Li Jifu

Li Jifu(Lý cát phủ) (758 – November 18, 814),courtesy nameHongxian(Hoằng hiến), formallyDuke Zhongyi of Zhao(Triệu trung ý công), was a Chinese cartographer, historian, and politician during theTang dynasty,serving as achancellorduring the reign ofEmperor Xianzong.

Background

Li Jifu was born in 758, during the reign ofEmperor Suzong.His family claimed ancestry fromLi Mu,a prominent general of theWarring States periodstateZhao,and traced its ancestry through a line of officials ofQin dynasty,Han dynasty,Cao Wei,Jin dynasty (266–420),Northern Wei,andSui dynasty.His grandfather Li Zai (Lý tái) was not recorded to have carried any official titles, but his father Li Qiyun (Lý tê quân) was a prominent official during the reign of Emperor Suzong's sonEmperor Daizongand served as chief imperial censor, carrying the title of Duke of Zanhuang.Li Jifu himself was said to be studious in his youth and capable in writing.

During Emperor Dezong's reign

In 784, during the reign of Emperor Daizong's sonEmperor Dezong,when Li Jifu was 26, Li Jifu became aTaichang Boshi(Quá thường tiến sĩ), a consultant at the ministry of worship ( Thái Thường Tự,Taichang Si), and became known for his knowledge, especially the past Tang tradition, and was often praised for it.In 786, when Emperor Dezong's wifeEmpress Wangdied, the regulation on the proper rituals were missing – as there had not been an empress who was mourned since the times of Emperor Suzong's fatherEmperor Xuanzong.Li Jifu planned the mourning ceremonies for Empress Wang, and was much praised by Emperor Dezong.

Later, in addition to hisTaichang Boshititle, Li Jifu was also madeTuntian Yuanwailang(Đồn điền viên ngoại lang), a low-level official at the ministry of public works ( Công Bộ,Gongbu); he later becameJiabu Yuanwailang(Giá bộ viên ngoại lang), a low-level official at the ministry of rite ( Lễ Bộ,Lǐbu). He was respected and treated well by thechancellorsLi MiandDou Can,but afterLu Zhibecame chancellor, he suspected Li Jifu of engaging in partisanship and had him demoted to serve as the secretary general of Ming Prefecture ( minh châu, in modernNingbo,Zhe gian g); later, after a general pardon had been issued, Li Jifu was promoted to be the prefect of Zhong Prefecture ( trung châu, in modernChongqing).When Lu was himself exiled, it was said that Lu's rival chancellors wanted to harm him, and then intentionally had him demoted to be the secretary general of Zhong Prefecture – i.e., to serve as Li Jifu's subordinate. Lu's family and friends were concerned deeply, but Li Jifu showed respect to Lu as if Lu were still a chancellor and caused him no harm. The two eventually became friends.Li Jifu served as Zhong Prefecture for six years without further movement, and was later removed on account of illness. He later served as the prefect of either Liu Prefecture ( Liễu Châu, in modernLiuzhou,Guangxi)or Chen Prefecture ( Sâm Châu, in modernChenzhou,Hunan), before serving as the prefect of Rao Prefecture ( tha châu, in modernShangrao,Jiangxi). Previously, after four successive prefects had died, the fort that served as headquarters of Rao Prefectures had been abandoned as there were rumors that it was cursed. When Li Jifu arrived, he removed the thorns that had grown up around the fort and moved in with no ill consequences, and the people were comforted.

During Emperor Xianzong's reign

Prior to chancellorships

After Emperor Dezong's grandsonEmperor Xianzongbecame emperor in 805, Li Jifu was recalled to serve asKaogong Langzhong(Khảo công lang trung), a supervisorial official at the ministry of civil service affairs ( Lại Bộ, Lìbu, note different tone than the ministry of rites) and put in charge of drafting edicts. Shortly after he arrived at the capitalChang'an,he was madeHanlin Xueshi(Hàn lâm học sĩ), an imperial scholar, and soon was further madeZhongshu Sheren(Trung thư xá nhân), a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government ( Trung Thư Tỉnh,Zhongshu Sheng). During that time, he made several suggestions that caused him to gain further approval by Emperor Xianzong:

