Cui Lin 崔林

Cui Lin, courtesy name Deru, was a man of Dongwucheng County in Qinghe State. In his youth he was a late bloomer whom no one in his clan recognized; only his elder cousin Cui Yan thought him exceptional. According to the Biography of Cui Yan, Cui Lin had no reputation in his youth and even his relatives by marriage mostly looked down on him, but Cui Yan always said that this was what is called a great vessel completed late, and that he would surely go far in the end. Later Cui Lin, Sun Li and Lu Yu all rose to the highest ministerial posts. Records, Wei 24 §9Records, Wei 12 §16–17

When Taizu (Cao Cao) pacified Ji Province he summoned Cui Lin and made him Chief of Wu County, and, being poor and without carriage or horse, he went to his post alone on foot. When Taizu campaigned against Huguan and asked which of the senior local officials had the best record of virtuous government, Zhang Zhi, Inspector of Bing Province, named Cui Lin. He was then promoted to Registrar of Ji Province, and moved on to be Attendant Officer and a clerk in the Chancellor's office. After the state of Wei was established, he was gradually promoted to Palace Assistant Imperial Clerk. Records, Wei 24 §9

When Emperor Wen (Cao Pi) ascended the throne, Cui Lin was made Master of Writing and then went out as Inspector of You Province. At that time Wu Zhi, General of the Household of the North, was in command of the military affairs of Hebei, and Wang Xiong, Administrator of Zhuo Commandery, said to Cui Lin's Attendant Officer that all the provinces and commanderies sent letters to General Wu to pay their respects, but Inspector Cui alone had not been in touch with him from the start, so if Wu Zhi had him beheaded on the ground that the frontier fortifications were not kept in repair, how could the Inspector protect him? Records, Wei 24 §10

When the Attendant Officer reported all this, Cui Lin said that he regarded leaving this province as no more than kicking off a pair of sandals, so how could he bring trouble on the officer? He said that this province bordered on the barbarians and should be kept calm with quietness, for stirring them up would rouse their rebellious hearts and give the state a cause for anxiety on its northern flank, and that this was precisely the task entrusted to him. Within a year of his taking office the raids and thefts had died down. Even so, he was demoted to Administrator of Hejian for not serving his superiors, and enlightened opinion mostly felt aggrieved on Cui Lin's behalf. Records, Wei 24 §11

He was transferred to Grand Herald. When the King of Kucha sent his son to attend court, the court, commending him for coming from so far, rewarded the king very generously, and the other states each sent sons to court, so that envoys came one after another. Cui Lin worried that those sent might not be genuine, but distant relatives or merchant barbarians brought along for the occasion in pursuit of the profit of obtaining seals and ribbons, and that the losses from escorting them on the road were mounting. He therefore sent a document to Dunhuang explaining his intent, and recorded the precedents of previous ages for treating the various states generously or sparingly, so that there would be a fixed standard. Records, Wei 24 §12–13

When Emperor Ming (Cao Rui) ascended the throne, Cui Lin was granted the rank of Marquis Within the Passes and transferred to Minister of the Household and Colonel-Director of Retainers. The commanderies under him all dismissed the officials appointed unlawfully beyond the fixed quota. Cui Lin governed with sincerity and kept to the essentials with simplicity, so that whenever he left a post people always missed him. Records, Wei 24 §13

When the Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary Liu Shao wrote the Discourse on Merit Evaluation and it was shown to all officials by edict, Cui Lin argued that the text on merit evaluation in the Offices of Zhou was complete, but that it declined after King Kang, so the law of merit evaluation depended on the people who carried it out. He said that when the meshes of a net will not spread one lifts its main cord, and when the hairs of a fur are not smooth one shakes its collar, and that the present system, which Taizu had established to suit circumstances and handed down, was not loose and depended only on holding to one principle without fail. If the court officials could bear heavy responsibility like Zhongshan Fu and serve as models for all officials, who would dare not to be reverent? Records, Wei 24 §14–15

According to the Biography of Lu Yu, when the post of Minister over the Masses was vacant, Lu Yu recommended the recluse Guan Ning, and when the emperor could not employ him, Lu Yu named next the Grand Palace Grandee Han Ji, the Colonel-Director of Retainers Cui Lin, who was clear-sighted, upright, pure and correct, and the Minister of Ceremonies Chang Lin. The emperor employed Han Ji. In the 1st year of Jingchu (237), when the posts of Minister over the Masses and Minister of Works were both vacant, the Cavalier Attendant Gentleman Meng Kang recommended Cui Lin, saying that in being loyal and upright without bending he was of the company of Shi Yu, in being pure, frugal and restrained he was the equal of Ji Wen, and that wherever he governed a province or commandery it was well ordered. Records, Wei 22 §102Records, Wei 24 §16–17

The following year (the 2nd year of Jingchu, 238) Cui Lin at last became Minister of Works and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Anyang Precinct with a fief of 600 households. The enfeoffment of the Three Excellencies as full marquises began with Cui Lin. Shortly afterward he was raised to Marquis of Anyang District. The Annals of Emperor Ming also record the appointment of the Colonel-Director of Retainers Cui Lin as Minister of Works. Records, Wei 24 §17Records, Wei 3 §63

The Chancellor of Lu submitted that Confucius should be sacrificed to as in the Han, and that since the present Marquis Zongsheng carried on the line but there was no rite of ordered sacrifice, sacrificial animals should be granted and the senior local officials should conduct the sacrifices. When an edict had the offices of the Three Excellencies discuss this, the Academician Fu Zhi said that it should be done as the Chancellor of Lu had submitted. Cui Lin argued that the Marquis Zongsheng also sacrificed by royal command, so it was not that there was no command, and that the reason Confucius alone was sacrificed to while no sacrifices were made to those before the Duke of Zhou back to the Three Sovereigns was that his age was near. As the descendant of a grandee, Confucius specially received unending sacrifice, which could be said to honor bright virtue and repay his beneficence, so there was no need to have those not of his kin sacrifice to him again. Records, Wei 24 §18–20

Emperor Ming also divided Cui Lin's fief and enfeoffed one of his sons as a full marquis. Cui Lin died in the 12th month of the 5th year of Zhengshi (early 245 CE) and was given the posthumous title Marquis Xiao, and his son Cui Shu succeeded him. Records, Wei 24 §21Records, Wei 4 §16

In his assessment, Chen Shou dealt with Han Ji, Cui Lin, Gao Rou, Sun Li and Wang Guan together, said that Cui Lin was plain and simple yet wise and capable, and wrote that all of them were able to attain the rank of the Three Excellencies and chief ministers. Records, Wei 24 §81