The Records of the Grand Historian tell the fate of Yan Yi, a minister of agriculture under Emperor Wu of Han. Yan had once told the emperor that a new currency made of white deerskin was a bad idea, and the emperor was displeased. Later, a guest spoke to Yan about the problems with a new order. Yan did not reply, but his lips moved slightly.
The official Zhang Tang charged that Yan, a high minister, had seen that the order was harmful, “did not speak up, but slandered it in his belly” (不入言而腹诽). Yan was sentenced to death. “From then on,” the historian writes, “most ministers and officials flattered and sought to please.”