Lu Qi (Tang dynasty)
Lu Qi (盧杞),
Background and early career
It is not known when Lu Qi was born. His grandfather
Because how his father had died in imperial service, Lu Qi became an official early in his life. He was said to be ugly in appearance, such that he was compared to a ghost; however, he was also said to be frugal, and he gained a good reputation and was compared to his grandfather Lu Huaishen. While the major general
As chancellor
Before Zhu Ci's rebellion
In 781, Lu Qi, who had gained Emperor Dezong's favor because of his ability to speak well, was promoted to be the governor (觀察使, Guanchashi) of Jingji Circuit (京畿, i.e., the Chang'an region). By that point, Yang Yan, who had been the sole chancellor, had drawn secret anger from Emperor Dezong for informing regional governors that Emperor Dezong's own enmity for the senior official Liu Yan was responsible for Liu's death in 780. Later in 781, Emperor Dezong promoted Lu to be Menxia Shilang (門下侍郎), the deputy head of the examination bureau of government (門下省, Menxia Sheng) and gave him the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事), making him a chancellor de facto, to divert power from Yang. As Lu lacked literary talent, Yang looked down on him, and while it was customary for chancellors to have lunch together, Yang often found excuses to avoid meeting with Lu, drawing Lu's resentment. As chancellor, Lu was said to be petty and using treacherous tactics against those who dared not associate with him.[4]
Meanwhile, Emperor Dezong, who had ambitions to wipe out warlordism and reassert imperial authority throughout the realm, had put
Later in 781, Li Wei (李洧), the cousin to Li Na's father and predecessor
The imperial campaigns, meanwhile, appeared to be bearing fruit, as Li Xilie defeated Liang and Liang committed suicide, bringing Shannan East into the imperial fold; Li Weiyue's subordinate Wang Wujun killed Li Weiyue and submitted to the imperial government; and both Tian and Li Na were under siege by imperial forces. However, Emperor Dezong then angered both Wang and Zhu Tao the acting military governor of Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing), whose victories against Chengde forces had been instrumental in causing Wang's mutiny against Li Weiyue, by not rewarding them in accordance of what they believed they deserved. They therefore turned against the imperial government and allied with Tian, defeating imperial forces sieging Tian at Weibo's capital Wei Prefecture. As the campaigns continued, the imperial treasury was being drained, and Emperor Dezong, under suggestion from the imperial scholars Wei Dubin (韋都賓) and Chen Jing (陳京), issued an edict forcing merchants to make mandatory loans to the government. On one occasion, merchants, burdened by these "loans", surrounded Lu on the streets of Chang'an and begged him to intercede on their behalf, he was scared by the display and comforted them, but once he was able to get away from the crowd did not make any actual proposals to help them.[5]
Around this time, in addition to Zhang Yi, several officials were also said to be victims of Lu's treachery:
- Yuan Xiu (源休), who had just gone on a difficult diplomatic mission to Huige, was ostensibly promoted to be the minister of palace supplies (光祿卿, Guanglu Qing) to avoid his being promoted yet higher by Emperor Dezong.[5]
- Yan Zhenqing, a senior official whom Lu already disliked and who then further embarrassed Lu by reminding him that Yan had publicly mourned Lu's father Lu Yi when Lu Yi's head was passed through his territory during the Anshi Rebellion, was sent on a dangerous and futile mission to persuade Li Xilie, who had begun to undertake imperial pretensions and would eventually declare himself emperor, to resubmit to Emperor Dezong; Yan was eventually executed by Li Xilie.[5][6][7]
- Li Kui, a former chancellor who was old in age but whom Lu feared because of his senior status and abilities, was sent as an emissary to Tufan, a mission that Li Kui tried to beg off due to his old age, claiming he might not survive such a mission; Li Kui was eventually able to make the mission but died on his return journey.[6][8]
During Zhu Ci's rebellion
In fall 783, soldiers from Jingyuan Circuit (涇原, headquartered in modern Pingliang, Gansu), at Chang'an to await deployment to the east, mutinied after not receiving awards that they believed they deserved. Emperor Dezong fled to Fengtian (奉天, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), initially taking only his family members and a small group of eunuchs and imperial guards with him. Lu and fellow chancellor Guan Bo, in the confusion, had to jump over the walls of the office of chancellors, located at the legislative bureau (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng), to catch up with Emperor Dezong.[6]
