[4] After Emperor Xizong, who had fled the imperial capital Chang'an due to the major agrarian rebellion led by Huang Chao, was able to return to Chang'an in 885,[4][7] Emperor Xizong made him a Taichang Boshi (太常博士), a scholar at the ministry of worship (太常寺, Taichang Si).
He subsequently successively served as Lǐbu Yuanwailang (禮部員外郎), a low-level official at the ministry of rites (禮部, Lǐbu); Sixun Yuanwailang (司勛員外郎), a low-level official at the ministry of civil service affairs (吏部, Lìbu, note different tone); and Lìbu Yuanwailang (吏部員外郎), also a low-level official at the ministry of civil service affairs, as well as a scholar at Jixian Hall (集賢殿).
He was later made deputy minister of census (戶部侍郎) and chief imperial scholar (翰林學士承旨, Hanlin Xueshi Chengzhi).
At that time, two of the emperor's favorites were the Taoist monk Xu Yanshi (許巖士) and the astronomer Ma Daoyin (馬道殷); as a result, many people were trying to use sorcery to gain audience at the court.
Zhao did not want to be involved, so he claimed to be ill and retired to the eastern capital Luoyang, refusing to meet any guests for several years.
[4] After Emperor Zhaozong was forcibly moved by the powerful warlord Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan) in 904, one of the chancellors installed by Zhu was Liu Can,[11] whose passage of the imperial examinations had been under Zhao's auspices and who therefore felt indebted to Zhao.
[12] In 908, Emperor Taizu sent Zhao Guangfeng's brother Zhao Guangyi and another official, Li Yinheng, to formally commission his vassal Liu Yin, who then controlled Qinghai Circuit (清海, headquartered in modern Guangzhou, Guangdong) as the military governor of Qinghai and Jinghai (靜海, headquartered in modern Hanoi, Vietnam) Circuits.
[13] In 915, by which time Emperor Taizu's son Zhu Zhen was emperor, Zhao Guangfeng, who was then carrying the titles of You Pushe (右僕射, one of the heads of the executive bureau) and Menxia Shilang (門下侍郎, deputy head of the examination bureau (門下省, Menxia Sheng)), retired, and was given the honorary title of Taizi Taibao (太子太保).