周济
As of 881, Tang was facing the crisis of the agrarian rebel Huang Chao's having captured the imperial capital Chang'an (forcing then-reigning Emperor Xizong to flee to Chengdu) and declared himself the emperor of a new state of Qi. At that time, one of the Tang generals who had been battling Huang's forces, the eunuch Yang Fuguang, was stuck at Zhongwu Circuit, and the military governor ("Jiedushi") Zhou Ji had submitted to Qi as a subject. In summer 881, though, Yang was able to persuade Zhou to renounce his allegiance to Qi and redeclare for the Tang cause. Further, Zhou contributed 8,000 men from the Zhongwu army to serve under Yang in the campaign against Huang. The 8,000 men were organized into eight corps, with Lu, Jin Hui (), Wang Jian, Han Jian, Zhang Zao (), Li Shitai (), and Pang Cong () commanding the eight corps. They subsequently followed Yang in the region, fighting against Qi forces, eventually becoming stationed at Hezhong Circuit (河中, headquartered in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi).