Chapter 50 3. Power at its peak

After working for a long time, Wang Mang and the Queen Mother finally thought of establishing an emperor.Liu Ao had no son, and Liu Xin adopted him. Now that Liu Xin has passed away, he has to find another one to adopt him.But who should I find? Liu Ao has two good brothers, one is Liu Kang and the other is Liu Xing.Before Liu Ao was alive, he especially favored Liu Kang.But Liu Kang died early. As the son of Liu Kang, Liu Xin was trained by Empress Dowager Fu for nearly 20 years. He was very clever and clever, and defeated Liu Xing in the exam for the throne. Liu Xing was an idiot and had no plans. When he came to Chang'an to attend the emperor's interview, he ate with Liu Ao, and the food was very ugly. Liu Ao concluded that he could not be a big deal.Soon, this old man was sent back to Fengguo by Liu Ao, and died at a young age for unknown reasons.He left only one son, who happens to be nine years old this year.

It's true that Fengshui takes turns, and the emperor takes turns. The person who the Queen Mother and Wang Mang thought of at the same time was Liu Xing's son Liu Jizi. Liu Jizi, just looking at this name is very unlucky.Take a closer look, since the founding of the Han Dynasty, all those who can be emperors have a single name.Liu Bing was already an exception, but after thinking about it, it was very awkward, so he had to change his name to Liu Xun.Of course, the name Liu Jizi was not easy to pronounce. Even though he changed his name later, he still couldn't escape the catastrophe of being poisoned.

1 BC, September 1st.This day happens to be the day when our current elementary and middle school students start school.The Empress Dowager Wang and Wang Mang chose such a day to make Zhongshan King Liu Jizi the emperor, and then issued an edict that the Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun and the old woman would be in charge of the government, and Wang Mang would be in charge of specific government affairs. The prime minister was originally responsible for government work, but the Queen Mother handed it over to Wang Mang, so what did the prime minister do?Of course the prime minister has something to do, but he doesn't have the final say. If he wants to do something, he has to wait for Wang Mang to give the task.

The prime minister at this time was Kong Guang.To be precise, we should not call Kong Guang the prime minister, we should call him Da Situ instead.Before Liu Jizi, the fourteenth emperor of the Han Dynasty, ascended the throne, the Han government changed the two core institutions to new names. That is to say, the prime minister was changed to Da Situ, the imperial doctor was changed to Da Sikong, and Da Sima remained.The Great Situ is in charge of government affairs, the Royal Doctor is in charge of supervision, and the Great Sima is in charge of the military.The three major institutions, the three powers are separated, and they are not affiliated with each other.This is the case on the surface, but in fact, whoever is stronger has the final say. Therefore, the real head of these three organizations is still Wang Mang.

After the government agency was renamed, the chief Situ was Kong Guang, and the chief Sikong was Peng Xuan.Peng Xuan couldn't get used to Wang Mang's authoritarian and domineering, so he handed in the dictionary and said he didn't want to play anymore.Then he retired to the world and lived his happy life.Kong Guang watched Peng Xuan leave, thinking that it would not be a good thing for him to depend on him.Ever since, he also handed in the application letter and said that he didn't want to do it anymore, so he approved my resignation! One just left, and the other wants to leave, what do you mean!When Wang Mang saw Kong Guang's resignation letter, he was very unhappy and firmly disagreed with Kong Guang's resignation.However, Wang Mang thought about it again, Kong Guang didn't want to do it anymore, and he couldn't be detained in the position of Da Situ.So I thought, let Kong Guang take a back seat and do something else.

Wang Mang thought about all kinds of work, and appointed Kong Guang as Taifu, who was responsible for the tutoring and education of Emperor Liu Jizi.When Kong Guang saw it, it was hard to refuse, so he had to stay. In fact, Wang Mang didn't know that Teacher Kong Guang felt very bitter at this time.He knew that the Han Dynasty was huge, but no one could beat Wang Mang.He stayed and continued to be played by Wang Mang.This desire for freedom but not being able to get it is the same pain as a bird wanting to fly out of an iron cage but not getting it. So what to do?In this chaotic world where rebellious officials and thieves are rampant, if you can't be an upright person, just be a deaf and dumb person!If you don't want to act, but you can't leave the table, then it's not bad to watch others act.Kong Guang could only comfort himself in such a boring way.

