Soon, however, Yang Guozhong was moved to another position, and Li Lin resumed his office as assistant minister of defense.
In 752, he was given the honorific title of Yinqing Guanglu Daifu (銀青光祿大夫) and made the principal of the imperial university (國子祭酒, Guozi Jijiu).
As Li Lin was a civilian official not learned in military matters, the imperial government was concerned that he would not know how to defend the commandery.
Emperor Xuanzong, now using the title Taishang Huang (retired emperor), however, did not stop exercising imperial authority, and when he arrived at Chengdu, he initially made Li Lin deputy minister of census (戶部侍郎, Hubu Shilang) and Shangshu Zuo Cheng (尚書左丞), one of the secretaries general of the executive bureau of government (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng).
In spring 757, Emperor Xuanzong gave Li Lin the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事), making him a chancellor de facto.
At that time, Emperor Xuanzong had already sent several other chancellors that he had commissioned during his journey to Chengdu and during the duration he was at Chengdu — Wei Jiansu, Fang Guan, Cui Huan, and Cui Yuan — to Emperor Suzong's court, but kept Li Lin with him because Li Lin was an imperial clan member.
At that time, the most powerful figures at Emperor Suzong's court were his wife Empress Zhang and the eunuch Li Fuguo.