During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, there were two notorious harsh officials: one named Ji Wen and the other named Luo Xishi.
Ji Wen was once a lowly county magistrate, but his talent for flattery caught the eye of Chief Minister Li Linfu, who promoted him to oversee criminal justice. One day, eager to prove his ruthlessness, Ji Wen took a prisoner and ordered him to be tortured with a heavy cangue. As the prisoner cried out in agony, Ji Wen leaned in and whispered, "Do you think this is harsh? Wait until you see what I can do with a single finger." The prisoner, terrified, begged for mercy. Ji Wen then turned to Li Linfu and said, "Master, I have learned from you that the key to power is not the strength of the law, but the fear it instills." Li Linfu nodded approvingly, and Ji Wen's career soared. This story illustrates how sycophancy and cruelty were tools for advancement in the Tang court.
Ji Wen handled cases entirely according to Li Linfu's directives, often drafting charges before even conducting interrogations. If he decided someone was guilty of bribery, he would simply fabricate a sum of illicit money.
Li Linfu, resentful that Yang Shenjin, the Vice Minister of Revenue and Imperial Censor, had ignored his advice, falsely accused him before Emperor Xuanzong: "Yang Shenjin is a descendant of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, and his family harbors prophetic texts plotting to restore the Sui." Li Linfu then petitioned the emperor to have Ji Wen investigate the case. Ji Wen arrested many from Yang's household, including a house guest named Shi Jingzhong, who was an old friend of Ji Wen's father and had even cared for Ji Wen as a child. During the trial, Ji Wen, to conceal his identity, ordered Shi Jingzhong's eyes covered with cloth and remained silent, instructing his men to deceive him: "Yang Shenjin has already confessed to hiding the prophetic texts. Now we need your confirmation. If you cooperate with the court, you'll live; otherwise, you'll die!" Shi Jingzhong, thinking he knew nothing and that since Yang had confessed, he had no choice, followed the interrogator's lead and gave a false statement. After the confession was recorded, Ji Wen finally spoke, feigning regret: "Please forgive me, elder, and do not blame me." Using Shi Jingzhong's testimony, Ji Wen then interrogated Yang Shenjin: "Your own guest has confessed—what more can you deny?" Thus, Yang Shenjin was convicted of treason, and many in his family were executed.
Luo Xishi, a relative by marriage of the powerful chancellor Li Linfu, was appointed as an imperial censor tasked with court security and official discipline. Following Li Linfu's orders, he and his colleague Ji Wen specialized in fabricating charges against political rivals, famously embodying the principle "if you want to convict someone, you'll never lack an excuse." Together, they framed the Left Chancellor Li Shizhi and several court officials, including Liu, Pei Dunhou, and Li Yong, in a series of wrongful cases. In their investigations, Luo and Ji acted on pure assumption, twisted the law at will, and excelled at slander and persecution—anyone who fell into their hands was as trapped as if caught in a vise or a net, with no hope of escape. The mere mention of their names made people pale, and the public dubbed them "Luo's Vise and Ji's Net."
Later, the idiom "Luo's Pincers and Ji's Net" came to describe harsh officials who pervert the law and entrap the innocent.
Source: *Old Book of Tang*, "Biography of Luo Xishi"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "罗钳吉网" came to describe harsh officials who pervert the law and entrap the innocent.