 After Zhang finished observing the mourning period, he returned to the imperial government as a "Zhongshu Sheren".He was soon thereafter made the chief imperial scholar (翰林學士承旨, "Hanlin Xueshi Chengzhi").As then-reigning Emperor Zhaozong (Emperor Xizong's brother and successor) had just returned to Chang'an, and the imperial authority was extremely weak at that time, edicts that Zhang drafted had to be, and were, appropriately delicate in language but assertive, and was much praised for their propriety.