In the history of China's feudal society, the interference of foreign relatives in politics has always been a topic. Among the many foreign relatives, Wang Mang in the Western Han Dynasty was undoubtedly a very successful one. In the last year of the Western Han Dynasty, the Han Emperor died early, and Wang Mang took the opportunity to steal power and establish a new dynasty on behalf of the Han Dynasty. Although the new dynasty only existed for 15 years and was overthrown, as the founder of the new dynasty, he was still able to toss around during his reign, and there were countless innovative initiatives.
Picture - Chang'an, the capital of the new dynasty (Xi'an)
Wang Mang was proclaimed empress dowager and implemented a series of measures to benefit the people, known in history as "Wang Mang's reform of the system". Many of Wang Mang's new policies were incompatible with the actual social situation at that time, and even contradicted the actual situation at that time or exceeded the acceptability of the time. Therefore, Wang Mang is considered by many people to be a crosser, and the most representative is the vernier caliper he invented, which is an object that only exists in modern science. Among Wang Mang's many new policies, one of them caused headaches for posterity was to redivide counties and change place names. Wang Mang's penchant for changing place names has reached the point of madness, and the place names he changed have a very obvious postmodern style, which has become evidence that people think that he is a crosser.
For example, Nanyang County in the Central Plains is the birthplace of Liu Xiu, the Guangwu Emperor who later established the Eastern Han Dynasty, such an atmospheric place name, so that Wang Mang changed it to "front team", is there a feeling of a certain production brigade? "Team" through "tunnel", there is a tunnel, Shun tunnel meaning, Wang Mang seems to like this "team" word, used to change a lot of place names, such as Hanoi County renamed the rear team, Yingchuan County renamed the left team, Hongnong County changed its name to the right team, Hedong County changed its name to Zhao, Henan County changed its name to Qi team... The county changed the team, and the original Taishou had to change his name and call him the captain? No, call the Doctor! Now, don't you have to put on a white coat? It's a lot of crying and laughing. Wang Mang had a general named Zhen Fu, who served as a former team doctor and was killed by Liu Xiu. Just rush this name, and you can't do it without losing the battle.
In Qingzhou, in the north of Shandong, there were Jinan County (present-day Jinan), Qi County (present-day Linzi), Beihai and other counties. Wang Mang changed Qi County to Jinan County, so what about Jinan County? Renamed Le'an County. It was really not too much, and after Liu Xiu established the Eastern Han Dynasty, he had to change it back one by one. These new names are not too outrageous, and some are very imaginative. If the original place name has "far", he will change it to "near". The original place name had "none", which he changed to "has". Anyway, the antonym is easy to find, just change it. For example, there was a Guyuan County (present-day Qinyuan County, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province), which was renamed Gujin County, "It is better to be close to the valley, so as not to go hungry." It is said that Wuxi is the place name of Liu Bangding, the ancestor of Han Gao, because the original tin mine in the local area has been dug up, so it is called Wuxi, and Wang Mang had to change it to "there is tin". There was a salt-free county in the State of Dongping in Yanzhou (present-day Dongping, Shandong), which was renamed "Youyan County" by Wang Mang. Quzhou County was changed to Quzhi County, and Quliang County was changed to Zhiliang County. Chenliu County's "Dongxia County" was renamed "Dongming County", and the name was changed well, so it was not changed back, and it has been used until now.
The Xiongnu posed a great threat to the Central Plains Dynasty, and Wang Mang disliked them very much, so he renamed several very famous counties in the north, Beidi County to Qiudi County, and Yanmen County to Qidi County. Even Goguryeo in the northeast did not let go, changed to the next Sentence, Goguryeo was changed to a rotten name, very angry, and attacked the new dynasty. Some place names, Wang Mang changed very casually. For example, Gansu was called Liangzhou in ancient times, and Wang Mang was retro and changed to Yongzhou. This is fine, but the counties under Liangzhou must also be changed, such as the famous four counties of Hexi Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, dunhuang, which is set by Emperor Wu of Han, what a nice name. Wang Mang used a new trick - Zhang Guan Li Dai. Wuwei changed its name to Zhangye, what about That Zhangye? Changed to Set Up Ping County, which means an important Ping Domain for defending the Xiongnu, really dare not compliment. Jiaodong County (present-day Pingdu, Shandong) was named because it was located east of Jiaoshui, and Wang Mang moved Jiaodong County west to the west of Jiaoshui (present-day Changyi, Shandong), also known as Jiaodong.
Many place names have long been accustomed to, many place names are originally very good, very historical, Wang Mang does not care, it is a random change. After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu had to return again. When the Eastern Han Dynasty man Ban Gu was repairing the Book of Han, in the face of the messy place names changed by Wang Mang, his head was big, and he really felt sorry for Ban Gu.