After doing so, he commissioned Han as an imperial scholar at Duanming Hall (端明殿), and also gave him the title of Zuo Jianyi Daifu (左諫議大夫, a high-level consultant at the examination bureau of government (門下省, Menxia Sheng)).
However, Li Siyuan's wife Empress Dowager Cao and the Princess of Wei were both begging on Shi's behalf.
He discovered that much of the purported treasury reserves were in fact uncollectible debts that the administrators kept on the books to use as excuses to harshly collect from the people.
[1] In 936, Shi Jingtang, with support from Later Tang's northern rival Khitan Empire, rebelled against Li Congke and declared his own state of Later Jin.
[2] In 939, Shi, apparently viewed his punishment of Ma, Fang, Han, and Li Zhuanmei to be too harsh (as he pitied them for being in poverty), commissioned them various offices — in Han's case, minister of defense (兵部尚書, Bingbu Shangshu) — but then immediately ordered them into retirement (i.e., to allow them to draw pensions without allowing them to return to the government).