After Demotion
Despite his being forced to exile Lu Qi, however, Emperor Dezong continued to miss him, and thereafter, the imperial scholar Lu Zhi, whose opinions Emperor Dezong otherwise greatly respected, was said to be not promoted partly because Lu Zhi was continuing to attack Lu Qi in his advice.
In 785, after a general pardon, Lu Qi was promoted to be the secretary general of Ji Prefecture (吉州, in modern Ji'an, Jiangxi). He made the comment, "Surely, I will soon return to the capital." Soon thereafter, Emperor Dezong ordered the imperial attendant Yuan Gao (袁高) to draft an edict further promoting Lu to be the prefect of Rao Prefecture (饒州, in modern Shangrao, Jiangxi). Yuan, seeing this as a sign that, despite all Lu had done, Emperor Dezong was planning to eventually recall him, and he, alarmed, approached the chancellors Lu Han and Liu Congyi and requested that they advise Emperor Dezong against the promotion. Lu Han and Liu did not dare to, and they had another imperial attendant draft the edict instead. When the edict was set to be issued, Yuan held it and refused to issue it; he was joined in this by his colleagues Chen JIng (陳京) and Zhao Xu (趙需), drawing great anger from Emperor Dezong — but eventually, with the chancellor Li Mian also pointing out that promoting Lu Qi would disappoint the people, Emperor Dezong relented. Instead, Lu Qi was only made the secretary general of Li Prefecture (澧州, in modern Changde, Hunan). He eventually died there without ever returning to Chang'an, although the year of his death was not recorded in history. Emperor Dezong still missed Lu Qi, however, and eventually, he made Lu Qi's son Lu Yuanfu (盧元輔) an imperial official. Lu Yuanfu was effective as an imperial official, and it was said that he was not tainted by his father's ill reputation.
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