During the Han dynasty (汉朝, 206BC—220AD), there was a man whose name was Yi Zong (义纵). Because of the special kindness of the mother of the emperor, Yi Zong was made a magistrate in one county.
汉武帝时,有一个人名叫义纵,因为受到太后的恩宠,做了上党郡某县令。
After taking up the official post ,he did very well in managing the official business. He was courageous and resolute in handling cases, and punished according to law anybody who violated the law, no matter whether he was a despotic gentleman who was rich and powerful or was one of the common people.
When Yi Zong was transferred to be the prefect of the Nanyang Prefecture (南阳郡), Ning Cheng (宁成), a despotic landlord who stopped at nothing in doing evil, was living there,in order to ingratiate himself with Yi Zong, Ning Cheng pretended to be very modest and courteous every time he met Yi Zong and saw him off.
But Yi Zong had heard of the evil conducts of Ning Cheng already and, soon after he took office in Nanyang,he made investigations. It did not take much time for him to find out Ning cheng’s crimes and had him put in prison.
但是,义纵对他的恶行早有所闻,到南阳后立即展开调查,很快就查清他的罪行,把他关押起来。
Later, Emperor Wu Di (汉武帝) of the Han Dynasty appointed Yi Zong the prefect of the Dingxiang Prefecture (定襄).
后来,汉武帝又任命义纵做定襄太守。
At that time, the public order in Dingxiang was very chaotic. When he took office there, there were 200 convicts in prison who had committed felonies had no implements of punishment on them.There were also more than 200 persons who offered bribes in order to absolve those serious offenders from guilt.Yi Zong treated the matter severely. He arrested all those bribers and punished the bribers and those serious offenders already in prison severely. More than 400 convicts were executed in a day.