Xiao Fu
Xiao Fu, courtesy name Lüchu, was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Dezong.
Background
Xiao Fu was born in 732, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. He was from a prominent clan that descended from the imperial house of Liang Dynasty, and his grandfather Xiao Song was a chancellor during Emperor Xuanzong's reign. His father was Xiao Song's son Xiao Heng, and his mother was Princess Xinchang, a daughter of Emperor Xuanzong, making him a grandson of Emperor Xuanzong as well. As the Xiao clan was greatly honored, his brothers and cousins all competed having the best clothes, horses, and decorations, while Xiao Fu dressed plainly. He also was often studying in his room, alone, and his friends were all writers or Confucian scholars. His uncle Xiao Hua, who was a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong's son Emperor Suzong, was impressed by him, and often stated, "This child will surely glorify this clan." Due to his being the son of a princess, he was, early in his career, made a Gongmenlang, in charge of the office of the palace gates. He was later made the director of transportation for the crown prince.During Emperor Daizong's reign
During the Guangde era of Emperor Suzong's son Emperor Daizong, there was a span of poor harvests, causing food prices to rise. With the Xiao clan being a large one and needing funds to pay for food, the clan considered selling an ancestral property in Zhaoying County. The chancellor Wang Jin heard that the property contained beautiful trees and springs and wanted the property, and thus sent his brother Wang Hong to meet Xiao Fu. Wang Hong stated to Xiao, "You, sir, have talent that shall land you greater offices. If you offer your manor to my brother, he will surely help you achieve that." Xiao Fu responded, "I, an imperial servant, am selling this ancestral property because of poverty, to aid the widows and young of the clan. If I trade it for a high position such that I let my clan folks be frozen or starved, I would not be doing what even a commoner should be doing." Wang Jin was angered by these remarks and removed Xiao from his office, and he spent the next several years at home. Despite this, he was not distressed. He later returned to government service and became a low-level official at the executive bureau of government. Yet later, he served as the prefect of Chang Prefecture.During Emperor Dezong's reign
Prior to chancellorship
In 779, during the reign of Emperor Daizong's son Emperor Dezong, Xiao Fu was made the governor of Hunan Circuit as well as the prefect of Hunan's capital Tan Prefecture. He later served as the prefect of Tong Prefecture. At that time, there was a famine in the prefecture, and he opened the food storages that were overseen by the governor of Jingzhao Circuit to give to the people, without approval from his superiors. As a result, he was punished by being reduced in rank. When his friends visited him to console him, he remarked, "I benefited others. Is it not right I suffer a minor punishment?" He was soon made the deputy minister of defense.In 783, with Li Xilie the military governor of Huaixi Circuit rebelling against imperial rule, Emperor Dezong, believing that the armies sent against Li Xilie needed a supreme commander to coordinate their actions, commissioned his son Li Yi the Prince of Pu to be the supreme commander of the forces against Huaixi, and he gave Xiao the honorary title of minister of census, to serve as the secretary general for Li Yi.
However, before Li Yi could depart Chang'an, soldiers from Jingyuan Circuit, at Chang'an to await deployment to the east against Li Xilie or other warlords, mutinied after they were not awarded as they believed they deserved. Emperor Dezong fled to Fengtian. Many officials followed him there, including Xiao. The Jingyuan soldiers supported the general Zhu Ci as their leader, and Zhu initially claimed that he was set to welcome Emperor Dezong back to Chang'an, but soon was planning to take over as emperor. Meanwhile, Emperor Dezong, finding Fengtian to be too small of a city for him and his followers, wanted to head for Fengxiang, then governed by the former chancellor Zhang Yi but formerly under Zhu's control. When Xiao heard that Emperor Dezong was intended to head to Fengxiang, he immediately met with Emperor Dezong and warned against it:
Emperor Dezong responded that he had already decided to head to Fengxiang, but on Xiao's objection will remain at Fengtian for one more day. The next day, news arrived that Zhu's former subordinate Li Chulin had mutinied, killed Zhang, and taken over Fengxiang. Soon thereafter, Xiao, was made the minister of civil service affairs and given the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi, making him a chancellor de facto, along with Liu Congyi and Jiang Gongfu.
During chancellorship
Zhu Ci, who claimed the title of emperor of his new state of Qin, was soon putting Fengtian under siege, although Fengtian was saved by the major Tang general Li Huaiguang. Meanwhile, Xiao earnestly sought reform of Emperor Dezong's administration at Fengtian. He suggested that Emperor Dezong not give eunuchs authorities and recall the eunuchs who were serving as army monitors — a suggestion that greatly displeased Emperor Dezong. Despite Emperor Dezong's displeasure, Xiao responded:On one occasion, when Xiao and Lu met Emperor Dezong together, Lu was merely flattering Emperor Dezong and following everything that Emperor Dezong said, and Xiao stated, "Lu Qi's words are wrongful." This surprised Emperor Dezong, and after the meeting was over, he told his attendants, "Xiao Fu views me lightly." In spring 784, while he was still at Fengtian, he commissioned Xiao Fu to be the examiner of the southern circuits of the empire and sent him out on a mission to survey those circuits, in order to get Xiao away from him. When Liu Congyi and many other officials asked that Xiao be kept at the imperial government, Emperor Dezong's suspicions were further aroused that Xiao had induced these other officials into speaking on his behalf, although he did not investigate the matter further.
By late 784, the general Li Sheng had destroyed Zhu's regime, allowing Emperor Dezong to return to Chang'an. Xiao had also returned from his mission, and he suggested to Emperor Dezong that Chen Shaoyou, the military governor of Huainan Circuit, who had submitted to Li Xilie during the time Emperor Dezong was away from Chang'an, be replaced by Wei Gao — a Fengxiang officer who had resisted Li Chulin. Emperor Dezong agreed. However, Xiao was soon surprised when Liu Congyi stated to him, "Ma Qinxu informed me that the Emperor wanted me to discuss with you, Lord, your proposal, and then carry it out without informing Li Mian and Lu Han . Can you tell me what your proposal was?" Xiao, finding it inappropriate that Emperor Dezong was keeping secrets away from Li Mian and Lu, as fellow chancellors, stated:
When Liu informed Emperor Dezong about this, Emperor Dezong was displeased. Xiao, seeing that he had lost the emperor's favor, offered to resign. In winter 784, Emperor Dezong removed him from his chancellor position and made him a member of the staff of the Crown Prince Li Song.