Xue E (薛崿) was a general of the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

dynasty

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, briefly ruling Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, then headquartered in modern

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had a ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

) after the death of his brother

Xue Song Xue Song () (died 773), formally the Prince of Pingyang (), was a general of the Chinese rebel state Yan, who later submitted to and became a general of Tang Dynasty, from which Yan had rebelled. As was in the case of several other Yan general ...

. Nothing is known about Xue E's career under his brother or events before that. When Xue Song died in 773, after having ruled Zhaoyi Circuit effectively independently from the imperial government as its military governor (''Jiedushi''), Xue Song's subordinates initially wanted to support his 11-year-old son

Xue Ping Xue Ping (薛平) (c. 753? – February 25, 832''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 17, part 2.), courtesy name Tantu (坦途), formally the Duke of Han (韓公), was a general of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, whose father Xue Song ruled Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, ...

to succeed him. Xue Ping pretended to agree, but one night yielded his position to Xue E, took his family, and fled back to his home territory. Emperor Daizong made Xue E the acting military governor. In 775,

Tian Chengsi Tian Chengsi (705– March 4, 779), formally the Prince of Yanmen, was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician. He served as a military general in the rebel state of Yan, who later submitted to and became a general of Tang Dynasty, ...

, who governed nearby Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern

Handan Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shando ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

) and who had long had designs on Zhaoyi, induced Xue E's subordinate Pei Zhiqing (裴志清) to rise against him. Xue E fled from Zhaoyi's headquarters at Xiang Prefecture (相州) to Ming Prefecture (洺州, in modern Handan), whose prefect Xue Jian (薛堅) was a relative, and made a petition to Emperor Daizong to allow him to report to the capital

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...

. Emperor Daizong agreed, and when Xue E arrived at Chang'an, he wore mourning clothes and begged punishment from Emperor Daizong. Emperor Daizong did not punish him, however.''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 124. There was no further historical records about Xue E's activities afterwards, and it is not known when he died.

References

Further reading