city. Cen persuaded Li Xiaogong that it would be wrong to do so, and Li Xiaogong subsequently ordered against pillaging. As Li Xiaogong was then put in charge of the former Liang capital, he invited Cen to serve on his staff. In 623, when Emperor Gaozu sent Li Xiaogong to attack the rebel leader Fu Gongshi, Cen followed Li Xiaogong and was in charge of his military correspondences. After Li Xiaogong defeated and killed Fu Gongshi and was put in charge of Fu's capital Danyang (丹楊, in modern Nanjing, Jiangsu), Cen continued to serve on Li Xiaogong's staff. During Emperor Taizong's reign Cen Wenben's activities for the several following years were not recorded in history. By 627, when Emperor Gaozu's son, Emperor Taizong, was emperor, he was a lowly-ranked secretary at the Palace Library but also served as a junior official at the legislative bureau. On one occasion when Emperor Taizong carried out a field-tilling ceremony (to show ceremonial attention to farming), Cen wrote an ode to field-tilling, and on one New Year's Day when Emperor Taizong summoned the imperial officials to a feast, Cen wrote an ode to New Year's Day. The odes were considered beautifully written, and Cen became famous from them. The general Li Jing (who had at one point served as Li Xiaogong's assistant) also recommended him. He was promoted to a mid-level post in the legislative bureau and became more well regarded by Emperor Taizong. After Yan Shigu, the official who was largely responsible for drafting imperial edicts during the reign of Emperor Gaozu, was dismissed around that time, the chancellor Wen Yanbo, the head of the legislative bureau, stated to Emperor Taizong that no one was capable as drafting imperial edicts as Yan and sought to have Yan reinstated. Emperor Taizong instead responded, "I have someone else in mind; you, Duke, need not worry." He then made Cen the deputy head of the legislative bureau and made Cen in charge of drafting imperial edicts. At that time, Cen was also assisting Linghu Defen in compiling the official history of the Northern Zhou state, the Book of Zhou. It was said that most of the commentaries on the biographies were written by Cen. After the work was completed in 636, Emperor Taizong created Cen the Viscount of Jiangling. In 637, when Emperor Taizong visited the eastern capital Luoyang, there were heavy floods of rivers near