Chapter 53 2. The price of regency

If the old ones don't go, the new ones won't come.After Liu Jizi's funeral was over, the Queen Mother issued an edict to summon senior officials of the Han Dynasty to hold a meeting to discuss the selection of the new emperor. At the meeting, all the ministers of the Han Dynasty squinted their eyes, thought and thought, hoping to come up with a suitable candidate.But after thinking for a long time, they suddenly discovered that all the sons and grandsons of Emperor Han Yuan Liu Shi's lineage were dead, and they couldn't find a seedling. So I had no choice but to think upwards, thinking of Liu Bingji's great-grandson.Everyone discovered that among Liu Bingji's great-grandsons, there were still five princes and eighteen princes.So he made these lists and handed them over to Wang Mang.

When Wang Mang looked at the list, it was like a fly flew into his mouth. The list of candidates for the emperor in front of him, although there are many people, but none of them suit his appetite.It's very simple, these people have grown up and are difficult to control, and helping them become emperors is tantamount to pushing themselves into a fire pit. With so many people, how could Wang Mang refuse? There is still a way, Wang Mang remembered a trick Liu Ao used.At that time, Liu Ao refused to let his brother Liu Xing be the emperor. Liu Xing's inflexibility was the second most important thing. The most important thing is that if Liu Xing was allowed to be the emperor, then after Liu Ao died, according to the rules of the Han Dynasty, the two brothers could not enter the ancestral temple at the same time. of.So if Liu Xing is allowed to succeed him, no one will come to worship him during the New Year and festivals after Liu Ao's death, and he won't even have to eat cold pork, then he will be at a big loss.

According to seniority, Liu Jizi's great-grandsons are of the same generation as Liu Jizi.Therefore, Wang Mang issued an order to the relevant departments according to Liu Ao's rules, saying: "Brothers of the same generation cannot succeed to the throne. The new emperor can only be selected from the great-great-great-grandson of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty." Finally, Wang Mang added: "After the new list is drawn up, all of them must be summoned to Chang'an for my review." After Wang Mang finished speaking, he summoned his cousin Taibao Wang Shun and gave him a difficult homework.

The title of the homework is: forcing the palace.Force who?The Queen Mother of course.What exactly does Wang Mang want to do?He just wanted to force the queen mother to abdicate and let him take the regent position. Perhaps others will think that Wang Mang is too anxious.If you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, something will happen.However, Wang Mang didn't see it that way.In his view, the time has come and he needn't be shy.However, what reason did Wang Shun use to persuade the old lady Wang to abdicate? In fact, Wang Mang had thought of this technical problem a long time ago.As long as Wang Shun followed his steps, the Queen Mother would have nothing to do.

One day, the head of North Chang'an County gave a performance and said a very miraculous thing.It probably means that the magistrate of a certain county under North Chang'an dug a white stone while digging a well.On the top and bottom of the stone, there are a few big scarlet characters written on it: Tell Anhan Duke Wang Mang to be emperor. Wang Mang's trick was already used by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang during the uprising. It would be a joke to deceive the Queen Mother. Of course, Wang Mang knew that he could not deceive the Queen Mother, but he still found Wang Shun and said to him, "Please give this memorial to the Queen Mother, and she will understand everything."

Wang Shun immediately handed over the memorial to the Queen Mother.When the Queen Mother saw it, she immediately turned against Wang Shun and said, "You want to use this little trick to deceive me?" "I knew I couldn't fool the Queen Mother, you old man." Wang Shun replied honestly, "But think about it, Queen Mother, if things have come to this point, can we still stop Duke An Han? To be honest, I have no ability to stop him." , you are not capable either." The Queen Mother stared straight at Wang Shun, unable to speak for a long time. The so-called game depends on strength.In the face of absolute strength, the strong take absurdity as truth, and the weak cannot reverse the situation.Back then, Zhao Gao covered the sky with one hand in the Qin Dynasty. In order to test his strength, he even invented an unprecedented story of turning a deer into a horse.Today, the whole world in the Han Dynasty is basically Wang Mang's people. He just said that God wanted him to be the emperor, so what can your queen dowager do?

The queen mother finally understood that Wang Mang just wanted to be the emperor, and Wang Shun came to force the palace today to make her, an old woman, admit to this irreversible ending. Wang Shun saw that the Queen Mother was silent, as if he had read her mind.At this time, he went on to say: "Queen Mother, don't be nervous, Duke An Han's ambition is not to the level of becoming an emperor, he just wants to seek the title of regent, that's all." Regent, in layman's terms, is to act as an agent of the emperor's power.To put it further, it is for the Queen Mother to retire and completely hand over the Han Dynasty to Wang Mang.

