Ministers › Statesman / Official
Xue Xue
Qangli favourite of Emperor Shundi and younger brother of Hama who became censor-in-chief and shared his brother's power until both were beaten to death in 1356
In the courtyard of a district government hall, a line of petitioners waits before a raised bench with a long table and document boxes; a blue umbrella stands beside it, a large drum stands at the gate where a few people wait, and a lake with sailboats lies beyond.
- Roles
- Statesman / Official
Xuexue, a Qangli, was the son of Tolu, Duke of Ji, and the younger brother of the powerful minister Hama. The two brothers entered the palace guard young, won Emperor Shundi's favour, and Xuexue rose to academician of the Jixian Academy. In 1349 the censor Oljei Haishou impeached the pair for taking bribes and moving freely in the empresses' quarters, and the emperor reluctantly stripped them of office and sent them to the steppe, though he soon brought them back. In the fourth month of 1355 Xuexue became censor-in-chief, and a month later Hama was made chief councillor of the left, so that the brothers held the government between them. When Hama's plan to place the crown prince on the throne leaked in 1356, the emperor at first only meant to send them off to war, since they had been nursed together with Emperor Ningzong, but after repeated impeachments he banished Xuexue to Zhaozhou, and he was beaten to death on the way.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–1356 CE