Overview
Zhao Xuan was an Imperial Secretary.
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imperial secretary 御史大夫
privy treasurer 少府
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Book of Han, Chapter 94Volume 83: Xue Xuan and Zhu Bo · 10 passages
博受詔，與御史大夫趙玄議，玄言：「事已前決，得無不宜？」
Zhu Bo took the order and consulted Imperial Secretary Zhao Xuan, who asked, "The case was settled long ago—is it wise to reopen it?"
玄即許可。
Zhao Xuan yielded.
上知傅太后素常怨喜，疑博、玄承指，即召玄詣尚書問狀。
The emperor knew the grand empress dowager's grudge against Fu Xi and suspected Zhu Bo and Zhao Xuan acted on her nod; he summoned Zhao Xuan to the secretariat for questioning.
玄辭服，有詔左將軍彭宣與中朝者雜問。
Zhao Xuan confessed. The throne ordered General of the Left Peng Xuan and inner-court officials to conduct a joint hearing.
宣等劾奏：「博宰相，玄上卿，晏以外親封位特進，股肱大臣，上所信任，不思竭誠奉公，務廣恩化，為百寮先，皆知喜、武前已蒙恩詔決，事更三赦，博執正道，虧損上恩，以結信貴戚，背君鄉臣，傾亂政治，奸人之雄，附下罔上，為臣不忠不道；
Peng Xuan and the others impeached them, saying: "Zhu Bo is chancellor, Zhao Xuan is an upper minister, and Yan, as an outside relative, holds enfeoffed rank as Specially Advanced. They are great ministers, arms and thighs of the state, trusted by the sovereign, yet they did not think to exhaust loyalty in serving the public, broaden grace and transformation, and lead the hundred offices. They all knew that Xi and Wu had already received a merciful edict and decision, and that the matter had passed through three amnesties. Bo abandoned the straight Way and damaged the sovereign's grace in order to bind trust with honored in-laws; he turned his back on the ruler and faced the ministers, overturned and disordered government, became a champion among wicked men, attached himself below and deceived above. As a minister he is disloyal and without the Way;
玄知博所言非法，枉義附從，大不敬；
Zhao Xuan knew the memorial was unlawful yet went along—gross irreverence;
臣請詔謁者召博、玄、晏詣廷尉詔獄。」
We ask that Zhu Bo, Zhao Xuan, and Fu Yan be taken to the imperial prison under the commandant of justice."
今晏放命圯族，干亂朝政，要大臣以罔上，本造計謀，職為亂階，宜與博、玄同罪，罪皆不道。」
Fu Yan defied the throne, stirred the court, extorted senior ministers, and hatched the plot—he should share Zhu Bo and Zhao Xuan's guilt; all three are guilty of capital disloyalty."
上減玄死罪三等，削晏戶四分之一，假謁者節召丞相詣廷尉詔獄。
The emperor commuted Zhao Xuan's death sentence three steps, trimmed Fu Yan's fief by a quarter, and sent the usher with credentials to take Zhu Bo into the imperial prison.
初，博以御史為丞相，封陽鄉侯，玄以少府為御史大夫，並拜於前殿，廷登受策，有音如鐘聲。
When Zhu Bo rose from imperial secretary to Marquis of Yangxiang chancellor and Zhao Xuan from privy treasurer to imperial secretary, both were invested in the front hall; as they mounted the steps to receive their patents a bell-like tone rang out.