Wang Mang was born in 45 BC and died in 23 AD, a famous foreign relative in the late Western Han Dynasty. From a grass citizen to a powerful courtier. He later usurped the throne of the Liu dynasty and was one of the most controversial emperors in Chinese history, with a series of reforms of political system unprecedented in ancient times. At the same time, some people say that he traveled through the past in later generations. So today we will not talk about this, let's talk about another of his most shocking events in history. The story of four concubines who killed their third son plus daughter-in-law and eldest grandson.
In ancient times, the father killed the son and the son killed the father. It is extremely rare both in ancient times and in modern times. Like Li Shimin, forcing his father to abdicate and killing his two brothers is a major stain on his ruling career. Liu Che, the emperor of Hanwu, was old and faint, killed his son and grandson, and regretted it incomparably afterwards. But Wang Mang seems to have become addicted to forcing his son to commit suicide. Again and again, he killed three of his four sisters-in-law, leaving only a stupid son. So why is that? Please listen to me to give you one by one.
During the Han Yuan Dynasty, the Wang family rapidly expanded with the help of the empress Wang Zhengjun at that time. Emperor Yuan of Han, on the other hand, was more amiable, benevolent, and more Confucian. Therefore, most of the people of the Wang clan are generals and princes. The Wang family is domineering in the capital and causing trouble, but the Wang family has a different person, that is, Wang Mang, the nephew of Empress Wang Zhengjun.
Wang Mang liked to be pure and humble, lived a simple life, was industrious and studious, and often divided his own fortune among his disciples and commoners. He also served his mother and his widowed sister-in-law and nephew. Become a moral role model in the eyes of the world. So his reputation soon surpassed those elders in the family.
After Wang Mang stepped into the officialdom, he continued to maintain his previous clean and simple posture. He was more respectful to people, so his path to official status was smooth, and in 8 BC, the Hancheng Emperor Liu Xiao (the son of Emperor Yuan of Han and Wang Zhengjun and Wang Zhengjun and Wang Mang's cousin) appointed Wang Mang as Grand Sima, and Wang Mang was only 38 years old that year.
In 7 BC, Emperor Hancheng died, and Emperor Hancheng succeeded his nephew Emperor Hanwei. In this way, the families of Emperor Hanwei's grandmother, Empress Dowager Fu and Empress Ding of Dingtao, began to gain power again. Although the Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun has not yet died, it is called a son of heaven and a courtier. Seeing that something was wrong, Wang Mang stepped down and went into seclusion, closed his doors, and was cautious in order to avoid the political attacks of the Empress Dowager Ding and the Empress Dowager Fu family.
Because the Wang family has been prosperous for decades, if the Ding family and the Fu family want to rise, they will inevitably step on the Wang family, and the biggest official position is Wang Mang, who must bear the brunt of it. So he stepped down to live in seclusion.
However, during Wang Mang's seclusion, his second son Wang Yu killed one of the family's servants, which made Wang Mang furious. The problem of slaves in the Han Dynasty was relatively serious, and although the Han law prohibited the mutilation of slaves, not to mention the end of the Western Han Dynasty, it was difficult to prohibit it even in normal times, especially for Haoqiang. Moreover, the slave sued the master's office not to accept it. However, Wang Mang severely punished him for this matter, and I don't know if it was because he was forced into seclusion by Emperor Hanwei, Fu and Ding. Or maybe the two fathers and sons were at odds, so Wang Mang forced Wang Yu to commit suicide.
For the sake of a slave, Wang Mang forced a concubine to death, and the feat of righteous annihilation of relatives made Wang Mang praise for a while, coupled with the domineering Ding and Fu families, making the capital a miasma. As a result, hundreds of officials and commoners wrote to complain about Wang Mang's deposition, hoping that the Han Emperor would summon Wang Mang back to the imperial court. As a result, Emperor Han had to re-recruit Wang Mang back to the capital to serve the Empress Dowager, but did not resume his official position.
Later, Emperor Han died. On the day of his death, Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun withdrew the jade seal of the kingdom. Reign of the dynasty. Wang Mang was again appointed Grand Sima, but Emperor Han had no sons. Wang Mang installed Liu Yin, the nine-year-old son of Liu Xing, the filial king of Zhongshan, as emperor and called Emperor Ping of Han.
