Lu Qi

Lu Qi , courtesy name Ziliang (子良), was a politician of China's Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Dezong. He was characterized as treacherous and selfish in traditional historical accounts, and traditional historians blamed him for provoking the rebellions of Zhu Ci and Li Huaiguang, which greatly weakened the Tang state.

Background and early career It is not known when Lu Qi was born. His grandfather Lu Huaishen was a chancellor early in the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. His father Lu Yi (盧奕) served as an imperial official as well, and was one of the officials in charge of the eastern capital Luoyang when the general An Lushan rebelled at Fanyang in 755, toward the end of Emperor Xuanzong's reign. An quickly advanced to Luoyang, and Lu Yi, while sending his wife and sons away, remained in Luoyang himself, seeing it as his responsibility to do so. When Luoyang fell, Lu Yi remained faithful to the Tang cause and continued to curse the rebels even as he was under threat of execution, and he was executed.

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 Pugu Huai'en served as the military governor (Jiedushi) of Shuofang Circuit (朔方, headquartered in modern Yinchuan, Ningxia), he invited Lu to serve as a secretary for him. He was later removed on account of illness. Later, he successively served as the deputy minister of vassal affairs (鴻臚丞, Honglu Cheng), imperial censor (殿中侍御史, Dianzhong Shiyushi), and Shangbu Yuanwailang (膳部員外郎), a low-level official at the ministry of rites (禮部, Libu). He later was set to serve as the prefect of Zhong Prefecture (忠州, in modern Chongqing), but when he went to visit his superior Wei Boyu (衛伯玉), the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern Jingzhou, Hubei), he displeased Wei, and subsequently, he resigned under excuse of illness and returned to the capital Chang'an. He later successively served as Xingbu Yuanwailang (刑部員外郎), a low-level official at the ministry of justice (刑部, Xingbu); Jinbu Langzhong (金部郎中), a mid-level official at the ministry of census (戶部, Hubu); and Libu Langzhong (吏部郎中, Libu Langzhong), a mid-level official at the ministry of civil service affairs (吏部, Libu). He later served as the prefect of Guo Prefecture (虢州, in modern Sanmenxia, Henan). Early in the Jianzhong era (780-783) of Emperor Xuanzong's great-grandson Emperor Dezong, he was recalled to Chang'an to serve as deputy chief imperial censor (御史中丞, Yushi Zhongcheng). On one occasion, when he was meeting the senior general Guo Ziyi at Guo's mansion, Guo personally greeted him and sent his concubines and servants away — contrary to Guo's typical custom of having the concubines and servants greet the guests. When later asked why, Guo responded, "Lu Qi is ugly and treacherous. If I let the women see him, they would surely laugh at him. If he later become powerful, my household would be wiped out."

Meanwhile, Emperor Dezong, who had ambitions to wipe out warlordism and reassert imperial authority throughout the realm, had put Li Xilie the military governor of Huaixi Circuit (淮西, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan), in charge of a campaign against Liang Chongyi, the military governor of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern Xiangfan, Hubei), who had ruled Shannan East semi-independently from the imperial regime and had an alliance with several other regional warlords, Tian Yue (who ruled Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei)), Li Weiyue (who ruled Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei)), and Li Na (who ruled Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong)). Emperor Dezong's commissioning of Li Xilie was over Yang's strenuous objection, as Yang felt that Li Xilie could not be trusted.

Later in 781, Li Wei (李洧), the cousin to Li Na's father and predecessor Li Zhengji, whom Li Zhengji had made the prefect of Xu Prefecture (徐州, in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu), contacted and offered to submit to the imperial government. He sent his assistant Cui Cheng (崔程) to Chang'an and suggested that if he were made the governor of a new circuit containing Xu Prefecture and two other prefectures belonging to Pinglu — Hai (海州, in modern Lianyungang, Jiangsu) and Yi (沂州, in modern Linyi, Shandong) Prefectures — those prefectures would turn against Li Na and submit to the imperial government as well. When Cui arrived at Chang'an, however, he made the mistake of first meeting Lu's chancellor colleague Zhang Yi rather than Lu. Lu, viewing this as a snub, refused. Subsequently, although the Li Wei still submitted, and the imperial government was able to take Xu Prefecture, they were not able to take the other two prefectures. Meanwhile, wanting to eliminate Zhang as a competitor for power, he pretended to be willing to become the military governor of the important Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi), a key defensive position against Tufan, and then making comments that induced Emperor Dezong to make Zhang the military governor of Fengxiang instead. It was said that early in Emperor Dezong's reign, when Cui Youfu was the main chancellor, Cui had led him to be lenient, and therefore Emperor Dezong was compared by the people to his well-regarded ancestor Emperor Taizong, but after Lu became chancellor, he led Emperor Dezong to be strict, harsh, and suspicious, causing disappointment throughout the realm. 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.

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. This incident drew a comment from the Song Dynasty/Yuan Dynasty historian Hu Sanxing (the commentator of the Zizhi Tongjian):

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). )

After demotion Despite his being forced to exile Lu Qi, however, Emperor Dezong continued to miss him, and thereafter, the imperial scholar Lu Zhi, whose opinions Emperor Dezong otherwise greatly respected, was said to be not promoted partly because Lu Zhi was continuing to attack Lu Qi in his advice.

In 785, after a general pardon, Lu Qi was promoted to be the secretary general of Ji Prefecture (吉州, in modern Ji'an, Jiangxi). He made the comment, "Surely, I will soon return to the capital." Soon thereafter, Emperor Dezong ordered the imperial attendant Yuan Gao (袁高) to draft an edict further promoting Lu to be the prefect of Rao Prefecture (饒州, in modern Shangrao, Jiangxi). Yuan, seeing this as a sign that, despite all Lu had done, Emperor Dezong was planning to eventually recall him, and he, alarmed, approached the chancellors Lu Han and Liu Congyi and requested that they advise Emperor Dezong against the promotion. Lu Han and Liu did not dare to, and they had another imperial attendant draft the edict instead. When the edict was set to be issued, Yuan held it and refused to issue it; he was joined in this by his colleagues Chen Jing (陳京) and Zhao Xu (趙需), drawing great anger from Emperor Dezong — but eventually, with the chancellor Li Mian also pointing out that promoting Lu Qi would disappoint the people, Emperor Dezong relented. Instead, Lu Qi was only made the secretary general of Li Prefecture (澧州, in modern Changde, Hunan). He eventually died there without ever returning to Chang'an, although the year of his death was not recorded in history. Emperor Dezong still missed Lu Qi, however, and eventually, he made Lu Qi's son Lu Yuanfu (盧元輔) an imperial official. Lu Yuanfu was effective as an imperial official, and it was said that he was not tainted by his father's ill reputation.

Notes and references

Old Book of Tang, vol. 135. New Book of Tang, vol. 223, part 2. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 226, 227, 228, 229, 231.