When officials in Beijing chose unsatisfactory officials from other places, they would often stay in Beijing for two or three months, and the Ministry of Personnel would naturally recommend a closer position. But Victor Cui had just frowned and had not shown any intention of refusing, when the doctor of the Ministry of Literature asked, "Master Cui, do you think Yunnan is too remote and the rank of a fourth-rank official is not high enough?"
Naturally, he was despised. Sending him to Yunnan was tantamount to exile. A Beijing official like him should not be sent to the border for no reason.
Besides, surveying the land and compiling the Yellow Book of Households were not easy jobs. They were hard and tiring, and it was easy to offend powerful families. Yunnan had many ethnic minorities and local officials, and he, as a vacancies official, was constrained everywhere and could not do anything practical. He was the Left Councillor of the Supervisory Department and was still an assistant official. He was not in charge of civil affairs and education. Even if he built a library like his son, the achievements would have to go to the governor. How much credit could he get?
Without achievements, he cannot be promoted easily. Could he really have to endure nine years in Yunnan? He was born in the tenth year of his life, and now he is forty years old and not very healthy. Can he come back after enduring nine years in a place like Yunnan?
He gritted his teeth and said, "I don't mind the long journey to Yunnan, but I am from Zhili, and according to the rules, I should not be elected as an official in Yunnan."
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