repair and clean up his ancestors' tombs. When Cao Cao led his forces to Tong Pass to engage the coalition, he became worried that he could not cross the Wei River to attack the enemy so he consulted Xu Huang for advice. Xu Huang suggested to Cao Cao to send him north and cross the Yellow River via Puban Ford to circumvent Tong Pass from the west of the river. Cao Cao approved Xu Huang's plan and sent him and Zhu Ling to lead 4,000 troops across the river. They crossed Puban and started pitching camps, but before the defence fortification was completed, one of the coalition members, Liang Xing (梁興), discovered their presence and led some 5,000 troops to attack them. Xu Huang and Zhu Ling managed to hold off Liang Xing and allow Cao Cao and his remaining forces to cross the river. After Cao Cao's victory at Tong Pass, he sent Xu Huang and Xiahou Yuan to pacify the various Di tribes in Yumi County (隃麋縣; east of present-day Qianyang County, Shaanxi) and Qian County (汧縣; south of present-day Long County, Shaanxi). Xu Huang and Xiahou Yuan later rendezvoused with Cao Cao's main army at Anding Commandery (安定郡; around present-day Zhenyuan County, Gansu). After Cao Cao had returned to Ye (in present-day Handan, Hebei), he sent Xu Huang and Xiahou Yuan again to suppress revolts in Fu County (鄜縣; southwest of present-day Huangling County, Shaanxi) and Xiayang County (夏陽縣; southwest of present-day Hancheng, Shaanxi), where they defeated Liang Xing and forced some 3,000 civilian households into submission. When Cao Cao embarked on another campaign in western China to attack the warlord Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, he sent Xu Huang with a separate force to pacify the Di tribes living in Du (櫝) and Chouyi (仇夷) mountains. Xu Huang succeeded and was promoted to General Who Pacifies Bandits (平寇將軍). Later, Xu Huang also lifted rebels' siege on Zhang Shun (張順), one of Cao Cao's officers, and defeated the rebel leader Chen Fu (陳福) and destroyed some 30 rebel camps. Hanzhong Campaign Cao Cao returned to Ye (in present-day Handan, Hebei) after his victory over Zhang Lu at the Battle of Yangping in 215. He left Xu Huang and Xiahou Yuan behind to defend Hanzhong Commandery against attacks by Liu Bei. During this time, Liu Bei sent Chen Shi to lead troops to cut off Xiahou Yuan's supply routes