866[1]), né He Chongshun (何重順), formally the Duke of Chu (楚公), was a general of the Chinese Tang dynasty, who ruled Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei) as its military governor (jiedushi) in de facto independence from the imperial government.
[3] Initially, the imperial government had Li Zhifang (李執方) the military governor of Hezhong and Liu Yue (劉約) the military governor of Yichang Circuit (義昌, headquartered in modern Cangzhou, Hebei) write He Chongshun, encouraging him to submit control of Weibo to the imperial government and go to the capital Chang'an to pay homage to Emperor Wenzong's brother and successor Emperor Wuzong, but after He Chongshun refused to follow their suggestions, relented, as Emperor Wuzong, new to the throne, did not want to fight a campaign against Weibo.
The lead chancellor Li Deyu, believing that He Hongjing and fellow de facto independent military governor Wang Yuankui, of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), could be persuaded to not support Liu Zhen and instead fight for the imperial cause, suggested that Emperor Wuzong issue them an edict that pointed out that the imperial government had been allowing Weibo and Chengde to be in de facto independence, but that Zhaoyi's situation was different, implicitly guaranteeing continued imperial noninterference if they acted against Zhaoyi.
Subsequently, Emperor Wuzong put Wang and He Hongjing in charge of capturing the three Zhaoyi prefectures east of the Taihang Mountains.
[4] However, subsequently, under Li Deyu's advice, Emperor Wuzong pressured He Hongjing by ordering the imperial general Wang Zai the military governor of Zhongwu Circuit (忠武, headquartered in modern Xuchang, Henan) to take the Zhongwu troops through Weibo territory to attack Zhaoyi's Ci Prefecture (磁州, in modern Handan as well).
[5] In 844, the Zhaoyi officer Wang Zhao (王釗), fearing that Liu would punish him for his continued military failures, surrendered Min Prefecture to He Hongjing.