Zhang Yue

Life

While still young, he answered an imperial summons and placed in the second class, receiving appointment as Taizi jiaoshulang; another account places him first in the Worthy and Upright examination during Wu Zetian’s Yongchang era. He was later appointed You buque, took part in compiling the Sanjiao Zhuying, and was promoted to You shi, Inner Fulfiller, and Fengge Sheren.

Because he refused to flatter Zhang Yizhi and his brothers, and offended Wu Zetian when they framed Wei Yuanzhong, he was exiled to Qinzhou. After Zhongzong’s restoration, he was recalled as an official in the Ministry of War, later serving as vice minister of Works and War and as a scholar of the Xiuwen Academy; he also held the post of Huangmen Shilang.

During Ruizong’s Jingyun 2 (711), he entered the council as Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi, supervised the compilation of national history, became Shangshu Zuocheng, and was later removed from participation in government; he also urged Ruizong to have Crown Prince Li Longji supervise state affairs. After Xuanzong’s accession, he was rewarded for helping decide the suppression of Princess Taiping, appointed Zhongshu Ling, and ennobled as Duke of Yan, becoming known as Zhang Yanguo.

He later served as Minister of War, Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin, and military governor of Shuofang; he proposed reducing the frontier forces by more than 200,000, ending the system of rotating guards because many hereditary soldiers had deserted, and recruiting strong men for palace guard duty. His disagreement with Yao Chong led to appointments as governor of Xiangzhou and Yuezhou.

In Kaiyuan 9 (721), he returned to the council, serving as Minister of War and Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin, then becoming Zhongshu Ling, acting Right Chancellor, and ultimately Left Chancellor. In Kaiyuan 13 he became an academician and director of the Jixian Academy; when the eastern Fengshan sacrifice was being planned, he was made acting Right Chancellor concurrently with Zhongshu Ling, retired, and continued historical work at home. In Kaiyuan 17 he was reappointed Left Chancellor and received the title Kaifu Yitong Sansi.

He died in Kaiyuan 18 at the age of sixty-four and was posthumously granted the title Grand Preceptor and the name Wenzhen. His father was Zhang Zhi (張騭; also written 張隲), and his father-in-law was Yuan Huaishen. His sons included Zhang Jun (張均), Zhang Ji (張垍), and Zhang Shu (張琡); Zhang Jun was the eldest, while Zhang Shu is separately listed as the third son under the form 張埱. His son-in-law was Zheng Yan, and a daughter-in-law was Li Shi, Princess Ningqin. His grandsons included Zhang Meng and Zhang Tiao, while Yin Xingguang and Li Boyu were husbands of his sisters’ daughters. Zhang Jiuling composed his epitaph, and Zhang Yue composed one for Yao Chong.

Statesmanship and literature

Zhang Yue served as chancellor three times and held literary office for 30 years. His prose was elegant and precise; many important court documents were drafted by him, and he was especially skilled in inscriptions and epitaphs. He was ranked with Su Ting, Duke of Xu, and they were known together as the “Yan–Xu great writers.”

His poetry was plain and vigorous, becoming more plaintive after his late exile to Yuezhou; contemporaries said that it benefited from the landscape. Critical assessments describe an early preference for palace-style verse, followed after Yuezhou by greater use of analogy, evocative description, and personal reflection; they also call his five-line regulated sequences deep and forceful, while describing his regulated verse as a transformation of the orderly style of Shen and Song that opened the way for Gao and Cen. Other assessments fault his long-line regulated verse for frequent failures of tonal linkage and find his seven-character regulated verse broad but not exemplary.

Works

The transmission of his collected writings is reported in two ways: the original 30-volume collection is said to have been lost and a 25-volume Zhang Yanggong ji was printed in the Ming, while a 30-volume Zhang Shuozhi wenji is also said to have circulated. Five volumes of his poems survive in the Complete Tang Poems; the supplementary collections add four poems, four fragments, and one title. He also authored Liang Sigong ji, one volume, and Qian bencao, one volume.