Xue Rengui

Xue Rengui (Suringi) (simplified Chinese: 薛仁贵; traditional Chinese: 薛仁貴; pinyin: Xuē Rénguì; Wade–Giles: Hsüeh¹ Jen²-kuei⁴; 614 – 24 March 683), formal name Xue Li (薛禮) but went by the courtesy name of Rengui, was a Chinese military general during the early Tang dynasty. He is one of the most well-known military generals of his time due to his humble background, outstanding command abilities, strength and valour in battle. During his career, he participated in successful campaigns against remnants of Western Tujue and against Goguryeo, with only one major flaw on his record which was a campaign against the Tibetan Empire in 670, where another general in his army refused to listen to Xue's order, caused a portion of the army to be lost.

Xue Rengui was born in 614, during the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui, but his early activities were not recorded, other than that his wife had the surname Liu (柳). It was said that he was poor and was a farmer. Around the time that Tang dynasty's second emperor Emperor Taizong was set to launch a major campaign against Goguryeo in 644, Xue was planning to rebury his ancestors, when Lady Liu told him:

You have abilities higher than most people, and you need to know when to use them. Now, the Son of Heaven is ready to attack Liaodong and he is seeking fierce warriors. These times do not come often. Is it not the case that you want to have achievements to show yourself? Once you received great honors, it will not be too late to rebury your ancestors.

Xue thus went to meet the general Zhang Shigui (張士貴) to volunteer for the army. Once he reached the front, on an occasion when the general Liu Jun'ang (劉君卬) was being surrounded by Goguryeo forces, Xue went to rescue Liu, and he was able to kill the Goguryeo commander and hang the Goguryeo commander's head on his saddle; after this incident, he began to gain fame and was promoted to become an officer. When Emperor Taizong was ready to attack the Goguryeo city of Ansi (安市, in modern Anshan, Liaoning) in 645 and was faced with a major relief army sent by Goguryeo's Dae Mangniji (regent) Yŏn Kaesomun, commanded by the generals Ko Yŏnsu (高延壽) and Ko Hyejin (高惠真), Emperor Taizong had his officers try to repel the Goguryeo forces. Xue, despite his low military rank, believing himself to be powerful and wanting to show his ferocity, decided to lead the charge. He put on a white armor and armed himself with a Ji and two bows, roaring fiercely and charging into the enemy forces, and no one from the Goguryeo army could stop him, the rest of Tang officers then followed and charged into the enemy line as well. As Xue fought his way through the frontlines against the overwhelming numbers of enemy forces, he inflicted much casualties on the Gogureyo soldiers. Taizong personally led 4,000 elite soldiers into the battle as well, the Goguryeo army's formation was broken, at least 20,000 Goguryeo soldiers were killed and 36,800 soldiers including their generals Ko Yŏnsu and Ko Hyejin, surrendered. In the midst of battle Emperor Taizong spotted Xue from a distance and asked his attendants, "Who is that man in white armor?" and was told it was Xue. Emperor Taizong summoned Xue to his presence and awarded him with gold and silk and also gave him a general title. After Emperor Taizong retreated later in the year, he told Xue:

My generals are all old, and I am trying to find new generals to entrust the military matters to. I cannot find one better than you. I am less happy about gaining Liaodong than about gaining you.

Emperor Taizong made Xue one of the commanding generals for the imperial guards.

After Emperor Taizong's death in 649, his son Li Zhi succeeded him (as Emperor Gaozong), and for the first few years of Emperor Gaozong's reign, Xue Rengui appeared to remain a commanding general for the imperial guards. In 654, when Emperor Gaozong was visiting the vacation palace Wannian Palace (萬年宮, in modern Baoji, Shaanxi), there was a major storm. On the night of June 22, it rained particularly hard, and a flash flood descended on the Xuanwu Gate of Wannian Palace. The imperial guards all fled, but Xue did not, and instead climbed up the gate and yelled loudly inside the palace to warn the emperor. Emperor Gaozong quickly got out of his bed and climbed as high as he could, and in brief time, the water flooded into his bedchambers, and this flood killed some 3,000 residents of Linyou County, where the palace was located, and imperial guards. Afterwards, Emperor Gaozong made the comment to Xue, "It is only by your call that I avoided drowning, and from this I know that you are a faithful subject." He awarded Xue a horse.

In 657, when the general Su Dingfang attacked Western Turkic Khaganate's Shaboluo Khan Ashina Helu (阿史那賀魯), Xue submitted a suggestion that if the wife and children of the chief of one of Western Turkic Khaganate's constituent tribes, Nishu Tribe (泥孰), who did not particularly support Ashina Helu but was forced to comply after Ashina Helu took his wife and children hostage, were to be captured by Tang forces, that they be immediately released so that the chief of Nishu would submit to Tang. When Emperor Gaozong approved this suggestion, the chief of Nishu did, indeed, join Tang's army. Su was subsequently able to defeat and capture Ashina Helu.