杨震 / Yang Zhen (late Han)

Overview

杨震 / Yang Zhen now appears as a late-Han moral official whose profile begins with learning, poverty, late office entry, and the Four Knows refusal of 王密’s gold. That clean reputation later becomes political capital against 汉安帝’s favorite networks: Hanji 795 has him warn against Wang Sheng, Bo Rong, and the new palace-favorite access field; Hanji 796 adds a title-order memorial. Hanji 799-800 then escalate from appointment refusals and Wang Sheng’s mansion into forged-edict exposure, removal, and suicide. Hanji 805 records 汉顺帝’s vindication, while Hanji 914 shows Yang-family reputation still politically legible under 汉灵帝.

Current Profile

Hanji 783 now supplies Yang’s earliest current layer. The episode presents him as a poor but learned Hongnong scholar, long associated with Ouyang Shangshu learning and the reputation “关西孔子杨伯起.” After Deng Zhi invites him into service, Yang becomes Jingzhou inspector and Donglai administrator; on the route through Changyi, Wang Mi brings ten jin of gold at night because Yang had once recommended him. Yang rejects the gift with the Four Knows answer, making hidden private benefit accountable to Heaven, spirits, giver, and receiver. The same source says Yang later remains clean in office and treats the reputation of clean-official descendants as the inheritance he leaves his family.

Hanji 795 supplies Yang’s first current anti-favorite political layer. In the post-Deng transition, he argues that public authority requires worthy people and removal of the wicked, but that talented officials remain outside while sycophants gather near the palace. He names Wang Sheng as overrewarded for nursing Emperor An, condemns Bo Rong’s request traffic and bribe transmission, and asks that Wang Sheng be sent out of the palace and Bo Rong’s access be cut off. An leaks the memorial to the targets, making Yang’s correction dangerous from the start.

Hanji 796 then preserves Yang’s reputation profile before the wiki’s later An-era layers. The episode again presents him as a classical scholar who studied intensely, gained local reputation, entered office around age fifty, remained clean in office, and was remembered through the Four Knows refusal. This reputation matters because it makes his later confrontation with palace favorites more than a factional quarrel.

In the same source, Yang objects to 刘瑰’s Shaoyang marquisate succession after Liu Gui marries 伯荣, daughter of An’s wet nurse 王圣. Yang argues that ordinary succession norms favor father-to-son or elder-brother-to-younger-brother order and that Liu Hu’s younger brother Liu Wei is still alive. His objection treats favorite-linked marriage and palace proximity as a threat to public title order.

Hanji 799 shows the same boundary in appointment procedure. After Liu Kai is removed, Yang moves from situ to taiwei. 耿宝 asks him to recommend 李润’s elder brother for Three Excellencies recruitment, and 阎显 asks for a close associate. Yang refuses both without imperial-edict authority, making formal procedure the line against private access.

Hanji 799 also gives Yang’s next anti-favorite memorial. Emperor An orders a large mansion for Wang Sheng. Yang argues that disasters, poverty, frontier war, and empty treasury make the construction improper, then criticizes 周广, 谢恽, and favored palace actors for bribery, solicitation, and placing people barred for corruption into important posts. An ignores the memorial, increasing hostility from outer-relative and eunuch networks.

Hanji 800 turns those tensions fatal. 樊丰, Zhou Guang, Xie Yun, and other favorites forge imperial instructions to requisition public resources and labor for private estates while An is away. Yang uses earthquake, no winter snow, and spring drought as omen-coded evidence against eunuch power and luxury construction, then obtains documentary evidence of the forged orders.

Yang also tries to save 赵腾 after Zhao’s direct criticism is treated as grave disloyalty. An executes Zhao anyway. Fan Feng’s group then uses a taishi star report and the Zhao Teng case to frame Yang as resentful, factional, and tied to the old Deng family. On 124-03-29, An strips Yang of the taiwei seal; after Geng Bao accuses him again, An orders him sent home. At Xiyang Pavilion, Yang tells his sons that he failed to punish corrupt ministers and stop disorder, asks for a plain burial, and kills himself by poison.

Hanji 805 supplies the repair layer. After Shun’s restoration, Yang’s students Yu Fang and Chen Yi seek redress, and Shun appoints two of Yang’s sons as lang, awards money, reburies Yang with Three Excellency rites, and sacrifices to him after the reported large-bird omen. Hanji 914 supplies the later reputation layer, when Emperor Ling mocks Yang Qi as a stubborn descendant of Yang Zhen after Yang Qi’s direct comparison of Ling and Emperor Huan.

Key Characteristics

• Upright scholar-official whose moral reputation is anchored by learning, poverty-tested office entry, clean service, and the Four Knows refusal of Wang Mi’s gold.
• Early anti-favorite remonstrant who challenges Wang Sheng and Bo Rong’s palace access before later opposing Liu Gui’s favorite-linked title succession.
• Taiwei who treats appointment requests without edict authority as improper private access.
• Court critic who attacks wet-nurse luxury construction, favorite solicitation, bribery, and corrupt office placement.
• Omen-coded remonstrant who uses disaster signs and forged-order evidence against eunuch and favorite power.
• Clemency advocate who tries and fails to save Zhao Teng from execution for direct criticism.
• Political martyr figure posthumously vindicated under Shun and still reputationally useful generations later.

