Chapter 15 Chapter 12 The Rise and Fall of the New Chamber

The period between the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty was a transition in Chinese history.In the pre-Han era, politicians looked at the world with their eyes, and thought that they should not just live in peace like this.Politicians of later generations regarded it as the golden rule of thought, the so-called "governing the world is worse than peace, and peace is worse than peace with the world", which people at this time did not have.When they look at the society, they can still be controlled by human power. All unreasonable things should be changed by human power.It is of course a wise monarch and a group of wise politicians who came out to take this responsibility.When Emperor Zhaodi of the Han Dynasty, there was a Confucian named Sui Hong. Because of the disaster, he asked his friend to write a letter, urging the Emperor Han to "seek for a sage, Zen to take the throne, and retreat and proclaim himself Baili".During the time of Emperor Xuan, there was a Gai Kuanrao, who also said in the official seal: "The five emperors govern the world, and the three kings family the world. Families pass on their sons, and officials pass on their virtuous talents. In the four seasons of luck, those who succeed will retire. His position." Although both of these two men were offended and died, Sui Hong, probably because of Huo Guang's dictatorship, was afraid that people would suspect that he was going to usurp the throne, so he sacrificed him as a way to prove his case.Besides, Huo Guang is an ignorant person who doesn't know any reform plan at all.Gai Kuanrao, because of his upright nature, not only offended the monarch, but also was tabooed by powerful people, so that he suffered disasters. He did not oppose this theory and regarded it as a big treason.As for those who want to carry out more fundamental reforms in government affairs that are not related to the political system, there was Wang Ji in the time of Emperor Xuan, because Emperor Xuan was a practical politician and could not listen to him.Emperor Yuan came to the throne, but he recruited Wang Ji and his like-minded friend Gong Yu.Wang Ji was old and died on the way.Gongyu Zhengzhi came, and the official came to Yushi doctor.After listening to his words, many extravagant systems were corrected, and many political affairs were lenient to the people.At that time, there was another Yifeng who advised the Yuan emperor to move to Chengzhou.He said: Chang'an's system is already broken. If it is inherited from this system, politics cannot be improved. Therefore, if we want to move the capital to the original and start a new one with the world, the scale will be even larger.Emperor Ai was sick and childless, and another Li Xun recommended He Liang, who advised him to change his name to Emperor Chen Shengliu, saying that "the middle of the Han calendar is declining, and he should be ordered more".The word Chen and the word Tian have the same pronunciation, and the word Tian Di was commonly used by the ancients.The theory of the five virtues of the Western Han Dynasty from the beginning to the end is not like the later generations who only talk about superstitious nonsense that is irrelevant to reality. Since the "order of conduct" needs to be changed, there is a large set of practical government affairs that must be changed accordingly.Just look at Jia Yi's statement that the Han Dynasty should be reformed. Although it is necessary to "rectify Shuo and change clothes", it also needs to "rule the system and determine official names." , you can know.The beginning and end of the five virtues is not a superstition, but a systematic political plan. This has already been said in Chapter 43.It is a matter of course that this kind of fundamental reform will encounter unconscious opposition from those who do not understand it, and desperate resistance from those who are actually detrimental to their rights.So He Liang went a step further and wanted to reform the actual government affairs, but he encountered opposition and failed.However, since the momentum of reform is so sluggish, there will naturally be someone who rises and acts, and this person is Wang Mang.So Wang Mang didn't care about usurping at all.He is just a person who represents the trend of the times and comes out to carry out reforms.In order to carry out reforms, it is natural to obtain political power; to obtain political power, it is natural to overthrow the previous emperor; and to overthrow the previous emperor because of the implementation of reforms, in the eyes of the people at that time, it was a matter of nature and human nature.Therefore, responding to the sky and obeying the people ("Yi·Ding Hexagrams and Ci": "Tangwu Revolution, conforming to the sky and responding to people") was not a superficial saying at the time.

