Coincidentally, there was such a big corrupt official in the Tang Dynasty who was more greedy than small Shenyang. He is won-jae. Yuan Zai, whose real name is Jing, is from Qishan County, Fengxiang Prefecture. Prime minister in the mid-Tang Dynasty. Yuan Zai was born in poverty. When he was a child, he loved reading, was proficient in Taoism and had a keen mind. In the early years of Tianbao, he was admitted to Jinshi. Later, he became the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty step by step. When he became prime minister, Yuan Zai used his power to start wanton corruption. He just wanted to show it to people who looked down on him before. Now which one of you dares to look down on me.
One year, a friend of Yuan Zai came to see him and wanted him to be an official. Who knows that Yuan Zai wrote him a letter casually and let him go. After his friend left, the more he thought about it, the more insecure he felt, so he opened the letter with only one signature. He was very disappointed. Later, when he was passing through Youzhou, he wanted to see if this letter with only one name was useful. So he found a local official, said he was a friend of Yuan Zai, and then gave the letter to the official.
After reading the letter, the local officials really provided him with delicious food every day. I gave him a lot of things when I left. It can be seen that Yuan Zai's influence at that time was so great that he could enjoy such high treatment with only one Yuan Zai's name. In the end, Yuan Zai was sentenced to death by the emperor for pepper. Other corrupt officials like to be greedy for gold, silver and jewelry, but Yuan Zai likes corruption and peppers very much. Because now it seems that pepper is just an ordinary seasoning, and pepper can be said to be a very extravagant thing in the Tang Dynasty. Yuan Zai embezzled chili because chili is a status symbol.