Evidence

• Four Knows and clean-family legacy: Hanji 783 says Yang refuses Wang Mi’s nighttime ten-jin gold gift with the Four Knows answer and later treats clean-official family reputation as his descendants’ inheritance.
• Wet-nurse and Bo Rong access memorial: Hanji 795 says Yang asks Emperor An to remove Wang Sheng from palace proximity and cut off Bo Rong’s access because nursing reward, request traffic, and bribe transmission are corrupting public authority.
• Reputation and first title-order memorial: Hanji 796 presents Yang’s scholarly and clean-official reputation and says he objects to Liu Gui’s Bo Rong-linked succession over Liu Wei.
• Appointment-procedure boundary: Hanji 799 says Yang refuses Geng Bao’s request for Li Run’s elder brother and Yan Xian’s request for a close person because neither has imperial instruction.
• Wang Sheng and favorite-abuse memorial: Hanji 799 says Yang criticizes Wang Sheng’s mansion, Zhou Guang and Xie Yun’s solicitation, bribery, and corrupt office placement, but Emperor An does not listen.
• Omen-coded attack and forged-order evidence: Hanji 800 says Yang links earthquake, snow failure, drought, eunuch power, and luxury building to the demand that An remove corrupt insiders, then obtains evidence of the forged instructions.
• Zhao Teng rescue and Yang’s death: Hanji 800 says Yang asks An to mitigate Zhao Teng’s sentence, is slandered and removed, and kills himself at Xiyang Pavilion.
• Posthumous repair: Hanji 805 records Shun’s appointment of Yang’s sons, ritual reburial, and sacrifice after Yang’s students seek redress.
• Later reputation: Hanji 914 shows Emperor Ling invoking Yang Zhen’s name against Yang Qi.

Qualifications

This page is bounded to Hanji 914, Hanji 805, Hanji 800, Hanji 799, Hanji 796, Hanji 795, and Hanji 783, not a complete Yang Zhen biography. Hanji 783 supplies the earliest current reputation layer through Wang Mi’s gold, while Hanji 795 supplies the first current Wang Sheng/Bo Rong access memorial and shows Emperor An exposing Yang’s warning to the target network. Hanji 796 supplies an additional title-order layer; Hanji 799 supplies appointment and mansion conflicts; Hanji 800 supplies the fatal death narrative. Hanji 805’s large-bird event is preserved as a source-reported omen story, not independent natural evidence. The source-scoped people around Yang’s sons, students, Li Run’s elder brother, Yi Liang, Liu Wei, and the wider Wang Mi career remain unexpanded unless later evidence warrants pages.

What Changed

• Added Hanji 783 as Yang Zhen’s earliest current layer, grounding the Four Knows refusal directly in the Wang Mi gold scene and clean-family legacy.
• Reframed Hanji 795 as Yang Zhen’s first current anti-favorite political layer after the earlier reputation foundation.
• Reframed Hanji 796’s reputation recap and Liu Gui title-succession objection as the next step in a conflict already visible after the Deng purge.
• Preserved Hanji 800 as the fatal forged-edict and Zhao Teng escalation, plus Hanji 805 and Hanji 914 as repair and reputation layers.

Relationships

• 汉安帝 - ruler who leaks Yang’s early anti-favorite memorial, ignores later warnings, executes Zhao Teng, and strips Yang’s taiwei seal.
• 王密 - former recommended official whose gold gift Yang refuses in the Four Knows story.
• 王圣 - wet nurse whose palace access, title, and mansion become targets of Yang’s criticism.
• 伯荣 - Wang Sheng’s daughter whose bribe traffic, palace access, and favored household position connect to Liu Gui’s title path.
• 刘瑰 - title beneficiary whose succession Yang challenges.
• 翟瑰 - Shangshu whose memorial reinforces Yang’s early anti-favorite warning.
• 耿宝 - high-status relative whose appointment request Yang refuses before Geng later accuses him.
• 李润 - trusted palace eunuch whose elder brother is recommended through Geng Bao.
• 阎显 - outer-relative actor whose appointment request Yang refuses before Yan’s later succession role.
• 樊丰 - favored insider whose group Yang investigates and whose slander helps destroy Yang.
• 周广 - favorite criticized by Yang before the forged-edict case.
• 谢恽 - favorite criticized by Yang before the forged-edict case.
• 赵腾 - executed speaker whom Yang tries unsuccessfully to save.
• 汉顺帝 - ruler who publicly vindicates Yang after restoration.
• 杨琦 - descendant whose direct court answer causes Yang Zhen’s reputation to be invoked.
• 私恩任官侵蚀 - appointment and title-boundary problem Yang resists.
• 拒礼立威 - clean-distance pattern anchored for Yang by the Wang Mi gold refusal.
• 天象灾异包装式进谏 - rhetorical strategy Yang uses against corrupt favorites.
• 直谏入罪 - speech-risk pattern visible in Zhao Teng’s execution and Yang’s failed rescue.
• 伪诏营私 - documentary corruption pattern that triggers Yang’s final investigation.
• 君臣反馈失灵 - broader failure mode in which Yang’s evidence and correction become danger to himself.