In the fourth year of the Han Dynasty (45 BC), Wang Mang was born in Yuancheng (元城, in modern Handan, Hebei), in Wei County. At that time, it was the last year of the Western Han Dynasty, and the imperial power of the Liu clan was declining, and Wang Mang's Wang family had already shown a trend of power tilting towards the opposition. There were five people in the Wang family who served as grand simas in the imperial court, and the number of people who were given the title of marquis reached nine, which can be described as a generation of talents.
In such a family environment, most of the young generation of the Wang family is idle and does not do business. However, Wang Mang likes to read and study, and respects his parents, and his words and deeds show everyone's demeanor. Wang Mang, who stood out among the children, had a high reputation in the local area. In addition, Wang Mang was even more respectful to his uncle Wang Feng. When Wang Feng was seriously ill, he served carefully and took care of himself. In order to observe his uncle's condition in time, Wang Mang slept in front of his uncle's bed and clothes every night.
Seeing that his nephew was so filial and sensible, Wang Feng was very relieved in his heart. Through the observation of his nephew's words and deeds, Wang Feng felt even more that Wang Mang was a rare talent. On his deathbed, Wang Feng said all the good things about Wang Mang, and even entrusted him to Emperor Cheng of Han and the empress dowager. Since then, Wang Mang has had a smooth career path, like divine help, and was soon crowned as a marquis, and won the unanimous praise of the government and the public. After his achievements, Wang Mang's ambitions became more and more inflated.
At that time, Chun Yu, the son of the empress dowager's sister, had the support of the empress dowager and opposed him at every turn. Wang Mang was outwardly polite to Chun Yu, but secretly sent someone to collect his guilt. When the time was ripe, Wang Mang suddenly reported to the empress dowager that Chun Yu had passed through the Xu clan privately after the long and deposed empresses. This incident stimulated the sensitive nerves of the empress, so Chun Yuchang was executed, and Wang Mang had no opponent in the court since then.
After the death of Emperor Hancheng, the nineteen-year-old Emperor of Han took the throne. Although Emperor Wu was the emperor in name, the power of the imperial government was still in the hands of the empress. Wang Mang saw that there was no one in the DPRK and china, and he vigorously developed his own power. The Wang family was already strong, and after Wang Mang's management, it was even more powerful, and in the end it even suppressed the empress dowager and became the de facto master of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Wang Mang had four sons, and it was said that in his capacity, his sons would certainly enjoy all the glory and wealth. However, what was surprising was that Wang Mang forced his eldest son and second son to die. As the saying goes, tiger poison is not yet a child. But why did Wang Mang do this?
Wang Mang's second son, named Wang Yue, was forced to die by his father for killing a servant.
Wang Mang was furious when he heard about Wang's killing of his servants, and immediately ordered him to commit suicide. Under the majesty of his father, Wang Yu had to commit suicide in trembling. In this regard, Wang Mang righteously explained sternly: He is killing people to atone for his crimes. In modern society, such an approach is entirely correct. However, in feudal society, the rights and interests of slaves were difficult to protect by law.
Under the feudal system, taking people's lives and finding scapegoats is a common trick of the rich and powerful. As Wang Mang's identity, it is completely possible to rush things. His act of causing his son to commit suicide was truly shocking. When people in later generations talked about this matter, most of them believed that Wang Mang did this in order to gain the support of the world. At that time, Wang Mang was anxious to usurp the Han dynasty as emperor, so he needed to quickly buy people's hearts. Wang Yu committed suicide and praised Wang Mang for his righteousness and justice in enforcing the law. In this way, Wang Mang's road to becoming emperor will go more smoothly.
If it is said that Wang Mang's death is a stepping stone on Wang Mang's road to becoming emperor, the death of Wang Mang's eldest son, Wang Yu, is even more lamentable. Wang Mang wanted to be emperor, so he dealt a big blow to the strength of the empress dowager and the emperor. At that time, everyone in the world knew about Wang Mang's ambitions, but he was forced by the power of the Wang family and pretended not to know. However, what Wang Mang did not expect was that his eldest son Wang Yu actually opposed his claim to be emperor.
Wang Yu, who regarded fame and fortune as a floating cloud, did not have any idea of becoming a prince, on the contrary, he was very worried about his father's behavior. Wang Yu's heart had always adhered to the way of human subjects, and he was in awe of the emperor in the Golden Ruan Palace. In his opinion, although the Emperor of Sorrow was young, he did not grow up one day. By then, not only the father, but probably the entire family will be liquidated. Wang Yu's master Wu Zhang was also an old courtier loyal to the Han Dynasty, and under the education of the master, Wang Yu felt more and more that his father's approach was wrong.
Therefore, Wang Yu repeatedly persuaded his father to return the government to the Han Emperor. However, Wang Mang thought that he had monopolized power and did not take his son's words to heart at all. Wang Yu persuaded more, but was reprimanded by his father. In desperation, a worried Wang Yu found his master Wu Zhang and asked for countermeasures. Wu Zhang's old scheming was deeply calculated, and in his opinion, Wang Mang was a very superstitious person. Since positive persuasion could not be achieved, then, if Wang Yu pretended to be a ghost to scare Wang Mang, it might have a miraculous effect.
After listening to Wu Zhang's words, Wang Yu was deeply impressed, and he sent someone to sprinkle blood wine on his father's door in the middle of the night, hoping to warn his father. Unexpectedly, Wang Yu's men were discovered while doing their work. Under self-defeating, Wang Mang was about to throw his eldest son into prison. When the crowd saw this, they persuaded one after another, but they still could not calm Wang Mang's anger. In order to kill a hundred people, Wang Mang actually gave Wang Yu a glass of poisoned wine. After Wang Yu committed suicide by drinking alcohol, Wang Mang's hatred for him still did not disappear, and he turned his eyes to Wang Yu's wife, that is, his daughter-in-law.
At that time, Wang Yu's wife was still pregnant, and Wang Mang did not act for the time being. After the birth of his grandson, Wang Mang did not hesitate to kill his daughter-in-law to establish his will. Seeing that Wang Mang even had the heart to kill his eldest son, the ministers of the DPRK and China were all only promised and did not dare to have any objections. Wang Mang saw that the time was ripe, so he took advantage of the hot iron to eliminate Princess Jingwu, Ping'a Houren, Hongyang Houli and other forces one after another. Then, he rightly and boldly abolished the Han Dynasty and established himself, changing Chang'an to Chang'an, calling it "the first year of the founding of the country".
At the age of fifty-four, Wang Mang finally realized his dream of being an emperor.
Wang Yu's opposition to himself made Wang Mang feel weak and angry. The usurpation of the throne is like walking on thin ice. In Wang Mang's view, his family, as his backing, should go all out to support him. If even the eldest son is against him, where should he go? Moreover, in ancient societies, the son's opposition to the father would greatly shake the father's position in the whole family.
In addition, Wang Yu's act of spilling blood wine in front of the door was even more taboo for Wang Mang. Wang Mang was superstitious by nature, and he was even more in awe of the theory of ghosts and gods. In his opinion, as soon as the son made this move, he had severed the father-son relationship with himself.
In the end, between family affection and politics, Wang Mang did not hesitate to choose the latter.
Resources:
["The Book of Han and the Later Biography of the Yuan Dynasty", "Wang Mang: The Emperor Is Not a Good One"]