Because during the reign of Emperor Han, he finally used foreign qi to suppress the Wang clan, leaving Wang Mang helpless to stay away from the court for several years, so after Emperor Hanping became emperor, Wang Mang was worried about repeating the mistakes of the past, so he sealed Emperor Hanping's mother and clansmen to Zhongshan State and forbade them to return to the capital. After that, Wang Mang's political ambitions began to be gradually exposed.
However, this incident was strongly opposed by Wang Mang's eldest son, Wang Yu, who feared that Emperor Hanping would retaliate when he grew up. Therefore, strongly opposed. But Wang Mang is Wang Ba who eats the scales and iron. So Wang Yu and his teacher Wu Zhang discussed and used the words of ghosts and gods to scare Wang Mang.
So Wang Yu asked his wife's uncle Lü Kuan to sprinkle dog blood on Wang Mang's gate as a warning. Say that this is the will of God. However, when it was discovered in the process of implementation, Wang Mang arrested his son Wang Yu in a fit of anger and imprisoned him, and later poisoned him. And even if Wang Yu's wife Lü Yan was pregnant, she was also arrested by Wang Mang and sent to prison, and after Lü Yan gave birth to a child, Wang Mang killed his daughter-in-law Lü Yan and his grandson. It's too ruthless, it's too brutal.
After the Bloody Gate incident, Wang Mang took this opportunity to frame and kill the Waiqi Guards. There are also political enemies in the DPRK. This caused shock to the government and the public. However, in order to eliminate the negative influence, Wang Mang also asked people to publicize this incident as Wang Mang's feat of "destroying relatives with great righteousness and forgetting selfishness", and even wrote an article praising it. Distribute to officials, ordinary people everywhere, let them recite these articles.
After the death of Emperor Hanping, Wang Mang, in order to facilitate his control of the imperial court, made Liu Ying, who was only two years old, crown prince. Because Emperor Yuan of Han's lineage had been severed, Wang Mang chose among the descendants of Emperor Xuan of Han's other sons, and Liu Ying, the grandson of Emperor Xuan of Han's third son, Liu Yao, was the most suitable age.
Liu Ying has never been an emperor, his identity is the crown prince, and Wang Mang calls him "Xiaozi", and the world is called "Xiaozi Baby". Wang Mang, with the support of Wang Zhengjun, represented the Son of Heaven dynasty and called him a false emperor, while his subjects called Wang Mang the regent emperor, and Wang Mang called himself "Yu".
Wang Mang's behavior aroused the anger of the Liu clan and the supporters of the Han Dynasty, and many people rose up against it, and were eventually eliminated one by one, and Wang Mang's position became more and more solid, so in 7 AD, Wang Mang had the desire to become emperor.
So Wang Mang forced Wang Zhengjun to hand over the jade seal of the country, accepted the infant Zen let him become emperor, entered the temple of Gaozu to worship, the imperial crown is the throne of the son of heaven, changed the name of the country to "new", Wang Mang is the new ancestor, changed Chang'an to Chang'an, called "the first year of the founding of the state", Wang Mang was 54 years old at the time.
And Wang Mang's youngest Wang Lin was made a prince when Wang Mang succeeded to the throne, because the third son Wang An was stupid, and Wang Lin saw his two brothers forced to die, and he didn't know what his end was? In addition, the discipline is relatively strict, and you can't go outside to wander. Because Wang Mang's wife Wang Shi cried blind because Wang Mang forced two sons to death, Wang Lin went to his mother more. After coming and going, he had an affair with his mother's attendant Yuan Bi.
In 21 AD, Wang Lin was worried about the East Window incident, so Yu Yuan Bi premeditated the murder of Wang Mang, and as a result, the plot leaked Yuan, and confessed to fornication, in order to cover up this scandal, Wang Mang killed all the officials involved in the interrogation, and asked Wang Lin to commit suicide by drinking poisoned wine, and Wang Lin chose to draw his sword and kill himself.
Wang Mang really became a sole husband at this moment, and the new dynasty he founded did not even have a legitimate heir. In fact, there was no need for a successor, his reputation collapsed, the New Deal failed, and he only supported it for another two years before being destroyed by the Green Forest Army.
Some people say that they do not understand Wang Mang's behavior, but in fact, all his actions, including respectful and unusurped, killing sons and seeking fame, etc., are not only for the position of power, but also to ascend the throne of God is his ultimate goal. But everything he got with his son's blood was still a false dream after all.