• Early in Emperor Xianzong's reign, a long-time minor official at the legislative bureau, Hua Huan (Hoạt hoán), who was a close associate to theeunuchgeneral Liu Guangqi (Lưu Quang kỳ), had much power due to his association with Liu, and Li suggested Hua's removal – which Emperor Xianzong carried out in 806.
• When theLi Qithe military governor (Jiedushi) of Zhenhai Circuit ( trấn hải, headquartered in modernZhen gian g,Jiangsu) requested to also be the director of the salt and iron monopoly, Li Jifu pointed out that Li Qi was ambitious and rebellious and that giving him the economic benefits of running the monopolies would further strengthen him in case of a rebellion, and thus opposed the request. Emperor Xianzong agreed with Li Jifu.
• When the warlordLiu Pi,who controlled Xichuan Circuit ( Tây Xuyên, headquartered in modernChengdu,Sichuan), resisted Emperor Xianzong's rule, Li Jifu advised military action against Liu Pi,and further suggested diverting Liu's attention by directing southern troops through theThree Gorgeswhile the main forces underGao Chongwenwere heading over the mountains.
• When, even before the campaign ultimately succeeded, another general who fought Liu Pi along with Gao, Yan Li (Nghiêm lệ), requested that a senior official be put in charge of Xichuan, Li Jifu pointed out that such a move would damage Gao's morale, and under Li Jifu's suggestion, Emperor Xianzong eventually made Gao the military governor of Xichuan while carving out six prefectures from Xichuan, transferring them to its neighbor Dongchuan Circuit ( Đông Xuyên, headquartered in modernMianyang,Sichuan), and making Yan the military governor of Dongchuan.
• WhenTufansought a formal treaty of friendship, Li Jifu pointed out that at the time Tang was allied withNanzhaoagainst Tufan – and that such a treaty would cause Nanzhao to suspect Tang's good faith and damage the relationship with Nanzhao. When Tufan further offered to return a number of towns that it had captured from Tang previously, Li Jifu pointed out that at that time, Tang had insufficient troops to defend them. Emperor Xianzong thus declined Tufan's proposal.

First chancellorship

In 807, whenDu Huangchangwas removed from his chancellor position, Li Jifu was madeZhongshu Shilang(Trung thư thị lang), the deputy head of the legislative bureau, and madede factochancellor with the titleTong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi(Cùng trung thư môn hạ bình chương sự), along withWu Yuanheng.It was said that he was greatly touched and stated to his subordinatePei Ji:

I, Li Jifu, was left out in the wild in theYangtze River-Huai Riverregion for 15 years, and now that I have received such great imperial grace, I need to repay it. The only way to do so is to recommend talented people to serve as officials. I do not know the young officials well. You, sir, are good at judging people; please find them for me.

Pei wrote out a list of over 30 people, and within a month, Li Jifu had them put into appropriate positions. It was believed at the time that Li Jifu was a good judge of character.As he believed that the military governors at the time had too much power over their domains, he advocated granting the prefects under them greater power.However, it was also said that Li Jifu, around that time, falsely accused fellow chancellorZheng Yinof leaking secrets to the warlord Lu Congshi (Lư từ sử), the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit ( chiêu nghĩa, headquartered in modernChangzhi,Shanxi), and that Emperor Xianzong did not act against Zheng only after the accusation was shown to be unreasonable by the imperial scholarLi Jiang.

Late in 807, Li Jifu submitted a 10-volume work titled theRecords ofYuanheImperial Accounts(Yuanhe(Nguyên cùng) being Emperor Xianzong'sera name) that contained detail accounts of the state of the various circuits of the empire, including the population and revenues.

In 808, at a specialimperial examinationswhere Emperor Xianzong ordered that low-level officials submit honest opinions about the government, several of the examinees –Niu Sengru,Li Zongmin,and Huangfu Shi (Hoàng Phủ thực) stated, without using any veiled language, the issues they saw with the governance at the time. The officials that Emperor Xianzong put in charge of the examinations, Yang Yuling (Dương với lăng) andWei Guanzhiranked them high. However, Li Jifu saw these as severe criticisms of himself, and, weeping, accused the reviewing officials, the imperial scholars Pei Ji andWang Ya,of conflict of interest – as Huangfu was a nephew of Wang's. As a result of Li Jifu's accusations, Wang, Pei, Yang, and Wei were all demoted, and it was said that while no harm came to Niu, Li Zongmin, and Huangfu at that time, they were effectively stuck at the positions they previously served without promotion. As a result, they all sought positions as staff members of military governors.(However, Li Jifu's biographies in theOld Book of TangandNew Book of Tangviewed this event as part of the conspiracy by the senior official Pei Jun (Bùi đều) to harm Li Jifu and to have Pei Jun made chancellor.)

