Guo Jia, the ghost of the strongest military division

Chapter 528 Wang Mang This Man

Wang Mang, the founder of the new dynasty in Chinese history.He was an important member of the Wang family, a foreign relative in the Western Han Dynasty. In his youth, he was humble and thrifty, courteous and virtuous, and was hailed as a model of morality.

The Wang family was a family of relatives with great power at that time. There were nine members of the Wang family who were enshrined as marquises, and five of them served as the great Sima. It was the most prominent family in the Western Han Dynasty.Most of the people in the clan are generals and marquises, living extravagantly, sensual and sensual, and comparing each other.Only Wang Mang kept clean, lived a simple life, and was humble.Moreover, he was diligent and studious, and studied the Analects of Confucius under the tutelage of Chen Can of Peijun.

Wang Mang served his mother and widowed sister-in-law, raised his elder brother's son, and acted strictly.It is very thoughtful to make friends with wise men externally and serve uncles internally.Wang Mang was an exception in this aristocratic family, and almost all of them became moral models at the time, and soon became famous far and wide.

Later, he usurped the power of the Han Dynasty and was regarded as a model of hypocrites by later generations.

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, social conflicts intensified unprecedentedly, and Wang Mang, known as "the rebirth of the Duke of Zhou", was regarded as the best candidate to save the Han Dynasty.

In 8 A.D., Wang Mang established a new government on behalf of the Han Dynasty. He tried to ease social conflicts and implemented a series of reforms, known in history as "Wang Mang's Restructuring".However, the reform did not save the crisis, but intensified social conflicts, and uprisings continued in various places.In 23 AD, the rebel army invaded Chang'an, Wang Mang was killed in the rebellion at the age of 69, and the new dynasty became one of the short-lived dynasties in Chinese history.

Wang Mang has been a controversial usurper in modern history.

Some people say he is a traitor, some say he is a hypocrite.

To say that he is a traitor is nothing more than that he stepped on the emperor and ascended to the throne himself.

If this is considered a traitor and traitor, then what is the later Cao Pi, Sun Quan, and Sima Zhao?
Some people also said that he was a hypocrite. When he was young, he was a virtuous corporal, and won the support of the people and nobles. They thought that he was the Duke of Zhou in the current dynasty, and that the only great man in Zhongxing was Wang Mang.But when he ascended to the throne, he began to tear up his disguise and did some dictatorial things.

This can't stick to hypocrites. Cao Cao was also hoped by the world at that time to be a capable minister of the Han Dynasty, but what happened later?It's not that he kicked Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty away, and his descendants became emperors.

History is written by the victors.

If Wang Mang succeeds in reforming the system and the new dynasty continues, the history books of later generations will naturally praise and flatter him, so there will be no Guangwu Zhongxing and the 200-year history of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, politics was corrupt, the imperial court was extravagant, and local people searched and exploited.In addition, powerful landlords annexed a large number of lands, causing the people to be displaced, living in poverty, and the economy was depressed. Therefore, people's hearts fluctuated and the political crisis intensified.

Since Wang Mang came to power, in order to win the hearts of the people, although he adopted a series of policies to ease social conflicts, he wanted to solve the problem fundamentally.

Looking at Wang Mang's New Deal, it is indeed intended to fundamentally solve the problem.

For example, Tiantiantian was renamed "Wangtian", and the well field system was restored under the name of Wangtian system;Since then, the currency system has been changed many times, the official system and official names have been changed, and salt, iron, wine, coins, mountains, forests, and rivers have been nationalized.

This is basically the embryonic form of the later Celestial Dynasty system.

If it can be carried out smoothly, it will be a good news for the society and the people at that time.

However, Wang Mang was a little too eager for quick success.Although these policies are good, they are very difficult to implement.

Take the Wangtian system as an example. His original intention was to confiscate all the land in the world, and then lease it to the people in the world, so that they can live and work in peace and contentment with land to cultivate.

This is a good thing in the first place, but the means and methods are not correct when it is implemented.

First of all, most of the land is owned by nobles and landlords. If you take over their land, they will naturally not want it.

So after the system was launched, it was immediately opposed by nobles and big landlords, and even relatives of the royal family and other people who originally supported him opposed it together.

People support you, Wang Mang, because they want to reap some benefits after you come to power.

This benefit is not reaped, but the loss is huge.

Therefore, Wang Mang quickly lost the support of nobles and big landlords.

At that time, the influence of the imperial court was only at the county level, and everything below the county level was basically in the hands of big landlords and wealthy families.county
What do common people know?
They didn't even know who the emperor was, so they started rioting under the bewitching of these nobles and landlords.

This was Wang Mang's first mistake.

In order to reform the system, regardless of the enemy or the enemy, all classes were offended with one stick.

After the New Deal was resisted, Wang Mang did not think about repentance, and tried to enforce it through severe punishments, so that countless princes, ministers, and civilians were punished for serious crimes for violating laws, which aggravated social turmoil.

This is the second mistake he made.

Before seizing absolute power, forcibly suppress opposition forces.

People suffer first before benefiting from it, and various policies are changed day and night, making the people and officials at a loss as to what to do, which leads to the dissatisfaction of all the powerful and common people in the world.

Since ancient times, where there is oppression, there is resistance.

Therefore, not long after the implementation of the New Deal, a mighty uprising broke out.

As the saying goes, a good deck of cards was broken by Wang Mang.

The new dynasty ended after more than ten years, and Wang Mang himself died in the hands of the rebels.

So, he was a failed reformer.

To sum up, Wang Mang is a qualified speculator, but not a qualified politician. His reforms and methods are full of idealism.

Since ancient times, reforms have required bloodshed, because you are harming the interests of others, and others will naturally stand up and fight with you.

This is not a problem that can be solved by drinking, drinking, and eating.

Why did Qin Shihuang succeed in unifying the six countries, abolishing the enfeoffment system, implementing the prefecture and county system, and unifying the written weights and measures?
Because he stood at the pinnacle of power, he killed all those who opposed it.

So the essence of reform is not that you kill others, or that others kill you.

Obviously, Wang Mang didn't have Qin Shihuang's means, and he couldn't beat others, but he was killed by others.

Win or lose!

The reform is complete, you are Emperor Qin, Han Wu, Tang Zong, Song Zu.

If the reform fails, you will be a chaotic official and a traitor who everyone can get and punish.Winner and loser!
There is no good end for failed reformers.

Shang Yang's reform was torn apart.Zhao Wuling Wang Hufu rode and shot, was imprisoned and starved to death.Wu Qi reformed in the state of Chu and was shot to death by random arrows.Zhang Juzheng practiced a whip method, and after his death, his home was ransacked, his bones were crushed, and his ashes were thrown away.The Six Gentlemen of [-] were ordered to cut off the food market.Wang Anshi was one of the few lucky ones, because Song Taizu's ancestors taught not to kill scholar-bureaucrats.

Therefore, Wang Mang was a reformer who failed, and his defeat was a matter of course.

(End of this chapter)