Zhang Tang, a cool official at the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, became the third prince because of two major cases, and finally committed suicide
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, it was implemented by the imperial court"Do nothing"。During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the imperial court declined, and the princes and kings, wealthy merchants, local tyrants and inferior gentry"Thieves"Flooding, they violated the ban, picked up the **, and seriously threatened the rule of the imperial court. Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he appointed cold-blooded ** and took drastic measures to resolve civil strife, and Zhang Tang was a typical representative of it.
Zhang Tang studied the law from an early age and was appreciated for his investigation of Empress Chen.
Zhang Tang's ancestral home is Jingzhao Duling, and his father was an official in Chang'an. Perhaps influenced by his father, Zhang Tang learned to respect the law from an early age. Once, when my father found that the meat of the family had been eaten by rats, he whipped Zhang Tang. Zhang Tang didn't want to learn to try cases, so he went to interrogate the rat who stole meat, and his father found that he was very capable of trying cases, so he asked him to write documents for the prison, so that Zhang Tang learned more knowledge of laws and decrees.
After the death of his father, Zhang Tang succeeded him as Chang'an Taishou. Later, Zhou Yang Hou Tian Sheng was imprisoned for his crimes, and Zhang Tang took care of him and became brothers with Tian Sheng. After Tian Sheng was released from prison, Zhang Tang was appointed as the waiter of the Inner History under his recommendation, and later because of his honesty and integrity, he was transferred to Maoling Lieutenant and served as the prime minister.
When Hou Tian of Wu'an was the prime minister, Zhang Tang was hired as the prime minister's secretary. Due to his strong work ability, Tian recommended Zhang Tang to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and Zhang Tang was able to serve as the imperial historian and be responsible for handling court cases.
In the fifth year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (130 BC), it was reported that Empress Chen was practicing witchcraft in the harem, and Emperor Wu of the Han ordered an investigation. Because this matter involved the queen, **, including the imperial historian Zhang Ou, did not want to get involved too much, but Zhang Tang, who knew his intentions, saw that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was dissatisfied with Empress Chen, so he took the initiative to ask Ying to investigate the matter.
After an in-depth investigation, Zhang Tang soon discovered that Chu Fu and the others had been helping Empress Chen perform witchcraft. Later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to"The crime of treason", ordered Chu Fu and other warlocks who had confused Empress Chen to be escorted back to Beijing, and more than 300 people involved in the case were executed. In July of the same year, Empress Chen was also deposed.
Due to his outstanding performance in Empress Chen's case, Zhang Tang was soon promoted to Taizhong Doctor, and together with Zhao Yu, he was responsible for formulating various laws and regulations; The laws and regulations he formulated were serious and rigorous, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty praised him greatly. Soon, Zhao Yu was promoted to lieutenant, and Zhang Tang was promoted to lieutenant.
In the case of King Huainan's rebellion, he was rated as one of the three major heroes.
Zhang Tang is very good at understanding the purpose of the case, because he understands the law, so no matter whether Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wants to punish severely or leniently, he can always find the right law to punish. He also handled cases very quickly, so Emperor Wu of Han valued him more and more.
In the fifth year of Yuan Shuo (124 BC), the disciple of Liu An, the king of Huainan, fled to Chang'an, and wrote to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that Liu Qian, the prince of Huainan, was deposed and imprisoned because he resented him, disobeyed the emperor's orders, and did not serve the state. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty at first thought it was just a personal grudge and ordered the Henan Mansion to handle the case.
Liu An, the king of Huainan, summoned Liu Qian to Henan for trial, and Liu An ordered Shou Chunsheng not to hand him over to the imperial court. The minister of the king of Huainan thought that Shou Chunsheng only cared about the orders of the king of Huainan and did not respect the laws of the country, so he wrote a letter of dismissal to the minister of Shou Chunsheng. Liu An asked the king of Huainan for the minister Shou Chunsheng, but Shou Chunsheng did not agree, so he angrily wrote a letter of accusation to the minister, and Emperor Wu of Han sent the letter of accusation to the hands of Zhang Tang, the court commander.
Zhang Tang soon learned the source of the contradiction between the king of Huainan and the Xiangguo of Huainan, and the ministers demanded that the king of Huainan be severely punished, but because the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu were in a state of war at that time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty only carved out two counties from the territory of the king of Huainan in order to avoid civil strife.
In the sixth year of Yuan Shuo (123 BC), Liu Jian, the son of Liu Buhai, the king of Huainan and the eldest son of the king of Huainan, was dissatisfied with the lack of strict treatment of his father by the king of Huainan, and wrote a letter condemning the sins of the king of Huainan, Liu An, the crown prince Liu Qian and others. This incident did not attract the attention of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, but the king of Huainan was unlucky, and it reached the ears of Cheng Qing, a friend of Prime Minister Sun Hong, who was very shocked that his grandfather, Ji Shiqi, was killed by Liu An, the king of Huainan, and then wrote to accuse Liu An of rebellion.
Since this was a conspiracy against the imperial court, Emperor Wu of Han immediately became suspicious. After the end of the Han-Hungarian War, Emperor Wu of Han ordered Zhang Tang to investigate the case in detail. Liu Jian first confessed to plotting to assassinate the Huainan king's court envoys twice, and Zhang Tang immediately arrested the Huainan king, Liu An, Empress Duan, and the crown prince Liu Qian. Subsequently, he searched the palace of the Huainan king for weapons and armor, and the court learned that the Huainan king was plotting rebellion.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, after seeking the advice of his ministers and princes, sent Zongzheng to Huainan to interrogate Liu An, who knew that he would not escape death, so he committed suicide, and Empress Duan, the historian Liu Qian, and all those involved in the rebellion were beheaded.
