In the eighty-eighth year of the Jing Old Calendar, Xu Hong held the rank of Junior Fourth Grade, serving as a Brave General and commanding an army of thirty-six battalions, totaling thirty-six thousand men.
The army under Xu Hong's command comprised the "Wood Phase," one of the Five Phases of the Jingxi Army. The later Wind Howling Battalion originated here.
According to Wang Jian's review, Wind Howling Battalion officially adopted its name in the winter of the eighty-ninth year of the Jing Old Calendar, personally granted by Xu Hong, who then served as Brave General.
By custom in the Jingjiu Dynasty, a unit of the military could only be granted a unique designation under special circumstances, such as achieving significant feats in major battles, or performing deeds deserving to be made exemplary. At the time, the Wind Howling Battalion, then known as the "3-5 Mixed Battalion," belonged to the latter case.
