李吉甫
Early in the "Yuanhe" era (805-820) of Emperor Dezong's grandson Emperor Xianzong, Pei Ji was made "Hanlin Xueshi" (翰林學士), an imperial scholar. He was also made "Kaogong Langzhong" (考功郎中), a supervisorial official at the ministry of rites, and put in charge of drafting edicts for Emperor Xianzong. He was soon promoted to be "Zhongshu Sheren" (中書舍人), a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government (中書省, "Zhongshu Sheng"). In 807, when the imperial scholar Li Jifu was made chancellor, he requested Pei to give him a list of junior officials who were capable, and Pei submitted some 30 names. Within a short duration, Li Jifu had those officials all promoted, and it was said at the time that Li Jifu was capable in finding them. Later in the year, after the warlord Li Qi the military governor of Zhenhai Circuit (鎮海, headquartered in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) rebelled and was defeated, the officials in charge were set to confiscate Li Qi's wealth and submit it to the imperial treasury, when Pei and fellow imperial scholar Li Jiang pointed out that the wealth was the result of Li Qi's having extracted the wealth from the people of the circuit. They suggested that the wealth be used to substitute for tax revenues that would have been collected from the people of Zhenhai Circuit for that year, and Emperor Xianzong agreed.