Wang Xu (王緒; d. 886) was a warlord the late Chinese Tang dynasty, who controlled Guang Prefecture (光州, in modern Xinyang, Henan) as its prefect from 881 to 885.
Subsequently, faced with material demands from Qin Zongquan, who had claimed imperial title, which Wang was unable to meet, Wang Xu forced the people and the soldiers of Guang Prefecture to abandon it and follow him in heading south to modern Fujian.
In 881, when the Tang realm was overrun by agrarian rebellions—the chief among which was the one led by Huang Chao, who went as far as capturing the imperial capital Chang'an (forcing then-reigning Emperor Xizong to flee to Chengdu) and declaring himself the emperor of a new state of Qi—Wang rose with his brother-in-law Liu Xingquan (劉行全) and, with their 500 men, seized control of Shou Prefecture.
At that time, Qin Zongquan was the military governor (jiedushi) of Fengguo Circuit (奉國, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan).
Wang, in fear, gathered 5,000 soldiers from Guang and Shou Prefectures and forced the people to cross the Yangtze River to the south.
[2] Wang Chao initially wanted to take the army back north to their home in Guang Prefecture, but when they advanced to Sha (沙縣, in modern Sanming, Fujian), the locals, who were suffering under the heavy burdens of the local prefect (Liao Yanruo (廖彥若) the prefect of Quan Prefecture (泉州, in modern Quanzhou), asked that Wang Chao save them from Liao.