Background

It is not known when Lai Junchen was born, but it is known that he was from Wannian County (萬年), one of the two counties making up the Tang dynasty capital Chang'an. His father was one Lai Cao (來操) -- who was said to have won Lai Junchen's mother, then the wife of his friend Cai Ben (蔡本), after winning in gambling with Cai. Lai Junchen was said to be a thug who did not work, who was investigated for thievery while he was at He Prefecture (和州, roughly modern Chaohu, Anhui) and who then made false accusations against others to the prefect, Li Xu (李續) the Prince of Dongping, a cousin of then-reigning Emperor Ruizong. Li Xu had him caned 100 times and thrown out.

In 689, in the aftermath of rebellions against Emperor Ruizong's mother and regent Empress Dowager Wu (later known as Wu Zetian) by Emperor Ruizong's uncle Li Zhen the Prince of Yue and Li Chong the Prince of Langye, Li Xu, along with many other imperial Li clan members, was executed by Empress Dowager Wu. Lai again made a secret report, this time directly to Empress Dowager Wu, who encouraged such reports from anyone. When she met with him, he claimed that what he was reporting earlier dealt with Li Zhen's and Li Chong's rebellions, and that Li Xu had improperly suppressed them. Empress Dowager Wu believed him and thought he was faithful to her, and therefore made him a secret police official, rising to the rank of deputy imperial censor (御史中丞, Yushi Zhongcheng).

First stint as secret police official

It was said that Lai Junchen personally retained a staff of several hundred men who were previously thugs, with the intent to have them make reports. If he decided to falsely implicate someone in a crime, then he had the men submit false reports that corroborate each other. Lai and his assistant Wan Guojun even authored a text known as the Classic of Accusation, teaching their subordinates how to accuse people of crimes and how to create details that make the alleged plot appear logical and likely. Lai and the other secret police officials were also said to have created a number of torture methods and equipments to get the accused to confess, and further, each time he knew that a general pardon was set to be issued, he had the jailers kill important prisoners first before the general pardon would be declared. Lai's authorities continued to grow, particularly after Empress Dowager Wu herself took the throne in 690 as "emperor" of a new Zhou dynasty, interrupting Tang and reducing Emperor Ruizong to the rank of crown prince.

In 691, the official Liu Xinggan was accused of treason. Wu Zetian had the chancellor Shi Wuzi investigate along with Lai. After Liu Xinggan and his brothers were executed for treason, Lai further reported to Wu Zetian that Shi had good relations with Liu Xinggan and had tried to hide evidence of Liu Xinggan's guilt. Wu Zetian had Lai investigate Shi as well and Shi, in fear, committed suicide.

That year, a famous incident involving Lai and fellow secret police official Zhou Xing occurred. Earlier that year, the general Qiu Shenji (丘神勣) had been accused of crime and executed, and subsequently, there were secret reports that Zhou was involved with Qiu's crimes. Wu Zetian had Lai investigate, without Zhou's knowledge. One day, Lai and Zhou sat down to lunch, and Lai asked Zhou the question of, "Many of the accused are not willing to confess. Do you have an idea on how to get them to confess?" Zhou responded, "That is easy. Take a big urn and set a fire under it. Put the accused in it, and surely he will confess everything." Lai had a big urn brought and a fire set underneath, in accordance with Zhou's instructions, and then rose and stated to Zhou, "I had received secret instructions from Her Imperial Majesty with regard to you, my brother. Please enter the urn." Zhou, in fear, knelt and confessed. Wu Zetian did not execute Zhou but exiled him, and on the way to his place of exile, Zhou was killed by his enemies. (This incident inspired the Chinese proverb "invite the gentleman into the urn" (請君入甕, qing jun ru weng), now used for the concept of putting a person into a trap that he himself or she herself had set.)