For major reforms, the first step is naturally the issue of livelihood. What Wang Mang implemented was: 1. Rename the land under heaven as Wang Tian. And take all the soil fields at that time, according to the new chapter, carry out fair distribution.Second, establish the law of six managements, and bring the big business back to the government.3. Lisi City and Quanfu, to balance prices, so that consumers, producers, and exchangers will not suffer.Taxes are collected from those who have a job to provide loans for those who want to make profits but have no capital, and those who have legitimate consumption but cannot turn around temporarily.See Chapter 41 for details.His method is quite able to integrate Confucianism and Legalism, taking into account both the equalization of land rights and the control of capital.But mere law cannot be done by itself. To carry out such a big reform, the people must have a certain level of awareness and be able to take certain actions.Because there are always only a small number of people who truly serve the country and the people, and the interests of the majority of the bureaucratic class are always opposite to those of the people, so they must rely on supervision and accountability.Given the size of China and the inconvenient transportation in ancient times, the power of supervision and accountability of a central government is not as good as it is; moreover, when the major reforms are taking place, ordinary officials may not be able to understand the laws and regulations, and there are many opportunities to cheat; therefore Implementation is not easy, but supervision is even more difficult.I am afraid that none of the laws and decrees that Wang Mang made on that day can be truly implemented and achieve their goals, and all the abuses that have arisen because of this are not without exception, and none of them are serious.Not to mention the rest that have nothing to do with reality and are just a source of turmoil.Wang Mang is a person who focuses on legislation, and he "thinks hard about production" and puts aside the current government affairs.What is especially pointless is his reform currency, which is troublesome and repeatedly changed, which is not feasible and destroys commerce first.The new distribution method has not been established, and the old transaction method has been destroyed first, which caused chaos in the livelihood world, and everyone in the country was affected.Wang Mang is also a person who sticks to theory and likes to be neat in form.He wants to re-determine the political divisions of the country based on geography, so as to formulate the feudal and county systems.This is certainly a fundamental plan, but can it be achieved overnight?Then there were many reforms, the names changed repeatedly, and the officials could not be disciplined.He wanted to reform the official system again, but he couldn't succeed for a while, and the officials were not paid because the system was not determined, so they naturally became more greedy.The same is true for outsiders.Such as changing the title and seal, etc., has nothing to do with reality, and it will lose the smoothness of negotiations, and it is inappropriate to deal with it. The Xiongnu, Western Regions, and Southwestern Yi rebelled.Wang Mang never used troops against the Western Regions.Southwestern barbarians have been conquering year after year, and the harassment is very serious.As for the Xiongnu, he also had a big plan to split up many small chanyus, send troops to pursue them, and drive the disobedient ones to the Dingling area (this is to drive the Xiongnu into what is now Siberia, and drive the Huns into the land of Mo North vacated).This plan is commendable, but is it easier said than done?At that time, the deployment of troops and payment affected You Guang, who had been stationed for many years, but the soldiers were still unable to leave, but the civil strife had already spread.

The civil strife at the end of Mang began in 17 AD.In Shandong today, it is urgent to go first.In Hubei, there are also gatherings of hungry people.The suppression office has been established year after year.In 22 AD, the soldiers hiding in the Lvlin Mountains of Dangyang County were divided into Nanyang and Nanjun (Han Nanyang County, Zhiwan, now Nanyang County, Henan; Nanjun, Zhijiangling, now Hubei Jiangling County).Those who entered Nanyang were called Xinshi soldiers, and those who entered Nanjun were called Xiajiang soldiers.Another one originated from Pinglin Township in today's Sui County, which is called Pinglin Bing.Liu Xuan, the patriarch of the Han Dynasty, was in the Pinglin army.Liu and Liu Xiu set up troops in Chongling (now Zaoyang County, Hubei), and joined forces with Xinshi and Pinglin.Liu Xuanchu was called General Gengshi, and later he was made emperor.According to Wan.Next year, Wang Mang sent 400,000 soldiers to suppress the army, which was too many and not uniform, and was defeated in Kunyang (now Ye County, Henan).Mang then lost his power to control, and rebels from all over the place rose up together.Gengshi divided his troops into two groups: one to attack Luoyang, the other to enter Wuguan.The traitors in Chang'an also rose up.Mang was killed.Gengshi moved to Chang'an, but under the control of Xinshi and Pinglin generals, he could not do anything.At this time, there was great chaos in the country, and now it is even worse in Henan, Hebei, and Shandong.Liu was killed by the generals of Xinshi and Pinglin.Liu Xiubie joined the army and went out to Hebei.That is, the emperor was located in Huo (renamed Gaoyi County), and he was Emperor Guangwu of the Later Han Dynasty.First, many small groups of rogues were defeated.With his big red eyebrows, he went west because he had eaten up all his food, and set up another clan Liu Penzi of the Han Dynasty, and invaded Chang'an.Gengshi was defeated and surrendered, and Xuan was killed.At the beginning of Guangwu, Hanoi was used as the base (Hanhe Nei County, Zhihuai, in Wuzhi County, Henan Province), and troops were sent to stay behind to confront Luoyang, who was obedient to Gengshi.At this point, Luoyang was acquired and the capital was established.He sent troops to tackle key problems, but failed to make a quick decision, and Chimei went east because he was exhausted. Guangwu reined in his troops and surrendered to Yiyang (now Yiyang County, Henan).At this time, Liu Yong, the clan of the Han Dynasty, still ruled Suiyang (now Shangqiu County, Henan Province) in the east.The generals of the East are more likely to cooperate with them.There are also Qin Feng, Tian Rong, etc., who ruled in the area along the river in present-day Hubei, and were also defeated by him successively.Only Kaixiao in Longxi and Gongsunshu in Sichuan were relatively large-scale, and they were not calmed down until the end.Dou Rong, who was guarding Hexi, surrendered without worrying about his troops.By AD 36, the world was considered peaceful again.Counting from 17 A.D. when the soldiers in Dongfang and Jingzhou rose up to this year, the time was actually four times longer than the chaos at the end of Qin Dynasty; the extent of the damage was probably more than this ratio.After Guangwu pacified the world, he naturally had no choice but to focus on the present, not to mention any grand plans.Since Wang Mang failed to carry out such a major reform, the vision of politicians has also changed.The fundamental plan, no one dares to mention it again.Society is increasingly seen as something that cannot be controlled by humans and can only be left to its own devices. "It is better to govern the world than to secure the world, and it is better to secure the world than to be in peace with the world", so it is regarded as the golden rule in politics.So: This is a big change in Chinese history.