生平

张汤幼时贪玩，他的父亲出外，叫张汤看家。父亲回来发现家中的肉被老鼠偷吃，父亲大怒、鞭笞张汤。张汤掘开老鼠洞，抓住老鼠，找到了吃剩下的肉，立案审讯老鼠，「传爰书，讯鞫论报」，文辞如老狱吏。让父亲感到惊讶。父亲死后，张汤继承父职。为长安吏。

张汤年轻时喜欢研读法律，后来任长安吏和茂陵尉，在审理陈皇后巫蛊案和淮南王、衡山王、江都王等谋反事件中办事得力，受到武帝器重。他和赵禹编定《越宫律》、《朝律》和「见知故纵」等法律。还参与了币制改革、盐铁官营、算缗、告缗等事务。当时有「天下事皆决汤」的说法。权势一时威震朝野。

但是，张汤在执行法律的时候过于严酷，甚至发明了「腹诽罪」。汉武帝与张汤研商发行「白鹿皮币」，变相勒索王公贵族。武帝徵求大农令颜异意见，颜异提出异议：「今王侯朝贺以苍璧，直数千，而其皮荐反四十万，本末不相称。」武帝大不高兴。张汤本与颜异有雠隙，后来有人告发颜异，于是武帝命令张汤审理颜异一案。据《史记·平准书》载「（颜）异与客语，客语初令下有不便者，异不应，微反唇。汤奏当异九卿见令不便，不入言而腹诽，论死。自是之后，有腹诽之法，而公卿大夫多谄谀取容矣。」

武帝元鼎二年，有人盗走了孝文帝陵园的下葬钱，武帝下令张汤彻查，张汤打算将丞相庄青翟治罪。庄青翟联合长史朱买臣、王朝与边通等人诬陷张汤和商人田信暗地来往，谋取暴利。武帝将信将疑。后另一酷吏减宣又诬告张汤和御史鲁谒居合谋害死御史中丞李文。武帝派御史中丞赵禹审讯，赵禹向张汤严厉诘责：「君何不知分也。君所治夷灭者几何人矣？」张汤被迫自杀，并留下遗书说是丞相府的三位长史陷害他。张汤死后，抄没的财产只五百金，大多来自俸禄和赏赐。张汤的兄弟子侄想要厚葬他，他母亲说：「张汤身为天子重臣，竟然被污言秽语中伤而死，何必要厚葬呢！」于是将张汤放在牛车上运到墓地，只有一口棺材，没有外椁。汉武帝知道后，说：「非此母不生此子」（没有这样的母亲，不能生下这样的儿子），因此将三位长史朱买臣等人诛杀。不久丞相庄青翟在狱中自杀。

家族

子

• 张贺：卫太子刘据的门客，为太子家令。巫蛊之祸起，太子宾客皆被处死。弟张安世为之求情才得已免死。不过却被处以宫刑。后来出任掖庭令。汉宣帝出狱后归掖庭抚养，张贺感于卫太子死的冤枉，而他的孙子又孤苦无依，因此对汉宣帝照顾地无微不至。汉宣帝长大后，张贺亲自教他识字，学习《诗经》、《尚书》。张贺曾在弟弟张安世面前称道时为皇曾孙的汉宣帝。张安世认为现在的皇帝年轻有为不宜称道皇曾孙。汉宣帝成年，张贺为其聘部下许广汉之女许平君为妻，聘礼全部是由张贺自掏腰包。张贺去世于汉昭帝时期。张贺有一子，早死，仅有一个孙子，叫张霸。汉宣帝当上皇帝后，曾对张安世说：「掖廷令平生称我，将军止之，是也。」并追念张贺对他的恩情，赐张安世的小儿子张彭祖为关内侯以承继张贺，后进封为阳都侯，追谥张贺为阳都哀侯。张彭祖年龄与汉宣帝相当，曾与汉宣帝是同窗。张贺的孙子张霸赐爵为关内侯，拜为散骑、中郎将。

• 张安世：性谨慎，以父荫任为郎。汉武帝时，因其记忆力强，擢为尚书令，迁光禄大夫。汉昭帝即位，拜右将军，以辅佐有功，封富平侯。昭帝死后，他与大将军霍光谋立宣帝有功，拜大司马。汉宣帝时麒麟阁十一功臣之一。

世系图

墓葬

2002年，西安市文物保护考古所在西北政法大学长安校区发现张汤墓。出土物中有2枚印，印文分别为「张汤臣汤」、「张君信印」。

延伸阅读

参考书目

• 《史记》卷一二二

Background

Zhang Tang was a native of Du, the son of a deputy in Changan's city government. His father died before Zhang Tang became a minor official, but his mother, along with a number of younger brothers, outlived him. His son Zhang Ang was governor of Hanzhong. Another son, Zhang Anshi, was noted as having received a promotion after Zhang Tang's death.

