After the prosperity of Han Wu, from Emperor Yuan of Han down, successive emperors were either gentle and weak, or procrastinating, or short-lived, and eunuchs and foreign relatives successively specialized in imperial politics, resulting in disorder in discipline and corruption among officials. The Western Han Dynasty went from glory and strength to decline, and Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, which quickly led to defeat.
In the third year of Wang Mang's regency, a great plague fell from heaven, and a large number of people died of disease, and the living fled everywhere. The picture shows a part of Ming Zhouchen's "Picture of the Displaced People".
At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, wars, prisons, famines, and the outbreak of the Great Plague were one after another, and the defeat of the dynasty was revealed. Wang Mang took the opportunity to rise up on behalf of the Han, but he also acted perversely, causing two great plagues and more natural and man-made disasters. The regime he established became a short-lived dynasty that was short-lived in history; And he himself could not escape the end of disrepute.
After three years as regent, he suffered a great plague
Wang Mang was born in a family of foreign Qi who was in power, his father died early, and his aunt was the empress of Emperor Yuan of Han and the biological mother of Emperor Cheng of Han, Wang Zhengjun, and there were nine marquis in the family, and five served as Grand Simas. Wang Mang is smart and diligent, and he is knowledgeable in Confucianism, but his biggest feature is "pseudo". He often does things that are ostensibly beneficial to the country and the people, but in essence he is pretentious and seeks a good reputation.
When the clansmen competed for luxury, Wang Mang did the opposite, making a simple and diligent, respectful and upright appearance, and made a wide range of celebrities and magi. When his uncle, Grand Sima Wang Feng, was seriously ill, he took care of him without clothes; When Wang Feng was dying, he entrusted Wang Mang to the Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun to help him enter the throne.
After becoming an official, Wang Mang became more and more frugal and incorruptible, and he was a corporal with courtesy, and often used his own fortune to help others. His wife was mistaken for a slave because of her humble dress; His nephew lost his father at a young age, and Wang Mang personally arranged for him to study with the doctor, which won the praise of his teachers and classmates. There are many other examples of such fame fishing, and the Book of Han hits the nail on the head by pointing out that Wang Mang is bent on seeking fame, and is still the kind of person who is "good at pretentiousness but can be frank but not ashamed."
Due to the decline of the Western Han Kingdom, Wang Mang's virtues soon won the favor of the court and the public. Emperor Chengdi of Han regarded him as a virtuous person, and celebrities in the court and the public also praised him a lot. Wang Mang thus rose all the way to the top of his life, becoming a great sima at the age of less than forty. In the second year of Yuan Shou (1 BC), the Han Dynasty Emperor died, the nine-year-old Hanping Emperor ascended the throne, and the Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun was called the Yuan Dynasty, changing the Yuan Dynasty. Wang Mang served as an auxiliary minister and held great power.
At this time, his ambition gradually revealed, promoting those who were submissive, destroying those who hated haters, and soon enlisting a group of confidant officials. These people did their best to boast, asking for rewards for Wang Mang, writing articles praising merit and virtue, and further beautifying Wang Mang's reputation. On the one hand, Wang Mang squeezed out political opponents, and on the other hand, he continued to "act". When he was given the title of "Duke of An Han", he insisted on resigning all the land, households, and servants that he had been sealed, and asked for rewards for the kings of the clan family, officials at all levels, and ordinary people, so as to win more people's hearts.
Wang Mang also tried to curry favor with the Empress Dowager. For example, he proposed to crown the three sisters of Wang Zhengjun; He knew that Wang Zhengjun did not like to live in the deep palace, so he often held activities to go out to hunt; Even if Wang Zhengjun's maid was sick, Wang Mang would personally greet him.
In the third year of his regency, the second year of the first century (2 AD), great drought, locust plagues, and epidemics suddenly appeared in the counties. The disaster in Qingzhou was particularly severe, and the people were deprived of food and clothing, and they were in exile.
After the disaster, Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty
This was the first major plague encountered since the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty. Shen Tugang, who is known for his straightness, said, "The destiny of the epidemic, the thieves are numerous, and there are tens of thousands", which is a disaster that has never been encountered since Hanxing. In order to provide disaster relief, Wang Mang led more than 200 officials to donate land and houses to help the victims, and adopted pension measures such as tax reductions, funeral expenses, and unified resettlement. However, he did not rein in his ambition to steal power, causing a real disaster for the Han Dynasty.
