Zhang Yi (張鎰) (died November 8, 783[1]), courtesy names Jiquan (季權) and Gongdu (公度), was a Chinese historian, military general, and politician during the Tang dynasty, briefly serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Dezong.
His great-great-grandfather Zhang Houyin (張後胤) was a principal of the imperial university early in Tang and carried the title of Duke of Xinye.
His father Zhang Qiqiu (張齊丘)[2] was a military governor (Jiedushi) of Shuofang Circuit (朔方, headquartered in modern Yinchuan, Ningxia).
He later served as Dali Pingshi (大理評事), a judge at the supreme court, and then as Dianzhong Shiyushi (殿中侍御史), an imperial censor.
When the army officer Li Lingyao (李靈曜) rebelled at Biansong Circuit (汴宋, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan) in 776, Zhang trained the militia and defended the prefecture carefully, drawing Emperor Daizong's praise.
He was soon made the prefect of Shou Prefecture (壽州, in modern Lu'an, Anhui), and continued to carry the title of defender of the Huai River Region.
He made Zhang Yi the governor of Jiangnan West Circuit and the prefect of its capital Hong Prefecture (洪州).
Later, he recalled Zhang to serve as the deputy minister of civil services affairs (吏部侍郎, Libu Shilang).
Li Wei sent his assistant Cui Cheng (崔程) to Chang'an to report on Li Wei's submission and suggested that if Emperor Dezong publicly made him the governor of, in addition to Xu, two other prefectures nearby, that those prefectures would also follow his call to return to imperial authority.
[8] In 782, Zhao Zong (趙縱), the minister of husbandry and a son-in-law to Guo Ziyi (who had died in 781), was accused by his own eunuch Dangqian (當千) of improprieties.
[9] In the solemn ceremony, Zhang and six of his staff members — among whom were future chancellors Qi Ying, Qi Kang, and Yu Di — served as administrators of the oath on the Tang side, while Shang and six of key Tufan officials and generals served as administrators of the oath on the Tufan side.
On November 2, 783,[1] soldiers from Jingyuan Circuit (涇原, headquartered in modern Pingliang, Gansu), at Chang'an to await deployment to the east against warlords, mutinied when they did not receive rewards they felt they deserved.
Zhang thus issued an order that Li Chulin report to Long Prefecture (隴州, in modern Baoji).