It is not known when Xiao Ye was born. His ancestry came from the imperial house of the
Liang dynasty—which in turn traced its ancestry to the great
Han dynasty prime minister
Xiao He, whose ancestry was purportedly from the ruling house of the
Spring and Autumn period and
Warring States period state
Song (and thus from the imperial house of
Shang dynasty, as well as a line of officials of Han, the
Jin dynasty,
Liu Song, and
Southern Qi (whose imperial house was distantly related to the Liang imperial house). Xiao Ye's eighth-generation ancestor was the brief-reigning Liang emperor
Xiao Yuanming, a son of Xiao Yi (), an older brother to Liang's founder
Emperor Wu of Liang. For several generations prior to him, Xiao Ye's male-line ancestors served as officials of
Tang dynasty, including Xiao Ye's grandfather Xiao Zhi (), who served as an imperial attendant, and his father Xiao Ge (), who served as a prefectural prefect. Xiao Ye had at least one older brother, Xiao Jie (), and one younger brother, Xiao Xian (). It is known that Xiao Ye passed the
imperial examinations in the
Jinshi class, but it is not known when that occurred. He successively served as an imperial censor with the title
Jiancha Yushi (); an imperial scholar (翰林學士,
Hanlin Xueshi); and the prefect of
Heng Prefecture (near modern
Hengyang,
Hunan). == During Emperor Xuānzong's reign ==