In the third year of the Yuan Dynasty, Wang Mang suppressed the Wei family of Emperor Hanping's foreign qi in order to consolidate his power. His eldest son, Wang Yu, tried to dissuade him, but Wang Mang poisoned him in a fit of anger, taking the opportunity to frame and kill the Wei clan and force him to kill his political enemies. The number of people who died as a result of the implication shook the world. In order to save his reputation, Wang Mang ordered people to fabricate this matter into a righteous act of exterminating relatives, and even wrote articles to publicize it everywhere like the "Book of Filial Piety", and ordered officials and people everywhere to recite it.
In the fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty, Wang Mang added the name "Zaiheng" and was above the princes. He vigorously restored the indoctrination of ritual music and won the support of Confucianism, and soon at the invitation of the princes and courtiers, he was rewarded with the supreme honorable "Jiuxi".
He also sent eight henchmen as messengers to investigate the situation of the people in various places, the purpose of which was to boast of his edification skills. After the eight envoys returned to the dynasty, they declared that the customs of the world were ordinary and simple, and also forged songs praising Wang Mang in various counties, totaling 30,000 words. In order to show his political achievements and strong national strength, Wang Mang also requested the enactment of a decree, proposing that the country should present a peaceful scene of "no price in the market, no lawsuits in the Yamen, no thieves in the towns, and no hungry people in the countryside".
In the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor Hanping died, and in order to prevent the Changjun from succeeding to the throne, Wang Mang installed his two-year-old son as the crown prince, and he himself managed the government on behalf of the Son of Heaven, calling him a "false emperor", and changed the yuan to "Ju Xing", saying that the emperor's ambition was obvious. Wang Mang was like the Son of Heaven at this time in terms of clothing, ceremonial guards, and governance; The children and babies were imprisoned for a long time like puppets, unable to speak to others, and when they grew up, the six animals were ignorant and demented.
Wang Mang's regency began to arouse dissatisfaction among the people, and various places revolted. Fearful, Wang Mang held his children and prayed every day, pretending that his regency was temporary, and he would return the throne to the Han family in the future. However, when the rebellious army was suppressed, Wang Mang wantonly created public opinion of calamity and Zen concession in preparation for becoming the true emperor. In the first year (9 years), Wang Mang forced the Empress Dowager to hand over the jade seal of the kingdom, officially assumed the throne of the Son of Heaven through Zen concessions, and changed the name of the country to "Xin".
Wang Zhengjun thoroughly saw Wang Mang's true face, and angrily scolded Wang Mang for receiving the favor of the emperor, but stealing national affairs when he was alone, this ungrateful and despicable act is simply inferior to pigs and dogs. In grief and indignation, she threw the jade seal on the ground, causing it to shatter, and said: "The Wang family has such a brother, it is about to be destroyed!" ”
Soon, the Yuan Emperor Temple was destroyed, and Wang Zhengjun cried and accused Wang Mang: "The temple of the Han family is blessed by the gods, what crime do you commit to be destroyed by you?" She also said to her attendants, "How can this person be blessed by God if he insults the gods!" ”
Wang Mang reformed the system, and the more he changed, the more chaotic it became
At the beginning of the establishment of the "New Dynasty", Wang Mang wanted to save the decaying national fortunes left by the Western Han Dynasty, declaring that he would restore the era of propriety advocated by Confucius and consolidate his power by imitating the Zhou Dynasty system. Therefore, he introduced a series of reform measures: changing the people's land to Wang Tian and nationalizing it; renamed slaves as "private subordinates", and like Wang Tian, they were not allowed to be bought or sold; Salt, iron, wine, and mountains, forests, and rivers were all nationalized. In particular, he reformed the currency four times in seven years, causing extreme market chaos. To ensure the implementation of various policies, he also introduced severe punishment laws.
Wang Mang also did many absurd things. For example, in order to gather "Sihai County" in the local area, he sent troops to occupy the wasteland around Qinghai Lake and set it as "Xihai County". In order to increase the number of immigrants in the area, Wang Mang deliberately added fifty harsh laws to increase the number of criminals assigned to the area.
He was also very rude to the vassal states of the border lands of the Han Dynasty, and privately demoted the vassal states of the Xiongnu, Goguryeo, northwest and southwest from "king" to "hou"; destroyed the "Xiongnu Shan Yu Seal" and re-granted a new seal; The name of "Xiongnu single-than" was "surrender to slaves", and "Goguryeo" was changed to "Xiaguryeo". These actions aroused the dissatisfaction of various countries and led to constant border wars.
