The long river of history is running endlessly, there are calm waves, there are also waves, let Xiaobian take you into history and understand history.
Wang Mang was a foreign relative of the imperial family at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, and Wang Zhengjun, the empress of the Han Yuan Emperor Liu Yi (shi), was Wang Mang's maternal aunt.
Wang Zhengjun was the natural nephew of the empress, and Wang Mang was a little crooked and was soon made the Duke of An Han, ranking first among the hundred officials.
We all know that the emperor at the end of the Western Han Dynasty was a phoenix chicken - a generation is not as good as a generation, Wang Mang saw these in his eyes, was happy in his heart, and thought that the opportunity to come out on his own had come.
He used deceptive and disguised means to win the praise of the imperial court and the implementation of a policy of small favors to the common people, thus buying out the hearts of the people.
When the opportunity was ripe, Wang Mang revealed his true face. He forced the late Western Han Emperor to give up the throne to himself, and the Western Han Dynasty collapsed, and Wang Mang declared himself emperor to establish a new dynasty.
Wang Mang is simply a chameleon, an "Oscar Best Actor", good at acting, he has blinded the world, he was named An Han Gong at the age of 46, after just 8 years of acting, to 54 years old to sit emperor.
There is a saying that what is false is false after all, and sooner or later it will be punctured.
After Wang Mang sat as emperor of the new dynasty, he carried out a series of reforms in the face of chaos and hunger, and the original intention of the reform was good, but the result was very bad. This is all determined by Wang Mang's personality, such as some national policies that change day and night, dooming these reforms to not succeed, and Wang Mang ends up being unflattering inside and out.
Powerful landlords and common people hate it to the bone, there is an old Chinese saying called "good good and evil die", which means that the evil people can not be punished, the good people can not get benefits, such an emperor will not sit for a long time, Wang Mang is such an example.
In the fourth year of Emperor Di (23 AD) (the fourteenth year of Wang Mang's reign), the rebel army (Green Forest Army) invaded Chang'an, and Wang Mang's rule finally came to an end.
The Green Forest Army was a rebel army of some displaced people and poor people who rebelled against Wang Mang's rule, and in order to be justified, the rebel army elected the royal descendants of the displaced people, and the cattle herder Liu Penzi became the leader.
At this time, Wang Mang saw that the general situation had gone, and hurriedly disguised himself as a common man to escape from the city, only to be discovered by the Green Forest Army, and the history books recorded: A lieutenant of a righteous military academy found Wang Mang, went forward and beheaded Wang Mang's head, and hung in the city of Wan, dozens of soldiers rushed to kill Wang Mang and split Wang Mang's body.
Later, when Liu Xiu established the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wang Mang's head was always placed in the arsenal and soaked with mercury.
In 295 AD, when Sima Zheng, the foolish emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty, was in power, due to the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings", the Luoyang arsenal was burned, and in this fire, Wang Mang's head was burned, and wang Mang's head was collected for more than 300 years.
The question is, what is the value of Wang Mang's head? Why has it been collected by successive dynasties for more than 300 years?
The Green Forest Army collected Wang Mang's head, on the one hand, to record merit with his head, and on the other hand, to warn future generations: Don't be a chaotic thief, otherwise Wang Mang will be your fate.
In ancient times, orthodoxy was deeply rooted in people's hearts, and they all believed that the Han Dynasty was the domain of the Liu family, and the seizure of the throne by other surnames was a great rebellion, which is why the Green Forest Army wanted to elect a cattle herder Liu Penzi as the leader. (It is said that Liu Penzi is a descendant of Liu Bang)
After Liu Xiu became the world, because his surname was Liu, he claimed to be a descendant of Liu Bang, and belonged to the orthodox succession, and Liu Xiu had to fight against Wang Mang's usurpation of Han, so as to highlight his legitimacy in order to maintain the long-term peace and stability of his throne.
After the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when it came to the Three Kingdoms and the Western Jin Dynasty, in order to prevent foreign relatives from following Wang Mang's example and taking power, keeping Wang Mang's head still had a warning effect.
Successive emperors of all dynasties were very jealous of foreign relatives interfering in politics, and in the Ming Dynasty, foreign relatives and eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in politics and were included in the ancestral system, so it seems that avoiding foreign relatives from taking power was the consensus of emperors of various dynasties, so Wang Mang's head was retained. The purpose is to serve as a warning and negative teaching material, and has no other value.
Well, today's sharing ends here, and we'll see you next time