Emperor Dezong made him Cibu Langzhong (祠部郎中), a supervisorial official at the ministry of rites (禮部, Lǐbu), and sent him to Nanzhao as an emissary.
[6] After his return, he was made Jianyi Daifu (諫議大夫), and then was made Shangshu You Cheng (尚書右丞), one of the secretaries general of the executive bureau of government (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng) and was put in charge of selecting officials at the ministry of civil service affairs (吏部, Lìbu, note different tone than the ministry of rites).
[5] Yuan was later made the prefect of Hua Prefecture (華州, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), as well as the defender of Tong Pass and the commander of the Zhenguo Army (鎮國軍).
However, it was also said that he did not punish people for crimes, and whenever he caught thieves, he would often release them or allow them to simply pay back what they stole.
Emperor Xianzong initially refused, and he sent Yuan on a mission to try to persuade Liu to submit to a new commander, as the surveyor of Xichuan and two other neighboring circuits, Dongchuan (東川, headquartered in modern Mianyang, Sichuan) and Shannan West (山南西道, headquartered in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi).
He then made Yuan the new military governor (Jiedushi) of Xichuan Circuit and tried to summon Liu to Chang'an to serve as imperial attendant.
[7] Soon thereafter, however, Yuan was repromoted to be the military governor of Yicheng Circuit (義成, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan).
[5] In 814, Emperor Xianzong swapped his post with Yan Shou (嚴綬) the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern Jingzhou).
[8] As of 816, Emperor Xianzong was waging a campaign against Wu Yuanji, who ruled Zhangyi Circuit (彰義, headquartered in modern Zhumadian) in a de facto independent manner from the imperial government.
On the way to Chang'an, however, he heard that the officials Xiao Mian and Qian Hui (錢徽) had been removed from their offices due to their opposition to the campaign, and he became fearful.