and Wu. After Xu Gong was beaten at Youquan, he went to the mountain bandit chief Yan Baihu, who held Wucheng. Yan Baihu was soon beaten by Sun Ce too and went to Xu Zhao at Yuhang, and Xu Gong could not go with him. Sun Ce said that Xu Zhao was loyal to his old lord and sincere to a former friend, which was the resolve of a man, and so did not wipe him out.[2]
The petition and his death
After losing power Xu Gong still looked for a chance to retake Wu commandery. He sent a memorial to the court saying Sun Ce was fierce and valiant like Xiang Yu, should be given honors and summoned to the capital, and that if left outside he would surely become a long-term danger. The memorial was intercepted by Sun Ce's watchers, and Sun Ce summoned him for questioning. Xu Gong denied having written it, and Sun Ce ordered his guards to strangle him. The article notes that since the court had already appointed Chen Yu as the new governor of Wu in the summer of 197, Xu Gong's death cannot have been later than 197.[2]
Afterwards
In 200, because he had killed Xu Gong, Sun Ce was attacked by three of Xu Gong's retainers, including Xu Zhao, and died of his wounds. The article also describes how, when Sun Ce was hunting, three men claiming to be soldiers of Han Dang appeared. Sun Ce shot one of them, the other two shot him in the cheek, and his soldiers then arrived and killed all three retainers. It adds that the manga Huofeng Liaoyuan makes him a subordinate and disciple of Yu Ji.[2]
Basic facts
- Name: Xu Gong (許貢)[1]
- Offices: commandant and governor of Wu commandery[2]
- Died: 200 in Wikidata; about 197, no later than the second year of Jian'an, in Chinese Wikipedia[1][2]
- Manner of death: strangled by order of Sun Ce (capital punishment in Wikidata)[1][2]
- Portrayal: 许贡 (character in Romance of the Three Kingdoms)