Xue Qiao 薛喬

In Chapter 96 of the Romance, Cao Xiu trusts Zhou Fang of Wu deeply after he cuts off his hair as a pledge, and advances with his army, rejecting the remonstrance of Jia Kui that the hair-cutting pledge is a trick. On Zhou Fang's advice he stations his whole army and its wagons at Shiting, but the next day the mouth of the valley ahead is held by the Wu army, and Zhou Fang has already vanished with a few dozen men. The senior commander Zhang Pu goes out as the vanguard and fights Xu Sheng, but after only a few bouts he cannot hold out and comes back. Romance, Ch. 96 §31–33 · 35–36

Declaring that he will win with a surprise force, Cao Xiu gives Zhang Pu twenty thousand men to lie in ambush south of Shiting and Xue Qiao twenty thousand men to lie in ambush north of Shiting. The plan is that the next day he himself will offer battle with a thousand men and feign defeat, and once he has lured the enemy to the front of the northern hill, a cannon will be fired as the signal and they will attack from three sides. The two commanders receive the plan and, when evening comes, each leads twenty thousand men off to lie in ambush. Romance, Ch. 96 §37

Lu Xun, however, gives Zhu Huan and Quan Cong thirty thousand men each to circle around by the mountain paths of Shiting to the rear of Cao Xiu's camp and set fires as the signal. Around the second watch of the night Zhu Huan runs into Zhang Pu's ambush and cuts him down with a single stroke, while Quan Cong, circling to the rear of the Wei camp, crashes straight into Xue Qiao's formation and fights a great battle there. Xue Qiao is defeated and flees, the Wei troops suffer heavy losses and flee back to their main camp, and as the camp falls into great confusion Cao Xiu flees along the Jiashi road. Xue Qiao does not appear in the Romance after this. Romance, Ch. 96 §38–40