In China's dynastic changes, most of the dynasties in a country began with a bottom-up peasant movement, such as the Chen Sheng Wuguang Uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty and the peasant uprising led by Zhu Yuanzhang at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.
A small number of them are fights between countries, which lead to the death of countries. For example, the destruction of the Song Dynasty and the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, which are the phenomenon of the loss of the country caused by the victory or loss of wars between countries.
The term internal and external troubles refers to the above two situations, which often exist at the same time.
However, in history, there was a dynasty that had no external troubles and few peasant uprisings, but it still perished, and the main factor was the Confucian faction at that time, this dynasty was the Western Han Dynasty.
The three last emperors of the Western Han Dynasty
In 51 BC, the then Emperor Cheng of Han died of sudden illness, leaving a huge mess for his nephew, the then crown prince Liu Xin, later Emperor Wei of Han.
During his reign, Emperor Hancheng did not do a few serious things, patronizing the indulgence of alcohol, and entrusted political affairs to foreign relatives and favored ministers. And these courtiers, with the authority given by the emperor, acted recklessly, resulting in chaos in the affairs of the imperial court and the prevalence of corruption.
Therefore, some wild histories write that the death of Emperor Hancheng was a "wind immediately", and the wine hollowed out his body, resulting in sudden illness, and it was extremely dishonorable to write.
But the only thing he was more sober was that after he had no heirs for a long time, he chose to choose a more astute nephew among the clan kings as the prince.
Therefore, even if Emperor Hancheng died suddenly, when Liu Xin ascended the throne, he still had a certain amount of authority in his hands, so as not to become a puppet emperor.
When the Han Dynasty Emperor Liu Xin first came to the throne, he also had great ambitions, hoping to become a figure like the ancestor Emperor Wudi of Han. But even with his ambitions, resistance to policy implementation led the young emperor to retreat.
Emperor Weidi of Han seemed to have foreseen the scene of the demise of the Western Han Dynasty, and finally chose to let it go, and even added a fire to make the Western Han collapse faster.
The Han Moi Emperor also lived for a very short time, reigning for six years before dying, and unlike the previous emperor, who indulged in women, the Han Moi Emperor indulged in male color, and during the time of poor health, he divided a large part of the authority in his hands to his favored courtier Dong Xian.
Because Emperor Han was addicted to male color and had no children to be born, later the then Grand Sima Wang Mang chose a nine-year-old child in the side branch of the royal family to succeed him, that is, Emperor Hanping.
The whole country knows that this emperor is a veritable puppet, and the real mastermind is the Great Sima Wang Mang behind him.
The Grand Sima Wang Mang, who held real power, ascended the throne and established a new dynasty after some election. Since then, the Western Han Dynasty has been defeated in wars without gunsmoke and has come to a complete end.
Battle at the top
During the reign of Emperor Hancheng, everything was left to power, and foreign qi were allowed to take power, among which the Wang family was the most important, and after his death, these foreign qi became the biggest obstacle to Emperor Han's ambitions.
At that time, the four major foreign families: Fu, Ding, Zhao, and Dong were extremely arrogant and domineering, and there were many parties in the dynasty, involving the whole body, and the scenery was unique for a while, and even the emperor had to avoid one or two.
At that time, Emperor Han spent great effort to transfer the backbone of the Wang clan, the Great Sima Wang Mang, but the problem of foreign qi was still delayed.
In addition to foreign qi, Confucian ministers are also a great resistance, and in order to prevent Confucian ministers from completely linking up with foreign qi, the balance between the two has been maintained.
Then transferring Wang Mang is to be expected.
Wang Mang is very special, although he was born in the Wang family, he was not contaminated with the arrogant and domineering atmosphere of foreign qi, but strictly demanded himself, whether it was in life or in the style of dealing with official affairs, coupled with advocating Confucianism, the Confucian courtiers in the court had good senses for him, and even befriended him.
Therefore, the Han Dynasty Emperor had to choose to open this link between Confucian ministers and foreign relatives, and the Wang family temporarily retired from the political arena.
When Emperor Han thought he had balanced the imperial court and was ready to show his strength, the Han courtiers gave him another blow.
Using himself as an example of thrift, Emperor Han issued a policy called the Land Restriction Order, which was the biggest factor limiting the development of the Han Dynasty.
As soon as this policy was issued, both Confucian ministers and foreign Qi stood up against it, and this move of the Han Dynasty Emperor had shaken the foundation of these court officials.
So at such moments, they united because of their interests and silently resisted them. When Emperor Han decided to hand over power to favored courtiers before his death, these Confucian courtiers finally couldn't bear it anymore.
At this time, they remembered that the former Great Sima Wang Mang.
Wang Mang, who holds great power
The arrogant style of foreign qi has long made these courtiers who believe in Confucianism dissatisfied for a long time, and the arrangement of the power of the Han Dying Emperor made these courtiers eager to find a breakthrough, so that they could truly grasp power and enter the center of power.
So under their impetus, Wang Mang entered the court again, but this time it was different, both Confucian and foreign Qi were faintly headed by him.
Facing the nine-year-old puppet emperor, Wang Mang knows how to win people's hearts even more.
So under Wang Mang's signal, the Confucian faction collectively wrote to the emperor, asking Wang Mang to be regent and exercise responsibility instead of the Son of Heaven, and it was Wang Mang who was really in charge, and after shirking, Wang Mang became a veritable "emperor".
After Wang Mang took power, he did not forget to win the hearts of the people, taking the lead in donating land and good land to the common people, providing free food to the poor along the way, building new houses, etc., although it was unrealistic, but the Confucian courtiers in the imperial court had a better impression of it.
But he was not satisfied with this, how could he not have any ideas about the imperial throne, and since Emperor Hancheng, natural disasters have continued, giving him a good opportunity to ascend the throne.
The four words "Heaven and Man Induction" became the last straw that crushed the Western Han Dynasty, and they connected natural disasters to the Han royal family, believing that the Han royal family was unworthy of the throne, and the number of qi was exhausted, resulting in frequent natural disasters.
On the one hand, he said that Wang Mang was born noble and could be a great task. Therefore, under the internal and external impetus of Confucian ministers, Wang Mang ascended the throne and established a new dynasty, and the Western Han dynasty completely collapsed.
brief summary
During the reign of Emperor Chengdi of Han, he was terrified by the theory of heaven and man, and the Han Dynasty had a strong reverence for the sky, which was also the key to the success of the Confucian courtiers, who were able to prove that the Han royal family had exhausted their strength with natural disasters.
During the reign of the Han Dynasty and the Han Ping Emperor, although the Western Han Dynasty was going downhill, it was far from reaching the point where the people were not living in poverty. At that time, the famous general Chen Tang's deterrent to the frontier was still there.
However, under such a relatively peaceful situation, under the shock of the rhetoric of the Confucian courtiers, the Western Han Dynasty collapsed from top to bottom, and a generation of dynasties was also in Confucianism, and defeat was also in Confucianism.