In fact, Wang Mang forced Kong Guang to stay, just to let him watch his acting, and if necessary, he can be invited to be a judge to give a good score.AD 1 was the day when the Western Christ Jesus came.However, in the distant Eastern Han Dynasty, Wang Mang gathered a group of people and was about to make a grand appearance on stage. This spring, the first month.Wang Mang sent someone to secretly go to Yizhou County (Dongjin Town, Jinning County, Yunnan Province) and got back a white pheasant and two black pheasants.Then report to the queen mother that these are the mascots paid by the distant Yueshang tribe.The queen mother issued an edict, since it is a good thing, then use the white pheasant to sacrifice to the Taimiao!

The white pheasant is good, not as good as Wang Mang's advertisement.Then, many government officials played and eulogized Wang Mang.It is said that the white pheasant obtained by Wang Mang is the same as the white pheasant obtained by Zhou Gong in the past. They are both mascots, and both of them are national meritorious service. Now, we finally know!Why did Wang Mang send someone to get the same white pheasant as Zhou Gong instead of other chickens.It turned out that he had checked the allusions, and he made it clear that he wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with Duke Zhou.Who is Duke Zhou?An important state minister who assisted King Cheng of Zhou.Without the Duke of Zhou, there would be no Zhou Dynasty under King Zhou Cheng; similarly, without Wang Mang, there would be no future for the Han Dynasty.

At this time, Wang Mang's tail-waving elements went on to say: "Wang Mang's meritorious service is so outstanding that he should not only be named a marquis, but should be named a duke. Only in this way can he meet the status of Da Sima." In ancient China, the nobility system basically consisted of five grades: Gong, Hou, Bo, Zi, and Nan.Later, there were changes, but the system of nobility in the Han Dynasty had only two levels, one was the title of king, and the other was the title of marquis.Wang Mang was the first one who proposed to be duke according to Gu Yi. Since someone proposed to add a title to Wang Mang, let's discuss it!The queen mother handed over the matter to the palace secretary and said that she would discuss it.At this time, Wang Mang was already ready, and immediately wrote a letter to the Queen Mother, saying: "The reason why the Han Dynasty is today is not due to me, Wang Mang. Comrade Kong Guang and others have contributed a lot. If you want to seal them, seal them. ! I'll let it go."

As long as the ancients will use this trick.Two hundred years ago, Liu Bang used this trick before the founding of the country.The Queen Mother knew that Wang Mang was pretending, so she said: "Anyone with long eyes knows that you have made great achievements, and you will not be sealed, so what can I do?" However, Wang Mang refused.Therefore, the Queen Mother issued an edict again, saying that it must be sealed, but Wang Mang refused again. According to common sense, this kind of political show only needs to decline three times.Then it can be said that kindness is hard to turn down, respect is not as good as obedience and so on.That's what Liu Bang did back then.But the queen mother did not expect that Wang Mang refused again and again, and would refuse again and again.

