Why did Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty kill a cruel official who was loyal to himself?

Introduction: In the ancient power structure, there was an "intermediary" between ordinary people and officials, namely petty officials. Although small officials are not among the officials, they manipulate hidden power. A book in the Ming Dynasty tells the story of how a small official used his hidden power to manipulate a lawsuit and cheat money. Corrupt officials are a special group in China's ancient officialdom. The coolness of cruel officials is the expression of capital punishment and countless beheadings of offenders. In the officialdom with an orderly power system, cruel officials are a group of people who are good at speculation. When the imperial power is in trouble, it is also the time for cruel officials to stand up and clear the obstacles. They will constantly upgrade their "legal injury right" and turn this injury ability into a "political achievement" for promotion.

In the sixth year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu had a whim and decided to make white deerskin coins. The origin of Bailu coin is mainly due to Liu Che's superstition of witchcraft. The ancients often regarded white deer as auspicious things. When Bailuyuan appeared, it was accompanied by immortals. The next person I want to talk about is Yan Yi, who was then the Minister of Agriculture of this country. As a ministerial cadre, Yan Yi is very capable and clean, and from the comprehensive evaluation, he is also a good official. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty attached great importance to him and promoted him to the position of Jiuqing. "Jiuqing" is a kind of honorific title for the heads of central ministries in Qin and Han Dynasties. Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, asked Yan Yi for advice on the method of casting white deerskin coins. Yan Yi was not polite, and made it clear that he opposed it. I wanted to hear a good word, but I was rejected, so I was very dissatisfied with Yan's words. The psychological reaction of the emperor is the focus of speculation. According to the unpleasant political trends in Liu Che, some people find fault with Yan Yi. So someone came out to report to Yan Yi, and Emperor Wu of Han sent Zhang Tang, an official in Chang 'an, to take charge of the matter. Zhang Tang, who is good at catching the political wind, has enmity with Yan Yi, which is a godsend opportunity to bring down Yan Yi.

If Zhang Tang didn't do it himself, someone would definitely come forward and report him. Complain about what? It's weird. It's just an expression. Someone said: Yan Yi made a mistake when talking about laws and regulations such as saving money with his guests. Participants said that these laws do not conform to the national conditions and disturb the people. Yan didn't say a word at that time, just pouted slightly. Zhang Tang seized this subtle movement and began to make a big fuss. He said to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: "The law of strict dissent is improper. Instead of going to court to make a statement, he criticized in his mind that he should be sentenced to death. The charge is "condescending". Zhang Tang is such a creative person. If you compare it, you will find that his move is many times better than 1200 years later's "unwarranted" crime of killing Yue Fei.

Zhang Tang's conviction art comes from his extensive summary in judicial practice. The theory he summed up is "postmodern" and can be called the originator of "political correctness". It is not too profound in theory, but it is very practical. In Zhang Tang, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty single-handedly, restored the severe and severe laws such as the law of sitting at the table, family criminal law and libel, which were abolished in the early Han Dynasty. With the appearance of Zhang Tang, the boldness in the prosperous period of the literary world disappeared, and the Western Han Dynasty entered the era of terror ruled by cruel officials. Let's take a concrete look at three cases that Zhang Tang handled when he was appointed as the official in charge of criminal law.

The first situation is witchcraft. After becoming a queen in synopsis of the golden chamber, although the queen's feelings are loyal, it's a pity that Queen Chen has never given birth to a successor for Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. On one occasion, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty went on a cruise to his sister Princess Pingyang's mansion, took a fancy to Wei Zifu, the singer of Princess Pingyang's mansion, and took her into the palace. Because she was pregnant, she gave birth to a prince, and three thousand people loved her. Empress Chen didn't want to fall out of favor, so she asked the witch, Mrs. Chu, to pray for her, so that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty could change his mind. After a long time, Emperor Wu became suspicious and ordered Zhang Tang to investigate the case. With the support of the Queen, the Chu government did not buy it, which angered Zhang Tang. In a rage, Zhang Tang sentenced the Chu government to "witchcraft", involving more than 300 people in the palace, and all of them were executed. The case was handled quickly and cleanly. As soon as the emperor was happy, Zhang Tang became a bigger official and soon rose to Tingwei, becoming the highest judicial officer.