Soon thereafter, there was another incident in which Li Jifu and the official Dou Qun (Đậu đàn) came into conflict. Li Jifu had previously recommended the officials Yang Shi'e (Dương sĩ ngạc) and Lü Wen (Lữ ôn), and because Dou was also friendly with Yang and Lü, he recommended them as well, without first informing Li Jifu. Li Jifu became displeased and refused to act on Dou's recommendations, thus drawing Dou's resentment. When Dou later found out that one Chen Keming (Trần khắc minh) – whom Dou believed to be a sorcerer but who could have been a physician – was visiting Li Jifu's household because Li Jifu was ill – he submitted an accusation to Emperor Xianzong that Li Jifu was associating with sorcerers. When Emperor Xianzong investigated and found no proof of Li Jifu's guilt, Dou and his associates were exiled, but Li Jifu felt insecure and offered to resign, recommending Pei Ji to succeed him. Emperor Xianzong agreed, and, in late 808, made Pei Ji chancellor and made Li Jifu the military governor of Huainan Circuit ( Hoài Nam, headquartered in modernYangzhou,Jiangsu), and granted him various medical ingredients from the imperial pharmacy.

Between the chancellorships

While Li Jifu was at Huainan, it was said that he built Pingjin Dam (Bình tân yển) and two ponds named Furen (Người giàu có) and Guben (Cố bổn), for irrigation purposes. When the Yangtze-Huai region suffered a great drought, particularly hurting Li Jifu's neighboring circuits Zhexi ( Chiết Tây, headquartered in modern Zhen gian g) and Zhedong ( chiết đông, headquartered in modernShao xing,Zhe gian g), the central government agencies in charge did not act, and it was only after an extensive report by Li Jifu that Emperor Xianzong ordered disaster relief. It was also said that Li Jifu often sent suggestions about important matters of state to Emperor Xianzong.

In late 810, Pei Ji was removed from his chancellor position on account of illness, and in spring 811, Li Jifu was recalled to again serve asZhongshu Shilangand chancellor.He was also given the additional titles ofJinzi Guanglu Daifu(Kim Tử Quang Lộc đại phu),Shang Zhuguo(Thượng trụ quốc), and imperial scholar of Jixian Palace. He was also put in charge of editing the imperial history and created the Duke of Zhao.

Second chancellorship

It was said that the people of the time looked forward to Li Jifu's return to chancellorship with great expectations. However, it was also said that soon after his return to chancellorship, fellow chancellorLi Fanwas removed, and Pei Ji was further demoted, due to his machinations. Further, it was also said that he began to try to hide his acts from Emperor Xianzong.However, he was credited with advocating a major streamlining of government that saved expenses.

In 811, also at Li Jifu's recommendation – as Li Jifu pointed out that the imperial princes, due to various restrictions, were having difficulty finding appropriate husbands for their daughters and getting the marriages approved – Emperor Xianzong created many princes' daughters ladies and ordered the government agencies to find appropriate gentlemen for them to marry.However, by this point, Emperor Xianzong had heard that Li Jifu was using his office for personal vengeance, and so decided to make Li Jiang a chancellor as well to create a power balance. Thereafter, Li Jifu and Li Jiang often had disputes, causing a rift between the two. In 812, when the chancellors met with Emperor Xianzong, Li Jifu made a comment that the realm was becoming peaceful and that Emperor Xianzong should seek out some pleasure – when Li Jiang commented that there was still much warfare and natural disasters to deal with and it was no time to seek pleasure. Emperor Xianzong approved of Li Jiang's remarks. Li Jifu further became distressed when Emperor Xianzong criticized another chancellor,Yu Di,for proposing harsh punishments – as Li Jifu had just himself proposed the same kind of harsher punishments.On another occasion, however, when Emperor Xianzong met the chancellors, he commented to Li Jifu that he had just read in the imperial archives about the faithfulness of Li Jifu's father Li Qiyun and was impressed – causing Li Jifu to be touched, and he wept and thanked Emperor Xianzong.

