When was Li Deyu born?
Li Deyu
At the time that Li Deyu was made the governor of Zhexi, Zhexi had just suffered through a plot by the officer Wang Guoqing (王國清) to overthrow Li Deyu's predecessor Dou Yizhi, and it was said that after the plot was over, Dou exhausted the circuit treasury trying to placate the soldiers.  It was said that Li Deyu lived frugally, and gave the remainder of his own expense budget to the soldiers, such that while he did not give them all that much, they were satisfied, and that two years after his commission, the treasury was full again.  It was also said that he sought to change the ways of the circuit's people, to eliminate customs that were harmful to them.  For example, the people of the circuit were superstitious and fearful of evil spirits, such that if close family members were ill, they would abandon their family members.  Li Deyu taught the knowledgeable among the people that this was undue superstition, and further punished those who abandoned family members, such that within a few years, this custom was gone.  He also catalogued the various temples in the circuit — such that only those that worshipped good historical figures were allowed to remain, while he destroyed 1,010 other temples.  He further destroyed 1,460 houses in the mountains so that they could not be used by bandits as operation bases.[3]