Chapter 70 Chapter 70 Old-fashioned

Soon after the death of Emperor Cheng, such folk songs were quietly popular in the alleys.The last word "燕" was interpreted as "shit" according to the meaning of the word at that time. "Swallow" represents Empress Zhao named Feiyan and her younger sister Zhao Zhaoyi.This ballad implies: the pair of sisters killed the princes born to the women in the harem one by one. Such an act of destroying conscience will end up "eating shit" in retribution. The younger sister, Zhao Zhaoyi, caused the emperor to overdose and died due to drunken negligence, so she was ordered to commit suicide.

Isn't the other swallow still alive? —the ballad seems to contain such irony. Because Dingtao King Liu Xin came to the throne, this "another swallow" was able to save his life temporarily. The reason why Liu Xin ascended the throne was because of the help of Queen Zhao. After the death of Emperor Cheng, the investigation into the serial killing of babies in the harem was conducted, and a group of witnesses were found.The Queen Mother, whose son was killed, of course insisted on an in-depth investigation.Although witnesses appeared, Empress Zhao, who was a great benefactor to the successor emperor, was not punished in any way.Because the emperor suppressed this matter single-handedly.

This Dingtao King Liu Xin is Emperor Ai. Emperor Ai, who came to the throne at the age of twenty, has only been in power for six years. The Empress Dowager became the Empress Dowager because of Emperor Ai's accession to the throne, and Empress Zhao became the Empress Dowager.But the empress dowager was a person who had a bad behavior.During the reign of Emperor Ai, who had helped her, she was still safe and sound, but Emperor Ai died short-lived. Emperor Ai had no heirs when he died. The successor, Emperor Ping, was the son of King Zhongshan, who was the rival of Emperor Ai when he was established as crown prince. He was only nine years old at the time.

When Emperor Cheng died, Wang Mang resigned from the position of Da Sima after hearing the following words from the Empress Dowager. ——Xindi has relatives of Xindi, you'd better back down. During the six years of Emperor Ai's reign, his mother's family's Ding family and his wife's family's Fu family once held power as foreign relatives.In addition to the Ding and Fu families, there is another group of powerful families—the Dong family. Emperor Aidi had a homosexual relationship with a handsome young man named Dong Xian, which made his clan prosper.It was a matter of course at that time that the clan members of the mother or wife held key positions as relatives of the emperor.As for the fact that members of the homosexual family are treated in the same way, it is unprecedented.

The chaos of the Han royal family had reached its peak by this time. The Chinese call homosexuality "duanxiu", the fun of homosexuality as "juanxiuzhihuan", and this addiction as "duanxiuzhizhi".These nouns all originated from a story between Emperor Ai and Dong Xian. These two people are together not only at night, but also during the day, of course, when they take a nap.The emperor wore a toga with many pendants, and the sleeves were wide and long. When taking a nap, Dong Xian would lie on the emperor's sleeves.One day during a siesta, the emperor woke up first, and at this time, Dong Xian was still sleeping soundly.

"I want to get up, but if I pull my sleeves, Dong Xian will definitely wake up. He sleeps so soundly, I really can't bear to wake him up, what should I do?" Aidi then picked up the dagger that was placed beside him, cut off his sleeve, and got up. Emperor Ai died in June of the second year of Yuanshou, which happened in 1 BC. Dong Xian was unexpectedly appointed as Da Sima at the age of 21 in December of the previous year.The eldest empress dowager in the royal family was of course extremely displeased with this. After the death of Emperor Ai, the Empress Dowager issued an edict:

Da Sima Dong Xiannian is still a weak crown, and he is not yet popular. It is advisable to return the seal and resign. After Dong Xian received the edict, he committed suicide on the spot. Therefore, Wang Mang reappeared six years later.The Empress Dowager appointed him as Da Sima. During his six years in opposition, Wang Mang was not doing nothing.He remains cautious in his words and deeds, and is committed to improving the world's evaluation of him.For example: when his mother was sick, he personally received the visiting guests.At that time, the noble ladies wore long skirts, but Mrs. Wang Mang wore a short skirt that was only knee-length; this was what maids wore at that time.Some visiting visitors also thought she was a maid, but after being introduced, they found out that she was Mrs. Wang...

——That family life is so simple, it's amazing... It is human nature to spread what we see and hear.Wang Mang took advantage of this and greatly improved his reputation. Dong Xian, the object of Emperor Ai's "addiction to broken sleeves", of course collapsed after the death of Emperor Ai.In addition, Zhao Feiyan, who was able to save his life by helping Emperor Ai's ascension to the throne, also ended his life because of the death of Emperor Ai. Zhao Feiyan was the Empress Dowager in the time of Emperor Ai, and should be promoted to Empress Dowager after Emperor Ping came to the throne.But the new real power holder Wang Mang did not allow it.

——The title of Empress Dowager is Empress. The purpose of this measure is to point out that she can only be a wife, but not a mother.Moreover, this measure only lasted for a period. Not long after, Wang Mang made a new decision-to abolish his title of queen. This is to conclude that she is not even qualified to be a wife. So far, Zhao Feiyan can only commit suicide. Zhao Feiyan took the blame for herself, and there is nothing to say about this punishment, but Empress Fu, the widow of Emperor Ai, was also deposed and forced to commit suicide, which is sympathetic. Emperor Ai's grandmother was the Fu family who was once the concubine of the Yuan Emperor. This Fu married his grandson Ai Emperor to the daughter of his clan.After Emperor Ai came to the throne, her grandmother Fu called herself the Empress Dowager.