Later in 812, when the warlordTian Ji'an,the military governor of Weibo Circuit ( Ngụy bác, headquartered in modernHandan,Hebei), died, Li Jifu advocated preparing for a campaign to retake Weibo by force, but Li Jiang advocated another strategy – simply refusing to commission Tian Ji'an's sonTian Huai gianas his successor and waiting for someone else to rise against Tian Huai gian from within Weibo itself. Emperor Xianzong agreed with Li Jiang, and eventually, when Tian Ji'an's relativeTian Xingrose against Tian Huai gian, Emperor Xianzong commissioned Tian Xing as the new military governor as per Li Jiang's argument, overruling Li Jifu's argument that Tian Xing needed to be observed first; Weibo then began to follow imperial orders.

In 813, whenHuiguforces approached Tang borders and announced that they were going through Tang territory to attack Tufan, the border people were alarmed, believing that Huigu might be intending to attack them instead. Li Jifu advocated not becoming overly alarmed, but simply repairing 11 border posts to watch them. In 814, he further advocated the reestablishment of You Prefecture ( hựu châu, in modernYulin, Shaanxi), a special prefecture to settle the surrendered non-Hantribes. Emperor Xianzong approved his proposals.

In 814, when the warlordWu Shaoyangthe military governor of Zhangyi Circuit ( chương nghĩa, headquartered in modernZhumadian,Henan), died, Li Jifu advocated preparing for military action to retake Zhangyi by force, rather than allowing Wu Shaoyang's sonWu Yuanjito succeed Wu Shaoyang – pointing out that, by contrast to the warlords north of theYellow River,Zhangyi was surrounded by circuits loyal to the imperial government. By Li JIfu's recommendation, the headquarters of Zhangyi's neighbor Heyang Circuit ( Hà Dương, then-headquartered in modernJiaozuo,Henan), which was under imperial control and which was stationed in order to protect the eastern capital Luoyang from Weibo, was moved to Ru Prefecture ( Nhữ Châu, in modernPingdingshan,Henan), to prepare for action against Zhangyi. When Wu Shaoyang's subordinate Yang Yuanqing met Li Jifu, Li Jifu persuaded him to report to the imperial government the strengths and weaknesses of the Zhangyi forces, for the imperial government to further prepare for the campaign.While still preparing for the campaign, Li Jifu died. Initially, the officials in charge of awardingposthumous namesproposedJingxian( kính hiến, "alert and knowledgeable" ). One of the junior officials, Zhang Zhongfang (Trương trọng phương) objected, arguing that that was too flattering. Emperor Xianzong was displeased and exiled Zhang, but subsequently changed Li Jifu's posthumous name toZhongyi( "faithful and benevolent" ).His sons Li Dexiu (Lý Đức tu) andLi Deyuboth later served in the imperial government, with Li Deyu becoming a prominent chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Xianzong's grandsonsEmperor WenzongandEmperor Wuzong.

Written works

Li Jifu wrote commentaries on theI Ching.He also compiled a number of historical events from theEastern Han,Cao Wei, Jin,Northern Zhou,and Sui, commenting on their successes and failures and the reasons, into a 30-volume work known as theSummaries of the Six Dynasties(Sáu đại lược). In addition to hisRecords of Yuanhe Imperial Accounts,he also wrote a 54-volume work on the geographical features and histories of the various circuits, including maps, titling the work theYuanhe Maps of the Commanderies and Principalities(Nguyên cùng quận quốc đồ).He further wrote a one-volume summary of imperial offices' responsibilities entitled theKey Points on Selecting Officials for the Hundred Offices(Bách quan cử muốn). He submitted these works to the emperor, but the works were also commonly known at the time.

Notes and references

• Old Book of Tang,vol. 148.
• New Book of Tang,vol. 146.
• Zizhi Tong gian,vols.236,237,238,239.
• Yuanhe Maps of the Counties(Nguyên cùng quận huyện đồ chí), Li, Jifu, and He, Cijun (Lý cát phủ hạ thứ quân). 1983. Zhongguo gu dai di li zong zhi cong kan (Trung Quốc cổ đại địa lý tổng chí bộ sách). Beijing: Zhong hua shu ju (Trung Hoa thư cục: Nhà sách Tân Hoa Bắc Kinh phát hành phát ra hành).