Chapter 22 Chapter Two

For a while, when I was in Chang'an, I was quite familiar with Wang Mang. It can even be said that I watched him climb up step by step with my own eyes. . Wang Mang's grandfather, Wang Jin, was originally an official in the imperial court. At this time, the Wang family could only be regarded as an upper-middle family at best. The queen gave birth to Emperor Hancheng Liu Ao. After Hancheng Emperor Liu Ao succeeded to the throne, Wang Zhengjun became the empress dowager naturally. The largest family. However, Wang Mang, as the third generation of the Wang family, did not get much honor from the family at the beginning. All his uncles were enshrined as marquises, but his father Wang Man did not catch up because he died early. There are few people in his school, and his only elder brother, Wang Yong, died very early, so there are no brothers who can help each other.Seeing his cousins ​​all occupying important residences, such as Baiqing, Dafu, Shizhong, and Cao Cao, there is a lot of traffic in front of the door, and the mansion is full of dignitaries, but he has nothing left. He is still a commoner, I can only face the widowed mother and widowed sister-in-law all day long, lonely and desolate.Comparing the two, Wang Mang's psychological gap is not difficult to imagine: one is the son of the Wang family, the other is the grandson of Wang Jin, and the same is the nephew of Wang Zhengjun. Why is there such a big gap?Wang Mang has always been conceited of his talents and looked at the world. Even if he is allowed to enjoy the same treatment as his cousins, he still can't be reconciled and feels that he has been humiliated. What's more, the current situation is far worse than those of his cousins. Why not let him feel sad. Sad and inexplicable!

Psychologists discuss the driving force of life, and they can be roughly divided into three schools, one is Freud's sexual drive, the other is Adler's power drive, and the other is Frankl's meaning drive.Here we only talk about Adler's power dynamics. Adler believed that everyone has a sense of inferiority complex, and in order to compensate for this inferiority complex, people will strive to gain recognition and superiority, that is, to pursue power and surpass inferiority complex. The power of life comes from this, and the goal of life also lies here. And Wang Mang is a typical sample of Adler's theory. With his backing on the prominent Wang family, he sees that other brothers in the family can be officials, riches, and sensual, but he is forgotten, neglected, and lives a happy life. Like a laughing stock, he can't help but feel sorry for himself, and he understands that the only way to get rid of this feeling of inferiority is to stand out and have power.

However, at this time, Wang Mang was just a poor Confucian student, studying the "Book of Rites" with Chen Can in Peijun, chasing power?There is a long way to go!Wang Mang came to me one day and asked me, what do you think of Li?When Wang Mang asked a question, I naturally answered with all my heart. Courtesy is generally imposed on others, which I don't like.What it pursues lies in the order of the collective, not the happiness of the individual, and so on, which is a common problem of Confucianism.Wang Mang asked again, if you read between the words, what can you read?I replied: "Lu Xun read the word'cannibal' between the words. I think it is worth adding a sentence, that is, when the cannibal eats people, there are a group of idlers shouting: "Eat well, eat people." Eat well." Wang Mang shook his head and said, "What I read between the words was the word 'Zhu Xin'."

Punishment? That's right, kill your own heart. I was terrified, knowing that Wang Mang planned to follow, he was going to destroy his own heart, eliminate his desires, distort his soul, restrain himself and return to ritual!I want to yell at Wang Mang, bitch, why don't you resist!Why do you voluntarily throw yourself into this net, turning yourself into a machine, obliterating your own happiness, disregarding your own sorrows and joys, and numbly performing those ritual procedures?However, I finally gave up and just asked one question: What about after Zhuxin? Wang Mang said: "After punishing the heart, a "Book of Rites" is enough to win the world." Wang Mang looked at the mirror and bowed to the person in the mirror. Today, he will die with the king.He bid farewell to himself like this, and with the courage that he will never return, from today on, he has no love, no hatred, no resentment, no anger, and he will be courteous after punishing his heart.This situation, like Faust's deal with the devil, made me shudder.