Although Liu An, the king of Huainan, was dead, the presiding judge Zhang Tang continued to investigate the case, not only convicting thousands of princes, officials of the second court, and local tyrants, but also killing a large number of rebels, including Liu Ci, the king of Hengshan, and Liu Fei, the king of Jiangdu, and abolishing the state of Hengshan and Jiangdu.
The case of Liu An, the king of Huainan, made Zhang Tang famous, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also appreciated his work. In the second year of Yuanzhan (121 BC), Prime Minister Sun Hong died of illness, and was succeeded as prime minister by Le'an Hou and Imperial Historian Li Cai, and Zhang Tang succeeded as Imperial Historian, becoming one of the three princes of the Han Dynasty.
He participated in decision-making and made many recommendations, but was falsely accused and eventually committed suicide.
After being promoted to the imperial historian, Zhang Tang began to enter the decision-making level of the imperial court, and then participated in the decision-making of the imperial court many times. For example, when other ministers were overwhelmed by the growing emptiness of the treasury, Zhang Tang proposed the introduction of platinum currency and the establishment of a government-run salt and iron market; When the Xiongnu were defeated and wanted to re-sign the peace treaty, Di Shan and others supported the détente, but Zhang Tang resolutely opposed the peace treaty.
His advice made Zhang Tang's position more and more secure, but his character offended many people, including Li Wen and Liu Pengzu, the king of Zhao in Hedong County.
After Li Wen was appointed as the Imperial Historian, Li Wen, who was in charge of supervising the hundred officials, took the opportunity to collect evidence against Zhang Tang, but without success. Li Wen didn't expect that Zhang Tang would be promoted to Imperial Doctor and become his boss. Zhang Tang's **, named Lu Ju, learned of the dispute between Li Wen and Zhang Tang, and instructed others to falsely accuse Li Wen of rebellion in order to win Zhang Tang's favor. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty handed over the matter to Zhang Tang for investigation, and Zhang Tang continued to investigate and sentenced Li Wen to death.
Later, when Lu Ling fell ill, Zhang Tang not only visited him in person, but also massaged his feet. After Liu Pengzu, the king of the nest, found out, he collected Zhang Tang's accusations and reported Zhang Tang and Lu Linghe for harming Li Wen. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty initially suspected that Li Wen had killed him, and after receiving the report, he handed it over to the imperial court for secret investigation and study.
Soon after, Lü Yuzhou fell ill and died, and his brother was imprisoned for his crimes. Lu Yuzhou's younger brother thought that Zhang Tang deliberately cleaned him up, so he was resentful and wrote a letter to condemn Li Wen. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was even more suspicious because of this, and ordered Imperial Doctor Shi Xianxuan to investigate secretly. Xianxuan and Zhang Tang also did not get along and were brutally disposed of.
In the second year of the Yuan Dynasty (115 BC), it was reported that coins buried in the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han had been stolen. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was very angry, and the prime ministers Zhuang Qingzhai and Zhang Tang went to the palace and agreed to ask Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for their guilt. However, in order to take over the position of prime minister, Zhang Tang mistakenly thought that the prime minister must always respect the imperial tomb, and the theft of the imperial tomb was the prime minister's fault and had nothing to do with him, so after Zhuang Qingzhai pleaded guilty, Zhang Tang ignored Zhuang Qingzhai.
Not only that, when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered Yushi to investigate this matter, Zhang Tang also specially summoned Yushi and instructed him to put all the responsibility for stealing money on the prime minister, and instructed him to investigate whether Zhuang Qingzhai committed a crime intentionally, and to seize the opportunity to make him bend into a trick.
After Zhuang Qingzai found out, he summoned everyone to the Prime Minister's Mansion to discuss countermeasures. It turned out that when Zhang Tang was the prime minister, he often insulted the head of the dynasty, Shi Zhu Maichen, and the prime minister Bian Tong, so everyone suggested that Zhuang Qingzai strike first and get rid of Zhang Tang.
In the end, Zhu Maichen and others arrested Zhang Tang's friend Tian Xin and others, and obtained a large amount of incriminating evidence against Zhang Tang under severe torture. Subsequently, they wrote to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, accusing Zhang Tang of giving a verdict to the merchants and profiting from it. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was furious and summoned Zhang Tang into the palace to ask for the guilt, but Zhang Tang knew nothing about it.
At the same time, Xianxuan, who had already investigated Empress Lü's entry into the palace, took the opportunity of falling into the well to report his findings to Emperor Wu of Han. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty therefore believed that Zhang Tang was cunning and deceived the King of Han. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent an envoy to punish Zhang Tang for his eight sins, but Zhang Tang was not convinced. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent an envoy Zhao Yu to punish Zhang Tang. Zhang Tang was not convinced, and Zhao Yu said:"How many people have you killed over the years, and now you have been denounced, the evidence is conclusive, and you still want to quibble. Instead of quibbling and insulting His Majesty, it is better to save the family with death.
Zhang Tang asked Zhao Yu for a piece of paper, and wrote on the paper with a pen:"I, Tang Wulianggong, was born as a sword and pen official, and fortunately was favored by His Majesty, so I was not ** as the Duke of the Three Kingdoms, but the three **officials conspired with ** Tang Gong. I want to hear about it! "According to the transcript, Zhang Tang drew his sword and killed himself.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty read Zhang Tang's last words and realized that there might be secret information in them, so he sent someone to secretly investigate, only to know that Zhang Tang had been an official for decades, but his family property was only 500 gold, and they were rewarded by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for many years. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was furious, and ordered all three people to be killed in the city for Zhang Tang's guilt, and then the prime minister Zhuang Qingzhai had to commit suicide.