Later that year, when investigating the general Zhang Qianxu, Lai interrogated Zhang and tortured him severely. Zhang, unable to stand the torture, yelled out to another official in charge of investigations, Xu Yougong (徐有功), who was known for being merciful. Angry that Zhang was yelling out to Xu, Lai had his guards slash Zhang to death with their swords and then beheaded him. When he subsequently investigated the prefect Yun Hongsi (雲弘嗣), he did not bother interrogating Yun—he just beheaded Yun and then forged a confession from Yun.

Yet later that year, the chancellors Cen Changqian and Ge Fuyuan offended Wu Zetian by strenuously opposing the proposal to elevate her powerful nephew Wu Chengsi to be crown prince, and she had them arrested. Lai coerced Cen's son the county magistrate of Lingyuan into implicating another chancellor, Ouyang Tong, whom Lai subsequently arrested and tortured. However, he was unable to get Ouyang to admit to treason, and so he forged a confession from Ouyang. Cen, Ge, and Ouyang were all executed. Lai also killed the general Li Anjing (李安靜).

In 692, Lai falsely accused the chancellors Ren Zhigu, Di Renjie, and Pei Xingben, along with other officials Cui Xuanli (崔宣禮), Lu Xian (盧獻), Wei Yuanzhong, and Li Sizhen (李嗣真) of treason. Lai tried to induce them to confess by citing an imperial edict that stated that those who confessed would be spared their lives, and Di confessed and was not tortured. He then wrote a petition on his blanket and hid it inside cotton clothes, and then had his family members take the clothes home to be changed into summer clothes. Wu Zetian thereafter became suspicious and inquired with Lai, who responded by forging, in the names of Di and the other officials, submissions thanking Wu Zetian for preparing to execute them. However, the young son of another chancellor who had been executed, Le Sihui, who was seized to be a servant at the ministry of agriculture, made a petition to Wu Zetian and told her that Lai was so skillful at manufacturing charges that even the most honest and faithful individuals would be forced into confessions by Lai. Wu Zetian thereafter summoned the seven accused officials and personally interrogated them, and after they disavowed the forged confessions, released but exiled them. Later that year, Lai demanded a bribe from the general Quan Xiancheng (泉獻誠), the grandson of the former Goguryeo regent Yeon Gaesomun and, when Quan refused, falsely accused Quan of treason and had him strangled.

In 693, the officials Pei Feigong (裴匪躬) and Fan Yunxian (范雲仙) were accused of secretly meeting with the crown prince Li Dan (the former emperor), and when Fan tried to speak on his own behalf, Lai had his tongue cut off, and then had Pei and Fan both executed by being cut in half at the waist. Wu Zetian decreed that officials would not be allowed to meet with Li Dan. When, subsequently, there were secret accusations that Li Dan was plotting to overthrow her, she had Lai investigate Li Dan's associates, whom Lai arrested and tortured. One of them, An Jinzang, proclaimed Li Dan's innocence and cut his own abdomen, causing the organs to fall out. When Wu Zetian heard this, she was touched, and she had the imperial physicians treat An, barely saving his life, and on account of An's assurance that Li Dan was not plotting against her, ordered Lai to end his investigations against Li Dan. Meanwhile, Lai falsely accused the minister of public works, Su Gan (蘇幹), of having been a co-conspirator of Li Chong's, and had him executed.

Either in 693 or 694, Lai was accused by the imperial censor JI Lüzhong (紀履忠) of five crimes, including corruption, and initially, Lai was sentenced to death, but Wu Zetian, believing him to have accomplished much for her, spared his life and reduced him to commoner rank—and soon thereafter reinstated him as secretary general of palace affairs (殿中丞, Dianzhong Cheng). Lai was, however, thereafter again accused of corruption, and he was demoted to be a military officer at Tong Prefecture (同州, roughly modern Weinan, Shaanxi), interrupting his career as a secret police official.

