Throughout the thousands of years of Chinese history, there are too many incredible people and things, it seems that the ancients never lacked the ability to create miracles.
Among the emperors of the feudal period, there are also some incredible characters who can create, and Wang Mang, the founder of the new dynasty, is one of the most worthy of saying.
Because Wang Mang is always considered a traverser by some modern people.
As for why Wang Mang has so much ability, it is because Wang Mang is like a walking "surprise", he reformed in the name of retro, but changed a lot of political measures that deviated from that era.
In addition, he was passionate about all kinds of inventions, some of which even resemble the objects we use every day today.
What is even more surprising is that the clothes designed by Wang Mang for his wife are simply comparable to the current designers, and from the clothes worn by his wife, people once again suspect that Wang Mang is a person who traveled back to ancient times from modern times.
It's just that where in the world is there any traverser, Wang Mang is an ancient person full of whimsy in his bones after all, and his story has to start with the death of Emperor Yuan of Han.
The rise of Wang Mang
After the death of Emperor Yuan of Han, her own son Emperor Chengdi of Han succeeded to the throne, and Wang Zhengjun became the empress dowager, holding the final decision-making power of the imperial government, and Wang Zhengjun was Wang Mang's aunt.
With the support of Wang Zhengjun, nine people in the Wang family have been made marquises, and five people have served as the Grand Sima, it can be said that the Wang family was the most prominent foreign family in the Western Han Dynasty in addition to the royal family at that time, and Wang Mang was born in such a family.
According to the current script, in such a family background, as an authentic rich second generation, life seems to be only a game in the world, Wang Mang naturally wants to, but it is difficult for him to do it.
Because a lot of misfortune happened to him, it seems that fate chose him and would not have made him so comfortable.
When Wang Mang was very young, his father and brother died, and he could only live with his uncle.
The life under the fence is naturally unsatisfactory, but Wang Mang is very motivated, he is alone and clean, simple life, humble, diligent and studious, seems to become an alternative in the family, in addition, Wang Mang also likes to be friends with the wise men of the world, in that era when he was still recommended by the Magi officials as officials, Wang Mang was like a fish in water.
Wang Mang was famous and also received the support of family forces, and at the age of 24 he joined the imperial court as an official, and after becoming an official, Wang Mang still paid tribute to the corporal and was more humble to the elders, coupled with seriousness, he was soon taken care of by his uncle Wang Feng, who was the Great Sima.
Before Wang Feng's death, he also specially instructed Empress Xiaoyuan Wang Zhengjun to take care of Wang Mang, and with the support of the empress, Wang Mang began to make steady progress on the road to the throne, and when he was 30 years old, he was made a marquis, and later became a great sima, and became a powerful person in the dynasty.
Wang Mang's reforms
After all, Wang Mang was born as a foreign qi, which caused the dissatisfaction of many ministers in the dynasty, and in the inheritance of the feudal dynasty, foreign qi interfered in politics very uncomfortable for the courtiers, after all, they believed that at any time, power should not be touched by the emperor's mother's family.
Wang Mang can ignore this set, after all, the taste of power is too beautiful, and he is already immersed in it.
Since there were people opposed, then Wang Mang was not polite, he eradicated the opposition forces, while suppressing the Western Han royal forces, and finally in 9 AD, officially ascended the throne as emperor, established a new dynasty, the year name is the founding of the state, since then history has entered the 15 years belonging to Wang Mang.
Wang Mang single-handedly ended the Western Han Dynasty, and history has since been rewritten, but he did not expect that the innovation of his mind after assuming the throne would eventually make the dynasty he snatched fleeting and collapse.
During the 15 years of Wang Mang's reign, he did a lot of things, and if I want to sum it up in one word, it is reform, and it is these reform measures that make many people think that Wang Mang is an authentic character who lives in the present and travels through the past.
Many dynasties after Wang Mang did not recognize Wang Mang, and it was not until after the Qing Dynasty that Wang Mang was justified, and some people think that he can be called the first visionary social reformer in Chinese history, and Mr. Hu Shi believes that he is the socialist emperor before 1900.
Wang Mang's reform measures are many, if explained in detail, it will require too much paper, let's take the land system as an example:
Wang Mang's advocacy of returning land to state ownership is of course not the concept of royal land under the whole world in the past, but the same as the land system implemented now, all land ownership is the state, and it is uniformly distributed by the state, that is, similar to the land system under socialism.
In addition, Wang Mang also proposed distribution according to work, advocating more work and more reward, but income must be paid personal income tax, are these policies very familiar?
Wife's clothes
In addition to reform, Wang Mang was also keen on invention, and his most proud work was the vernier caliper, which not only had a similar function to the present, but also the same appearance, more than 1700 years earlier than Western countries in terms of invention time.
In addition to designing practical tools, Wang Mang is also good at clothing design, and his wife is a faithful "model", no matter what kind of clothes, as long as Wang Mang can design it, she dares to wear it.
In that conservative era, women's clothing was very exquisite, especially the need to be tightly wrapped, not to show arms and legs, if violated, it was against women's morals, not only to protect the abuse of people around them, but also to be suspended.
But Wang Mang's wife had no such concerns at all, because her clothes had "special interpretations."
According to unearthed artifacts, Wang Mang's wife had a "miniskirt" that was no longer than the knee.
The ancients attached great importance to etiquette, righteousness and integrity, and women did not even have the power to laugh, so basically no woman dared to try a short skirt that was "not covered".
But Wang Mang didn't feel anything wrong with letting his wife dress like this, and he even let his wife wear a "miniskirt" to go out to welcome guests generously, which is enough to confirm that Wang Mang's concept is extremely open, and there is not much difference from the current people.
During the feudal imperial period, Wang Mang's wife's dress could be described as "unprecedented and unprecedented", until after the fall of the Qing government, the mind began to be liberated, and women's clothes began to slowly approach Wang Mang's wife.
You know, it was nearly two thousand years since Wang Mang lived.
If miniskirts are avant-garde and "not very proven", then Wang Mang's phoenix crown veil for his wife is a fairly formal headdress, which is similar to the bride's outfit in Chinese weddings today.
From retro to reform, from innovation to openness, Wang Mang's thinking is not like that of ancient people, which is no wonder that people now suspect that he is an emperor who traveled back from modern times.
References: "A General History of China", etc.
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