Li Zhirou

Li Zhirou (李知柔) (died 900), formally the Prince of Xue (薛王), was an official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, serving briefly as a chancellor in 895 during the reign of Emperor Zhaozong, to whom he was a distant relative. Background It is not known when Li Zhirou was born. He was descended from Emperor Ruizong through Emperor Ruizong's son Li Ye (李業) the Prince of Xue (who was posthumously honored, by his older brother Emperor Xuanzong, Crown Prince Huixuan). Li Zhirou was descended through the line of Li Ye's descendants that inherited the title of Prince of Xue, including Li Zhirou's great-grandfather Li Quan (李琄), grandfather Li Sui (李邃), and father Li Mi (李宓). After Li Zhirou inherited the title of Prince of Xue, he served as the minister of imperial clan affairs (宗正卿, Zongzheng Qing). He later served as the mayor of Jingzhao (京兆, i.e., the region of the Tang imperial capital Chang'an). While he was the mayor of Jingzhao, he sifted the long-unusable Zhengguo Canal and Bai Canal (白渠) such that they could be used for irrigation again and was thus much praised by the people of Jingzhao, who wanted to build a monument to commemorate his contributions; he declined. He was later put in charge of the directorates of finances and of the salt and iron monopolies. As chancellor In 895, there was an occasion when then-reigning Emperor Zhaozong fled Chang'an into the Qinling Mountains, fearing that the nearby warlords Li Maozhen the military governor (Jiedushi) of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi) and Wang Xingyu the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (靜難, headquartered in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi) would seize him. Most of the imperial officials were initially unable to follow him, but Li Zhirou caught up to him. Emperor Zhaozong thus put Li Zhirou in charge of the office of chancellors, effectively making him a chancellor, albeit not with the usual designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事). He also put Li Zhirou in charge of comforting the civilians who followed him. Shortly thereafter, after the chancellors Cui Zhaowei, Xu Yanruo, and Wang Tuan arrived, Emperor Zhaozong sent Li Zhirou and the acting director of palace communications, Liu Guangyu (劉光裕), to return to Chang'an to gather up imperial guards to defend the palace.