Little is known about Zhang Gui's background, as he had no biography in either of the official histories of Tang Dynasty, and it is not known when he was born. According to the Zizhi Tongjian, he was from Wei Prefecture — although the modernChinese historian Bo Yang, apparently believing that "Wei Prefecture" was erroneously written instead of "Hua Prefecture", indicated that Zhang was from Hua Prefecture. In any case, Zhang apparently became an officer at Huainan Circuit, but later rebelled against the military governor Gao Pian. He seized Fu Prefecture and claimed the title of prefect. In 885, Chen Ru the military governor of Jingnan was faced with repeated raids against the circuit by Lei Manthe prefect of Lang Prefecture. He invited Zhang and another former Huainan officer, Han Shide, who had also rebelled against Gao and taken over Yue Prefecture as its prefect, to serve under him and attack Lei. Despite initially accepting Chen's invitation, neither actually did so — Han pillaged the region and then returned to Yue, while Zhang attacked Chen and seized Jingnan himself, claiming the title of military governor for himself. When Chen tried to flee to Chengdu, where then-reigning Emperor Xizong was, Zhang seized and imprisoned him.
Rule of Jingnan
It was said that Zhang Gui was greedy and violent, and he slaughtered many veteran Jingnan officers. When he realized that the former eunuch monitor of Jingnan, Zhu Jingmei, who had retired, had much wealth, he had the soldiers attack Zhu's mansion at night, kill Zhu, and seize his wealth. He became fearful of the officer Guo Yu, who was considered a capable officer, and wanted to kill Guo. Guo, after receiving news, fled; Guo then attacked and seized Gui Prefecture, claiming the title of prefect. Later in the year, Qin Zongquan, a former Tang military governor who had rebelled and claimed the title of emperor himself, sent his brother Qin Zongyan to attack Jingnan Circuit. Qin Zongyan put Jingnan's capital Jiangling Municipality under siege. During the siege, the officer Zhao Kuang plotted to rescue Chen Ru from imprisonment. When Zhang realized this, he put Zhao and Chen to death. Meanwhile, the food supplies ran out, such that the people resorted to eating human corpses. However, Qin Zongyan was unable to capture the city, and withdrew in late 886. In 887, Qin Zongquan sent another general, Zhao Deyin, to attack Jingnan. In early 888, the city fell, and Zhang was killed. Zhao left his officer Wang Jianzhao in control of Jingnan and withdrew back to his base at Shannan East Circuit.
