Chapter 74 73 Wang Mang Retrofit

Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty was a licentious emperor. After he came to the throne, the power of the court gradually fell into the hands of his relatives (the queen mother or the relatives of the queen are called relatives).Chengdi's mother, Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun, had eight brothers. Except for one who died early, the other seven were named Marquis.Among them, Wang Feng, the biggest, was also named the Great Sima and the Great General. Wang Feng took power, and his brothers and nephews were very arrogant and extravagant.There is only one nephew, Wang Mang, because his father died early, so he does not have the habit of extravagance.Like ordinary scholars, he is cautious in doing things and lives a frugal life.

People say that Wang Mang is the best among the children of the Wang family. After Wang Feng's death, his two brothers successively succeeded him as the chief Sima, and later made Wang Mang the chief Sima.Wang Mang paid great attention to recruiting talents. Some scholars came to join him because of his fame, and he took them all in. After the death of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, within ten years, two emperors changed--Emperor Ai and Emperor Ping.When Emperor Ping of the Han came to the throne, he was only nine years old, and all major affairs of the country were decided by the great Sima Wang Mang.Some people who praised Wang Mang said that Wang Mang was a great hero who stabilized the Han Dynasty, and asked the Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun to make Wang Mang the Duke of An Han.Wang Mang refused to accept titles and fiefs no matter what.Later, after repeated persuasion by the ministers, he only accepted the title and returned the fief.

In AD 2, drought and locust plagues occurred in the Central Plains.Over the years, nobles and tyrants have continuously annexed land and exploited farmers. When there was a famine, the common people could not survive and they all became turmoil. In order to alleviate the common people's resentment towards the imperial court and officials, Wang Mang suggested that the public should save food and cloth.He himself took out one million yuan and thirty hectares of land as the cost of relief for the victims.When he started like this, some nobles and ministers had to take out some land and money.

The Empress Dowager rewarded Wang Mang with more than 20,000 hectares of land in Xinye (now Xinye, Henan), but Wang Mang declined again. Wang Mang also sent eight confidant ministers to various places to observe the customs.They publicized Wang Mang's refusal to accept the Xinye fiefdom, saying how humbly Wang Mang was and how humble he was.At that time, the small and medium landlords hated the tyrants who annexed the land. When they heard that Wang Mang didn't even want the land granted to him, they thought he was a great and good man. The more Wang Mang refused to be conferred, the more people asked the Empress Dowager to confer him.It is said that more than 480,000 ministers in the imperial court, local officials, and common people wrote to request the title of Wang Mang.Someone also collected all kinds of words praising Wang Mang, with a total of more than 30,000 words.Wang Mang's prestige is getting higher and higher.

The more others praised Wang Mang, the more Emperor Han Ping felt that Wang Mang was terrible and hateful.Because Wang Mang didn't allow Emperor Ping's mother to stay with him, and killed all his uncle's family members.As Emperor Han Ping grew up, he couldn't help saying some complaints behind his back. One day, the ministers gave Emperor Hanping his birthday.Wang Mang personally offered a glass of poisoned wine. Emperor Han Ping had no doubts, took it and drank it. The next day, word came from the palace that Emperor Han Ping was seriously ill and died within a few days.Wang Mang also pretended to cry for a while.

Emperor Ping was only fourteen years old when he died, and of course he had no son.Wang Mang found a two-year-old child from the Liu family's clan as the crown prince, named Ruziying.Wang Mang called himself a "false emperor" (false means agent). Some civil and military officials wanted to be the founding fathers of the country and persuaded Wang Mang to become emperor.Wang Mang also felt that being an acting emperor is not as good as being a real emperor.As a result, a group of touted people have created many superstitious things to deceive people.The book "Wang Mang is the Son of Man" was also found, and the copper box of "Han Gaozu abdicated to Wang Mang" was also found in the temple of Han Gaozu.

Wang Mang, who has always been known for giving way, no longer gave way now.Wang Mang went to the Empress Dowager to ask for the jade seal of the emperor of the Han Dynasty.Wang Zhengjun was taken aback and refused to hand over Yuxi.Later, he was so forced that he had no choice but to throw Yuxi on the ground angrily. In AD 8, Wang Mang formally ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor.Changing the name of the country is called Xin, and the capital is still in Chang'an.The Western Han Dynasty, which began when Emperor Gaozu proclaimed himself emperor, ruled for 200 years, and it came to an end at this time.

Wang Mang became the emperor, and under the guise of restoring the old system, he ordered reforms.First, change the national land to "king land" and prohibit trading; second, call slaves and maidservants "private" and prohibit trading; third, evaluate prices and reform the currency system. These reforms sound like good things.But none of them were badly done.The land reform and the private ownership of slaves and maidservants could not be implemented at the beginning due to the opposition of the nobles and tyrants; the power of evaluating prices was in the hands of the noble bureaucrats, and they just used their power to speculate, embezzle and blackmail, which actually increased the suffering of the people.The currency system has been changed several times. The more the money is changed, the smaller it is, and the price becomes bigger and bigger. Invisibly, a sum of money from the common people has been scraped away.

This old-fashioned reform was not only opposed by farmers, but also by many small and medium landlords.Three years later, Wang Mang issued another order, and Wang Tian, ​​slaves and maidservants could be bought and sold again. Wang Mang also wanted to use foreign wars to ease domestic conflicts, which aroused opposition from the Xiongnu, Western Regions, and Southwest tribes.Wang Mang also recruited civilian husbands, increased taxes, indulged cruel officials, and imposed heavier punishments on the common people.In this way, the peasants were forced to rise up and resist.