He was subsequently made deputy minister of census (戶部侍郎, Hubu Shilang) as well as chief imperial scholar (翰林學士承旨, Hanlin Xueshi Chengzhi). In 874, he submitted a petition to Emperor Xizong that pointed out that the people throughout the empire were being overwhelmed by the tax burden, particularly in light of the drought-caused famine that was occurring in the central parts of the empire, and advocated waiving the taxes and further taking food out of the imperial storage for famine relief. Emperor Xizong praised him for the petition and ordered that it be implemented, but it was not actually implemented. First chancellorship In winter 874, Lu Xie was given the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事), making him a chancellor de facto — at the same time that Zheng Tian, who was a cousin of his (as their mothers were sisters) was also made chancellor. However, despite this relationship, it was said that Lu and Zheng did not get along, and often argued about policy proposals. In 877, with the imperial armies deeply engaged in a campaign against the agrarian rebel Huang Chao, a dispute over whether the general Zhang Zimian (張自勉) should be under the command of the overall commander, Song Wei (宋威), boiled into a major dispute between Lu, Zheng, and their colleague Wang Duo — as Wang and Lu wanted to put Zhang under Song's command, but Zheng opposed, believing that the existing rivalry between Song and Zhang meant that Song would find excuses to have Zhang executed. Wang and Lu offered to resign, and Zheng offered to retire. Emperor Xizong did not approve any of these offers. After Wang was made the overall commander of the operations against Huang, Lu was also displeased at this development, and he opposed the subsequent proposal by the official Cui Qiu (崔璆) to pacify Huang by giving Huang the military governorship (Jiedushi) of Lingnan East Circuit (嶺南東道, headquartered in modern Guangzhou, Guangdong). Instead, Huang was only offered a low officer position, which angered Huang more, and there would be no peace talks thereafter. In 878, Lu and Zheng had another major dispute — over whether an imperial princess should be offered in marriage to Dali's emperor Long Shun (隆舜) to settle the long-standing border troubles. Lu, supporting the proposal (which had been made by the general Gao Pian, the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan), with