The main wife of Emperor Yuan was Wang.Although Emperor Yuan chose her as his wife arbitrarily under the impact of the death of his lover Sima Liangdi, she is the main wife after all, and is currently living in the court as the empress dowager.However, Fu, the late husband's concubine, entered the court as the emperor's grandmother and queen's aunt, and became domineering.Therefore, the Empress Dowager was extremely displeased. Fu died during the reign of his grandson Emperor Ai, and was buried on the left side of the tomb of Emperor Yuan with the consent of Emperor Ai and the queen.In this regard, the empress dowager was even more furious.Because this is the place where she should be buried in the future as a married woman.

"How can the concubine enjoy this privilege!" Although furious, but since it came from Emperor Ai, she had nothing to say.The Empress Dowager had no choice but to grit her teeth and endure.After the death of Emperor Ai, the empress dowager's long suppressed anger broke out. The young Empress Fu was implicated by the dead Fu's family and was the first to suffer.When Emperor Ai died and Emperor Ping ascended the throne, the Empress Dowager was already over seventy years old, but the woman's resentment did not seem to subside due to old age. The Empress Dowager became a widow at the age of thirty-eight. During the twenty-six years of her son Chengdi's reign, the power of her clan was once staggering.But after Emperor Ai, who had no blood relationship with her, came to the throne, she ordered all members of the Wang clan headed by Wang Mang to withdraw from the political arena immediately.This is one of her admirable points. In the time of Emperor Ai, the Fu family and the Ding family held power. However, this was only a flash in the pan, and they fell in just six years. The Empress Dowager appeared in Yan.At the age of seventy, she once again appointed her nephew Wang Mang as Da Sima.However, at this time, Wang Mang had already attempted to surpass the position given by the Wang family. ——He intends to usurp the world of Han! Since Emperor Ping was only nine years old when he came to the throne, Wang Mang was appointed as "Taifu" in addition to the post of Da Sima.The son of heaven is young, of course he needs a guardian.Needless to say, Taifu's status is higher than that of Sangong. He, who was originally the Marquis of Xindu, was promoted to the Duke of An Han at this time. This is a title designed in the hope that "Han Neng will find peace", but Wang Mang has no intention of doing what his title is supposed to do. The emperor added 28,000 households to him. Regarding this point, Wang Mang made a firm statement. "After the common people are rich, the minister will accept this addition." People all over the country praised him greatly for this.In fact, this is his cliché - to make a name for himself by means of open-mindedness. ——Wang Mang is a saint. What he intends is that the common people appreciate him so much that he can achieve his ambition of usurping the Han Dynasty. Wang Mang, who holds real power, is most vigilant that power will be seized by members of the Wei clan, the mother of the young Emperor Ping.For this reason, he tried every means to sweep the Wei family out of the palace. To do this, there is a good excuse. "As we all know, during the reign of the first emperor, the emperor's mother Ding's family and the grandmother's family's Fu family used to be extremely domineering. To avoid repeating the same mistakes, we must pay special attention to this point." In this regard, Wang Yu thought for a moment and said: "My father is a very strong man. But if you insist on giving an example, superstition may be his biggest weakness, right? He is a very particular about good and bad." "That's great! Just attack him on this point!" Wu Zhang then awarded the plan to Wang Yu. ——For those who do bad things, ghosts and gods will sprinkle blood in his house as a warning. This superstition was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people at that time.Wang Mang, who is more superstitious than ordinary people, should deeply reflect on his actions when he is warned by ghosts and gods.Without thinking about it, he would know that the worst evil he has done is "oppressing his relative Wei Shi", right? After killing a cow and taking a large amount of cow blood, someone painted the cow blood on the inner wall of Wang Mang's mansion in the middle of the night. In fact, Wang Mang doesn't believe in ghosts and gods at all, he just pretends so.Wang Mang is very good at acting, even his son doesn't know about the pretense. "Someone tried to intimidate me with this." He was immediately alerted to this when he saw the blood on the inner walls.He is very good at acting, and his mind is still better than the person who smears blood on the wall!So he quietly waited for the other party to strike again. Those who thought that smearing cow's blood on the inner walls would be ineffective, decided to smear the blood again inside the mansion building instead.In the end, Wang Mang, who was guarding him, caught him on the spot.The man who was hired to do it named his employer in one fell swoop. "This is the best opportunity!" Wang Mang used this to impeach the Wei family and forced all the Wei family members except the queen mother to commit suicide. Wang Mang charged his eldest son Wang Yu with poison and committed suicide on the charge of "conspirator". ——It should be true that Wei Shi engaged in conspiracy!Because Duke An Han even killed his own son! Wang Mang, who is very concerned about people's criticism, this is a bitter trick he implemented in order to win the hearts of the people.Wang Yu's wife, who was pregnant, was also forced to death by Wang Mang after giving birth to a child. ——For the sake of loyalty, no favoritism! Wang Mang received such praise from people.