Cui Huan - As Chancellor

As Chancellor

In 755, the general An Lushan rose against Emperor Xuanzong's rule, and by summer 756, Emperor Xuanzong was forced to flee Chang'an, toward Chengdu. Emperor Xuanzong's son and crown prince Li Heng fled to Lingwu instead and was proclaimed emperor there (as Emperor Suzong), and he honored Emperor Xuanzong as Taishang Huang (retired emperor). Meanwhile, though, Emperor Xuanzong, unaware of this, was still exercising imperial authority, and on his way to Chengdu made Fang Guan a chancellor. As he went through Baxi Commandery, Cui Huan welcomed him. When Emperor Xuanzong conversed with Cui, he was impressed by Cui's talent and regretted not promoting him earlier. Fang also recommended Cui. Emperor Xuanzong thus made Cui Menxia Shilang (門下侍郎), the deputy head of the examination bureau of government (門下省, Menxia Sheng), and chancellor de facto with the title Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事). He had Cui accompany him to Chengdu.

Emperor Xuanzong soon heard that Emperor Suzong had taken the throne, and he recognized Emperor Suzong as the new emperor. He sent Cui and fellow chancellors Wei Jiansu and Fang to Lingwu to officially invest Emperor Suzong as emperor and gave them the imperial seal and the edict officially passing the throne. They encountered Emperor Suzong, who was then launching a counterattack, at Shunhua (順化, in modern Qingyang, Gansu), and they offered the seal and the edict to Emperor Suzong. Emperor Suzong declined, stating that with empire still in turmoil, it was not an appropriate time for him to officially take the throne, instead putting the seal and the edict aside and paying them daily respects, as they represented Emperor Xuanzong.

Meanwhile, because the empire was then in turmoil due to An Lushan's rebellion, the regular civil service process was not being carried out. Emperor Suzong sent Cui to the Yangtze River-Huai River region to select candidates for civil service, but Cui was not considered competent at this task. (Cui's biography in the Book of Tang claimed that Cui overly listened to his subordinates, who accepted bribes to recommend people, while his biography in the New Book of Tang, which was less critical of him, claimed that he was willing to select people that he knew without fear that he would be accused of nepotism, but was nevertheless not very good at selecting candidates.) In fall 757, Emperor Suzong removed him from his chancellor position and made him the governor of Yuhang Commandery (餘杭, roughly modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang), as well as the examiner and commander of the region east of the Yangtze.