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Chapter Eight Highlights during the Dazhong Era 175 COMPLICATIONS IN WEN’S FRUSTRATED EFFORTS Wen did not return to the capital until the last years of the Huichang era,1 when Emperor Xuanzong (r. 847–860) ascended the throne, with the “support” of the eunuchs. A son of Emperor Xianzong (r. 806–820) and an uncle of both Wenzong and Wuzong, Xuanzong cherished a bitter hatred for his nephew Wuzong, rooted in the oppression and humiliation he had suffered at the latter’s hands. In addition, he harbored the utmost loathing for Li Deyu, the powerful Prime Minister throughout Wuzong’s reign and head of the Li Faction. The Huichang era was remarkable for its military feats and civil successes, which paved the way for the last period of relative stability of the Tang Empire. However, while benefiting from what had been achieved by his predecessors, Xuanzong purposely abandoned most of the important policies pursued in the Huichang era and implemented a set of measures of his own. One of the results was that those who formerly could not take the civil service examination at all, such as Wen, now faced more favorable circumstances. Most conspicuously, Xuanzong offered particular patronage for the recruitment of Presented Scholars. According to Wang Dang’s Tangyulin (4: 134), he even called himself a “Local Contributed Presented Scholar” and inscribed the title on a pillar in his palace. Sun Qi’s Beilizhui (1: 2) described the situation with the following remarks: The Dazhong Emperor was fond of Confucian statecraft, and he set the greatest store by the civil service recruitment. Thus the Presented Scholar degree became popular on an unprecedented scale ( ). Hence, there appeared a glimmer of hope that Wen might be able to remount the “dragon’s gate.” However, the policies Xuanzong adopted did not mean a rehabilitation of Wen’s case. Despite a drastic shift in the political balance within the decision-making circle, an insurmountable obstacle—the eunuchs’ bitter hostility—still prevented him from passing. As a consequence of Xuanzong’s ascension, the Niu Faction took over power from the Li Faction for the final time, even though the eunuchs’ political control remained as powerful and persistent as ever before. In dealing with the eunuchs, the Niu Faction, too, had to exercise extreme caution. Seen from the perspective of the factional conflicts, the new state of affairs was only marginally better for Wen’s political prospects than the old one. Despite his constant efforts in campaigning for patronage, as a politically sensitive figure,Wen could please neither faction. Nor was it easy for him to make any progress in the political crevice between the factions. Put in his own words (“Epistle Presented to the Vice-Minister, Salt and Iron Commissioner”),Wen was in an awkward situation such as this: I, with the common quality of cogongrass and reeds, and from a debased stock like that of Zhu or Teng, have given up a life of ploughing and weeding in my humble town, and come to observe the rites and music in the Metropolitan capital ( ). In Wen’s metaphor, once people have silk and hemp for clothing, they will treat him as though he was “cogongrass and reeds”2 (wild grasses of tough fiber), and will throw him away. For him to earn official standing in the aristocratic society and between the vying factions could be compared to small feudal states such as Zhu or Teng maintaining a precarious existence between the contending powers of Qi and Chu.3 Despite his remaining family influence and his good relationships with some figures in office,Wen’s efforts had little effect. In the factional struggles of the time, Wen subordinated himself to neither group, although he had to appeal more than once to members of both for help. And even though on more than one occasion he enlisted the support of (or more accurately, was employed by) one faction, to his dismay, it happened at the expense of offending someone on the opposite side, nullifying his endeavor. This is the second cause of Wen’s repeated failures. Nevertheless, Wen’s efforts were not entirely fruitless. From the commencement of the Dazhong era, it took him more than ten years on an extremely tortuous path, before he finally “succeeded” in earning himself a mere and bare Presented Scholar degree. From Wen’s epistles presented to various ministers during the Dazhong era (such as his “Epistle Presented to Prime Minister Linghu,” “Two...

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