It turned out that Wang Mang wanted to drive me away because he saw that I was getting old and dying.Since he wants to drive me away, can I still stay in the position of hearing the government? The Queen Mother was silent for a long time, and then said to Wang Shun slowly: "Wang Mang wants to be regent, so let him be!" Wang Mang knew that the Queen Mother had nothing to do with him.At this time, the competent department truthfully reported all of Liu Bingji's great-great-grandsons, a total of twenty-three.Wang Mang is very satisfied with this list, because the twenty-three people are all babies.It doesn't matter who you choose.

Wang Mang gave the list to the Queen Mother.The Empress Dowager issued an edict, saying: "The candidates for the new emperor are still too young to manage the government. Wang Mang, Duke of Anhan, has assisted the government for three generations and has rich experience, so let him assist the government, everyone can rest assured." AD 6, the first month.Wang Mang held a ceremony in the southern suburbs of Chang'an to officially exercise the power of the "false emperor".On March 1, Wang Mang announced that Liu Ying, the great-great-grandson of Liu who had died of illness, was the crown prince.

Please note that Liu Ying is only the crown prince, not the emperor.Everyone knows the so-called Wang Mang's heart.Anyone with long eyes can see that Wang Mang didn't just want to learn from Duke Zhou to assist King Cheng of Zhou as he claimed. His next move must be to abolish Liu Ying and establish himself as the real emperor. Wang Mang attaches great importance to public opinion. If he wants to be the emperor, it depends on whether the people of the Han Dynasty agree.The answer is obviously no.Soon, the people of the Han Dynasty stood up one after another, ready to fight Wang Mang to the end.

The first to stand up was the Liu clan.An Zhonghou Liu Chong discussed secretly with Zhang Shao, the prime minister of the feudal state, that Wang Mang would eventually seize the Liu family's power, but they could not bring down Wang Mang with their strength.The only way is to rebel.And they optimistically estimated that the reason why the world is speechless is because no one is the first bird.As long as someone rebels, the world will definitely respond. In fact, Liu Chong's idea is right, but the way is wrong.Rebellion is not only done by lighting a fire, but also by moving firewood. If there is too much firewood, the fire will flourish.However, Liu Chong didn't go out to find anyone, and single-handedly led more than a hundred people to attack Wan County in a fever.As a result, it didn't take long to be defeated. After Liu Chong failed, some people felt sorry for him.It's a pity, it's not that he's hot-headed, but a good thing like rebellion, why not call him up? The person who feels sorry for Liu Chong is Zhai Yi, the governor of Dongjun County.You don't need to know Zhai Yi, but you should not know Prime Minister Zhai Fangjin.Zhai Fangjin was forced to death by Liu Ao, but this did not affect his son Zhai Yi's appointment as an official. Zhai Yi believes that Wang Mang's imitation of Zhou Gong is false, and his desire to be emperor is true.The reason why he found a baby to be the crown prince was actually to find out the facts of the world.If no one dares to stand up and say a fair word, Wang Mang will definitely establish himself as emperor in the next step.For the sake of the country and the community, you have to stand up and fight to the death.Even if he is dead, he is still a hero who will last forever. It is good to have ideas, but you have to have brains.Zhai Yi would not take Liu Chong's road even if he was beaten to death.How to go, we must first lay out the chess game.Zhai Yi believes that what he is defending is not his personal interests, but the Royal Liu family's territory.Therefore, the first thing he thought of was the brothers surnamed Liu. So, he sent people out for activities.Soon, several marquises surnamed Liu replied that they were willing to form an alliance against Wang Mang. Dongjun is a big county, and the captain is also from the royal Liu family, named Liu Yu.Those who are willing to sign up to fight Wang Mang together include Liu Xin, Marquis of Yanxiang, and Liu Huang, Marquis of Wuping, Liu Xin's younger brother.They had a meeting, discussed it, and decided to rebel in September. September is a good time for reading, and it is also a good time for rebellion.The system of the Han Dynasty stipulated that the training of the militia by local county guards was scheduled in September.Therefore, on the day of reviewing Dongjun's armed forces in September, Zhai Yi announced an uprising and attacked Wang Mang. At this time, Liu Kuang, Liu Xin's son, Dongping Wang, also joined the battle.To rebel, one must not only know why to rebel, but also know for whom to rebel.Therefore, Liu Kuang and Zhai Yi made a deal, the former handed over the feudal army to the latter, and the latter had to support the former's father Liu Xin as emperor. Zhai Yi agreed.Then, claiming to be the Great Sima of the Han Dynasty, he issued a circular to the counties of the Han Dynasty, explaining the purpose of the rebellion: to eradicate Wang Mang's regime and return it to the royal Liu clan. The notification was very effective, and as soon as it was sent out, all counties responded one after another.Zhai Yi was full of confidence and marched westward with great strides. When the army arrived in Shanyang County (now Changyi Town, northwest of Jinxiang County, Shandong Province), there were more than 100,000 rebel troops.