Overview
Yuwen Rong was an official and Statesman.
IdentityHistorical · Male
Life and dates
Attested activity
AD 713 to AD 730 開元中
AD 713 to AD 730 開元初
Family
Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.
Origins and identity
- Line Yuwen 宇文 · Relation Member of
Career and standing
Main registrar of Fuping 富平主簿
AD 713 開元初 · Appointed
Commissioner for Reclaiming Fields and Encouraging Agriculture 覆田勸農使
Appointed
Commissioner for Rent Lands and Pacification of Household Registers 租地安輯戶口使
Appointed
Vice Censor-in-Chief 御史中丞
Appointed
Vice Director in the Ministry of War 兵部員外郎
Appointed
Attendant Censor 侍御史
Held
Show 2 more source-backed claims
Places and affiliations
- Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
- At Wannian, Jingzhao 京兆萬年
Works and attributed material
References in the histories
No matching passages.
New Book of Tang, Chapter 134Volume 134 Biographies 59: Yuwen, Wei, Yang, Wang · 18 passages
宇文融
Yuwen Rong
宇文融，京兆萬年人，隋平昌公弼裔孫。
Yuwen Rong was a native of Wannian in Jingzhao, a descendant of Bi, Duke of Pingchang of the Sui dynasty.
融明辯，長於吏治。
Rong was eloquent and excelled in administrative affairs.
融由監察御史陳便宜，請校天下籍，收匿戶羨田佐用度。
While serving as Investigating Censor, Rong submitted a memorial on practical measures, asking that household registers be audited empire-wide and that hidden households and surplus land be recovered to help cover government costs.
玄宗以融為覆田勸農使，鉤檢帳符，得偽勛亡丁甚眾。
Emperor Xuanzong made Rong Commissioner for Reclaiming Fields and Encouraging Agriculture. He audited the registers and uncovered a vast number of spurious honors and unregistered adult males.
融乃奏慕容琦、韋洽、裴寬、班景倩、庫狄履溫、賈晉等二十九人為勸農判官，假御史，分按州縣，括正丘畝，招徠戶口而分業之。
Rong then recommended twenty-nine men—including Murong Qi, Wei Qia, Pei Kuan, Ban Jingqian, Kudi Lüwen, and Jia Jin—as agriculture-assisting magistrates with temporary censorial powers. They were dispatched to inspect prefectures and counties, correct land measurements, register missing households, and assign them to livelihoods.
然吏下希望融旨，不能無擾，張空最，務多其獲，而流客頗脫不止。
But lower officials, eager to please Rong, could not help causing trouble—they padded their quotas and chased ever-larger yields, even as many transient residents continued to slip through the net.
融乃自請馳傳行天下，事無巨細，先上勸農使，而後上臺省，臺省須其意，乃行下。
Rong then asked to tour the empire by imperial courier. Every matter, large or small, went first to the Agriculture Commissioner and only afterward to the central offices, which had to assent to his wishes before anything could be implemented.
融所過，見高年，宣天子恩旨，百姓至有感涕者。
Wherever Rong traveled, he would address the aged and announce the emperor's benevolent intentions, and some among the people were moved to tears.
中書令張說素惡融，融每建白，說輒引大體廷爭。
Chief Minister Zhang Shuo had always despised Rong. Whenever Rong put forward a proposal, Shuo would invoke larger principles and argue against it in open court.
融揣說不善，欲先事中傷之。
Rong perceived Shuo's vulnerability and sought to get the jump on him and damage him in the process.
張九齡謂說曰：「融新用事，辯給多詐，公不可以忽。」
Zhang Jiuling told Shuo, "Rong has just risen to influence. He is glib and deceitful—you must not underestimate him."
會帝封太山還，融以選限薄冬，請分吏部為十銓。
Soon afterward the emperor returned from the Mount Tai feng ceremony. With the appointment season pressing into deep winter, Rong asked that the Ministry of Personnel be split into ten selection boards.
有詔融與禮部尚書蘇颋、刑部尚書韋抗、工部尚書盧從願、右散騎常侍徐堅、薄州刺史崔琳、魏州刺史崔沔、荊州長史韋虛心、鄭州刺史賈曾、懷州刺史王丘分總，而不得參事，一決於上。
An edict appointed Rong, Minister of Rites Su Ting, Minister of Justice Wei Kang, Minister of Works Lu Congyuan, Right Regular Attendant Xu Jian, and the prefectural inspectors Cui Lin, Cui Mian, Wei Xuxin, Jia Zeng, and Wang Qiu to oversee the process in separate groups, but they were denied any real say in the matter; every decision rested with the emperor alone.
融奏選事，說屢卻之，融怒，乃與御史大夫崔隱甫等廷劾說引術士解禱及受賕，說由是罷宰相。
Rong submitted reports on the selection process, but Shuo repeatedly turned them back. Enraged, Rong joined Censor-in-Chief Cui Yinpu and others in a court impeachment, charging Shuo with employing shamans for ritual prayer and taking bribes. Shuo was stripped of the chancellorship.
融畏說且復用，訾詆不已。
Fearing that Shuo might return to power, Rong kept up a relentless campaign of denigration.
帝疾其黨，詔說致仕，放隱甫於家，出融為魏州刺史。
Weary of their factional fighting, the emperor ordered Shuo to retire, dismissed Yinpu to his home, and sent Rong away as inspector of Wei Prefecture.
利說一開，天子恨得之晚，不十年而取宰相。
Once the gospel of profit was opened, the emperor regretted not having heard it sooner; within ten years Rong had risen to the chancellorship.