Information about Zhang Tang, a cruel official in the Han Dynasty
Zhang Tang was an official and cruel official in the Western Han Dynasty. He was a native of Duling (now southeast of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province). He was appreciated by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for his handling of the rebellions of Empress Chen, Huainan, and Hengshan.
Zhang Tang was successively promoted to Taizhong doctor, Tingwei, and Yushi doctor. Together with Zhao Yu, he compiled "Yue Gong Lv", "Chao Lv" and other legal works. The usage is strict, often covered up by the meaning of the Spring and Autumn Period, and the emperor's will is the criterion for prison governance. He once assisted Emperor Wu in promoting the salt and iron monopoly, suing Mian and calculating Mian, cracking down on wealthy businessmen, and weeding out the powerful. He was favored by Emperor Wu, did many things for the prime minister, and was far more powerful than the prime minister.
In November of the second year of Yuanding (December 116 BC), he was forced to commit suicide because of the frame-up by Li Wen, the imperial censor, and Zhu Maichen, the chief minister. After his death, his family property was less than 500 gold, and all of it came from his salary and the emperor's reward. Although Zhang Tang used harsh methods and was often regarded as a representative figure of cruel officials by later generations, he was an honest and frugal official and could be regarded as an honest official in ancient times.
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The most fatal reason for Zhang Tang's death was his two-sided character. He was too cruel to the law, had too many grudges, and was finally abandoned by Emperor Wu. In 115 BC, the second year of Emperor Wu's Yuanding reign, salt and iron were returned to the central government for exclusive use, which greatly damaged the interests of the vassal states with the same surname. Coupled with previous personal grievances, King Zhao Liu Pengzu took the lead in accusing Zhang Tang and his subordinate Lu Ye. They conspired to harm the country.
Lu Yeju was Zhang Tang's confidant. He had deliberately concocted an unjust case to frame Zhang Tang's old grudge, Censor Li Wen. Lu Yeju died of illness soon after he was imprisoned because of an appeal from King Zhao. Lu Yeju's younger brother, who was implicated, believed that Zhang Tang would not save Zhang Tang, so he exposed the shady story of his brother and Zhang Tang's illegal hijacking and revenge in prison.
Emperor Wu specially ordered Tingwei Jiaxuan to investigate Li Wen's case. Jiaxuan, who was also a cruel official, was also Zhang Tang's old enemy. He wanted to use the case to kill Zhang Tang, so he secretly committed a serious crime.
At this critical moment, a thief stole the burial money from Emperor Wen's cemetery. As usual, Prime Minister Zhuang Qingzhai and Zhang Tang made an appointment to apologize to Emperor Wu. Zhang Tang suddenly changed his mind and unilaterally shirked his responsibility, preparing to impeach Zhuang Qingzhai first and lay all the blame on the prime minister.
The three chief officials of the Prime Minister's Office, Zhu Maichen (the protagonist of the idiom "overwhelming water cannot be recovered"), Chao Chao, and Bian Tong also had deep grudges with Zhang Tang. After the three learned of Zhang Tang's plan, they Together they jointly made a preemptive strike, and while pleading innocent for the prime minister, they also reported Zhang Tang's various illegal activities on weekdays, linking several incidents one by one.
The Emperor was furious and believed that Zhang Tang was deceitful and deceitful, so he sent an envoy with a book of charges to accuse Zhang Tang of eight major crimes.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Zhang Tang