Biography
Family Background and Early Years Lai Junchen's father, Lai Cao, was a gambler who was friendly with a fellow villager named Cai Ben. After Cai Ben lost several hundred thousand cash in gambling and could not repay the debt, Lai Cao took Cai Ben's wife in settlement. She was already pregnant when she entered Lai Cao's household, and the son she later bore was Lai Junchen, who took the surname Lai. Lai Junchen was disliked by his neighbors from an early age. The Chinese entity describes him as vicious and cruel by nature, fond of capricious behavior, and unwilling to engage in productive work. He left his home region and lived in He Prefecture, present-day He County in Anhui, where he was arrested and imprisoned for sexual misconduct and theft. While in prison, he repeatedly fabricated accusations against others. Li Xu, Prince of Dongping and prefect of He Prefecture, investigated and determined that the accusations were false. He therefore had Lai beaten one hundred strokes and returned to prison. Lai Junchen thereafter hated Li Xu deeply. ### Rise to Power and Career as a Cruel Official During the Tianshou era (690–692), Li Xu, Prince of Dongping, was convicted and executed by the court. Lai Junchen seized the opportunity to submit an accusation and was granted an audience with Wu Zetian. He told her that he had earlier attempted to report that Li Chong, Prince of Langya, was plotting rebellion, but Li Xu had given him one hundred strokes and suppressed the report. Wu Zetian regarded Lai as loyal and promoted him to Attendant Censor with the rank Chaosan Dafu. His handling of interrogations repeatedly pleased Wu Zetian. Thereafter, in order to intimidate court officials, Wu Zetian allowed Lai Junchen to persecute people at will. More than a thousand families were implicated and exterminated. Officials could be imprisoned and executed for even minor past faults. Lai later became Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Left Censorate, after which officials inside and outside the court were said to hold their breath in fear and communicate only with their eyes. Lai Junchen recommended Hou Sizhi, Wang Hongyi, Guo Hongba, Li Renjing, Kang Wei, Wei Suizhong, and others. He secretly recruited more than a hundred ruffians to spread slanders against officials and then submit secret accusations. Whenever he wanted to frame someone, he arranged for accusations to be filed from many different places at once, so that cross-checking the allegations would appear to produce consistency. This method was known at the time as “fabricating charges.” Wu Zetian ordered a separate interrogation office established at Lijing Gate specifically for Lai Junchen and his associates. They investigated hundreds of cases, and the Chinese entity states that not one suspect failed to confess. Wang Hongyi jokingly called Lijing Gate “the Gate Where the Precedent Ends,” meaning that anyone who entered it would die. Lai Junchen and associates including Zhu Nanshan and Wan Guojun composed *Luozhi Jing*, a text describing how to arrange allegations, conduct interrogations step by step, and force confessions. It laid out the process in detail from beginning to end and was said to work unfailingly when followed. In questioning prisoners, Lai did not distinguish between grave and minor offenses. Vinegar was poured into prisoners' noses; pits were dug in the ground as cells; some prisoners were made to lie in excrement and urine, while others were deprived of food until they chewed the cotton padding of their clothes. The Chinese entity says that prisoners generally did not leave alive. Whenever a general amnesty was announced, Lai would first have serious offenders killed and only then proclaim the edict. He also made ten grades of large cangues, each with a name: “Fixing the Hundred Pulses,” “Unable to Breathe,” “Sudden Earth Roar,” “Wear It and Submit,” “Losing Soul and Courage,” “Truly the Same as Rebellion,” “Rebellion Is Indeed True,” “Dead Pig's Sorrow,” “Beg and Die,” and “Beg and Ruin the Family.” Later an iron head cage was attached to a cangue; a prisoner wearing it would be dragged in circles on the ground and soon suffocate. During interrogations, the instruments were first displayed before the prisoner. The Chinese entity says that none failed to be terrified and that all could thereby be forced into confession. ### False Accusations Against Senior Officials and the Di Renjie Case In 692, the first year of Ruyi, Lai Junchen falsely accused the senior officials Di Renjie, Ren Linghui, Li Youdao, Yuan Zhihong, Cui Shenji, and Lu Xian and had them imprisoned. Lai treated the execution and extermination of senior officials as an achievement. He first asked Wu Zetian to issue an order and then used her edict to pressure the accused into confessing, because confession could spare other members of their families from death. Using this method, Lai threatened Di Renjie and the others into admitting rebellion. Di Renjie lamented that the Great Zhou had carried out a revolution and renewed all things, and that old ministers of the Tang house were willing to submit to execution; he then declared that the accusation of rebellion was true. Lai consequently treated him somewhat more leniently. Di Renjie and the others had already been sentenced to death and were only awaiting execution, so prison supervision became slightly less strict. Di asked a guard for brush and ink, tore a strip from his clothing, wrote a statement of injustice, concealed it inside a padded garment, and had it carried out of prison. Di Renjie's son took the statement to appeal and was received by Wu Zetian. She was astonished and asked Lai why, if Di and the others had confessed to rebellion, Di's son was now appealing their innocence. Lai replied that such men would never willingly confess; he claimed that he had allowed them to sit, lie down, and rest in complete comfort and had not even removed their headgear or belts. Wu Zetian ordered the court attendant Zhou Lin to inspect them. Lai