Sui and Tang · Official and Statesman

Cui Riyong 崔日用

Attested AD 701 - AD 719

Passages: 14
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Cui Riyong was an official and Statesman.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Posthumous name	Zhao	昭	Zhao

Life and dates

Death

Age 50 · At Bingzhou 并州
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passage 79

Age

50
Reckoning Sui
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passage 79

Attested activity

AD 701 大足元年
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passage 231
AD 705 to AD 707 神龍中
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 121, passage 234
AD 719 開元七年
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passage 78

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Sibling of Elder Brother of Cui Riyong
elder brother 兄 · Uncertain siblings
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passage 76
Kin of Cui Rizhi (崔日知)
paternal cousin 從父兄 · paternal line
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passage 89
Parent of Cui Zongzhi (崔宗之)
son 子
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passage 87

Career and standing

vice minister of war 兵部侍郎
Appointed
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passage 235
Duke of Qi 齊國公
Granted
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passage 63

Places and affiliations

Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
Strongly inferred · New Book of Tang 121, passage 229
At Lingchang in Hua Prefecture 滑州靈昌
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passage 229

Learning and skills

Earned
Credential Presented Scholar 進士
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passage 230

Works and attributed material

Speech · Speaker · With Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (唐玄宗)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passages 61-62, 66, 68-71

Assessments and attributes

Assessment witty, adaptable, and able to turn danger into fortune · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 121, passages 83, 85-86

References in the histories

Search passages

History

14 passages

New Book of Tang, Chapter 121Volume 121 Biographies 46: Liu, Zhong, Cui, and the Two Kings · 14 passages

劉鍾崔二王 Liu, Zhong, Cui, and the two Wangs

◎劉鐘崔二王 ◎ Liu, Zhong, Cui, and the two Wangs

崔日用，滑州靈昌人。 Cui Riyong came from Lingchang in Hua Prefecture.

神龍中，鄭普思納女後宮，日用劾奏，中宗初不省，廷爭切至，普思由是得罪。 During Shenlong, Zheng Pusi sent his daughter into the inner palace; Riyong impeached him; Zhongzong at first ignored the charge, but after fierce debate at court Pusi was punished.

時諸武若三思、延秀及楚客等權寵交煽，日用多所結納，驟拜兵部侍郎。 At that time Wu Sansi, Wu Yanxiu, Chuke, and others traded power and favor; Riyong cultivated many alliances and was suddenly made vice minister of war.

日用曰：「至孝動天，舉無不克。 Riyong said, "Filial devotion so great moves Heaven itself—you cannot fail.

及韋氏平，夜詔權雍州長史，以功授黃門侍郎，參知機務，封齊國公，賜實戶二百。 After the Wei faction fell, he was named acting chief administrator of Yongzhou the same night; rewarded with the vice-directorship of the Yellow Gate and a share in government, he was created Duke of Qi with two hundred fief households.

日用曰：「庶人之孝，承順顏色； Riyong answered, "For a common man, filial piety means pleasing a parent's face;

會帝誕日，日用采《詩》《大》、《小雅》二十篇及司馬相如《封禪書》獻之，借以諷諭，且勸告成事。 On the emperor's birthday Riyong presented twenty odes from the Major and Minor Odes and Sima Xiangru's Letter on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices, using them as indirect counsel and urging him to finish what he had begun.

開元七年，詔曰：「唐元之際，日用實贊大謀，功多不宜減封，復食二百戶。」 In Kaiyuan 7 an edict declared: "At the dynasty's founding Riyong truly helped shape the coup; his service was too great for a reduced fief—restore two hundred households."

贈吏部尚書，謚曰昭。 He was posthumously honored as Minister of Personnel with the title Zhao (Illustrious).

日用才辯絕人，而敏於事，能乘機反禍取富貴。 Riyong's wit and eloquence were unmatched, he was quick in action, and he knew how to turn danger into rank and riches.

日用從父兄日知，字子駿，少孤貧，力學，以明經進至兵部員外郎。 Riyong's cousin Rizhi, styled Zijun, was orphaned in poverty but studied hard and, passing the Classics examination, rose to vice director in the Ministry of War.

贊曰：幽求之謀，紹京之果，日用之智，琚之辯，皆足濟危紓難，方多故時，必資以成功者也。 The commentator says: Youqiu's plots, Shaojing's boldness, Riyong's wit, and Ju's eloquence all availed in crisis; in troubled times such gifts win the day.