Yuchi Gong

Yuchi Gong
Portrait of Yuchi Jingde in Sancai Tuhui
General of the Tang dynasty
Born	585
Died	658 (aged 72–73)
Names
Traditional Chinese	尉遲恭
Simplified Chinese	尉迟恭
Pinyin	Yùchí Gōng
Wade–Giles	Yü-chih Kung
Courtesy name	Jingde (Chinese: 敬德; pinyin: Jìngdé; Wade–Giles: Ching-te)
Posthumous name	Duke Zhongwu of E (Chinese: 鄂忠武公; pinyin: È Zhōngwǔ Gōng; Wade–Giles: E Chung-wu Kung)

Yuchi Gong (585–658), also known by his courtesy name Yuchi Jingde and posthumously known as Duke Zhongwu of E, was a Chinese general who lived in the early Tang dynasty. Yuchi Jingde and another general Qin Shubao are worshipped as door gods in Chinese folk religion.

Yuchi Jingde was born in 585, during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui. His surname was of Xianbei origin, and he was from Shuo Province (朔州, roughly modern Shuozhou, Shanxi). When agrarian rebels rose against Sui rule near the end of the reign of Emperor Wen's son Emperor Yang, Yuchi initially served in the governmental militia fighting agrarian rebels, and was known and awarded for his bravery.

When Liu Wuzhou rose against Sui rule in spring 617 at Mayi (馬邑, in modern Shuozhou), declaring himself Dingyang Khan, Yuchi Jingde joined Liu and was made a general. In 619, he served under Liu's major general Song Jin'gang (宋金剛) in attacking Tang Dynasty territory to the south. Around the new year 620, Yuchi and another general under Song, Xun Xiang (尋相), engaged the Tang general Li Xiaoji (李孝基) the Prince of Yong'an (Emperor Gaozu of Tang's distant nephew), defeating Li Xiaoji and capturing not only him, but several other key Tang officials, including Emperor Gaozu's cousin Dugu Huai'en (獨孤懷恩), Yu Yun (于筠), Tang Jian (唐儉), and Liu Shirang (劉世讓). However, when Yuchi and Xun then engaged the forces under the major Tang general Li Shimin the Prince of Qin (Emperor Gaozu's son), they were defeated first by Yin Kaishan (殷開山) and Qin Shubao, and then Li Shimin himself, escaping just with their lives. Subsequently, at the suggestion of the captured Tang Jian, Yuchi released Liu Shirang in order to negotiate peace with Tang, but those negotiations appeared to go nowhere at the moment. In summer 620, after Li Shimin achieved further victories against Song, forcing Liu Wuzhou to flee, Li Shimin sent his cousin Li Daozong the Prince of Rencheng and Yuwen Shiji to persuaded Yuchi and Xun to surrender, and they did. Li Shimin, who was impressed by Yuchi's battle prowess, was happy about this development and put Yuchi, as well as the 8,000 soldiers who surrendered with him, directly under his own command, against the misgivings of the general Qutu Tong (屈突通), who feared that Yuchi was not truly submitting.