Despite his accomplishments, Hu Zongxian's reputation had been tarnished by his association with the clique of Yan Song and Zhao Wenhua, traditionally reviled figures in Ming historiography.

[5] Hu was first assigned to be the magistrate of Yidu in Shandong province in 1540, where his administration of justice won him the love of the people, who claimed that he brought rains during a drought and magpies to eat the locusts destroying the crops.

In the six years as an investigating censor, Hu Zongxian distinguished himself by not only writing memorials to the throne evaluating the performance of provincial officials but also participating in the actual administration of the provinces.

[9] At this time, the southeastern coast was under attack by the pirates known as the "wokou" who were a mix of Chinese merchants and foreign elements from Japan and Portugal violating the maritime prohibition laws.

Hu Zongxian and Zhao Wenhua recommended a series of measures to counter this threat, including expanding the powers given to the grand coordinator, a position roughly equivalent to a provincial governor so that he could complete his task more freely.

The Nanjing Minister of War Zhang Jing was assigned to this position in June 1554, and a few months later, Zhao Wenhua and Hu Zongxian were sent south to scrutinize his actions.

[10] For over six months, Hu Zongxian could write nothing but reports of military failures and the serious loss of life fighting against the pirates, citing the government troops' poor discipline and leadership.

[11] However, soon after Zhao Wenhua sent out the memorial, Zhang Jing defeated the pirates at the Battle of Wangjiangjing (王江涇) on May 10, 1555,[12] taking 1900 heads in what became the most significant Ming victory so far in the anti-wokou campaign.

[13] As it was too late to recant his earlier statement, Zhao Wenhua wrote another memorial to the throne downplaying Zhang Jing's victory while emphasizing Hu Zongxian's role leading up to Wangjiangjing, such as his ruse of placing poisoned shipments of wine on the pirates' path which killed up to 800 of their number.

Zhao Wenhua opposed strict enforcement of maritime prohibitions like the ones by Zhu Wan and instead favoured opening trade to solve the wokou problem.

[19] Hu Zongxian, in turn, carried out a policy of appeasement despite his subordinates' disapproval and the emperor's orders to capture the pirate lord Wang Zhi dead or alive.

[18] Even before he had become supreme commander, Hu Zongxian sent envoys to Japan in his capacity as grand coordinator, ostensibly to request assistance from Japanese authorities but to establish contact with Wang Zhi to entice him to surrender.

[20] To deal with the wokou threat, Hu assembled his own mufu, or private secretariat, enlisting the prominent figures of the region using his connections since he was a native of the area.

[21] In this way, he attracted talents such as the writer Mao Kun (茅坤), the artist Xu Wei, the ink maker Luo Longwen (羅龍文), and the cartographer Zheng Ruoceng (鄭若曾), who helped to advise him in diplomacy and strategy.

[22] When Xu Hai came ashore and laid siege to the cities of Zhejiang along with his fellow Satsuma pirates Chen Dong (陳東) and Ye Ma (葉麻), Hu Zongxian and his mufu decided that they did not have the adequate numbers to defeat the invaders decisively, since the main Ming armies were in the northern frontier and Miao reinforcements were forthcoming.

[25] With Xu Hai's group put down, Hu Zongxian was given the post of grand coordinator of Zhejiang in February 1557, concurrent with his supreme commander position, but it was Zhao Wenhua who took much of the credit and rewards for the victory.

[30] During this time, Hu Zongxian asked Wang Zhi to help manufacture arquebuses for the Ming army, which led to the weapon being widely used in China.

Wang Zhi believed this was a temporary arrangement and remained hopeful for a pardon until January 22, 1560, when an imperial edict handed down the death sentence, and he was summarily beheaded.

[30] As pacification-minded officials like Hu Zongxian had feared, Wang Zhi's followers gave up hope for peaceful trade and went back to their violent ways.

Hu Zongxian made a concerted effort to dislodge Mao from Zhoushan in March 1558, converging on the island from six directions with the generals Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang, but failed and was forced to retreat.

He tempered the rising criticism against him by blaming Yu and Qi, sending Beijing a white deer, an auspicious Taoist symbol, to the emperor's delight.

During the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98), Hu Zongxian's victory against the wokou was given new currency, and he was canonized with the posthumous name Xiangmao (襄懋), meaning "splendid assistance".