Xue Ping

Xue Ping (薛平) (753? – February 25, 832), 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, then-headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan) semi-independently from the imperial government. After Xue Song's death, Xue Ping declined the soldiers' request for him to take over Zhaoyi Circuit and fled to imperial territory. Subsequently, he had a long career as a general of the imperial armies.

Background and career under Emperors Daizong, Dezong, and Shunzong

Xue Ping was born in 753, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. When he was 11, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong's grandson Emperor Daizong, he was made the prefect of Ci Prefecture (磁州, in modern Handan, Hebei), one of the prefectures then under the rule of his father Xue Song, the military governor (Jiedushi) of Zhaoyi Circuit, a former general of the rebel Yan state of the Anshi Rebellion who submitted to Tang Dynasty rule in the aftermaths of Yan's collapse but who thereafter ruled Zhaoyi Circuit semi-independently from the imperial government.