Xue Xiang, whose courtesy name is Yanxiang, is a Wuwei man. In the fifteenth year of Yuan Zhizheng (1355), the Chaohu Navy led by Yu Tonghai joined Zhu Yuanzhang's army and made outstanding achievements in conquering the east and west. In the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1368), he was appointed as the water transport envoy of the capital of Gyeonggi. He was stationed in Huai'an for eight years and was an honest official. He not only ensured the food supply for the front line, but also enabled many farmers to "do their work evenly and the people had no complaints" during the construction of the dredging canal. He also provided "food for the hungry" to the refugees living in Huai'an. , those who are cold should wear clothes." When he left office, local people tried to persuade him to stay.
In the eighth year of Hongwu (1375), Xue Xiang was appointed Minister of the Ministry of Industry. One day, Zhu Yuanzhang was sitting in Fengyang Palace in Zhongdu and said suspiciously: "I heard someone fighting on the roof!" Grand Master Li Shanchang said flatteringly: "This must be the palace builder using the 'weary town method' to cause trouble!" This is a superstitious saying, saying that the craftsman "did some tricks". It can destroy the feng shui of the house and be detrimental to the owner. This aroused Zhu Yuanzhang's anger, and he immediately wanted to kill all the palace builders. At that time, due to Xue Xiang's hard work, in addition to a few craftsmen who were innocently killed, more than a thousand craftsmen finally survived.
The following year, Jinshen Hall was built in Nanjing. At that time, the relevant officials mistook the craftsmen with poor construction skills for the craftsmen with superior skills and arranged construction. When Zhu Yuanzhang discovered this, he became furious and immediately ordered these craftsmen to be beheaded. At that time, only Xue Xiang came forward and "resisted and remonstrated". He insisted on demanding a lighter sentence. Later, these more than a thousand craftsmen finally saved their lives.
Soon after, he served as Chief Envoy of Peiping (now Beijing). He repeatedly helped the widows, widows, orphans, old and poor people. At that time, poor people in Daxing County under his jurisdiction often sold their own flesh and blood in order to survive. After learning about this, Xue Xiang generously used part of his salary to redeem their children for them.
It can be seen from the above that Xue Xiang is a rare person in my country's feudal society who cares about the suffering of the people. An official who requested orders for craftsmen.
Later, he was finally hated by Zhu Yuanzhang, who was bent on strengthening imperial power. In the fourteenth year of Hongwu (1381), Xue Xiang was beaten to death with a big stick by Zhu Yuanzhang on some pretext. After his death: "The whole world mourned him", and many people felt sorry and sympathized with him.
Note: The information quoted in this article comes from Jiaqing's "Wuwei Prefecture Chronicles" Volume 29, "Ming History" Volume 138, and "Xianzheng Lu" Volume 50 "Xue Xiang Biography".