Background
Zheng Xunyu was born in 738, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. His family was from Zheng Prefecture (鄭州, in modern Zhengzhou, Henan). It claimed ancestry from the ducal house of the Spring and Autumn Period state Zheng and traced its ancestry through a line of officials of Han Dynasty, Jin Dynasty (265–420), Han Zhao or Later Zhao, Former Yan or Later Yan, Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, and Tang Dynasty. His grandfather Zheng Changyu (鄭長裕) served as a prefectural prefect, while his father Zheng Liang (鄭諒) served as a county magistrate.
Zheng Xunyu lost his father prematurely. After the Anshi Rebellion erupted in 755, he took his mother into Mount Luhun (陸渾山, in modern Luoyang, Henan) and supported his mother there, not returning to Zheng Prefecture. After the rebellion was quelled, there were three occasions when the officials Liu Yan and Zhang Xiancheng (張獻誠) recommended him to be an official at the county level, and each time he declined the recommendation. During the Dali era (766–779) of Emperor Xuanzong's grandson Emperor Daizong, Zheng passed the imperial examinations in the special class of those who submitted constructive criticism. He was made Dali Pingshi (大理評事), a judge at the supreme court (大理寺, Dali Si). He was later made the secretary general at Yangzhai County (陽翟, in modern Xuchang, Henan), and, after he served with distinction there, was made the sheriff of Wannian County (萬年, in modern Xi'an, Shaanxi), one of the two counties making up the Tang capital Chang'an.
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