During the Han Dynasty, an official named Xian Xuan was notorious for his brutal governance, having executed countless innocent people. His cruelty eventually caught up with him, and he met a violent end himself.
Xian Xuan, a native of Yang, began his career as a minor clerk in the Hedong Governor's office. When General Wei Qing sent men to buy horses in Hedong, they noticed Xian Xuan's competence and recommended him for the position of stable chief. From there, Xian Xuan rose rapidly, eventually becoming Imperial Censor and then Palace Secretary. That year, he was tasked with investigating the cases of Zhufu Yan and the Huainan rebellion. Xian Xuan wielded his power with terrifying force, using ambiguous legal language to implicate countless people and ordering mass executions. For a time, many mistakenly believed Xian Xuan was a bold and decisive man.
Xian Xuan endured repeated rises and falls in officialdom, serving as an imperial censor and later as palace secretary for over twenty years. When he governed the capital's left district, he personally oversaw every detail of the salt and grain trades, leaving his subordinates with no real authority—any mistake invited harsh punishment. A devotee of draconian penalties, Xian Xuan indiscriminately prosecuted others, blurring all lines of justice.
Xian Xuan, once demoted from his post as Right Governor of the Capital, vented his fury on a minor clerk named Cheng Xin. Fearing for his life, Cheng Xin fled to the Shanglin imperial park, but Xian Xuan refused to let him go. He ordered the magistrate of Mei County to lead a troop of soldiers in a thorough search for Cheng Xin. They finally tracked him down in Shanglin and killed him.
During his time out of office, Xian Xuan committed a grave crime that should have brought ruin upon his entire clan, and he ultimately ended his own life to escape punishment. Such was the fate of this harsh official—a clear case of reaping what one sows.
Later, the idiom "Wei Wen Shen Di" came to describe deliberately twisting the law to frame someone.
Source: *Book of Han*, "Biography of Xian Xuan"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "微文深诋" came to describe deliberately twisting the law to frame someone.