The imperial official Lu Shenzhong (路審中), whom the imperial government had commissioned the prefect of Hang Prefecture (杭州, in modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang), had been refused entry by the warlord Dong Chang, who occupied the region; he therefore took up residence at Wuchang's Huang Prefecture (黃州, in modern Wuhan).
[3] It was said that while Du Hong received the commission from the imperial government, he became an ally of the warlord Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan) and cut off the tribute routes between the southeastern circuits not allied with Zhu and the imperial capital Chang'an.
[1] In 894, Wu Tao (吳討) the prefect of Huang Prefecture submitted to a chief rival of Zhu's, Yang Xingmi the military governor of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu).
[4] Fearing Yang's expansion, in 896, Du, along with Qian Liu (then the military governor of Zhenhai Circuit (鎮海, headquartered at Hang Prefecture)) and Zhong Chuan the military governor of Zhennan Circuit (鎮南, headquartered in modern Nanchong, Jiangxi), all sought aid from Zhu Quanzhong.
Qu abandoned Huang and took his army and people south to Wuchang Base (武昌寨, in modern Ezhou, Hubei).
Hearing the news, the morale of Cheng's soldiers failed, and Li subsequently engaged him and decisively defeated him.
Du was only subsequently saved when Li was also forced to withdraw when Yang's subordinates Tian Jun the military governor of Ningguo Circuit (寧國, headquartered in modern Xuancheng, Anhui) and An Renyi (安仁義) the military prefect of Run Prefecture (潤州, in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) rebelled against Yang, requiring Li to engage Tian instead.
Zhu Quanzhong, who had then seized control of Emperor Zhaozong and forcibly moved the capital and the emperor from Chang'an to Luoyang, sent messengers to Yang, seeking to intercede on Du Hong's behalf, and Yang responded, "I will do so and rebuild my relationship with you if the Son of Heaven were restored to Chang'an.