The Regional State of Xu 許

The rulers of the small regional state of Xu 許, also written 鄦, located in today's Xuchang 許昌, Henan, were descendants of Bo Yi 伯夷, a minister of the mythological emperor Shun 舜. King Wu 周武王 of the Zhou dynasty 周 (11th cent.-221 BCE) reconfirmed the rule of the family over their territory in the upper reaches of River Ying 穎河. There is virtually nothing known about the history of this regional state, except a list of its rulers. They bore the family name Jiang 姜, and might have been related by marriage to the house of Zhou. The statelet was several times conquered by the state of Zheng 鄭, so that the rulers of Xu decided to rely on the state of Chu 楚 in the south for military support. Chu several times relocated the seat of the rulers of Xu, in 576 to Ye 葉, in 534 to Chengfu 城父, in 538 to Jing 荆 (actually in the territory of Chu), in 529 back to Ye, and in 506 to Rongcheng 容城. Another seat was Baiyu 白羽 . Around 480, Xu was extinguished by Zheng.