Linghu Chu

Linghu Chu (Chinese: 令狐楚; pinyin: Línghú Chǔ) (766 – December 18, 837), courtesy name Keshi (殼士), formally Duke Wen of Pengyang (彭陽文公), was an official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Xianzong and (briefly) Emperor Xianzong's son Emperor Muzong.

Linghu Chu was born in 766, during the reign of Emperor Daizong. According to his biography in the Old Book of Tang, he "claimed to be" a descendant of the early-Tang Dynasty historian Linghu Defen — with the language used in the biography indicating some skepticism. The claim of descendance from Linghu Defen was accepted without question in his biography in the New Book of Tang, although the table of the chancellors' family trees in the New Book of Tang did not show a direct line from Linghu Defen. His grandfather Linghu Chongliang (令狐崇亮) served as a county magistrate, while, his father Linghu Chengjian (令狐承簡) served as an officer at the Taiyuan Municipality government. Linghu Chu had at least two younger brothers, Linghu Cong (令狐從) and Linghu Ding (令狐定). It was said that his family had a literary tradition, and even when Linghu Chu was a child, he studied literature.

Linghu Chu stood for the imperial examinations in his youth, and in 781, during the reign of Emperor Daizong's son Emperor Dezong, when Linghu was 15, he passed the imperial examinations. (Also among those passing the imperial examinations that year were Huangfu Bo and Xiao Mian, with whom he became friendly.) It was said that the governor of Gui District (桂管, headquartered in modern Guilin, Guangxi) Wang Gong (王拱) favored his talent and wanted to invite him to serve on staff. Concerned that Linghu would decline, he made the request to Emperor Dezong directly. As Linghu's father Linghu Chengjian was then still serving in Taiyuan, he wanted to stay in Taiyuan, but was thankful for Wang's high regard of him, so after he passed the imperial examinations he headed for Gui District's capital Guilin to thank Wang, but did not accept Wang's feasts and tours before he requested to return to Taiyuan to support his parents. As a result of his actions, he gained a good reputation. Later, as Li Shuo (李說), Yan Shou (嚴綬), and Zheng Dan (鄭儋) successively served as the military governor (Jiedushi) of Hedong Circuit (河東), headquartered at Taiyuan, they had high opinions of Linghu Chu and thus invited him to serve on staff, and he eventually rose to be the military governor's assistant. It was said that Linghu was highly intelligent, and whenever Emperor Dezong received reports from the military governor of Hedong and could tell that it was Linghu who drafted them, he had much praise for Linghu's writing. In 801, when Zheng died suddenly without leaving instructions, the soldiers were disturbed and went into a near-mutiny state. In the middle of the night, a number of soldiers gathered and forced Linghu, under the threats by swords, to head to the headquarters. With the officers surrounding him, they ordered him to draft a final report for Zheng. Despite the duress of swords, Linghu had little trouble drafting such a report, and when the report was read to the soldiers, all were touched by his words, thus calming a serious situation. After his father died, he was known for his filial piety during the period of mourning. He thereafter was summoned to the capital Chang'an to serve as You Shiyi (右拾遺), a low-level consultant at the legislative bureau of government (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng), and thereafter served as Taichang Boshi (太常博士), a consultant at the ministry of worship (太常寺, Taichang Si) and Libu Yuanwailang (禮部員外郎), a low-level official at the ministry of rites (禮部, Libu). At some point, Linghu left governmental service to observe a period of mourning for his mother when she died. After the mourning period was over, he was recalled to governmental service to serve as Xingbu Yuanwailang (刑部員外郎), a low-level official at the ministry of justice (刑部, Xingbu).

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