The second case is the case of Liu An, the king of Huainan. This case is well documented. Zhang Tang understood that the major case of rebellion was the most hated case of the emperor, and it was heinous in terms of laws and regulations. Moreover, the case of rebellion cannot be won by fewer. So he is more effective in handling it. During the trial, all the jaw-dropping instruments of torture were moved to the hall. Hundreds of criminals, either flogging, cutting with a knife, signing, burning or smoking, do everything they can. In this case, more than 20,000 people were killed.

Zhang Tang's third major case is the case of rebellion. In the trial of Huainan Wang's rebellion, Zhang Tang had found out that Hengshan Wang Liu Ci was guilty of * * *, but Emperor Wu didn't want to get involved too much, so he suppressed the matter. Unexpectedly, three months later, Liu Ci's son Liu Shuang wrote a letter accusing his younger brother Liu Xiao of adultery with his father and concubine and conspiring with his father to rebel. Zhang Tang was ordered to investigate immediately. Liu committed suicide. The case also caused more than 20,000 deaths. Zhang Tang's practice of cutting blood and sealing throat threatened the powerful, and they had to unite to get rid of it quickly in order to protect themselves. At that time, the large-scale war between the Western Han Dynasty and Xiongnu led to the emptiness of the national treasury. In order to solve the financial crisis, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty put Zhang Tang in charge of economic reform, planned the state to compete with the people for profits, made white money and five baht money, implemented the monopoly law of salt and iron, posted wanted orders everywhere, severely cracked down on powerful people, and oppressed the weak people with cool methods, resulting in national inflation and turmoil. Finally, Zhang Tang was reduced to the point where everyone pointed out that Zhang Tang's power was coming to an end.

In 1 15 BC, in the second year of Dingyuan, salt and iron were monopolized by the central government, which greatly harmed the interests of the vassal States with the same surname. Coupled with previous personal feuds, Peng Zu and Liu, the king of Zhao Xiang, took the lead in accusing Zhang Tang and his subordinate Lu Shuju of conspiring against the country. Lu Qiaoju, Zhang Tang's confidant, deliberately created unjust cases and framed Zhang Tang's feud. This time, due to Wang Zhao's appeal, he died of illness soon after he went to prison. Lu Qiaoju's younger brother, who was implicated, thought that Zhang Tang was self-indulgent, so he exposed the shady situation of his brother and Zhang Tang in prison. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty specially ordered Ting Wei to reduce the propaganda and investigation articles. The same cruel official reduced the propaganda, which was Zhang Tang's old enemy and wanted to take this case to kill Zhang Tang. He acted covertly for Luo Zhi's great crime. At this critical moment, a thief stole the burial money from Wendi Cemetery. According to tradition, Prime Minister Zhuang made an appointment with Zhang Tang to apologize.

Who knows that Zhang Tang changed his mind temporarily, unilaterally shirked responsibility, and prepared to impeach Zhuang first, putting all the charges on the Prime Minister. The prime minister's office, the dynasty and the border officials all had a deep hatred with Zhang Tang. After learning of Zhang Tang's plan, the three jointly took the initiative to intercede for the Prime Minister. At the same time, they denounced Zhang Tang.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also sent Zhao Yu, a cruel official of the same clan as Zhang Tang, to question him. When Zhang Tang met his good friend, he thought things had finally improved and was about to explain, but he was accused by Zhao Yu: "Today, you feel wronged. So many people have been killed by you, and you're not wronged? Now someone is suing you with real evidence. The emperor put you in prison just to make you commit suicide. What are you fighting for? " After all this, Zhang Tang finally woke up and recalled his past actions and his understanding of Emperor Wu. Although unwilling, I still have to die.

So under the attack of governors, subordinates, cruel officials and colleagues in all directions, the emperor also abandoned this comrade-in-arms who had dealt with all violators for himself. Zhang Tang, who was in the position of "three publics", was forced to commit suicide with the joint efforts of powerful people. After his death, all his property was only 500 gold. This is his salary as an official for life plus the reward of the emperor. When the Zhang family was buried, only the ox cart was sent to the field, and there was no coffin, which was rare at that time. In fact, Zhang Tang made a fool of himself here, and his reputation as a cruel official was all attributed to one person, that is, the emperor he served. In order to protect the emperor's face, Zhang Tang always acted according to the emperor's instructions. After all, he is just a loyal dog raised by the emperor.