生平

祖父杜皎是北周为遂州刺史，父亲杜徽为河内郡太守。杜淹年幼时，聪辩多才艺，有美名，与同乡韦福嗣是情投意合的朋友，开皇年间，他们互相谋划说：「皇上喜欢任用合乎正道的退隐人士，苏威以隐士被徵召，被提拔到位高权重的职务，何不各自效仿他。」于是韦福嗣与杜淹一起进入太白山，对外宣扬要隐遁，实际想要企求时人的称誉。隋文帝杨坚听说后讨厌他们，将两人流放到江南。大赦天下后，杜淹回京。雍州司马高孝基上表推荐，朝廷授他承奉郎。大业末年，官至御史中丞。

618年，隋朝灭亡，次年王世充在洛阳废皇泰主杨侗自立为郑国皇帝。以杜淹为吏部尚书，很是信任。杜如晦的大哥和弟弟杜楚客密谋在洛阳起事，事情泄露，哥哥被杀，杜楚客被关押。621年，李世民平定洛阳，差点杜淹作为郑国高官被杀，是杜楚客说服哥哥杜如晦营救。

杜淹起初想投靠唐朝的太子李建成。负责选官的封德彝告诉了房玄龄，房玄龄怕太子得到会阴谋的杜淹对李世民不利，便推荐杜淹为天策府兵曹参军、文学馆学士。

624年，庆州总管杨文干私运东宫铠甲，事发，唐高祖大怒，囚禁了李建成。杨文干害怕举兵谋反，被李世民平定。事后，齐王李元吉的劝说下，唐高祖释放了李建成，而归罪于杜淹和东宫的属官韦挺将他流放到巂州。李世民知淹无罪，赠以黄金三百两。

626年，玄武门之变后，李世民即位为唐太宗。召回了杜淹，拜御史大夫，封安吉郡公，赐实封四百户。因为杜淹通晓古代典章，特诏东宫仪式簿领，由他主管。627年，杜淹判吏部尚书，参议朝政，成为宰相之一。前后推荐四十馀人，后来多为知名官员。

杜淹曾推荐刑部员外郎郅怀道，太宗问杜淹：「郅怀道才行怎么样？」杜淹回答：「怀道在隋朝作吏部主事，有清廉谨慎之名。隋炀帝三下江都时，行计已决，公卿都违心赞同巡游，郅怀道官位极卑，独称不可。臣亲眼所见。」太宗问：「卿当是对下江都怎么说的？」杜淹回答：「臣从行计。」太宗问：「事君之义，有犯无隐。卿称怀道为是，为什么自不正谏？」杜淹回答：「臣当时不居重任，又知就是进谏也必定不从，徒死无益。」太宗问：「孔子称从父之命，未为孝子。故父有争子，国有争臣。若以君主之无道，为什么还做他的官？既食其禄，为什么不匡正他的过失？」

太宗又召杜淹笑著问：「卿在隋朝，可以说官位小而不言；仕王世充，为何不极谏？」杜淹回答：「亦有谏，但王世充不从。」太宗说：「王世充若修德从善，当不灭亡；既然他无道拒谏，卿怎么能免祸？」杜淹哑口无言。太宗又问：「卿在今日，为宰相之一，会陈辞极谏吗？」杜淹回答：「臣在今日，必尽死无隐。当年，百里奚在虞国时，虞国亡；在秦国时，秦国霸，臣窃自比之。」太宗笑。当时，杜淹兼二职，而无清廉之誉，又素与长孙无忌关系不好，被当时舆论批评。有病的时候，太宗亲自到他家慰问，赐帛三百匹。贞观二年（628年）杜淹去世，赠尚书右仆射，谥号襄。子杜敬同袭爵，官至鸿胪少卿。杜敬同子杜从则，唐中宗时为蒲州刺史。

