Kong Rong
As central authority continued to erode, robbery and pillage increased. At one point, Kong Rong was under some duress from brigands, and when Wang Xiu heard he rode out at night to assist. Noting Wang Xiu's bravery, Kong Rong shortly thereafter appointed Wang Xiu as the district magistrate of Jiaodong, which had been experiencing a rash of banditry. He arrived to find that a local named Gongsha Lu () had fortified and entrenched the grounds of the Gongsha clan's ancestral temple, and was refusing to come out and submit to local authority. Wang Xiu, with some few mounted guards behind him, broke through the enclosure's gate and executed Gongsha Lu and his brothers. Satisfied with punishing the ringleader, Wang Xiu mollified the rest of the family. Banditry thereafter decreased.