In a legend, on one occasion in his youth, a rat stole a piece of meat while Zhang Tang was minding the house. As a result, he was whipped when his father returned home. Zhang Tang later caught the rat, beat out a confession and documented its crime, then held a trial and had the rat crucified. His actions were noticed by his father, who was amazed to find that the entire process had been carried out in the manner of an experienced prison official. Henceforth, he employed Zhang Tang in writing legal documents.

Career

According to Sima Qian, after his father's death, Zhang Tang became a clerk in Chang'an and served as an aide to Ning Cheng in the office of the prefect of the capital. Later he earned a promotion to Mouling on the basis of Ning Cheng's recommendation, where he supervised the construction of Emperor Wu's mausoleum. During the early stages of his career, he had secret dealings with a number of Changan's wealthy merchants, although he discontinued such liaisons as he progressed to higher positions.

When Tian Sheng, the younger brother of the Empress Dowager, was arrested, Zhang Tang made every attempt to have him freed. Upon his release, Tian Sheng became friends with Zhang Tang and introduced him to members of the nobility. Later, his elder brother Tian Fen became chancellor and appointed Zhang Tang to be his secretary. He investigated sorcery allegations against Empress Chen, causing the downfall of both her and her faction. He gradually ascended through the ranks to palace counsellor.

Working with Zhao Yu, Zhang Tang increased the severity of the laws to prevent officials abusing their power. When dealing with those from prominent families, he had a habit of twisting the law to ensure that they were proven guilty, but often asked the Emperor for leniency in the cases of those from humble backgrounds, with the result that many in the latter category were spared. Amongst the prominent cases that he dealt with was that involving charges against the kings of Huainan, Hengshan and Jiangdu for planning rebellion. Later, Di Shan lambasted Zhang Tang to the Emperor for demonstrating false loyalty, citing his exceedingly forceful application of the law in dealing with the kings in this case as being a source of friction between the Emperor and his kin. Two men of high rank - Zhuang Zhu and Wu Bei - were also implicated in this crime, and despite the Emperor's initial objections, Zhang Tang managed to persuade him that the men ought to be executed. As a result of his successful prosecution of high officials, Zhang Tang won much merit. Ultimately, he reached the rank of imperial secretary, and at one stage, he became so influential that all matters of state were decided upon by him, with the chancellor relegated to the status of a mere figurehead.

When someone wrote to the Emperor to suggest that the Bao and Ye rivers be joined by a road to facilitate grain transport, Zhang Tang assessed the proposal, recommending that the road should be built and that the two rivers should be dredged. The Emperor adopted this and appointed Zhang Tang's son Zhang Ang to the post of governor of Hanzhong in order to supervise the work. Around 121 BC, a combination of foreign military operations and domestic disaster from flood and drought left the government treasury empty. Under the direction of the Emperor, Zhang Tang arranged for the minting of new currency and the nationalisation of the salt and iron industries, which had hitherto been in the hands of wealthy merchants. He also created a law to allow for the confiscation of the property of anyone who attempted to avoid the suan tax, with the result that he was able to destroy powerful families and landowners by a crafty application of the law. However, the populace remained discontented while government policies to alleviate their plight were being taken advantage of by unscrupulous officials for personal gain before they could take effect. Zhang Tang therefore made legal punishments harsher to prevent such corrupt behaviour. As a result of this, he became a target of blame by everyone from the highest officials down.

Zhang Tang was deceitful in nature and used his intelligence to take advantage of others, sometimes displaying outward admiration for men that he privately had little fondness for. Through his habit of paying calls on others even in the face of inclement weather, he was able to win widespread fame in spite of the severity and questionable objectivity of his legal work. After becoming a high official, Zhang Tang often looked after the interests of various relations of his old friends, treating them with great generosity. He regularly recommended to the Emperor the officials working under him, attributing the credit to one of them if the Emperor praised his handling of a case or accepting personal responsibility if the judgement was criticised and noting that he himself had foolishly rejected the advice of some subordinate who had expressed similar sentiments as the Emperor. In his dealings with the Emperor, Zhang Tang was careful to note his wishes, making use of classics such as the Book of Documents to back up decisions when the Emperor demonstrated interest in literary learning and assigning accused men to be handled by severe or lenient secretaries depending on whether he perceived the Emperor to want the men convicted or released. At the height of his career, he garnered such respect that his discourses on fiscal policy would receive the Emperor's undivided attention and on one occasion was the recipient of a personal visit by the Emperor to his sickbed.

