Cui Ning - Seizure and Control of Xichuan Circuit

Seizure and Control of Xichuan Circuit

Yan Wu died in 765. His deputy Du Ji (杜濟) served as acting military governor after his death, but there were competing recommendations for his permanent replacement. One of the key officers, Guo Yinggan (郭英幹), and the discipline officer Guo Jialin (郭嘉琳), recommended Guo Yinggan's brother Guo Ying'ai (郭英乂), who was then an imperial official at Chang'an. Cui recommended another officer, Wang Chongjun (王崇俊). Emperor Daizong named Guo Ying'ai as the military governor, and it was said that because of Cui's contrary recommendation, Guo Ying'ai bore a grudge against Cui and Wang. Immediately after he arrived at Chengdu, he made false charges against Wang and executed him. He then summoned Cui, who was then back on the Tufan front, back to Chengdu. Cui, believing it to be a trap, refused. Guo Ying'ai then cut off Cui's army's food supplies and further took an army, ready to attack Cui. His advances were stymied by a sudden snowstorm that killed many of his soldiers and animals, however, and Cui then made a surprise attack, defeating him and forcing him to flee back to Chengdu. At that time, the army at Chengdu was resentful toward Guo Ying'ai because he was arrogant, wasteful, and harsh. Cui seized the moment to publicly accuse Guo Ying'ai of treason—pointing out that Guo Ying'ai had taken an effigy of Emperor Xuanzong out of a Taoist temple dedicated to Emperor Xuanzong and converted the temple to his own mansion. Cui then attacked Chengdu and defeated Guo Ying'ai, forcing him to flee. Once Cui entered into Chengdu, he slaughtered Guo Ying'ai's household, and Guo Ying'ai himself was killed in flight by Han Cheng (韓澄) the prefect of Pu Prefecture (普州, in modern Ziyang, Sichuan), who delivered Guo Ying'ai's head to Cui. Several other Jiannan officers rose against Cui—Bo Maolin (柏茂琳) at Qiong Prefecture (邛州, in modern Chengdu), Yang Zilin (楊子琳) at Lu Prefecture (瀘州, in modern Luzhou, Sichuan), and Li Changkui (李昌夔) at Jian Prefecture (劍州, in modern Guangyuan, Sichuan) -- throwing the circuit into a confused state.

Emperor Daizong tried to settle the situation by dividing the circuit—making the eastern half of the circuit into Dongchuan Circuit (東川, headquartered in modern Mianyang, Sichuan) and giving the command to Zhang Xiancheng, making the rest into Xichuan Circuit, while giving Bo and Cui the lesser titles of defender (防禦使, Fangyushi) under the command of the new military governor Du Hongjian, who had been chancellor. Cui did not submit to this arrangement, and when Zhang attacked him in spring 766, Cui defeated Zhang easily. Meanwhile, Du and Cui were exchanging messengers, and Cui acted as respectfully as possible and offered bribes to Du. When Du arrived at Chengdu, Cui treated him with the utmost formal respect but did not permit him any actual control over the governance. In response, Du repeatedly recommended to Emperor Daizong to let Cui become military governor while placating Bo, Yang, and Li Changkui by making them prefects of their prefectures. Emperor Daizong reluctantly agreed, although he initially made Cui only the mayor of Chengdu Municipality and the military commander, under Du. In 767, Du requested to return to Chang'an. Emperor Daizong agreed, and he made Cui the military governor and let Du resume his service as chancellor. Meanwhile, Cui also assured of his position by giving large bribes to Du's powerful chancellor colleague Yuan Zai.

In 768, Cui went to Chang'an to pay homage to Emperor Daizong, leaving his brother Cui Kuan (崔寬) as acting military governor in his stead. Yang took this opportunity to make a surprise attack from Lu Prefecture and briefly entered Chengdu. When the news arrived at Chang'an, Emperor Daizong immediately sent Cui Gan back to Xichuan to put down Yang's uprising—and also bestowed on Cui a new name of Ning (寧, meaning "comfort"). Meanwhile, Cui Kuan initially could not fight Yang off, but Cui Ning's concubine Lady Ren was herself capable in military matters, and she used her wealth to engage a group of soldiers; Cui Kuan was able to use the soldiers she gathered to fight Yang off, and Yang left Chengdu, eventually leaving the circuit by heading east on Yangtze River. Cui Ning subsequently sent Cui Kuan to Chang'an, and because of the large amount of bribes that Cui Ning gave Yuan Zai, Yuan had Cui Kuan and another brother, Cui Shen (崔審), repeatedly promoted.

In 775, Cui Ning reported that he had a great victory over Tufan forces, killing over 10,000 Tufan soldiers. In 776, he again reported a victory over Tufan and its allied Tujue, Tuyuhun, Di, and Qiang tribes, killing over 10,000 soldiers. He repelled a Tufan attack in 777 as well. Meanwhile, it was said that because Xichuan Circuit had natural defenses and was rich, Cui grew arrogant of his position and gathered great wealth. It was also said that he committed adultery with many wives and concubines of his subordinates. The imperial government feared him but could not control him, and had to repeatedly bestow additional honors on him to keep him in check.