The definition of usurpation refers to the use of various means by courtiers to seize the throne of the king, if this is the standard, in fact, Cao Pi and Liu Bang are considered usurpers, because Cao Pi is a Han chen, Liu Bang is also a Qin chen, Cao Pi used the foundation laid by his father Cao Cao to force Han Xian Emperor Chan to give the throne to himself, which is usurpation.
In the same way, Liu Bang, as the chief of the Pei County Surabaya Pavilion of the Qin Dynasty, was the standard Qin official, although his status was low and his official position was small, he was still a Qin official, and then Liu Bang used the entire anti-Qin uprising war under the whole world, the first to invade the Qin capital Xianyang to destroy the Qin Dynasty, and then after four years of chu-Han war, he defeated Xiang Yu and finally seized the world, which was also a usurpation.
Liu
Therefore, from the definition of usurpation, Liu Bang and Cao Pi both seized the monarch's throne by their courtiers, which is called usurpation, but in a practical sense, Liu Bang and Cao Pi are actually not called usurpers, because the way they seized the world was not to use the power, status and identity of the courtiers to seize, but to fight out.
First of all, Liu Bang, although Liu Bang was a low-level low-level official of the Qin Dynasty, not even an official, since Chen Sheng and Wu Guang opened the peasant uprising at the end of Qin, Liu Bang also pulled up a team to start anti-Qin, at the beginning, Liu Bang was only a very ordinary one among thousands of anti-Qin military generals, but Liu Bang was able to rely on his own ability, in the war to attack the capital of the Qin Dynasty all the way to the west, all the way to the west to recruit talents, all the way to attack the city, recruited outstanding talents such as Zhang Liang, Xiao He, and Han Xin, and then developed and grew step by step. The first one entered Guanzhong, approached Xianyang, forced the Prince of Qin to surrender, and destroyed the Qin Dynasty.
Liu Bang was proclaimed emperor
In the entire history of the Seven-Year War, Liu Bang did not use the status of Qin officials to gain power and coerce the Qin Dynasty monarchs to abdicate, but to rely on the war of entrepreneurship to fight the world, in a sense, Liu Bang is a self-made entrepreneur, he got the world, he started his own business, and has nothing to do with the Qin Dynasty, so in a practical sense, it cannot be said that Liu Bang usurped Qin.
Speaking of Cao Pi, Cao Pi inherited Cao Cao's position and everything, such as the territory of the northern nine states, millions of people, and hundreds of cities, these resources were all laid down by Cao Cao after decades of war, and no piece of land in the whole world belonged to the Han Dynasty, and no one of the people belonged to the Han Dynasty, all of which were laid down by Cao Cao, which is called entrepreneurship, not usurpation.
Cao Cao fights the world
Cao Cao's beginning was not to use the status of Han Chen, but to use his own family property, clan and people who supported him to help him with money, Cao Cao was in Chen Liu, relying on his family's money and the support of the local Hao weizi, recruiting troops and horses, pulling up a team of five thousand people, and then using these five thousand people to start fighting the world.
Cao Cao defeated the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou, gathered hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turban Troops and their nearly one million family members, Cao Cao defeated Lü Bu in Xia Pi, absorbed Lü Bu's army, Cao Cao surrendered Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu, Cao Cao defeated Liu Bei, and also defeated Yuan Shao, a powerful enemy in the north, in the Battle of Guandu, and then used a few years to unify the whole of Hebei, and then developed step by step, and finally achieved the ninth of the thirteen states in the world, but all of this was obtained by Cao Cao from his own pocket. It was not obtained by relying on the official status of the Han Dynasty.
Everything that Cao Cao has is called by himself, and has nothing to do with Emperor Xian of Han, even if there is no Emperor Xian of Han, Cao Cao will fight down, and then Cao Cao will leave everything he has laid down to his son Cao Pi to inherit, which is a matter of course, as for Cao Pi forcing Emperor Xian of Han to give up the throne, it is just a process, because Emperor Xian of Han is only alive, and the Han Dynasty is already dead, so Cao Pi is not a usurper.
Cao Cao claimed the title of king
So what is the way to usurp the throne?
Wang Mang's way of usurping the throne is considered to be usurped. Wang Mang was a Han courtier, and then step by step in the imperial court to achieve a high position, and has the highest power that Han Chen can obtain, and then Wang Mang used his status as a Han Dynasty power minister to seize the Western Han Orphans and Widows' Jiangshan through a series of black box operations, which is called usurpation, because Wang Mang is essentially in front of Han Chen, but he is doing the work of betraying the monarch, which is called usurpation.
So why did the ancients resent usurpation so much?
Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "deposed the Hundred Families and respected Confucianism alone", in fact, Confucianism has become the governing ideology and basic moral quality of the Han Dynasty, and the most important principle in Confucian thought is the Three Principles and Five Constants, the first of which is: The King is a Subject. This means that the monarch is the criterion of the courtier, that is, the subject must obey the monarch unconditionally, and if the subject seizes the throne of the monarch, what is this called? This is called rebellion, this is called rebellion, and it is a thief who can be cursed by everyone.
The last emperor of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Xian of Han
At the same time, the five constants of Confucianism are: benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom, and faith. Representing the moral quality of Confucianism, benevolence is the meaning of loving everyone, righteousness is to assume the necessary responsibility, etiquette is the constraint of morality, wisdom is the meaning of wisdom, faith is the meaning of integrity, and the five permanents represent the basic moral norms of the two Han Dynasties, equivalent to the current socialist moral norms, which are the moral constraints of the whole society except for the law, stipulating what can be done and what cannot be done.
However, when a courtier seized the throne of the monarch, he not only violated the three principles, that is, violated the laws of the time, but also violated the five constants, that is, violated the moral constraints of the time, which was simply a great act of rebellion, which was an act against mankind at that time, the emperor was the spiritual pillar of feudal society and the supreme leader of the country, and the monarchy was given by heaven, and no one could seize the throne by conspiracy through the status of a vassal, which was not trusted and supported at that time.
Cao Pi was proclaimed emperor
From the perspective of the laws and morals of these times, Liu Bang and Cao Pi were actually not usurpers, because Liu Bang was the world that he started his own business, and Cao Pi inherited the Jiangshan played by his father Cao Cao, and Cao Cao was like Liu Bang who started his own business to fight the world, so there is no usurpation.