家庭

父母

• 杜徽，隋朝怀州长史、丰乡县侯

• 郭素洁，本州大中正郭褒之女，杜徽继室夫人，封丰乡县夫人

兄弟

• 杜吒，隋朝昌州长史

• 杜锐，隋朝亲卫校尉

子女

• 杜敬同

• 杜爱同

• 杜氏，嫁唐朝吉阳县县令郑世基

• 杜氏，嫁唐朝司稼正卿韦思齐

注释

延伸阅读

During the Sui dynasty

It is not known when Du Yan was born, but it is known that he was from the Sui dynasty's capital commandery Jingzhao (京兆, i.e., Chang'an). His grandfather Du Ye (杜业) was a provincial governor for Sui's predecessor state Northern Zhou, and his father Du Zheng (杜徵) was a commandery governor for Northern Zhou. In his youth, Du Yan had a good reputation for being talented in rhetoric, and he and a friend from the same commandery, Wei Fusi (韦福嗣), conversed between themselves and concluded that Emperor Wen of Sui favored people who had been hermits. They therefore went into Mount Taibai (太白山, part of the Qinling Mountains), to try to gain reputations as hermits in order to benefit themselves later on in their careers. When Emperor Wen heard this, however, he became angry at them, and he exiled them to the south of the Yangtze River.

Later, probably after a general pardon, Du Yan was able to return to Chang'an. Gao Xiaoji (高孝基), an official of the capital province Yong Province (雍州) submitted a recommendation for him, and he was made a low level imperial official. By the end of the reign of Emperor Wen's son Emperor Yang, he was the deputy imperial censor.

Service under Wang Shichong

In 619, with the Sui state collapsing in light of rebellions around the empire before and after Emperor Yang's death in a coup in 618, the general Wang Shichong, in control of the eastern capital Luoyang, deposed the last Sui emperor, Emperor Yang's grandson Yang Tong and declared himself emperor of a new state of Zheng. Wang made Du Yan the minister of civil service affairs and trusted him greatly. Meanwhile, Du Yan's nephew Du Ruhui had become an important advisor to Li Shimin, a son of the rival Tang dynasty's Emperor Gaozu and a major Tang general. Du Ruhui's older brother (whose name is lost to history) and younger brother Du Chuke (杜楚客) were at Luoyang at that time, under Zheng rule. Du Yan had poor relations with his nephews, and he decided to act against them. He falsely accused them before Wang, and Wang executed Du Ruhui's older brother and imprisoned Du Chuke. Du Chuke almost starved to death but survived the imprisonment.

In 621, Li Shimin put Luoyang under siege and, after defeating Wang's ally Dou Jiande the Prince of Xia, forced Wang to surrender. Li Shimin spared Wang, but executed a number of his high-level officials. Du Yan was initially set to be executed. Du Chuke asked Du Ruhui to intercede on Du Yan's behalf, and Du Ruhui initially refused. Du Chuke, however, pointed out that while Du Yan was responsible for their older brother's death, he was an uncle. Du Ruhui relented and pleaded with Li Shimin on Du Yan's behalf, and Du Yan was spared.

During Emperor Gaozus reign

Du Yan apparently became a minor official in the imperial administration, but was not promoted. Eventually, he considered resigning and joining the staff of Li Shimin's older brother Li Jiancheng the Crown Prince—with whom Li Shimin was then having an intense rivalry. The official in charge of civil service affairs at that time, Feng Deyi, informed Li Shimin's chief strategist Fang Xuanling of this, and Fang, knowing that Du was intelligent and full of strategies, feared that Du, if he joined Li Jiancheng's staff, would cause detriment to Li Shimin, and therefore persuaded Li Shimin to invite Du to join his staff. Du accepted the invitation.