Since then, Wang Mang seems to have changed into a different person, and everything is in accordance with etiquette.Compared with his cousins, you are extravagant, but I am frugal; Advocating excellence, I prefer to read scriptures and biography, and think innocently.Wang Mang also served the widowed mother and widowed sister-in-law tirelessly all day long. He raised the son of his dead brother and loved him more than his own.Over the past few years, Wang Mang's reputation has gradually risen, and many people praise him. Wang Mang's uncles saw it, as if they were invisible in the mud, and began to pay attention to Wang Mang secretly.

Wang Mang also tried his best to curry favor with his uncles, and his respect and filial piety were more than his own sons.I have never been able to chat with the elderly, and Wang Mang was the same at first, but since he punished his heart, his skills have greatly increased, and he quickly coaxed the uncles of the Wang family into obedience. They all think that Wang Mang is a good boy .And Wang Mang is not just good at flattering, he is indeed talented, regardless of state affairs and family affairs, he can speak while sitting down, and his words must be right, and he can act when he stands up, and his actions must be measured.His uncles are all veterans of playing politics, and they have long been looking for successors in the family to pass on the family power. However, among the third generation of the Wang family, I feel that Wang Mang is the most outstanding, both talented and filial. There is a festival of character, so although he didn't say it clearly, he has reached a consensus in his heart, and Wang Mang is designated as the future successor of the Wang family.

At that time, Emperor Hancheng was in power (the name of the later generations of Emperor Hancheng mainly came from his Yanfu, that is, he favored sister Zhao Feiyan. I think it was Zhao Feiyan who was with him in the past, but he had to be with Zhao Feiyan in later generations, so that he can be remembered by later generations. Things turn around, Feng Shui takes turns, you can sigh), the power of the government is in the hands of Wang Mang's uncle, the great general Wang Feng.When Wang Feng was seriously ill, Wang Mang knew that the opportunity had finally come. As soon as he received the news, he hurried to Wang Feng's mansion and went straight to the hospital bed.

However, Wang Mang came a step too late, he was not the only one who tried to take advantage of the dead, and someone had already occupied Wang Feng's side.Wang Mang looked at this man and smiled wryly in his heart, how could he forget this formidable enemy?That person was none other than Chunyu Chang, the son of Wang Mang's eldest aunt.Chunyu Changlai was by Wang Feng's side, but he refused to move. Chunyu Chang knew in his heart that although he was a relative of Wang's family, his surname was not Wang after all, and Yu Wang's family was always an outsider, so he should behave well when Wang Feng was seriously ill. , showing that the nephew and uncle love each other deeply, so they have the opportunity to get a good share of the Wang family's power.

Ever since, Wang Mang and Chun Yuchang, the rivals, turned into Wang Feng's left and right protectors, using Wang Feng's hospital bed as a battlefield, vying to show their filial piety and loyalty to Wang Feng, no one was willing to show weakness, they stayed all night She didn't sleep all night, waited back and forth with her clothes untidy, rushing to serve Wang Feng tea and water, feed soup and medicine, and piss and excrement.As a result, Wang Feng himself felt embarrassed and felt that it was too much trouble for the two juniors. From then on, he always tried to refuse the hospitality offered by Wang Mang and Chun Yuchang. For example, the two asked him if he wanted to eat something. , he would rather be hungry and shake his head, and the two asked him if he wanted to relieve himself, and he would also shake his head if he was holding back, only when the two asked him if he wanted to be happy, that they found him a peerless beauty, Then he nodded and said, "Well, help me up and try."

Under the careful care of Wang Mang and Chunyu Chang, Wang Feng soon became more and more ill. One month later, Wang Feng was already on his deathbed. Chief, the two of them have guarded him for more than a month, and they are already unkempt, emaciated and emaciated. To be rich.