Xue Xu


Xue Xu was an official and military general of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China.

Life

Xue Xu's ancestral home was in Zhuyi County, Pei Commandery, which is around present-day Suzhou, Anhui. He was the eldest son of Xue Zong, a notable official and scholar of the Eastern Wu state.
During the reign of the third Wu emperor Sun Xiu, Xue Xu held the position of General of the Household for All Purposes in the Wu government. Sun Xiu once sent him as an ambassador to Wu's ally state, Shu Han. After observing the conditions in Shu, he predicted that Shu would fall soon. His prediction came true in 263 when Shu was conquered by Wei, the rival state of both Wu and Shu.
In 267, during the reign of the fourth and last Wu emperor Sun Hao, Xue Xu was appointed as Court Architect and tasked with overseeing the construction of the mausoleum and memorial temple of Sun He, the emperor's father.
In 269, when a rebellion broke out in Jiao Province, Sun Hao ordered Xue Xu, who then held the appointment of General Who Awes the South, to lead troops from Jing Province to meet up with another army led by Li Xu and Xu Cun at Hepu Commandery and attack the rebels together. Yu Si, an army supervisor, and Tao Huang, the Administrator of Cangwu Commandery, served as Xue Xu's subordinates. However, the army led by Li Xu and Xu Cun never reached their destination because their path was obstructed, so only the army led by Xue Xu was available to fight the rebels. Wu Yan, then a low-ranking official, was taken aback by the sight of Xue Xu's army marching towards Jiaozhi Commandery. Xue Xu heeded a suggestion from Tao Huang to send troops to attack Jiaozhi Commandery via a water route, and bribe Liang Qi and other local elites in Jiaozhi to win them over. In 271, Xue Xu's army conquered Jiaozhi Commandery and retook Jiuzhen and Rinan commanderies as well.
After the campaign in Jiao Province, Sun Hao appointed Yu Si as the Inspector of Jiao Province, but Yu Si died of illness not long later, so Tao Huang succeeded him. Xue Xu also died on the journey back to the Wu imperial capital, Jianye.