As Hegemonic Prince of Western Qin
Xue Ju's clan was originally from Hedong Commandery (河東, roughly modern Yuncheng, Shanxi), but his father Xue Wang (薛汪) moved the family to Jincheng (金城, in modern Lanzhou, Gansu). Xue ju was said to be brave and strong, and because his family was wealthy, he was able to use the wealth to establish relationships with other people, making himself an influential member of the gentry, eventually becoming a commander of the local militia.
In 617, there were many agrarian rebellions in modern eastern Gansu. Hao Yuan (郝瑗), the county magistrate of Jincheng, thus invited people to join the military, and he gathered several thousand men and gave them to Xue Ju to command. in summer 617, after Hao distributed armor and weapons to the soldiers and set out a feast to send them off, Xue Ju, his oldest son Xue Rengao, and 13 other cohorts took Hao captive and announced that they were rebelling against Sui Dynasty. Xue Ju arrested the local officials and opened the food storages to aid those who were poor. He claimed the title of "Hegemonic Prince of Western Qin" (西秦霸王), perhaps echoing Xiang Yu's title of "Hegemonic Prince of Western Chu." To signify a break with Sui, he also changed the era name from Emperor Yang of Sui's Daxing (大興) to Qinxing (秦興). He created Xue Rengao the Duke of Qi and a younger son, Xue Renyue (薛仁越) the Duke of Jin. He also gathered the local agrarian rebels to fall under his command in pillaging the Sui governmental grazing ranches. One of those rebel leaders, Zong Luohou (name not in Unicode) became a key general for Xue Ju, and Xue Ju created him the Duke of Yixing. Soon, much of the territory in modern eastern Gansu had surrendered to Xue Ju. He promoted Xue Rengao, Xue Renyue, and Zong to princes.
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