Emperor Ling of Han was an emperor of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the father of Emperor Xian of Han. He was originally a minor prince of the kingdom, but his cousin Liu Zhi, the Emperor Huan of Han, died suddenly and had no heirs. Therefore, Emperor Huan of Han's empress Dowager Dou consulted with her father Dou Wu and selected Liu Hong, who was relatively weak, from many clans to be the new emperor of the Han Dynasty. After Liu Hong became emperor, he relied on the power of eunuchs to launch a coup d'état to eliminate the relatively powerful Dou family.
Later, at the instigation of his mother Empress Dong and his attendants, Liu Hong tried to betray his official position. Whether it was the Marquis of Guannei or positions such as Hu Ben and Yulin, only the local tycoons had money, and these official positions could be bought, and all the money earned from selling officials was included in Liu Hong's pocket for his enjoyment.
Just when the Han Ling Emperor was frantically selling officials, there was a Famous Scholar of Youzhou who, in order to realize his political ambitions, embarked on the road of buying officials.
This celebrity was Cui Lie, his grandfather Cui Xiao, his father Cui Pan, and his brother Cui Huan, all of whom were famous in Youzhou, and he himself served as a taishou in Youzhou. However, Cui Lie's political ideal was not to be a magistrate in Youzhou, but to enter the central government, to be a Beijing official, and to seek the welfare of the people of the whole country. However, during the reign of the Han Ling Emperor, it was not possible to hold official positions in the capital by relying on high prestige, but had to spend money to become a high-ranking official.
After weighing the pros and cons, Cui Lie found Lady Cheng, the wet nurse of the Han Ling Emperor, through connections, and spent five million dollars to buy the position of Situ. Situ is one of the Three Dukes, equivalent to the Chancellor. However, the price that Emperor Hanling gave to the three dukes was ten million yuan, and later Emperor Hanling learned that Cui Lie, because of his relationship with his nursing mother, spent half the price to take the official position of Situ, and his heart was very unhappy. Mrs. Cheng immediately hit the round court, saying that Cui Lie, as a celebrity, originally did not intend to use money to buy officials, and now Mrs. Cheng said that cui lie was moved to buy officials, and there will certainly be no fewer people who will follow the trend in the future.
Although Cui Lie obtained the position of Third Duke and became a person who could speak in the Eastern Han Empire, he was previously a good official for the country and the people, and accumulated a lot of prestige in the people, and those who supported him heard that Cui Lie became a Situ during the period of buying officials, and they all questioned Cui Lie's character and no longer believed that he was the famous man who spoke with weight.
Whenever Cui Lie was situ for a few years, the Han Ling Emperor died, and then his foreign relative He Jin fought with the Ten Constant Attendants, and finally the warlord Dong Zhuo became the final victor, and Dong Zhuo quickly took control of the imperial court. Just when Dong Zhuo was controlling the imperial court, Yuan Shao and other Kwantung princes raised the banner of anti-Dong, and Cui Lie's son Cui Jun also participated. So Dong Zhuo sprinkled all his qi on Cui Lie's body and beat him into prison and tortured him.
In 192 AD, after Dong Zhuo was jointly killed by Wang Yun and Lü Bu, Cui Lie thought that his hard life was about to come out, and after he was released from prison, he was made a lieutenant of the city gate by Emperor Xian of Han. However, in June of that year, Dong Zhuo's old subordinates Li Dai and Guo Feng led the Liangzhou army back to Chang'an, and in the process of fighting with the Liangzhou army, Cui Lie was martyred.
Cui Lieben was a famous scholar who was prominent at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but in order to realize his ambitions, he had to bow his head and buy officials from the Han Ling Emperor, and as a result, he not only ruined his reputation, but finally took his own life.