 He was often compared by historians to the Han Dynasty general Dong Zhuo, for his ferocity in battle and for his violence and lack of tact.Erzhu Rong's ancestors were hereditary chiefs of the Qihu (契胡) tribe of Xiongnu extraction, and they used Erzhu as their family name after settling on Erzhu River.Erzhu Rong's great-great-grandfather Erzhu Yujian (爾朱羽健) had assisted Northern Wei's founding emperor Emperor Daowu in his campaigns, and therefore was granted the Xiurong (秀容, in modern Shuozhou, Shanxi) region as the Erzhus' hereditary domain.