Since ancient times, there must have been corrupt officials, and no matter which dynasty it is, there are corrupt people. However, the country has governance, and as long as the emperor is holy, the corrupt customs are still easy to suppress. Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang vigorously rectified corrupt officials at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, although the results were not great, but at least he suppressed the trend of corruption. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a Qing official who resolutely did not associate with corrupt officials, and even the emperor could not see his upright practices. In order to better control him, the emperor even personally came forward to persuade him of corruption, which is probably unique in history.
This minister who would rather die than be corrupt is Lu Yan, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. Lu Zhen was a famous minister in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, who used an iron fist to rectify corruption and won the trust of Tang Dezong.
Lu Yan was born poor, but he himself worked very hard, his father Lu Kan was once the Liyang County Commander of the Tang Dynasty, and after Lu Kan's death, Lu Yan and his mother depended on each other for their lives. In order to repay his mother's nurturing grace, Lu Yan was born from an early age. He was erudite and talented, and once read a subset of poems and books, and in the sixth year of the Gregorian calendar, Lu Yan took the temple examination, and in that year, he won the Jinshi and was a lieutenant of Zhengdi County, Huazhou. The position of county lieutenant was not even a nine-pin, but Lu Yan was not an idle person after all, relying on his own talents, Lu Yan stepped towards the highest peak step by step.
In the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the feudal towns were divided, and the central government had already existed in name only, in this case, Lu Yan Suimeng issued the idea of loyalty to the king and the country. During the Middle Ages, the Tang Dynasty broke out in the Four Towns Rebellion, when the Jingyang Army, a janissary army personally dispatched by Emperor Dezong, suddenly attacked the imperial court before setting out for the town, and they supported the rebel general Zhu Zhu as emperor and began to attack the imperial palace. Tang Dezong was very frightened by the rebellion of the rebels, and surrounded by a group of ministers, Dezong fled west to Fengtian, but it was in this coup that Lu Zhen stood out.
Among the officials who fled west with Emperor Dezong was Lu Zhen, who had been drafting edicts for the emperor on his way to Fengxiang, and because Ofejong was inseparable, Emperor Dezong gradually relied on him. Later, Emperor Dezong recaptured Chang'an and killed Zhu Zhu, and Lu Yan became a red man by the emperor's side.
Lu Yan's status has been improved, and there are naturally many people who are in a hurry, and everyone hopes to borrow Lu Zhen's body to increase the rank of official, so since Lu Zhen returned to Chang'an, there has been an endless stream of people who come to his house to give gifts. These merchants and courtiers did not follow the emperor when they were in distress, but now they came to seduce Lu Zhen, and Qing courtiers like Lu Zhen naturally did not like them. Lu Yan refused to give gifts one by one, and in order to assist Emperor Dezong in rectifying the imperial program, Lu Zhen recorded the list of gift-giving officials and reported them to Emperor Dezong in full. However, Emperor Dezong had long been accustomed to the corruption of ministers, so the matter was still not resolved.
Once, Emperor Dezong personally visited Lu Yan's house, and when he saw Lu Zhen's poverty, he was deeply moved. When he returned to the palace, Emperor Dezong personally dictated a secret message to the eunuchs, and he asked Lu Yan to accept the official's gift. Emperor Dezong believed that As emperor Zaifu, Lu Yan was so poor that even his family could not manage it, which was really detrimental to the reputation of the prime minister, but Lu Zhen still ignored Emperor Dezong's request, and his attitude of being poor and upright remained unchanged.
In 792, Lu Yan was transferred by Emperor Dezong of Tang to the post of Zhongshu Shilang (中書侍郎), who became the head of the chancellor. During the three-year period, Lu Yan abolished harsh taxes and rectified the rule of officials, and the corruption of the Tang Dynasty since the Rebellion of the Four Towns was finally temporarily suppressed.
Lu Zhen is a prime minister, Qingming and high integrity, but with the improvement of his status, the challenges facing Lu Zhen himself are also increasing.
In the late period of Emperor Dezong, Pei Yanling, the attendant of the household department, gradually gained the trust of Emperor Dezong. Pei Yanling was confined to party strife, and in order to become the first assistant of the prime minister, Pei Yanling continued to frame Lu Yan, and Emperor Dezong finally deposed Lu Yan without distinguishing between loyalty and adultery. In 805, this generation of sages and ministers of the QingZheng finally died of illness in Renshou. In recognition of his merits, Tang Xianzong awarded him the title of Bingbu Shangshu.