Second stint as secret police official

In 696, Lai Junchen was recalled to then-capital Luoyang to serve as the sheriff of Hegong County, one of the two counties making up Luoyang. In late 696, the sheriff of Mingtang County (明堂, one of the counties making up Chang'an), Ji Xu, heard about a treasonous plot by the officials Liu Sili, Qilian Yao (綦連耀), and Wang Ju (王勮) -- as the conspirators believed that Qilian was fated to be emperor one day. Ji relayed the plot to Lai, and had Lai submit a secret report of it. Wu Zetian had Wu Yizong (武懿宗) the Prince of Henan, the grandson of her uncle Wu Shiyi (武士逸), investigate. Liu implicated some 36 officials into the plot, and they and their families were executed. Lai, wanting to monopolize the rewards for reporting this plot, was prepared to falsely accuse Ji of crimes as well, but Ji found this out and submitted a secret petition; he was able to meet Wu Zetian, who promoted him, while Lai was further restored to good graces in Wu Zetian's eyes and was promoted to be the deputy minister of husbandry (司僕少卿, Sipu Shaoqing).

It was said that, particularly after this restoration to power, Lai did what he could to seize beautiful women for his gratification, finding ways to implicate and execute their husbands and then seize them. (He had been planning to seize a beautiful servant girl of Western Tujue's Jiezhongshizhu Khan Ashina Huseluo, then at Luoyang, and he therefore accused Ashina Huseluo of treason, but Ashina Huseluo escaped death when the chiefs of his subordinate tribes pleaded in front of the palace and cut their own faces to vouch for Ashina Huseluo.) It was further said that he created a book of the officials' names and then randomly chose whom to accuse by drawing lots, and that he compared himself to Shi Le, the founder of Later Zhao. As he had an inimical relationship with the censor Li Zhaode, he and another enemy of Li Zhaode's, Huangfu Wenbei (皇甫文備), falsely accused Li Zhaode of treason, and Li Zhaode was arrested later in 697.

Meanwhile, Lai was said to be ready for something much more major—falsely accusing Li Dan, his older brother Li Zhe the Prince of Luling (also a former emperor), the Wu clan imperial princes, and Wu Zetian's powerful daughter Princess Taiping, of treason as well, to wipe them out gradually to give himself a chance to start a coup to seize the throne himself. His friend Wei Suizhong (衛遂忠), publicly reported the plot, and the Wu clan princes and Princess Taiping responded by submitting accusations against Lai. Wu Zetian arrested Lai, and Lai was sentenced to death—but Wu Zetian, still believing that he was faithful to her, did not approve the execution order for three days. Only at Ji's urging did she approve the execution, and Lai and Li Zhaode were executed on the same day. It was said that the people mourned Li Zhaode while celebrating Lai's death—with his enemies cutting out his flesh and organs, consuming much of it in anger.

Notes and references

• Old Book of Tang, vol. 186, part 1.https://web.archive.org/web/20080209005818/http://ef.cdpa.nsysu.edu.tw/ccw/02/tan20.htm

• New Book of Tang, vol. 209.https://web.archive.org/web/20080209133431/http://ef.cdpa.nsysu.edu.tw/ccw/02/ntan22.htm

• Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 203, 204, 205, 206.

生平

出身

來俊臣的父親來操，是個賭徒，與同鄉蔡本結友。蔡本賭輸了幾十萬，拿不出錢來，來操就以蔡本的妻子抵債。其妻入來操家門時已懷身孕，以後生子即為俊臣，也就改姓為來。就是來俊臣。來俊臣早年為鄉鄰所厭惡，於是來到異鄉，至和州，因在外偷竊遭逮，當時和州刺史為東平王李續，命人將來俊臣打一百板，投入大牢。來俊臣對李續恨之入骨。不久，武則天將李續下獄，來俊臣得知，編織李續「謀反」罪證，武則天因此特別召見他。

官場生涯

來俊臣因鎮壓反對人士有功，先賜官侍御史，加封朝散大夫，再升官為左台御史中丞。執法時手段惡辣，有數百名手下，專事告密陷害大臣。與當時同為酷吏的周興、索元禮、侯思止等人爭先恐後地剷除異己，無辜者皆可被羅織捏造成謀反罪而至牽連誅九族。一時有許多內外臣民含冤而死，可謂掌握生殺大權，天下震動。

