[2] In 881, Lei gathered a group of men and attacked and captured Lang Prefecture (朗州, in modern Changde), which Zouxi belonged to.
Zhou, hearing this news, gathered a group of men as well and attacked Heng Prefecture (modern Hengyang in Hunan), expelling the prefect Xu Hao (徐顥).
Then-reigning Emperor Xizong, then facing the major rebellion of the agrarian rebel Huang Chao, commissioned Zhou as the prefect of Heng.
The military governor (jiedushi) of Qinhua, Min Xu, invited Huang Hao (黃皓), a general of the warlord Qin Zongquan, who had claimed imperial title at Cai Prefecture (蔡州, in modern Zhumadian, Henan), into Tan Prefecture to help him defend it.
Emperor Xizong then commissioned Zhou as military governor and changed the name of the circuit from Qinhua to Wu'an.