Chapter 54 Three, proclaim the emperor

Perhaps, Wang Mang never dreamed of such a day.No matter how much public opinion is, it is not as powerful as the rebellion.People who can play tricks with power have not yet been born.But when he heard that the rebel army was advancing towards Chang'an City, he panicked all of a sudden. Wang Mang was really flustered.There has been no war in the Han Dynasty for many years, and now such a big thing happened suddenly, he really couldn't come up with a solution for a while.So, he had to wait and see what happened.But the news from the front is getting worse and worse. At this time, the Queen Mother was gloating.An unprecedented pleasure of revenge filled her happy old face.Wang Mang rose during her lifetime, how she wished to live to see the day when Wang Mang was chopped into meat paste by rebel soldiers.

Seeing the proud look of the Queen Mother, Wang Mang really couldn't hold back.He called all Wang's relatives and his important accomplices to a meeting to discuss countermeasures.Soon, Wang Mang came up with a plan and appointed seven commanders in one go. In order to prevent accidents, he also stipulated that no Kanto people should be allowed to be commanders in the military leadership.Because the people who came to attack Chang'an City were all from the Kanto, and to Wang Mang, these Kanto people were very unreliable. Wang Mang's commander was from Kansai, but his troops were all from Kanto.Seven arms formed the Central Elite Corps to launch a counterattack against Zhai Yi's rebels.Then, Wang Mang appointed three commanders again, each leading troops to guard three places.

The first is Hangu Pass, the second is Wuguan, and the third is Wan County. If you want to break through the city of Chang'an, you must either pass Hangu Pass or pass Wuguan.To enter Wuguan, one must first pass through Wan County.So these three places are the most important!Back then, in the war-torn era at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the great ancestor Liu Bang led his troops westward, taking the route of entering Wuguan from Wanxian and then attacking Xianyang; but Xiang Yu chose to break through Hangu Pass.Different roads lead to the same goal, two roads lead to Chang'an.If Wang Mang kept these two major barriers, it would be equivalent to pinching his own lifeline.

Perhaps, the situation is not as dire as imagined.I think this should be Wang Mang's words to comfort himself. Wang Mang was wrong. At this time, there was another piece of news, like a stone falling from the sky, hitting Wang Mang's heels: there was another rebellion, and it was another 100,000 army.Later, the 100,000 troops were more terrifying than Zhai Yi's 100,000 troops, because these rebels were not from the Kanto region, but from the Gyeonggi area attached to Chang'an. Someone set fire in the front, and someone demolished the wall in the backyard. How can people fix this?

There are two leaders of the rebellion in the Gyeonggi area, one is Zhao Peng and the other is Huo Hong.From a certain point of view, not only were their origins unknown, but they were also robbers who took advantage of the fire.Zhao Peng and Huo Hong believed that the Central Army of the Han Dynasty had all gone out to deal with Zhai Yi.If they revolt on the spot and attack Chang'an, they will definitely succeed. It can be said that rebellion is not terrible, but the rebel soldiers are afraid of being educated.Facts have proved that Zhao Peng and Huo Hong's point of view is correct.Their rebel army captured 23 counties near Chang'an in one fell swoop, beheaded the commander of the militiamen in West Chang'an, and attacked Chang'an City all the way.A single spark can start a prairie fire, not to mention the fire set by Zhao Peng and others is still a big fire.The fire approached Chang'an City, and the flames reflected the Weiyang Palace in Chang'an City.Shameless Wang Mang seemed to be right in front of him.

Wang Mang was in a hurry. Jumping in a hurry will not solve any problems.At this time, Wang Mang convened another emergency meeting and made the following arrangements: sent Wei Wei and Da Honglu to lead troops out of the city to attack Zhao Peng's rebel regiment; sent a cavalry captain to garrison the north of Chang'an City; Door.At the same time, the palace stepped up patrols. After doing all this, Wang Mang still felt guilty.At this time, this talented tactician suddenly thought of a trick.Waiting for death is not enough, it is not enough to die, it is better to ask God for help, maybe there will be a turnaround.

Therefore, Wang Mang held the three-year-old crown prince Liu Ying in his arms, and led all the officials to pray at the royal ancestral temple in the suburbs every day.At the prayer meeting, he issued an imperial edict, telling the world that he was not working so hard to become emperor himself, but to protect the royal ancestral property. Stability trumps everything.Wang Mang's move is to stabilize the turmoil in the world first.At the same time, Wang Mang also specially sent people to convey to all parts of the country, warning the counties not to move around, the emperor still belongs to Liu Ying, and Duke An Han will not snatch him.

