Cui Xuan Liang
In the eleventh year of King Xianzong’s reign, Duan Wenchang, a supervising imperial official, joined the imperial court at the same Time as Cui Zhi. The previous imperial historian, Cui Xuanliang, was the governor of the Court of Supervision. Seeing that Cui and Duan were later and not from the imperial examinations, they were received with an arrogant look, which disgusted Duan Wenchang and Cui Shik.
In the spring of the 15th year of Yuanhe, Emperor Mu Zong assumed the throne. The two were appointed as prime ministers. Duan Wenchang was promoted from the post of Minister of Han and Cui Shik was promoted from the post of Minister of Imperial History, and they both joined the Ministry of the Central Secretariat. At this time, Cui Xuanliang was relieved of his duties as the governor of Mizhou and came to the capital to see the chancellor. The two chancellors looked at each other, pointed to Cui Xuan Liang’s name and said, “This man still has to support far away, and still wants to come and beg to be a capital official.” At that time, Xiao Qiu, a student of the two chancellors, was also in Chang’an and asked the two chancellors what they thought. The two chancellors told him what they thought. Xiao Biao said, “In that case, let him be idle for three or five years.”
Within a few days, Xuanzhou reported the vacancy of the Assassin of Shezhou. On the same day, the phase seal was at Duan Wenchang’s house, and Duan Wenchang then casually appointed Cui Xuanliang as the Assassin of She Prefecture.
The next day, Duan Wenchang went to court, forgetting all about yesterday’s events. When he returned to the Central Secretariat, he was furious and scolded Yang Shu, the head of the official’s office, saying, “If you have such authority, why do you need a chancellor? It must have been this thief who gave you a bribe to be appointed. If not for the money received by the personnel officer, how did Cui Xuanliang become the assassin of She Prefecture?” Yang Shu said with fear and trepidation, “The official documents were not passed to this room, but yesterday it was the Chancellor himself who wrote the recommended official documents and sent them to The Emperor.” Only when Duan Wenchang checked and checked did he suddenly remember that it was indeed the approval he had written.
Cui Zhi wanted to change the candidate to re-consult the emperor, and Duan Wenchang said, “How do you know it’s not heaven falsely lending me a hand?” And the appointment was sent down.
(from “The Book of Continuing Orders”)
The Second Minister of Yuanhe
During the reign of Emperor Xianzong of Tang Dynasty, Chancellor Wu Yuanheng and Li Jifu were the same age and became Chancellor on the same day. When he became the governor of Yangzhou and Yizhou, he shared the position. When Li Jifu returned to the capital, Wu Yuanheng also came back. Li Jifu died the year before in the same month that Wu Yuanheng was born, and Wu Yuanheng was killed the next year in the same month that Li Jifu was born, at the age of fifty-eight.
Before that, a child in Chang’an recited a nursery rhyme saying, “Hit the wheat, hit the wheat, three-three-three.” Then he twirled his sleeve and said, “Dance too.” Someone explained, “To beat the wheat is to cut the wheat, ‘wheat beat’ means to attack secretly, ‘San San San’ means the third day of June, and ‘danced ‘ is to say that Wu Yuanheng will die.” To the sixth month of Yuanhe, the rebels assassinated Wu Yuanheng, cut off his head and left.
When Wu Yuanheng had just returned from Shu County, he looked at the celestial signs and Mars encroached on the phase star, saying, “It is unfavorable to all three chancellors. The one at the beginning is light, the one at the end is heavy.” A month later, Li Jiang was removed from office because of foot disease, and Li Jifu died violently in October of the next year, and after another year, Wu Yuanheng was killed.
Note: Wu Yuanheng (758-815), character Bo Cang, was a native of Yanshui, Luoyang. He was a scholar in the Tang Dynasty and served as a minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and a prime minister of the imperial court. In the second year of Yuanhe (807), he was appointed as the ministerial chamberlain and the ministerial pingzhang of the same Chinese book, and also judged the affairs of the Ministry of Household. Later, he was appointed as the minister of Xichuan in the south of Jiannan. In the summer of the eighth year of Yuanhe, he became a chancellor. In the following year, he and Pei Du used the troops in Huaixi to crush Wu Yuanji, in order to weaken the power of the feudal town, but in the tenth year of Yuanhe, he was killed by an assassin sent by Li Shidao, the envoy of Pinglu Festival.
(Sensing Record)
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