Cui Hao - Death - Official Version

Official Version

In 450, at the suggestion of his staff members Min Dan (閔湛) and Chi Biao (郗標), Cui carved the text of the histories that he was the lead editor of onto stone tablets, and erected the tablets next to the altars to Heaven outside of Pingcheng. The tablets were said to have revealed much about Emperor Taiwu's ancestors, and the Xianbei were very angry, accusing Cui of revealing the ancestors' faults and damaging the image of the state. Emperor Taiwu, in anger, arrested Cui.

Meanwhile, Crown Prince Huang, wanting to spare Gao, brought him into the palace, and asked Gao to blame all of the writing on Cui. Gao, instead, ascribed the authorship of the various parts of histories as such:

• The biography of Emperor Daowu was written by Deng Yuan.
• The biographies of Emperor Mingyuan and Emperor Taiwu were written jointly by Cui and Gao, but Gao said that he actually wrote about two thirds.

Emperor Taiwu was initially going to put Gao to death as well, but then was said to be impressed by Gao's admission and spared him, also at Crown Prince Huang's urging. He then summoned Cui, and Cui was said to be so fearful that he was not able to respond. Emperor Taiwu then ordered Gao to draft an edict for him, ordering that Cui and Cui's staff—128 men in total—be executed, along with five family branches each. Gao refused—stating that not even Cui should be executed. Emperor Taiwu, in anger, was going to put Gao to death as well, but Crown Prince Huang again pleaded for Gao, and Gao was again spared, and in fact, Emperor Taiwu reduced the number of people to be executed. However, Emperor Taiwu still ordered a great slaughter of people related to Cui:

• All men and women, regardless of age, named Cui and related to Cui Hao in Cui's home region of Qinghe Commandery (roughly modern Xingtai, Hebei)
• Several prominent clans with marital connections to Cui's clan, including:
  • The Lu (盧) clan of Fanyang Commandery (roughly modern Beijing)
  • The Guo (郭) clan of Taiyuan Commandery (roughly modern Taiyuan, Shanxi)
  • The Liu (柳) clan of Hedong Commandery (roughly modern Yuncheng, Shanxi)

Cui's staff members themselves were executed, although not their families.

Before execution, Cui was put into a caged cart and placed outside Pingcheng so that people could see him. Scores of soldiers guarded him, and they took turns urinating on Cui's face and body. Cui yelled out in grief, and he sounded like "Ao Ao." After Cui's death, Emperor Taiwu began to regret putting him to death, and mourned bitterly.