When it comes to Wang Mang, many people's first reaction is to ask whether he has crossed over or not, and now he is a "Internet celebrity emperor".
Wang Mang (45 B.C. - October 6, 23 A.D.), the word Jujun, the second son of Wang Man, the Marquis of Xindu, the nephew of Wang Zhengjun, the Empress Xiaoyuan of the Western Han Dynasty, and the younger brother of Wang Yong. The founder of the new dynasty in Chinese history, the new ancestor, also known as the Jianxing Emperor or the New Emperor, reigned from 8 AD to 23 AD.
Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the world's image and opinion of Wang Mang have been very poor, and he has always been a villain, he is regarded as a thief, a loser, and an unlucky person who was beheaded by the Green Forest Rebel Army. In Chinese history, Wang Mang was put in a very awkward and embarrassing position for people to laugh at. It was not until modern times that people's evaluation of him changed, and Hu Shi once said that "Wang Mang was the first socialist in China".
Indeed, in some books, Wang Mang is very different from the well-known Wang Mang in history.
There is such a passage recorded in the "Hanshu Wang Mang Biography": "The Mang Qun brothers are all generals and five marquis, and they are extravagant in time, and they are high in the voice of the horse, and they are lonely and poor, and they are frugal because of the frugality." Received the "Book of Rites", the teacher Peijun Chen Shen, diligent and erudite, was served like a Confucian student. The mother and widowed sister-in-law, raising orphan brothers and sons, are very prepared. "
The meaning of this passage is that Wang Mang is very principled, and does not have the bad habit of "one person attains the Tao, and the chicken and dog ascend to heaven", after he became an official, he was strict with himself, never used his power for personal gain, and his relatives committed crimes, he was also unforgiving.
Even Wang Mang, who became the emperor, did not become poor and extravagant, but did everything possible to find a way to make the country rich and strong, and the people were rich, and he was simply a good cadre like "Jiao Yulu and Kong Fansen".
After Wang Mang ascended the throne, he carried out drastic reforms:
The first thing he did was to stop the sale of land and slaves, which eased the increasingly acute contradictions in society at that time, but also violated the interests of the dignitaries and nobles of the dynasty.
Then, he hoped to revive the economy, straighten out finance, curb the excessive exploitation of the peasants by businessmen, and stop the rampant activities of usurers through the "five equals and six notes." But again, it also offended the wealthy businessmen, and unfortunately, instead of alleviating social contradictions, this caused greater social unrest. As a result, Wang Mang implemented several currency reforms in his later period, but they were unsuccessful.
He also paid special attention to the development of science and technology, invented the vernier caliper, once Wang Mang learned that there are skilled craftsmen who can make flying machines from bird feathers, which can make people fly a hundred steps away, so he immediately summoned him, not only watched his performance, but also strongly supported him to carry out flight tests. Later, in order to unify the measurement of the whole country, he invented the vernier caliper.
Unfortunately, because of the overly radical reforms, the newly established regime was in jeopardy and finally perished, and even Wang Mang's head was collected by the royal family for 272 years. To be fair, Wang Mang is not the only one who seeks power and usurps the throne in history, such as Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and became emperor, Sima Yan of the Western Jin Dynasty and Zhu Di of Yongle Emperor robbed his nephew's country, Li Shimin launched the "Xuanwumen Change", and Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty launched the "Xuanwumen Change"; Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty "yellow robe", these people have been said to be upright in history, but Wang Mang was stigmatized, Sima Qian in the "Historical Records", anyone who has been an emperor or has the same status as the "Benji", and Wang Mang, as a person who has been an emperor for fifteen years, is included in the "biography" of general ministers, and does not recognize Wang Mang's identity as an emperor.
Wang Mang's usurpation of the throne is considered to have broken the original order, and no matter how capable he is, he is also nailed to the pillar of shame of historical sinners. Judging from Wang Mang's various performances, he does not have the talent to be an emperor. He wanted to govern the world well, but the final result was not only to lose the world, but also to lose his own life, and he was infamous through the ages, leaving a stench for thousands of years, which is really not worth it.