It is a wise retreat to abdicate and protect yourself.Other than that, Wang Mang had no other choice. However, just when Wang Mang looked hopeless, a great piece of good news came from ahead - the Central Army of the Han Dynasty encountered Zhai Yi's rebel army in Chenliu County and defeated them in one fell swoop.Zhai Yi was arrested and his body was dismembered. Liu Xin fled without a trace. After the central army of the Han Dynasty killed Zhai Yi, they transferred their troops back and went straight to another rebel army such as Zhao Peng.Wang Mang had already sent an army to greet Zhao Peng. When the central army arrived, the two regular armies of the Han Dynasty formed a front and back attack and killed Zhao Peng's rebel soldiers at once.

Two months later, the Han army wiped out the rebels, and the order of the counties and counties was gradually restored. Wang Mang seemed to have had a nightmare.He who was about to collapse and go crazy was suddenly full of confidence.He realized very proudly that the rebel army is not to be feared, and Wang Mang is still very strong.The Han Dynasty is like the prey in his hands, as long as he doesn't let go, no one will try to snatch it away. So Wang Mang counterattacked wildly.First, he sent people to Zhai Yi's hometown to dig up the graves of Zhai Yi's father, the unlucky former prime minister Zhai Fangjin and his ancestors, and punish the three clans.Then he ordered that all the corpses of Zhai Yi and Zhao Peng's uprising rebels be moved to the side of the road, and wooden signs were inserted to warn the rebels to die.

Finally, the bad breath came out of his chest.At this time, Wang Mang suddenly thought of the queen mother who gloated at other people's misfortune.The old woman may think that Wang Mang won't survive this year, but she didn't expect it to be the result today.There is a price to be paid for watching the fire from the other side.Wang Mang decided to punish the Queen Mother. At this time, there are continuous auspicious reports from various counties, and the most important ones are stone cattle and immortal stones.Wang Mang asked people to transport these two items to Chang'an.Then he played a performance for the Queen Mother.

