Xue Rengao
| Xue Rengao | |||||||||
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| Reign | September 3, 618 – November 30, 618 | ||||||||
| Died | December 14, 618 | ||||||||
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| Dynasty | Qín (秦) | ||||||||
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| Era name and dates | |
| Qínxīng (秦興): May 13, 617 – November 30, 618 |
Xue Rengao (薛仁杲) (died 618), also known as Xue Renguo (薛仁果), was an emperor of the short-lived state of Qin, established by his father Xue Ju (Emperor Wu) at the end of the Chinese dynasty Sui Dynasty. Xue Rengao was regarded as a fierce general but overly cruel, and he was only emperor for three months before he was forced to surrender to the Tang Dynasty general Li Shimin (the later Emperor Taizong) and was executed.
As of 617, Xue Rengao's father Xue Ju was a commander of the local militia at Jincheng (金城, in modern Lanzhou, Gansu), when, in response to increasing agrarian rebel activities, Hao Yuan (郝瑗), the county magistrate of Jincheng, gathered several thousand men and had Xue Ju command them. In summer 617, as Hao held a feast to send the men off, Xue Ju, Xue Rengao (who was his father's oldest son), and 13 other cohorts took Hao captive and announced that they were rebelling against Sui Dynasty. Xue declared himself the "Hegemonic Prince of Western Qin" (西秦霸王), and he created Xue Rengao the Duke of Qi, and soon the Prince of Qi. With the major general Zong Luohou (宗羅睺) the Prince of Xing as his assistant, Xue Rengao attacked nearby commanderies, bringing them under his father Xue Ju's rule. In fall 617, after Xue Ju claimed the title of Emperor of Qin, he created Xue Rengao crown prince. Xue Rengao soon captured Tianshui, and Xue Ju moved his capital to Tianshui.
Xue Rengao was said to be strong and capable at horseriding and archery, and his army respected him, believing that he was capable of standing up to 10,000 men on his own. However, he was also said to be greedy and cruel. For example, when he captured Yu Li (庾立), the son of the Sui official Yu Xin (庾信), angry that Yu Li dared to resist, he hung Yu on the fire and grilled him, and while doing so, cut his limbs off one by one and cut off his flesh to have his soldiers consume it. When he captured Tianshui, he gathered all the rich men and hung them upside down, pouring vinegar into their nostrils to force them to surrender their treasure. Xue Ju often warned him, "You are capable of great things, but you are strict and cruel, with no grace to others. One day you will surely destroy the state I established and our clan."
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