[1] Cui Anqian passed the imperial examinations in the Jinshi class in 849, during the reign of Emperor Xuānzong.
[2] During the reign of Emperor Xuānzong's son Emperor Yizong, he would successively serve as the governor (觀察使, Guanchashi) of Jiangxi Circuit (江西, headquartered in modern Nanchang, Jiangxi) and then the military governor (Jiedushi) of Zhongwu Circuit (忠武, headquartered in modern Xuchang, Henan)[3] as well as the prefect of Zhongwu's capital Xu Prefecture (許州).
In 876, Cui Anqian, pursuant to Emperor Xizong's orders, sent troops under his officer Zhang Zimian (張自勉) to combat the major agrarian rebel Wang Xianzhi.
[7] In 886, when the warlord Zhu Mei supported Emperor Xizong's distant cousin Li Yun the Prince of Xiang as a competing claimant to the imperial throne, Cui, who was then at Hezhong Circuit (河中, headquartered in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi), submitted a letter supporting Li Yun's claim, along with other imperial officials then at Hezhong.
Emperor Zhaozong, trying to take initiative in this conflict, commissioned Cui Anqian as the military governor of Pinglu, carrying the honorary chancellor title of Shizhong (侍中).
Zhang welcomed Cui to Di Prefecture and planned a campaign against Wang Shifan.
The campaign apparently lasted for more than a year, but in early 891, Wang Shifan, after killing the officer Lu Hong (盧弘), who had turned against him, used the momentum to attack Di Prefecture.