Cui Hao
Chief strategist to Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei, who helped him unify the north and was executed over the compilation of the state history.
Life
Strategist under three emperors
Cui Hao came from the Cui clan of Qinghe. Widely read in the classics and histories and expert in astronomy and divination, he served under three Northern Wei emperors, Daowu, Mingyuan and Taiwu, and often devised plans for them.
Unifying the north
Under Emperor Taiwu he strongly advocated destroying the Xia state in the west, striking the Rouran in the north and taking Northern Liang in the west. Time and again he overrode the majority opinion and insisted on campaigns, through which Northern Wei unified the north, and Emperor Taiwu compared him to Zhang Liang.
State history case
He directed the compilation of the Northern Wei state history, recording truthfully the early affairs of the Tuoba clan, and had it carved on stone tablets set up along a main thoroughfare, which enraged the Xianbei nobility. In 450 Emperor Taiwu ordered Cui Hao executed, and the Cui clan of Qinghe along with its relatives by marriage, the Lu clan of Fanyang, the Guo clan of Taiyuan and the Liu clan of Hedong, were all exterminated. This became known as the state history case.
Legacy
Cui Hao was the most important Han Chinese strategist of the early Northern Wei, and his killing reflected the sharp tensions between the Xianbei and the Han under the Northern Wei.
Major works & achievements
- Helped Emperor Taiwu in unifying the north
Did you know? The historians of the Book of Wei wrote that he "compared himself to Zifang" (Zhang Liang).
Key dates
- 426Pressed for a western campaign against Xia
- 429Pressed for a northern strike on the Rouran
- 439Northern Wei destroys Northern Liang, unifying the north
- 450Executed in the state history case