History can't bear to look at the complete collection

Chapter 56 The Power Seizure Mystery 4
most unlucky usurper

As a villain, Wang Mang's luck is really bad. He is regarded as a thief, a loser, and the unlucky one who was beheaded by the Green Forest Uprising Army. In Chinese history, Wang Mang was placed in a very embarrassing and embarrassing position. on, for people to laugh at.

However, the Wang Mang in "Hanshu·Wang Mang Biography" is very different from the well-known Wang Mang in history: "The Mang brothers are all the sons of generals and five princes. Frugality is respectful and frugal. According to the "Book of Rites", I was taught by Chen Shen of Peijun, who was diligent and knowledgeable, and was treated like a Confucian student. Serving mothers and widowed sister-in-laws, raising orphaned brothers and sons, it is very well-prepared."

Wang Mang has not been contaminated by the traditional Chinese bad habit of "one person attains the Tao, and the chicken and dog ascend to heaven". After he became an official, he was strict with himself and never used privileges to seek personal gain.Moreover, his relatives committed crimes, and he was equally unforgiving, but unfortunately, these were all his actions before he became emperor.

However, judging from his performance before becoming emperor, Wang Mang has both talents and virtues, and he is not a useless person. It is precisely because of this that Wang Mang has the opportunity to enter the power core of the court at the end of the Western Han Dynasty and obtain the greatest power.Wang Mang, who became emperor, was not extravagant and vulgar, but tried every means to make the country prosperous and the people rich.

The first act of Wang Mang's reform was to stop the sale of land and slaves, and ease the increasingly acute social conflicts at that time. However, his actions violated the interests of the dignitaries of the dynasty. He was frustrated as soon as the regulations for reforming the ancient system were implemented.

However, Wang Mang continued to reform the system. He hoped to revitalize the economy, so he used "five equalization and six management" to control the excessive exploitation of farmers by merchants and stop the rampant activities of usurers.But at the same time, this also violated the rights and interests of wealthy businessmen and tycoons. They tried their best to obstruct it, which led to the failure of several currency reforms implemented by Wang Mang in the later period. These not only did not alleviate social conflicts, but caused greater social unrest.

At the same time, Wang Mang's newly established regime was also in jeopardy, and finally collapsed in the last peasant uprising, but Wang Mang was not the only one who usurped the throne in history. Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was the Duke of Shanyang.But later generations did not criticize Cao Pi badly.Then Sima Yan seized the power of the Wei Dynasty and established the Western Jin Dynasty.Li Shimin in the Tang Dynasty launched the "Xuanwu Gate Change", Zhao Kuangyin in the Song Dynasty "adding a yellow robe", and Emperor Yongle Zhu Di in the Ming Dynasty robbed his nephew of the country. Generally, there are three reasons:

First, in the history of Chinese feudalism, the traditional concept was that the royal view of history could not allow the deeds of usurpers to be recorded in the annals of history.Generally, usurpers try their best to establish a glorious image of themselves in history, because the usurper will leave infamy forever.Similarly, usurpers will also vilify and belittle the usurpers of other dynasties. For example, in "Historical Records" by Sima Qian, all those who have been emperors or have the same status are passed down as "Benji", and Wang Mang, as a The man who had been emperor for 15 years was included in the "biographies" of general ministers and celebrities, and Wang Mang's status as emperor was not recognized.It can be seen the attitude of the rulers of the Han Dynasty towards Wang Mang.

Second, the reason why Wang Mang can be arbitrarily tampered with by later generations is because Wang Mang’s regime has no successors. Wang Mang has no chance to consolidate his regime after usurping the throne and pass it on to future generations like Li Shimin, Zhu Di and others.When he was in power, the world was in chaos, and he was killed by the rebel army who invaded the capital. Before he had time to consolidate and develop his regime, it came to an abrupt end.In this way, naturally no one will restore his name, and those descendants can only falsify history, exaggerate or fabricate the legitimacy and rationality of their usurpation, and then derogate Wang Mang's various actions.

Third, Wang Mang, who was regarded as a negative teaching material, has almost become a history that must be mentioned in every dynasty. From generation to generation, Wang Mang's fate of being stigmatized cannot be escaped.Moreover, the ancients always admired order, and they refused to recognize the natural law of "the strong prey on the weak". The ancients, who were deeply educated by Confucianism, formed a stereotype in their thinking, believing that order should not be broken. sinner.

Wang Mang's usurpation of the throne is considered to have broken the original order. No matter how capable he is, he can only be nailed to the pillar of shame as a historical sinner.Judging from Wang Mang's various performances, he did not have the ability to be an emperor. Although he wanted to govern the world well, the final result not only lost the world, but also lost his own life. It's not worth it to leave a bad reputation for thousands of years.

(End of this chapter)