In 624, there was an incident where Li Jiancheng was discovered to have, against regulations, recruited additional soldiers for his guard corps. Emperor Gaozu was angry and put Li Jiancheng under house arrest for a time. He also considered creating Li Shimin crown prince instead to replace Li Jiancheng. Li Jiancheng's guard commander, Yang Wen'gan, in fear, rose in rebellion. Li Shimin and the other generals quickly defeated and killed Yang. However, with the intercession of another son -- Li Yuanji the Prince of Qi, Feng, and his concubines (who were on much better relations with Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji than with Li Shimin), Emperor Gaozu changed his mind and did not depose Li Jiancheng. Instead, he blamed Li Jiancheng's staff member Wang Gui and two of Li Shimin's staff members—Du and Wei Ting (韦挺) -- of inciting the brothers to struggle against each other. He exiled Wang, Du, and Wei to Xi Prefecture (巂州, roughly modern Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan). Before Du departed, Li Shimin, believing that Du was unfairly blamed, gave him a substantial gift of gold.

During Emperor Taizongs reign

In 626, Li Shimin ambushed Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji at Xuanwu Gate and killed them. He then effectively forced Emperor Gaozu to first create him crown prince and then yield the throne to him (as Emperor Taizong). Emperor Taizong recalled Du Yan from exile, made him the imperial censor, and created him the Duke of Anji. Emperor Taizong made Du in charge of the creation ceremony for his son and crown prince Li Chengqian, and in 627 made him the minister of civil service affairs. He also bestowed Du with the additional designation of Canyu Chaozheng (参豫朝政) -- a de facto chancellor designation. It was said that in these capacities, Du recommended more than 40 people to be imperial officials, and many of them were later known for good service.

There was a famous exchange between Emperor Taizong and Du involving Du's recommendation of a minor imperial official, Di Daohuai (邸道怀). As the Old Book of Tang recorded, this was the conversation:

:Emperor Taizong asked Du, "How are Di's abilities?" Du responded, "During Sui days, Di served as an assistant official at the ministry of civil service affairs, and he was known for his integrity. When Emperor Yang was going to visit Jiangdu in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), where Emperor Yang eventually died and made up his mind, the high-level officials were all obedient to Emperor Yang, but Di, despite his low position, was insistent against it. I personally saw that myself. Emperor Taizong asked, "What did you advise Emperor Yang?" Du responded, "I told him to go." Emperor Taizong said, "Part of your responsibility in serving the emperor was to be honest without hiding anything. You praise Di, so why did you not make the same insistent advice?" Du responded, "At that time, I was not in an important post. I also knew that such advice would not be accepted, and it would not be of benefit for me to die." Emperor Taizong responded, "Confucius said that a son who always obeyed his father was not actually a filially pious son. Therefore a father needs to have a son who would give adverse advice, and a state needs to have officials who would give adverse advice. If you believe that Emperor Yang was a tyrant, why continue to serve him? If you accepted his salary, you had the responsibility to give good advice to him." ... He then smiled and said to Du, "When you, Lord, were serving under Sui, you were at a low post and maybe you had justification not to speak up. You were highly honored in Wang Shichong's administration. Why did you not speak up then?" Du responded, "I did. It was just that he did not listen to me." Emperor Taizong responded, "If Wang was virtuous and did what was good, then he would not have been destroyed. If he was a tyrant and resisted adverse advice, how could you have avoided disaster?" Du could not respond. Emperor Taizong then said, "Now you are highly honored. Are you willing to speak up?" Du responded, "I am willing to die. Further, when Baili Xi was at Yu, Yu was destroyed, but when he was at Qin, Qin became a major power. That is whom I secretly compare myself to." Emperor Taizong laughed.

At that time, Du was in multiple posts, but was not known for being honest. He was also discordant with Zhangsun Wuji, and his reputation suffered. When he later became ill, Emperor Taizong personally visited him and bestowed a gift of silk on him. He died in November 628.

Notes and references

• Old Book of Tang, vol. 66.https://web.archive.org/web/20080210041809/http://ef.cdpa.nsysu.edu.tw/ccw/02/tan08.htm

• New Book of Tang, vol. 96.https://web.archive.org/web/20080210053058/http://ef.cdpa.nsysu.edu.tw/ccw/02/ntan14.htm

• Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 187, 191, 192, 193.