Emperor Dezong issued emergency edicts seeking aid from the nearby circuits. Meanwhile, the Jingyuan soldiers supported Zhu Tao's brother Zhu Ci, who had been removed from his command in 782 due to Zhu Tao's rebellion, as their leader. Zhu Ci initially claimed that he was merely calming the situation at Chang'an and was ready to welcome Emperor Dezong back to Chang'an, but soon there were rumors that Zhu was planning to claim imperial title himself and attack Emperor Dezong at Fengtian. In light of this, some officials who had fled to Fengtian suggested that Fengtian's defenses be shored up, but Lu, misjudging the situation, argued to Emperor Dezong that Zhu would surely remain faithful to Tang and advocated taking no precautions at all and stopping the incoming aid troops, although at Jiang Gongfu's advice Emperor Dezong continued to receive the aid troops into Fengtian. At suggestion of Lu and Bai Zhizhen (白志貞) the commander of the imperial guards, Emperor Dezong sent his granduncle Wu Xu (吳漵) (Emperor Daizong's mother's brother) to Chang'an to communicate with Zhu. Zhu initially welcomed Wu as an honored imperial emissary, but soon put Wu to death. He declared himself emperor of a new state of Qin.[6]
Meanwhile, the official Cui Ning arrived at Fengtian several days after Emperor Dezong did. Emperor Dezong was pleased, but Lu heard that, on the way to Fengtian, Cui had made comments that Lu was responsible for misleading the emperor into this disaster. Lu feared that Cui would accuse him of causing the calamity, and therefore secretly plotted with an official who had arrived at Fengitan with Cui, Wang Hong (王翃). He had Wang make a secret report to Emperor Dezong that on the way to Fengtian, Cui had frequently stopped to defecate or urinate and appeared to be waiting for Zhu's soldiers. Lu and Wang also forced Cui's secretary Kang Dan (康湛) into forging a letter from Cui to Zhu, offering to betray Fengtian to him. Lu, presenting the forgery to Emperor Dezong, thus falsely accused Cui of treason. Emperor Dezong believed Lu's accusations and executed Cui.[6]
Zhu soon put Fengtian under siege. A Tang aid force, commanded by the generals Du Xiquan (杜希全), Dai Xiuyan (戴休顏), Shi Changchun (時常春), and Li Jianhui (李建徽), was approaching Fengtian and requesting imperial instructions on which way to advance into the city. Guan and the general
Ever since the wars north and south of the Yellow River erupted, and through Emperor Dezong's flight, every single suggestion that Lu Qi made was harmful to the state and harmful to the people. Yet, Emperor Dezong continued to trust in him. How much did this demonstrate Emperor Dezong's incompetence?
Soon, Fengtian was in a desperate state, but was saved when Li Huaiguang the military governor of Shuofang Circuit (朔方, headquartered in modern Yinchuan, Ningxia), who had been fighting Tian Yue in the east, arrived in haste and forced Zhu to withdraw back to Chang'an. Meanwhile, though, it had become common knowledge that Li Huaiguang despised Lu, Bai, and Zhao Zan (趙贊) — and that he would recommend to Emperor Dezong that those officials be removed. When Lu heard this, he believed that he had to prevent a meeting between Emperor Dezong and Li Huaiguang at all costs, and therefore suggested to Emperor Dezong order Li Huaiguang to attack Chang'an at once. Emperor Dezong agreed, and ordered Li Huaiguang to rendezvous with Li Sheng, Li Jianhui, and Yang Huiyuan (楊惠元) to attack Chang'an. Li Huaiguang, angry that he was not even able to meet the emperor, began to resent Emperor Dezong. He stopped his army's movement and submitted petitions accusing Lu and the others of crimes and further accusing them of being responsible for the Jingyuan mutiny. Li Huaiguang's accusations were joined by those from many other officials. Around the new year 784, Emperor Dezong was forced to demote and exile Lu, Bai, and Zhao — in Lu's case, to be the military advisor to the prefect of Xin Prefecture (新洲, in modern Yunfu, Guangdong).[9] (Due to this incident, however, Li Huaiguang's relationship with Emperor Dezong was permanently damaged, and Li Huaiguang would rebel himself later in 784;[8] his rebellion would not be suppressed until 785.[11])
After demotion
Despite his being forced to exile Lu Qi, however, Emperor Dezong continued to miss him, and thereafter, the imperial scholar
In 785, after a general pardon, Lu Qi was promoted to be the secretary general of Ji Prefecture (吉州, in modern
Notes and references
- ^ a b c Old Book of Tang, vol. 135 Archived 2008-06-21 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 217.
- ^ As Pugu was made military governor in 761 and rebelled against the imperial government in 764, Lu's service under him must have been sometime during that time span. See Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 222, 223.
- ^ a b Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 226.
- ^ a b c d e Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 227.
- ^ a b c d e Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 228.
- ^ a b Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 231.
- ^ a b c Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 230.
- ^ a b Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 229.
- ^ Bo Yang Edition of the Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 55 [783].
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 232.
- Old Book of Tang, vol. 135.
- New Book of Tang, vol. 223, part 2.
- Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 226, 227, 228, 229, 231.