大將軍張虔勗進監獄後向來俊臣陳說自己以前的功績，來俊臣竟命武士將其亂刀砍殺。內侍范雲仙犯案下獄，訴說自己侍奉唐高宗有功，祈求赦免，來俊臣命人截其舌，范雲仙當場橫死。博陵公崔玄暐，遭來俊臣派人將「謀反」書信放置於屋頂磚瓦上，崔元暐的僕從及時發現，將書信燒毀，逃過一劫。武則天姪子武承嗣誣告豫王李旦謀反，武則天命來俊臣審問，來俊臣將李旦府內僕從全數逮捕審問，嚴刑逼供。太常寺樂工安金藏拚死為李旦鳴冤，用利刃刺破自己胸腹，以明心跡。此事讓武則天得知後，隨即停止審訊，整件事也不了了之。

來俊臣利用自己職權，廣收賄賂，公開索要錢財。有一位高句麗人泉獻誠，受武則天賞識，受封右衛大將軍兼羽林衛一職。來俊臣向其索賄，泉獻誠並未理睬，來俊臣惱羞成怒，羅織罪名，將其投入大牢，並將他絞殺。來俊臣罔視王法，大肆接受商人賄賂，因此獲罪，依法應處死，但武則天將其赦免，削職為民。兩年後又官復原職，因再次收賄而遭貶為同州參軍。突厥可汗阿史那斛色羅有一婢女，嬌艷動人，來俊臣製造冤案，逮捕酋長，奪其婢女。激起外族憤慨，幾乎釀成叛變，不得已將其釋放。段簡妻王氏，因有姿色，遭來俊臣看上，要求強行娶其為妻，最終王氏自殺而亡。段簡又有一妾，也生得美貌，來俊臣明索暗示，段簡最終拱手相讓。

萬歲通天元年（696年），來俊臣遷升洛陽令、司農少卿。二年（697年）準備告發太平公主和武氏諸王，結果太平公主先發制人，向武則天告狀，太平公主說來俊臣把自己比作石勒，有不軌之心。武則天「下詔棄市」並加醢刑處死。死時長安市井場面轟動。武則天知道此事後，大驚，再下令將來俊臣全家處死棄市。

唐玄宗開元年間，下詔來俊臣的後代子孫不得仕宦，以示懲戒。

酷刑簡介

來俊臣和黨羽朱南山、萬國俊等撰《羅織經》，專教人羅織罪名。且發明了不少枷，由最重至最輕都各有名號，包括：「求破家」、「求即死」、「死豬愁」、「反是實」、「實同反」、「失魂膽」、「著即承」、「突地吼」、「喘不來」、「定百脈」合共十個，從名字來看，它們都會令受刑者極為痛苦，而來俊臣就是經常以枷來對付政敵、反對他的朝臣和得到「証供」。另外尚有數十「刑」和「罰」，如：「鳳凰曬翅」、「驢狗發蹶」、「仙人獻果」、「玉女登梯」等，其「刑」慘絕人寰。其罰有竹簽釘指、熱醋灌鼻、鐵圈梏頭等，手段之酷烈，前所未有。

相關成語

請君入甕

周興殘害無辜被舉發，武則天命來俊臣審理，來俊臣於是請周興吃飯，來俊臣問：「囚犯如果硬是不認罪，該怎麼辦才好？」周興大笑說：「這太容易了，把犯人放到甕裡，四周燃起炭火。」來俊臣派人找來一口大甕，按照他出的主意用火圍著烤，然後站起來說：「來某奉太后懿旨來審查你，請君入甕吧！」周興見大事不妙，磕頭求饒，表示願意招認。這是「請君入甕」的典故。

注釋

延伸閱讀

參考書目

• 《舊唐書·酷吏傳》