Downfall and death

A man named Li Wen, who bore a grudge against Zhang Tang, became an assistant in the office of the imperial secretary. Making use of the documents that passed through his hands there, he took every opportunity to make public any detail that reflected poorly on Zhang Tang and moreover ensured that he was held to account for them. Lu Yeju, a favourite secretary of Zhang Tang, got someone to report to the Emperor that Li Wen was engaged in rebellious and evil affairs. Zhang Tang was put in charge of the case and sentenced Li Wen to death. Despite knowing that the charges had been trumped up by Lu Yeju, Zhang Tang nevertheless pleaded ignorance when asked by the Emperor on who he thought to be responsible for bringing forth this accusation, responding by saying that it was probably the work of some old enemy of Li Wen's.

Not long afterwards, Lu Yeju was taken ill, and Zhang Tang personally visited his bedside and massaged his legs for him. The King of Zhao had reason to hate both men, given that the charges that he had brought against central government officials had always been dismissed by Zhang Tang and as he had himself been the subject of charges drawn up by Lu Yeju. He suggested to the Emperor that the fact that an official as high-ranking as Zhang Tang had visited and even massaged his secretary's legs was a sign that the two were engaged in planning some great crime. While these charges were being investigated, Lu Yeju died, but his brother became embroiled in the scandal and was arrested. It so happened that on one occasion, Zhang Tang was interviewing another prisoner held at the same place but pretended not to recognise Lu Yeju's brother as he hoped to use underhanded means to assist him. However, the latter was oblivious to these intentions and resented being ignored, so he revealed to the throne that Zhang Tang and Lu Yeju had been responsible for the false charges against Li Wen. Jian Xuan, an enemy of Zhang Tang, was tasked with investigating these allegations.

Around the same time, Emperor Wen's mausoleum was broken into and money offerings buried there were stolen. Zhang Tang made an agreement with Qing Di, the chancellor, that they would offer a joint apology to the Emperor for the crime, but when they appeared before him, Zhang Tang pointed out that he had no reason to apologise as the inspection of funerary parks was solely within the ___domain of the chancellor's duties, and thus Qing Di alone offered his apologies. Zhang Tang was tasked with the investigation afterwards and made such an attempt to prove that Qing Di had intentionally neglected to report the incident that the latter felt threatened. His chief secretaries - Zhu Maichen (a former associate of the Zhuang Zhu whose execution Zhang Tang had effected), Wang Chao and Bian Tong - informed him that Zhang Tang's actions were motivated by his ambition of replacing Qing Di as chancellor. All three detested Zhang Tang, as they were all former high-ranking officials and resented having now to treat him with reverence, and so they plotted together to bring about his downfall. They arrested a number of his merchant friends, amongst whom Tian Xin admitted that he had received insider knowledge whenever Zhang Tang was about to submit a proposal to the Emperor, thereby allowing him to hoard goods and make large profits that he would then share with Zhang Tang.

When the report of Jian Xuan's investigation was submitted, the findings convinced the Emperor that he had been swindled in front of his very eyes. However, Zhang Tang denied all the claims and refused to admit any guilt when envoys were sent to present him with the charges. The Emperor subsequently dispatched Zhao Yu, who Zhang Tang treated as an elder brother, to see him. Zhao Yu berated Zhang Tang, saying that he ought to understand his own situation given that he had inflicted it upon so many others, and that the Emperor did not want to haul him off to prison but rather hoped that he would end his own life. Thus convinced, Zhang Tang penned a letter apologising for his failures and accusing the chancellor's three chief secretaries of causing his ruin, then committed suicide. After his death, it was found that his wealth amounted to no more than 500 pieces of gold, attributable to either his salary or to gifts that he had received from the Emperor.

Despite his brothers' and sons' wish for an extravagant funeral, his mother objected on the basis that his negative reputation did not warrant one, and so he was taken to the cemetery in an ox cart and buried without an outer coffin. Later, the chancellor's three secretaries were charged and executed, while Qing Di himself also committed suicide. The Emperor, feeling regret for Zhang Tang's fate, gave his son Zhang Anshi a promotion to a higher government position.