The queen mother had no choice but to play with Wang Mang, and continued to issue an edict that she would seal him.At this time, Wang Mang suddenly said, "No, I'm sick and bedridden, so I'm sorry I can't play with you anymore." The Queen Mother was at a loss for a moment, not knowing whether the scene should continue. It seemed that Wang Mang didn't want to accept it, but if he wasn't named Duke, wouldn't his work be in vain?Things get stuck here.At this moment, someone ordered a trick for the Queen Mother, and the game of chess was brought to life at once.Others told the Queen Mother that if Wang Mang wanted to come to work normally, he must first seal Kong Guang and others.Otherwise, you don't want him to get out of bed.Oh, the Queen Mother suddenly realized.It turned out that Wang Mang was not unbanned, but that the procedure was inconsistent and the way was wrong, so he missed the matter. As a result, the Queen Mother immediately promoted Taifu Kong Guang to be Taishi, increasing the fief by 10,000 households.In addition to Kong Guang, three other people were awarded the title.Then, the Queen Mother issued an imperial edict to promote Wang Mang as Taifu to be in charge of related affairs.At the same time, Jin made Wang Mang the Duke, called "An Han Gong", with a fief of 28,000 households. In the Zhou Dynasty, the Taifu, Taishi, and Taibao were called the Three Dukes, and the Taishi was the most honorable.However, the Queen Mother appointed Wang Mang as the Taifu and was in charge of related affairs, so she became the most honorable Taifu.It can be seen that the official position itself is not important, what is important is whether the person holding the position is strong enough. There was the Duke of Zhou in ancient times, and now there is the Duke of An Han. Didn't Wang Mang's lifelong struggle just want to compare with the Duke of Zhou?At this point, Wang Mang got what he deserved.As a result, his illness recovered immediately, and he started to get up and go to work. However, he posed another problem for the Queen Mother, saying that he only accepted the titles of Grand Tutor and Duke An Han, and he did not want the additional 20,000 fiefs.If the Queen Mother wants to grant a reward, then give it to him after the people of the whole country are basically living a well-off life! Objectively speaking, Wang Mang's words are not watery.He is a political player, but also a Confucian idealist.In his life dictionary, there is nothing more important than honor.He was born to fight for honor, unlike those bastards like Wang Li and Chun Yuchang, who wanted to make money if they had a little bit of power, they just fell into the money pit. This time, the Queen Mother did not argue with Wang Mang anymore, so she agreed to Wang Mang's request, and then said to Wang Mang comfortingly: "I respect your opinion. After the people of the whole country are well-off, I will give you a double salary increase!" " Wang Mang once again refused to give him a salary increase.The Queen Mother looked down on people too much. If Wang Mang loved salary, then he would be in vain.To be honest, what Wang Mang is obsessed with is not wages, land, or beautiful women, but something with great energy that can satisfy the infinite desires in his heart. That thing is called power. And what Wang Mang wants to play next is to seize the power from the Queen Mother.There is no way, power is so useful, yet it falls into the hands of the Queen Mother.You don't know, the Queen Mother is already seventy-two years old.The queen mother didn't like to play power by nature, but now that she is old, she has more energy than she wants to play.Therefore, in Wang Mang's view, putting power in her hands is simply reckless. When it comes to power, when it comes to grabbing, it hurts feelings.Wang Mang decided not to grab, but instead coaxed the Queen Mother to hand over power to him. To coax the Queen Mother, Wang Mang still has a bottom line in his heart.Because he had already seen that the Queen Mother lived deep in the palace, and it was really uncomfortable to suddenly pull her out to manage state affairs, so he felt bored. Wang Mang began to make arrangements.First of all, he asked his senior officials to play together, and said to the Queen Mother: "The promotion of local officials by the central government is cumbersome. After the report is typed up, people have to be sent to assess it, and then there are a lot of things to do. Your Majesty the Queen Mother." When you get old, you don't have to worry about these things. From our point of view, we will leave such trivial matters to An Hangong in the future." When the Queen Mother heard it, it was good!An Han Gonggong is too much work, so leave it to him!I am an old woman who has difficulty walking, how can I read so many reports all day long.The Queen Mother issued an edict, saying: "From now on, all matters such as conferring titles will be under my control; other matters will be handled by Wang Mang, Duke of Anhan." It's done, that's what I want. When a person is rich, he changes his face.This is a very old human weakness.In Wang Mang's position, the emperor is a decoration, the queen mother is a coercion, and he is the real power figure, exercising almost half of the emperor's power.However, Wang Mang was not complacent. He knew that the matter had just started off well, and there was still a long way to go. Therefore, Wang Mang must always take full care of the Queen Mother's mood.In order not to let the Queen Mother feel that she was being ostracized, Wang Mang deliberately created many false appearances, so that the Queen Mother felt that her prestige was far greater than before. For example, when foreign envoys came to Chang'an, Wang Mang asked the Queen Mother to come out to meet them and give them rewards. This is one of them.In the spring, summer, autumn and winter of a year, Wang Mang would organize some activities every season, and take the Queen Mother out on inspections to condolences to orphans, widows, virgins and martyrs.Or go to the grassroots level of the county to inspect and condolences to the working people. Everything Wang Mang has done is no different from that of the leaders of various countries today.So from a certain point of view, Wang Mang two thousand years ago had advanced modern leadership and management concepts and awareness. However, Wang Mang failed in the end, and he failed because of his two thinking eyes.He looked backward with one eye, looking at the Duke of Zhou and his Zhou Dynasty; with one eye looking forward, he looked at the grand blueprint for the people of the whole country to strive for a well-off society that is far away.He thinks ahead and is obsessed with ancient times. He walks on both feet and fights with each other. Can he not fall? Wang Mang's fall is inevitable in reality, but not now.