In any case, he eventually served as the deputy minister of justice (刑部侍郎, Xingbu Shilang) and imperial scholar at Jixian Hall (集賢殿).
[4] In 926, during the reign of Li Siyuan, the second emperor of the succeeding Later Tang, Lu Wenji was commissioned as the deputy chief imperial censor (御史中丞, Yushi Zhongcheng).
Lu's staff members, however, informed him that the previous Tang regulations were that the liaison officers were to actually meet with and bow to the deputy chief to congratulate him.
At Lu's request, Li Siyuan also issued an edict reinstating the Tang regulations for performance review for officials — which also included self-evaluations for generals, chancellors, and the emperor himself.
Thereafter (apparently in 928), the chancellor Cui Xie, with whom Lu had a contentious relationship, made the official Yu Ye (于鄴) the deputy minister of public works.
When this incident became known, Li Siyuan exiled Lu by demoting him to be the military advisor to the prefect of Shi Prefecture (石州, in modern Lüliang, Shanxi).
[4][6] At a later point, Lu was recalled to Luoyang, and he thereafter served successively as the director of the archival bureau (祕書監, Mishu Jian), and then the minister of worship (太常卿, Taichang Qing).
Li Congke, however, believed that this would discourage open discussions about the affairs of state, issued an edict rejecting their request to punish Shi.
[8] In 936, Li Congke's adoptive brother-in-law Shi Jingtang the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) rebelled, with aid from Later Tang's northern rival Khitan Empire.
Li Congke, at that time, was himself hesitant to engage Shi, and Lu, sensing this, proposed, along with Zhang Yanlang, that the chief of staff Zhao Yanshou be sent to rendezvous with his adoptive father Zhao Dejun the military governor of Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing), to combat the Khitan/Hedong forces.
The result was a disaster, however, as Zhao Dejun was more interested in gaining Khitan support for his own desire to be emperor, and did not fully intend to aid Zhang.
Lu Wenji, however, was removed from his post as chancellor, and made the minister of civil service affairs (吏部尚書, Libu Shangshu).
[1] During the reign of Liu Zhiyuan, the founding emperor of the subsequent Later Han, Lu Wenji received the title of Taizi Taishi (太子太師).
Subsequently, the imperial censor Zhao Li (趙礪) submitted a list of officials that he believed were not engaged in proper behavior, including taking excessive leaves on alleged illnesses.
After Liu's chief of staff Yang Bin received this list, he forced the officials Zhao accused into retirement.