The memorandum is very long, and the general meaning is: since the rebel army was destroyed, auspicious signs appeared everywhere in the Han Dynasty, and they all came for him, Duke Anhang.How could he defy God's will now?So from now on, I no longer use the Regency title.What I have done can be compared with the Duke of Zhou in the Zhou Dynasty.And so, I will take care of the Han Dynasty regime first, and when Liu Ying turns 20 and holds the coronation ceremony, I will return it to him as it is. Wang Mang's knife was about to hit the Queen Mother's neck. It's not over yet.Soon, another auspicious sky appeared one after another.At this time, the so-called auspiciousness became even more blatant, saying publicly that Wang Mang was ordered by the heavens to be emperor. Therefore, Wang Mang sent people to the Queen Mother to have a look at all kinds of true and false auspicious signs collected.And told the old woman unequivocally that it is certain that Wang Mang will become emperor, what do you think about this matter? The queen mother was completely silent.The sky was about to thunder, and Wang Mang was about to become emperor, so the Queen Mother had no choice but to agree. AD 8, November 25th.Early in the morning, Wang Mang first went to worship in front of the Gaozu Liu Bang Temple, held the emperor's coronation ceremony, and put on the crown.Then, he returned to Weiyang Palace and issued the following proclamation to the effect that: For a long time, all kinds of auspiciousness that happened in the Han Dynasty were due to the gods entrusting the whole world to me in a special way.Among these gods, there is Gaozu Liu Bang.In the face of God's will, how can I go against it.Therefore, I decided to officially ascend the throne on December 1st and establish a "new dynasty". This is the legendary - Zen abdication. The core techniques of abdication are nothing more than two: public opinion and respect for the virtuous.Over the years, Wang Mang has worked hard, nothing more than busying himself to create the appearance of his virtuousness and collect public opinion that is beneficial to him.And his ultimate goal is for today's so-called abdication. Abdication, in Confucianism, is the most ideal political model.Confucian intellectuals since Confucius have especially praised Yao and Shun, the inventors and successors of the two abdication systems.Why does Confucianism advocate the abdication system?They have always firmly believed that imperial power is public power and should belong to capable ministers who govern the world, not the private product of a family. Wang Mang is a master of Confucianism. He not only inherited the core ideology of Confucianism, but also promoted Confucian political thought by himself. He even became the first person in Confucianism to realize its ideal. Knowing this, we can see that Wang Mang is not a shameless strategist.At bottom, he was the greatest thinker and statesman in the world.A man who is unscrupulous for a great ideal cannot put a moral spell on him. So Wang Mang also believed that the Queen Mother should support him instead of being stubborn and ignorant of current affairs. The queen mother apparently agreed with Wang Mang to be the emperor, but she still held a very important thing in her hand. Wang Mang reached out to her for it, but the old man refused to give it.That thing is really important, without him, Wang Mang will always be a fake emperor.In fact, that thing is not mysterious at all, it is - the emperor's jade seal. Have you ever remembered that when Liu Bang entered Xianyang, Qin Ziying presented the jade seal used by Qin Shihuang.Later, when Liu Bang became emperor, he used his seal and passed it on as a national treasure from generation to generation, and then passed it on to the Queen Mother.Wang Mang was regent, and the Han Dynasty did not establish an emperor, so the Queen Mother temporarily took charge. Now that the Han Dynasty has perished, the Imperial Seal must of course be handed over.The Queen Mother didn't want to hand it over. Of course Wang Mang could snatch it, but he couldn't do it himself.So, who is better to send to grab it?Wang Mang immediately thought of someone. This person is Wang Mang's cousin Wang Shun. Wang Shun has always been the middleman between Wang Mang and the Queen Mother.The reason why Wang Mang chose Wang Shun was because the Queen Mother liked Wang Shun very much and had absolute trust in him.But this time, the Queen Mother finally saw through Wang Shun.When Wang Shun appeared in front of her, she knew why he came. But the Queen Mother didn't say anything, just waiting for Wang Shun to speak. Sure enough, as soon as Wang Shun opened his mouth, he asked for the jade seal.When the queen mother heard it, she cursed: "You ungrateful guys enjoy the favor of the country, but you still have to do shameless acts to seize power. Even if this kind of person dies, pigs and dogs will not come to eat your corpse .” Wang Shun didn't refute, but just listened quietly.The queen mother continued to scold: "Wang Mang has established a new dynasty, and the national calendar and system have changed. Why do you want a small jade seal? Can't you carve one yourself?" The queen mother scolded the point.Wang Mang wanted to carve jade seals, and it didn't matter how many seals he had.But Wang Mang didn't find anyone to engrave it. Why? In fact, Wang Mang would not bother Wang Shun if he could engrave a seal.The problem is, the emperor's jade seal can't be engraved casually!It's very simple, Wang Mang's new dynasty was not obtained by snatching, but through abdication.In this case, Yuxi has to be handed over.If it is not handed over, the abdication becomes false. So no matter what, Wang Mang had to coax the Queen Mother to hand over the jade seal.But looking at the face of the Queen Mother, if Wang Shun wanted to coax people, that would be nonsense. The Empress Dowager Wang seemed to be scolding enough, and at the end, she threw out another cruel sentence: "As long as I am here, you don't even think about trying to attack Yuxi. I am an old widow, even if I have no strength, but whoever wants to rob me?" I will fight with him. Even if I let Yuxi bury it in the soil with me, I will not give it to you bastards." After the Queen Mother finished scolding, she burst into tears.Having lived to be nearly eighty years old, the old woman has never been so heartbroken, and the attendants beside her are watching, and they all shed tears along with her. At this time, Wang Shun, who had been silent for a long time, also fell to the ground and began to cry.Wang Shun cried more miserable than the Queen Mother, as if it was not he who came to rob someone, but someone who wanted to rob him of his life. Wang Shun cried for a while, stopped for a while, and cried for a while, like rain from the sky, falling down for no reason. After crying, Wang Shun raised his swollen eyes and said to the Queen Mother: "The Queen Mother scolded me so much that I have nothing to say. But Wang Mang must get the jade seal, otherwise he will never give up. Here, I just want to be kind. Tell the Queen Mother honestly, do you have the ability to fight Wang Mang like this to the end?" Looking at the sad and sincere Wang Shun, the excited Queen Mother suddenly couldn't speak a word. That's right, she's an old woman, she just got used to swearing and swearing.If you really want to push Wang Mang into a hurry, you still don't know how you died! Thinking of this, the Queen Mother burst into tears again.She took out the jade seal from her bosom and threw it on the ground in front of Wang Shun, shouting, "I'm about to die. I don't have a chance to see the day when your brothers are beheaded. If you think this thing is not a scourge , just take it boldly!" Wang Shun silently picked up the jade seal from the ground.Gently he left, just as he came gently.Wang Shun handed over Yuxi to Wang Mang with an extremely heavy heart.Wang Mang's face was like an ocean of joy, filled with waves of excitement. Wang Mang seemed to see that the sunset had already set, and what would shine on the world tomorrow morning would be a brand new round of vibrant red sun.