instructed the jailers to lend Di Renjie headgear and a belt and let him walk and stand freely on the western side of the room for Zhou to see. Zhou, afraid of Lai Junchen, did not dare look west and merely faced east while making perfunctory acknowledgments. Lai also ordered an adjudicating officer to forge a memorial of thanks for being sentenced to death in the names of Di Renjie and the others, which Zhou then presented to Wu Zetian. Earlier, Chancellor Le Sihui had had his entire family exterminated through Lai Junchen. One of Le's sons, only nine years old, was taken into service under the Court of Imperial Granaries. The boy reported that he had urgent information and was granted an audience with Wu Zetian. He said that Lai Junchen was savage and deceived the sovereign, and that if the ruler simply handed Lai any fabricated charge of rebellion, no official, high or low, would fail to confess under his interrogation exactly as alleged. The boy said that his father had already been executed and his family destroyed, so he did not seek life for himself, but he regretted that the ruler's intelligence and the law of the state were being manipulated by Lai Junchen. Wu Zetian was awakened to the problem and summoned Di Renjie and the others. She asked why they had confessed to rebellion. They answered that had they not confessed, they would already have died under the cangue and clubs. She then asked why they had written the memorial thanking her for the death sentence. They replied that they had written no such memorial. When Wu Zetian showed it to them, she realized that it had been written secretly in their names. Di Renjie and five others were consequently spared execution. ### Corruption and Demotion Later, Lai Junchen repeatedly accepted bribes and was exposed and impeached by Censor Ji Lüzhong. He was imprisoned and sentenced to death. Because Wu Zetian believed that he had previously been useful in detecting urgent threats, she spared his life and reduced him to commoner status. During the Changshou era (692–694), she recalled him and appointed him Dianzhong Cheng. He was soon again demoted for misconduct, this time to Military Adjutant of Tongzhouaffairs. Even in disgrace his violence and lawlessness did not change. In Tong Prefecture he forcibly took the wife of a fellow staff official and humiliated the man's mother. ### Return to Office and Downfall In 696, the first year of Wansui Tongtian, Wu Zetian recalled Lai Junchen as Hegong Commandant. He was promoted to Magistrate of Luoyang and then to Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Stables, and was granted ten male and female slaves from the Court of Imperial Granaries. Dissatisfied that the registered households contained no beautiful maidservants, he heard that the Western Turkic chieftain Ashina Huseluo had a maid skilled in song and dance. He ordered his associates to accuse Ashina Huseluo of preparing rebellion in order to seize the woman. Dozens of foreign chieftains came to court, cutting their ears and slashing their faces to plead Ashina's innocence; Ashina only narrowly escaped death. At the time, Qilian Yao and Liu Sili had secretly formed connections with court officials and plotted disorder. Ji Xu, then Mingtang Commandant, informed Lai Junchen, and the investigation spread through chains of implication, killing several dozen families. Afterward, Lai tried to monopolize credit for exposing the plot and fabricated charges against Ji Xu as well. Ji became terrified, obtained an audience with Wu Zetian, explained himself, and escaped disaster. Relying on his power, Lai Junchen greedily pursued women. Whenever an official or commoner had a beautiful wife or concubine, he tried by every possible means to seize her. Sometimes he ordered people to fabricate criminal accusations against a man and then falsely claimed an imperial order to take the man's wife or concubine. The number of people killed through such fabricated charges could not be counted. From chancellors downward, he reportedly registered officials' names in order and sought to take their women. He claimed that his own ability could be compared with Shi Le. Investigating Censor Li Zhaode had long hated Lai Junchen and had once humiliated Huangfu Wenbei, Vice Minister of the Autumn Office, at court. Lai Junchen and Huangfu Wenbei therefore jointly accused Li Zhaode of treason and had him arrested and imprisoned. Later, Lai Junchen coerced Wang Qingshen of Taiyuan into giving him his daughter in marriage. Lai had formerly been friendly with Wei Suizhong of Hedong. Although Wei was not especially prominent, he was well read and skilled in argument. One day, after drinking heavily, Wei went to Lai Junchen's home while Lai was holding a banquet with members of his wife's family. A gatekeeper falsely told Wei that Lai was out. Realizing the deception, Wei forced his way inside and cursed and humiliated Lai. Ashamed at being abused in front of relatives, Lai ordered men to beat Wei and bind his arms behind him, though he soon released him. From then on the two were enemies. In 697, the second year of Wansui Tongtian, Lai Junchen believed that the court officials no longer dared oppose him and conceived an even more reckless plan. He prepared to accuse Crown Prince Li Dan, Li Xian, Prince of Luling, members of the Wu imperial clan, and Princess Taiping of treason so that he could seize greater power. Wei Suizhong, because of his feud with Lai, exposed the plan. Princess Taiping also moved first and complained to Wu Zetian, saying that Lai compared himself with Shi Le and harbored improper ambitions. Wu Zetian ordered Lai Junchen executed publicly in the marketplace. He was forty-seven. After his death, his enemies fought to eat his flesh, which was soon consumed. When Wu Zetian learned of this, she also ordered Lai's entire family executed in the marketplace. During the Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, an edict barred Lai Junchen's descendants from holding office as a continuing punishment.
