成瑨 / Cheng Jin (late Han)

Overview

Cheng Jin is the Nanyang administrator whose source-bounded profile centers on punishing 张汎 and then becoming a eunuch-accusation victim. Hanji 871 supplies the enforcement setup through 岑晊 and 张牧, while Hanji 873 and Hanji 874 preserve the case as a later injustice that ends in prison death.

Current Profile

Cheng Jin appears as a local administrator who delegates sharply to a forceful aide. Hanji 871 pairs him with Cen Zhi the way Runan pairs 宗资 with 范滂: the administrator provides office authority, while the aide supplies moral and enforcement drive.

The Zhang Fan case makes that structure dangerous. Zhang Fan of Wan is wealthy, has harem ties, gives valuables into the palace, and uses that access for local dominance. Cheng Jin, persuaded by Cen Zhi and Zhang Mu, arrests and kills Zhang Fan and roughly two hundred relatives or clients after an amnesty, then reports upward only afterward. That timing gives eunuch-side retaliation an opening even though later remonstrants defend the action as removing public harm.

The aftermath extends beyond Hanji 871. Xiang Kai later cites Cheng Jin’s case as an example of good local officials endangered by eunuch slander, and Hanji 874’s Jia Biao scene remembers Cheng Jin and Liu Zhi as having died in prison. Cheng Jin therefore becomes a compact case of enforcement legitimacy colliding with amnesty procedure and palace complaint power.

Key Characteristics

• Nanyang administrator whose enforcement capacity runs through Cen Zhi and Zhang Mu.
• Local official willing to punish a palace-connected wealthy actor.
• Vulnerable to procedural attack because the executions occur after an amnesty and before upward reporting.
• Remonstrance example of a capable official harmed by eunuch slander.
• Prison-death case that later shapes Jia Biao’s refusal to shelter Cen Zhi.

Evidence

• Delegated cleanup: Hanji 871 says Cheng Jin appoints Cen Zhi as功曹 and entrusts Nanyang administration to him.
• Zhang Fan enforcement: Hanji 871 says Cen Zhi and Zhang Mu persuade Cheng Jin to arrest and kill Zhang Fan and roughly two hundred associated people after an amnesty.
• Accusation rebound: Hanji 871 says Hou Lan uses Zhang Fan’s wife’s complaint to help accuse Cheng Jin and Liu Zhi, leading to imprisonment and a proposed market execution.
• Remonstrance case: Hanji 873 says Xiang Kai cites Cheng Jin and Liu Zhi as officials who removed dangerous people but were endangered after eunuch slander.
• Prison-death aftermath: Hanji 874 remembers Cheng Jin and Liu Zhi as dead in prison when Jia Biao refuses to shelter Cen Zhi.

Qualifications

The page preserves a procedural qualification: the source defends Cheng Jin’s intention and public-harm target, but it also keeps the post-amnesty execution as the legal vulnerability exploited by opponents. The transcript’s Chen Jing/Chen Jin forms are normalized to 成瑨 / Cheng Jin based on the Zizhi Tongjian sequence.

What Changed

• Created this profile from Hanji 871’s Nanyang enforcement case and the Hanji 873-874 aftermath.

Relationships

• 岑晊 - 功曹 whose persuasion and later flight are bound to Cheng Jin’s case.
• 张牧 - Nanyang official who joins Cen Zhi in urging the Zhang Fan arrest.
• 张汎 - palace-connected Wan merchant whom Cheng Jin executes.
• 刘质 - parallel local official accused after punishing Zhao Jin.
• 侯览 - eunuch whose complaint channel helps turn enforcement into imprisonment.
• 宦官庇护下的地方暴行 - concept directly illustrated by Cheng Jin’s enforcement rebound.