Zheng Yuqing - During Emperor Dezong's Reign

During Emperor Dezong's Reign

Toward the end of the Jianzhong era (780-783) of Emperor Daizong's son Emperor Dezong, Yan Zhen (嚴震) the military governor (Jiedushi) of Shannan West Circuit (山南西道, headquartered in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi) invited Zheng Yuqing to serve as an assistant. Zheng later left governmental service to observe a period of mourning when his father died. Early in Emperor Dezong's Zhenyuan era (785-805), Zheng was recalled to the capital Chang'an and served successively as Bingbu Yuanwailang (兵部員外郎), a low-level official at the ministry of defense (兵部, Bingbu); and Kubu Langzhong (庫部郎中), a supervisorial official at the ministry of census (戶部, Hubu). In 792, he was made an imperial scholar (翰林學士, Hanlin Xueshi). In 797, he was made the deputy minister of public works (工部侍郎, Gongbu Shilang) but was also put in charge of selecting officials at the ministry of civil service (吏部, Libu). While he was serving there, there was an incident where a Buddhist monk by the dharma name of Facou (法湊), who had been ordered back into civilian life by the county magistrate Lu Boda (盧伯達) after he was accused of misconduct by the other monks, became a monk again despite that order. When Lu reported this to Emperor Dezong, Emperor Dezong ordered that a tribunal be convened that would include the deputy chief imperial censor Yuwen Miao (宇文邈), the deputy minister of justice Zhang Yu (張彧), the chief judge of the supreme court Zheng Yunkui (鄭雲逵), and a supervisor from the ministry of Buddhist and Taoist affairs, Zhuge Shu (諸葛述). Zheng found this tribunal to be inappropriate — as Zhuge was a low-level official who lacked the standing of the three key officials and, in Zheng's opinion, should not share places on the same tribunal — and he submitted a written opposition. This caused Zheng to gain a good reputation.

In 798, Zheng was made Zhongshu Shilang (中書侍郎), the deputy head of the legislative bureau of government (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng) and given the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事), making him a chancellor. It was said that because Zheng was well-versed in the Five Classics, he often invoked ancient precedents while making suggestions to the emperor. In 800, however, he incurred Emperor Dezong's displeasure due to two matters — he was friendly with the director of finances Yu Pi (name not in Unicode) and therefore often advised Emperor Dezong to accept Yu's suggestions, causing Emperor Dezong to believe that they were conspiring; and at that time, due to a drought, Emperor Dezong and the chancellors were discussing issuing a special stipend to the imperial guard soldiers, but Zheng's assistant leaked the news before the discussion was finalized. As a result, Zheng was exiled to serve as the military advisor to the prefect of Chen Prefecture (郴州, in modern Chenzhou, Hunan), while Yu was exiled to be the census officer at Quan Prefecture (泉州, in modern Quanzhou, Fujian).