In 696 the empress recalled Lai Junchen and made him commandant of the Hegong gate, then prefect of Luoyang and vice-minister of the imperial stud, granting him ten slaves from the Court of Agriculture. Finding no beauty among them, and hearing that the Western Turkic chief Ashina Huseluo kept a slave girl skilled in song and dance, he had his followers accuse Huseluo of rebellion in order to obtain her; several dozen chiefs of the subject peoples came to court, cutting their ears and scoring their faces to plead his innocence, and only so did Huseluo escape the destruction of his clan. When Qilian Yao and Liu Sili plotted treason, the Mingtang commandant Ji Xu informed Lai Junchen, who used it to make accusations and saw several dozen families destroyed by association. Wishing to keep the credit for the exposure to himself, he then wove charges against Ji Xu, who obtained an audience with the empress and set out his case, barely escaping harm.
Relying on his power, Lai Junchen lusted without restraint: whenever a wife or concubine of official or commoner was beautiful he took her by every means, sometimes having the husband accused of a crime and then using a forged decree to seize the woman, so that those destroyed by his nets could not be counted; from the chancellor down he recorded names and took in order. He also forced a marriage with the daughter of Wang Qingshen of Taiyuan. He had long been acquainted with Wei Suizhong of Hedong. Wei's reputation was slight, but he was studious and ready of speech. One day, bringing wine, Wei came to the house while Lai was feasting with his wife's kin; the gatekeeper said his master was out, but Wei knew it for a lie, went straight in and abused him roundly. Ashamed before his wife's family, Lai had him beaten and bound, then released him, and from that time the two were enemies.
Lai Junchen thought himself a man of talent and often likened himself to Shi Le of the Sixteen Kingdoms. The men he employed were often raised above their proper grade by the Ministry of Personnel: some two hundred appointments were made at his instance. His Manual of Weaving Nets ran to twelve chapters — Reading Men, Serving the Ruler, Governing Subordinates, Holding Power, Defeating Rivals, Securing Favour, Preserving Oneself, Detecting Treachery, Planning, Interrogation, Punishment and Vine-Trailing — a handbook for divining a ruler's wishes, weaving charges and extracting confessions by torture. In 725 the censor-in-chief Cheng Xingchen memorialized to list the harsh officials of the Wu Zhou — Lai Zixun, Wan Guojun, Wang Hongyi, Hou Sizhi, Lai Junchen, Zhou Xing, Suo Yuanli and others, twenty-three in all — as the worst offenders against the imperial clan and the innocent, whose descendants were to be barred from office; Lai Junchen's name stood among them.
Under Empress Wu the denunciation of others flourished: a bronze chest was set up to receive petitions, and informers were given post-horses and fed at the fifth rank. It was on this system that Lai Junchen rose. His agents were mostly ruffians of the market, and those who gained office through him were mostly cruel officials; for a time no one at court felt safe, and ministers going to audience often took leave of their families as if for death. The rise and fall of such men answered to the empress's changing need for the informer's trade.
After his fall the harsh officials he had employed were mostly degraded and driven out, and the denunciation politics of the early Wu Zhou came to an end. The Manual of Weaving Nets is lost, but its title survived through him as a byword for the weaving of false charges.