Sui and Tang · Official

Cui Yuanzao 崔元藻

Cuī Yuánzǎo

Attested AD 841 - AD 846

Passages: 5
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Cui Yuanzao was an official.

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 846 宣宗立
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 181, passages 124, 127
AD 841 to AD 846 會昌時
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 181, passages 115-116

Career and standing

magistrate of Wugong 武功令
AD 846 宣宗立 · Appointed
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 181, passage 127
Investigating Censor 御史
AD 841 to AD 846 會昌時 · Held
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 181, passage 115
army adjutant of Yazhou 崖州司戶參軍
AD 841 to AD 846 會昌時 · Demotion · Demoted · Authority Li Deyu (李德裕)
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 181, passage 116

Places and affiliations

Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 181, passage 115

Works and attributed material

Report · Author · Direct quotation · Mode quoted-speech Speaker Cui Yuanzao (崔元藻)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 181, passage 115
Testimony · Author · With Wu Xiang (吳湘) · Direct quotation · Mode quoted-speech Speaker Cui Yuanzao (崔元藻)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 181, passage 124

Events and relationships

Reinvestigated Xiang case
AD 841 to AD 846 會昌時 · Legal · Investigator · With Wu Xiang (吳湘)
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 181, passage 115
Relation Bribed by faction of · Person Cui Xuan (崔鉉)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 181, passage 125

Assessments and attributes

Assessment reversed earlier findings out of resentment at demotion by Deyu · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 181, passage 124

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 181, passage 115

References in the histories

New Book of Tang, Chapter 181Volume 181 Biographies 106: Chen, Three Li's, Cao, Liu · 5 passages

諫官屢論列，詔遣御史崔元藻覆按，元藻言湘盜用程糧錢有狀，娶部人女不實，按悅嘗為青州衙推，而妻王故衣冠女，不應坐。 Remonstrance officials protested repeatedly until Censor Cui Yuanzao was sent to reinvestigate; he found Xiang had misused transport funds, that the charge of marrying a commoner's daughter was false—Yue had been a Qingzhou yamen officer and his wife Wang came from an official family and was not liable.

德裕惡元藻持兩端，奏貶崖州司戶參軍。 Deyu despised Yuanzao's wavering and had him demoted to army adjutant of Yazhou.

崔元藻銜德裕斥己，即翻其辭，因言：「御史覆獄還，皆對天子別白是非，德裕權軋天下，使不得對，具獄不付有司，但用紳奏而寘湘死。」 Cui Yuanzao, bitter at Deyu's demotion of him, reversed his story and said: "When censors return from reinvestigating cases they report findings directly to the emperor, but Deyu blocked this, withheld the full dossier from the courts, and relied solely on Shen's memorial to execute Xiang."

是時，德裕已失權，而宗閔故黨令狐、崔鉉、白敏中皆當路，因是逞憾，以利誘動元藻等，使三司結紳杖鉞作藩，虐殺良平，準神龍詔書，酷吏歿者官爵皆奪，子孫不得進宦，紳雖亡，請從《春秋》戮死者之比。 Deyu was already out of power, but Zongmin's allies Linghu, Cui Xuan, and Bai Minzhong controlled the government; they vented old grudges, bribed Yuanzao to change his story, and had the Three Offices find that Shen, as a frontier commissioner wielding the axe, had murdered the innocent; citing the Shenlong edict stripping dead cruel officials and barring their descendants, they demanded posthumous punishment of Shen under the Spring and Autumn precedent.

貶德裕等，擢汝納左拾遺，元藻武功令。 Deyu and others were demoted; Runa was made left remonstrance official and Yuanzao magistrate of Wugong.