The so-called reform and new policies have caused the people to suffer from them instead of benefiting them, and they have borne a heavy burden of taxes and forced labor. The counties and states also rose up against Wang Mang's tyranny. The whole world became more turbulent, and the good society that Wang Mang preached became empty words.
In troubled times, many people of insight choose to be alone. High-ranking officials in the DPRK asked to resign and return home, and the wise refused to join the new dynasty. For example, Kong Xiu vomited blood and refused to serve as a national teacher, and since then Dumen has been self-extinguished; Gong Sheng, who was a senior in his old age, repeatedly refused Wang Mang to pay homage to the government after returning home, and finally forced him to die on hunger strike for 14 days to preserve his loyalty to the Han Dynasty.
The two plagues hastened the fall of the new dynasty
Wang Zhengjun's words were quickly fulfilled. During Wang Mang's usurpation of the throne, two great plagues fell from heaven, causing a large number of people to die of disease:
The general Feng Mao of Pingman hit the town of Pingman, and the soldier was ill, and the deceased Shi Liuqi. (Hanshu Wang Mang)
Three years, a major epidemic, and half of the dead. (Hou Hanshu Liu Xuan Biography)
The first plague occurred in the third year (16 years) of Tianfeng. Wang Mang demoted the king of Yucho in the southwest to a marquis, causing a rebellion, so he attacked with Bashu troops. Unexpectedly, the army contracted the epidemic, and more than half of the soldiers died.
The second plague occurred in the third year (22 years) of the emperor. Previously, the country had a succession of locust plagues and thieves swarmed. There was a great famine in the south, and the people went deep into the fields and swamps to dig wild vegetables to feed themselves, so there were many incidents of robbing each other. Under all kinds of chaos, the great plague broke out, and almost half of the death toll was reported.
The warlords who rebelled against the new dynasty described the tragic situation of society at that time: wars, harsh laws, famines, plagues caused tens of thousands of deaths; The dead were not buried, the living were scattered and fled, and the old and weak women and children were taken prisoner, these were all great sins committed by Wang Mang.
According to the "Later Hanshu County Guozhi", in the second year of the Yuan Dynasty, that is, before the outbreak of the first plague, there were more than 13 million households and a population of more than 59 million in the Western Han Dynasty, which was "the peak of Han"; Since Wang Mang usurped the throne to the Eastern Han Dynasty, the population has plummeted, and "two out of ten survive." Wang Mang was not blessed by the gods, and his regime was doomed to be a farce. Under the blows of two great plagues, the new dynasty accelerated the process of changing the dynasty.
Sure enough, in the year of the third plague outbreak, the sky changed dramatically, and the comet appeared in the southeast for five days before disappearing. The comet is now showing signs of defilement. In the first month of the following year, Liu Xiu, a descendant of Emperor Jing of Han, raised troops in Nanyang in response to the rebel army. Wang Mang's general trend was gone, the army was defeated, and the vigorous regime ended in only fourteen years. Liu Xiu followed the time of heaven and time to restore the Han Dynasty and established the Eastern Han State Zuo as Emperor Guangwu.
Liu Xiu claimed that after the emperor, he first pacified the division of the four sides and unified China, and then governed the country with "judo", greatly promoted Confucianism, and rested and recuperated with the people. After decades of hard work, Liu Xiu ended the chaotic era of the late Western Han Dynasty and ushered in the era of Guangwu Zhongxing, which was "the most beautiful weathered and the most prosperous Confucianism".
After the defeat of Wang Mang's army, he was killed by the rebels, and his head was cut off and hung in the street for public display. The people were beaten one after another, and his body was mutilated and mutilated by dozens of sergeants. History books evaluate that since ancient times, the fate of chaotic courtiers and thieves has not been as tragic as Wang Mang.
Bai Juyi has a poem: "The Duke of Zhou feared the day of rumors, and Wang Mang was humble and respectful." Xiang Messenger died in the first place, and who knows the truth or falsity of his life? "The cunning Wang Mang, who turned his back on the gods, stole the country and usurped the Han, was finally recognized and disguised, incurred the wrath of heaven and the people, and died and the country was destroyed. The plague is like a beast, but it comes with a purpose, sounding the death knell for a decaying and unscrupulous regime. It is precisely in this form of celestial phenomena that history warns people today.