Diwu Qi - During Emperor Suzong's Reign

During Emperor Suzong's Reign

After the victory, Helan Jinming sent Diwu Qi to report the victory to Emperor Xuanzong. By that point — summer 756 or thereafter — forces of An's new state of Yan had captured Chang'an, forcing Emperor Xuanzong to flee to Chengdu. Emperor Xuanzong's son and crown prince Emperor Suzong did not follow him to Chengdu, but fled to Lingwu instead, where he was proclaimed emperor (as Emperor Suzong) — an act that Emperor Xuanzong recognized when news reached him. Diwu met either Emperor Xuanzong or Emperor Suzong — his biographies in the Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang conflict in that regard, with the Book of Tang indicating that he met Emperor Xuanzong and the New Book of Tang indicating that he met Emperor Suzong, and the Zizhi Tongjian trying to harmonize the conflict by indicating that he met Emperor Xuanzong and then Emperor Suzong — and was able to persuade the emperor that the primary task at hand was for the imperial treasury to be replenished with funds from the relatively wealthy Yangtze River-Huai River region so that soldiers could be retained. The emperor agreed and put Diwu in charge of the financial matters of the Yangtze-Huai region. Diwu created an official monopoly over salt and iron and recruited people willing to work in those industries, using the profits to replenish the imperial treasury without increasing taxes. Soon, the Henan region (i.e., modern Henan and Shandong) were added to his region of responsibility, and he was additionally made the deputy minister of census (戶部侍郎, Hubu Shilang). In 758, with prices for goods rising heavily and the realm lacking coins, at Diwu's suggestion, Emperor Suzong ordered that special coins titled Qianyuan Zhongbao (乾元重寶, Qianyuan being the era name at that time), with each Qianyuan Zhongbao coin being worth 10 ordinary coins.

In 759, as part of Emperor Suzong's reorganization of his chancellors, Miao Jinqing and Wang Yu were removed from their chancellor positions, and Diwu, along with Lü Yin, Li Xian, and Li Kui, were made chancellors, with the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事). After Diwu became chancellor, he further minted special coins with double circular edges (重輪錢, Chonglun Qian), worth 50 ordinary coins. At that time, food prices rose precipitously, leading to much hunger and starvation, and there were also many forgeries of the new coins. The popular sentiment blamed Diwu for the misery, and many accusations were filed against him. In winter 759, Emperor Suzong demoted Diwu to be the secretary general of Zhong Prefecture (忠州, in modern Chongqing). Diwu's old superior Helan was accused of associating with him and was also demoted. After Diwu left Chang'an, there was another accusation that Diwu had accepted 200 taels of gold in bribes, and Emperor Suzong sent the imperial censor Liu Qiguang (劉期光) to chase Diwu down to interrogate him. Diwu responded, somewhat sarcastically:

I was a chancellor, and I could not have always carried 200 taels of gold around with me. If you could find that someone had paid, and someone had received it, please go ahead and carry out judgment according to law.

Liu took this to be an admission of guilt and submitted a report indicating that Diwu had admitted guilt. Diwu was removed from his official rank and exiled to Yi Prefecture (夷州, in modern Zunyi, Guizhou). Not until 762 was he recalled from exile and made the prefect of Lang Prefecture (朗州, in modern Changde, Hunan).