Wang Mang is one of the tyrants in history, and he usurped the Han Dynasty and established Wang Mang's New Deal. Historically, for those usurpers, everyone has been verbally criticized, because people think that as long as they are usurpers of power, they are traitors. Influenced by ancient Confucian orthodoxy, these power grabbers will bear the infamy of eternity. But for Wang Mang, everyone has a different attitude. People call Wang Mang the first social reformer in history, which shows the high evaluation of him. Due to the improper rule of the Han Dynasty in the last years, the people were already dissatisfied with the ruler of the current dynasty, at this time Wang Mang seized the opportunity to try to establish his image in the minds of the people and win the hearts of the people. Some people even suggested that if the succession to the throne at that time was elected, then Wang Mang would definitely become emperor. So what is the reason why Wang Mang is so popular with the people?
First of all, the first reason is that Wang Mang knows very well how to behave in the world. At that time, Wang Mang was very powerful in the dynasty, and many great powers were in his hands, naturally he could catch a lot of oil and water, but Wang Mang would not swallow alone, in order to achieve the purpose of winning people's hearts, Wang Mang would often divide the interests equally with others. Sometimes it's just a few small profits, but some officials are still very satisfied. At that time, in the court, as long as he was a person with some power, Wang Mang would make friends with him. Although this method is not 100% successful, most of the ministers still eat this set, after all, eating people is soft and short. Once bribed, these officials inevitably leaned toward Wang Mang's side. In contrast, Cao Cao did a very poor job in this regard, he did not know how to win people's hearts and minds, and always looked down on those Korean and Chinese officials, so that his descendants finally had no one to help.
The second reason is that Wang Mang knows how to express himself in front of the emperor. Wang Mang often let those under his command praise him in the court, because there were many members of Wang Mang's group at that time, and each of them praised Wang Mang in front of the emperor one after another, and after a long time, the emperor naturally believed it. This is the point that Wang Mang is very clever, he will not personally say how good he is, but through the people around him to express. In this way, Wang Mang himself can not only show his face in front of the emperor, but also get a modest reputation, why not enjoy it? It was precisely because of Wang Mang's practice that the emperor was convinced of him, and also let the people of the world know that there was such a "good official" in the imperial court.
The last reason is that Wang Mang himself is already very good. The first two reasons are auxiliary, and only this last point is the main reason for Wang Mang's popularity. After all, if you don't have real talent and practical learning, you will also show your stuffing based on the praise of others. Wang Mang has a reputation for filial piety in life, he has great respect for his mother, and he treats his family with kindness and righteousness. Moreover, Wang Mang was very simple in life, and rarely wore gold and silver, so he would make the people think that he was a good official who was honest and clean. It is said that once a minister visited Wang Mang's house and met a woman, and at first everyone thought that she was just a slave, but they did not expect that she was Wang Mang's wife. When this story came out, everyone was even more convinced of his simple living habits. Of course, Wang Mang's requirements for his children are also very strict, even if his own son makes a mistake, he is also selfless. Once, his son killed a slave, and everyone thought that Wang Mang would use his official position to suppress this matter, but what everyone did not expect was that Wang Mang actually let his son pay for his life. When this matter came out, everyone praised Wang Mang even more.
The author believes that because wang Mang's image in the minds of the people is very good, after he first usurped power and seized the throne, the people could not ask for it, and there was no criticism of this. But Wang Mang did not know how to govern the country, so within a few years of his reign, he was a mess of the country's governance due to the failure of reform. In fact, if you want to be the monarch of a country, it is far from enough to rely on these superficial efforts, so although Wang Mang has won everyone's trust, he is unable to sit on the emperor's throne, and finally he was ousted from the throne.