李勉
In 786, Emperor Dezong, believing Cui to be brave and capable, gave Cui the designation "Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi" (同中書門下平章事), making him a chancellor "de facto", along with Liu Zi and Qi Ying. As Emperor Dezong favored Cui's talent, both Liu and Qi yielded most of the responsibilities to Cui. Cui, during the time that he was living in the Yangtze River region, had long despised the institution of having various special directors for financial matters, believing the officials given those positions to be generally corrupt, so he advocated abolishing the director positions in charge of tax collection and transportation of food supplies. He advocated, and Emperor Dezong agreed, to have the tax collection responsibilities given to the local governors and prefects, and that the remaining financial responsibilities be returned to the executive bureau of government (尚書省, "Shangshu Sheng"). Further, the chancellors were put in charge of the six ministries of the executive bureau directly — with Cui himself in charge of the ministries of census (戶部, "Hubu") and public works (工部, "Gongbu"); Qi in charge of the ministry of defense (兵部, "Bingbu"); Liu in charge of the ministries of civil service affairs and rites (禮部, "Lǐbu", note different tone than the ministry of civil service affairs); and Li Mian in charge of the ministry of justice (刑部, "Xingbu"). Further, under Cui's recommendation, his friend Yuan Xiu (元琇, note different characters than Cui's uncle) was put in charge of the salt, iron, and wine monopolies, while Ji Zhongfu (吉中孚) was put in charge of the collected taxes.