Yuan Zhen - During Emperor Xianzong's Reign

During Emperor Xianzong's Reign

In 806, when Yuan Zhen was 27, during the reign of Emperor Dezong's grandson Emperor Xianzong, Yuan underwent a special imperial examination before Emperor Xianzong dealing with strategic thinking, and when the list of 18 examinees who passed the examination was announced, Yuan was ranked first — in a group that included such individuals as Bai Juyi, Dugu Yu (獨孤郁), Xiao Mian, and Shen Chuanshi (沈傳師). As a result, Yuan was made You Shiyi (右拾遺), a junior advisor at the legislative bureau of government (中書省).

Yuan had an outspoken personality, and after being put into an advisorial post, he started submitting suggestions to Emperor Xianzong. In particular, because the officials Wang Shuwen and Wang Pi, who dominated the court of Emperor Xianzong's father Emperor Shunzong — who had previously served as Emperor Shunzong's staff members while Emperor Shunzong was crown prince — were at that time denounced as frivolous and power-hungry, Yuan submitted an essay detailing what he saw as qualifications that the crown prince's and other imperial princes' staff members should have, and Emperor Xianzong was impressed upon reading it. Yuan further submitted proposals involving the defense of the northwestern borders with Tufan and Huigu. Emperor Xianzong, in response, summoned him and requested opinions on strategies to take there. As a result, though, the ruling officials at the time were jealous of Yuan, and they had him sent out of the capital Chang'an to serve as the sheriff of Henan County (河南), one of the two counties making up the eastern capital Luoyang. Yuan subsequently left governmental service for some time while observing a mourning period after his mother's death. Once the mourning period was over, he was recalled to governmental service, to serve as Jiancha Yushi (監察御史), a mid-level imperial censor.

In 809, Yuan was on a mission to Dongchuan Circuit (東川, headquartered in modern Mianyang, Sichuan), when he submitted accusations that the deceased former military governor (Jiedushi) of Dongchuan, Yan Li (嚴礪), had collected taxes illegally and improperly seized the property of 88 households. As a result, the seven prefectural prefects who served under Yan were all punished. However, among the ruling officials, there were those who had deep friendships with Yan, and as a result of this incident, Yuan was sent out of the capital to serve at the Luoyang branch of the office of the imperial censors. While at Luoyang, he continued to pursue various officials for misconduct, including the caning of a county magistrate by the governor of Zhexi Circuit (浙西, headquartered in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), Han Gao (韓皐), leading to the magistrate's death, and the improper use of imperial messenger posts by the military governor of Wuning Circuit (武寧, headquartered in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu), Wang Shao (王紹), to host the casket of the recently-deceased eunuch monitor of the Wuning army. Meanwhile, when the mayor of Henan Municipality (i.e., the Luoyang region, not only the two counties), Fang Shi (房式), was accused of improper conduct, Yuan issued an order suspending Fang from office pending investigations. However, after investigations, Fang was only punished by being stripped of one month of salary, and Yuan was recalled to Chang'an. While stopping at the imperial messenger post at Fushui (敷水, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), Yuan got into a dispute with an imperial eunuch messenger — variously reported as either Liu Shiyuan (劉士元) (by the Book of Tang) or Qiu Shiliang (by the New Book of Tang), in which the eunuch, as a result of the dispute, hit Yuan's face and injured him — Emperor Xianzong ruled that Yuan had overstepped his authorities as censor and demoted him to serve as the logistics officer at Jiangling Municipality (江陵, in modern Jingzhou, Hubei), despite defenses submitted on his behalf by Li Jiang, Cui Qun, and Bai.

While at Jiangling, Yuan wrote many poems, and his style and Bai's were both popular and referred by the populace as Yuanhe Style (元和體) — Yuanhe being Emperor Xianzong's era name. The eunuch monitor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered at Jiangling), Cui Tanjun (崔潭峻), was impressed by Yuan's talents and did not treat him as a subordinate, but rather with great respect; he also often collected Yuan's poems and recited them. Meanwhile, sometime thereafter, Yuan was made the military advisor to the prefect of Tong Prefecture (通州, in modern Nantong, Jiangsu), while Bai was made the military governor of Jiang Prefecture (江州, in modern Nanchang, Jiangxi). Despite the distance between the two, they often wrote poems to each other, which often ran 30 to 50 lines, sometimes up to 100 lines. The people of the Yangtze River region became impressed by their poems and often read and studied them. Many of Yuan's poems showed his sadness at being exiled from the capital.

In 819, by which time Yuan was serving as the secretary general of Guo Prefecture (虢州, in modern Sanmenxia, Henan), he was recalled to Chang'an to serve as Shanbu Yuanwailang (膳部員外郎), a low-level official at the ministry of rites (禮部, Libu). Then-chancellor Linghu Chu, himself a talented writer, had long been impressed by Yuan's literary abilities, requested that he submit his writings to Linghu. Yuan did so, and the writings impressed LInghu greatly, comparing him to the Liu Song Dynasty poets Bao Zhao (鮑照) and Xie Lingyun. Meanwhile, Emperor Xianzong's son and crown prince Li Heng, who had heard his concubines recite Yuan's poetry and referring to Yuan as "Savant Yuan" (元才子), was impressed.