The Case of Zheng Chongjing, Magistrate of Leping County in Raozhou, Marrying His 14-Year-Old Daughter to Prefect Song of Jiangjun

During the Tianbao era of Tang Emperor Xuanzong, Zheng Chongjing, the magistrate of Leping County in Raozhou, married his youngest daughter, only 14 years old, to Song Hun, the Prefect of Jiangjun. Song Hun already had a principal wife, making the marriage a potential violation of the Tang Code prohibition against bigamy. The powerful censor Yang Guozhong impeached Song Hun on multiple charges, including corruption, embezzlement, and forcibly taking Zheng’s daughter as a second wife. The case was adjudicated at the imperial level, resulting in Song Hun’s exile to the remote Lingnan region and the dismissal of Zheng Chongjing from office.

Song Hun was found guilty, stripped of his office, and exiled to Lingnan. Zheng Chongjing was also removed from his magistracy.

Whether Song Hun violated the law by taking a second wife while already married; whether the 14-year-old girl was coerced into the marriage; whether Zheng Chongjing willingly offered his daughter to a corrupt official for personal gain; and whether the charges were partly fabricated as a political maneuver by Yang Guozhong to eliminate rivals.

The case demonstrated the Tang Censorate’s capacity to check high-ranking officials and enforce laws against corruption and marriage irregularities. However, it also reflected intense factional infighting at the imperial court, with the prosecution serving both as a moral enforcement and as a political purge, tarnishing the reputation of the fallen officials while consolidating Yang Guozhong’s power.