The development of Chinese society to the Warring States Period has come out of the confusion of legends and has the history of the third dynasty of the Xia and Shang dynasties. It is an indisputable fact that the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period competed for power, the seven heroes of the Warring States period tried to unify the country, and the change of dynasty was the form of social development, so its rationality needs to be explained by theory.
Far away in the Yin Zhou Dynasty, the Duke of Zhou explained the rationality of King Wu's war from the two aspects of "Mandate of Heaven" and "Human Virtue".
After the Warring States period, Zou Ya used "the end of the five virtues" to give a predetermined interpretation of the change of dynasty. Mencius simply gave the evil man and the evil man the evil of "a one-man thief", and set up a dignified banner of justice for "Tang Fang, King Wu Destroying".
After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, the Qin Shi Huang, named Yingzheng, obeyed the theory of "the end of the five virtues", so he occupied the "water virtue" and "Fengtian carrier" to mark his own historical legitimacy.
Fantasy of the first and second generations of children and grandchildren Yongbao use. The heroes of the rebellion at the end of the Qin Dynasty, such as Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, Xiang Yu, Liu Bang and others, although they did not forget the divine power of "the destiny of heaven", paid more attention to the appeal of the slogan of "cutting down the unjustified and punishing the tyrannical Qin" to the people.
A group of bastards who are not afraid of heaven and earth uncover their swords and swing their swords, turning the ideal of Qin Shi Huang's eternal family into a laughing stock for the ages. After the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, although the Liu royal family also promoted the divine power of "the Mandate of Heaven to bless the Han", it was more fond of the inculcation of the concept of "loyal monarch".
Ding Gong, the former general of Xiang Yu, who secretly let Liu Bang go in the Chu-Han War and asked Liu Bang for merit and reward after the war, was beheaded by Liu Bang on the charge of "disloyalty to Xiang Wangchen".
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Confucianism and Taoism were mutually esterifying, and one of the debate topics was the "Tangwu Revolution". Huang Sheng, a Taoist of the Huang Lao School, used a broken hat and new shoes as a metaphor to deny the "Tangwu Revolution" and advocate absolute "loyalty". The Confucian poet Yuan Gu defended Mencius's theory, arguing that the "Tangwu Revolution" was a righteous act to kill the only husband and the people.
The argument between the two ended with Han Jingliang's non-committal and muddy. Because although Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty was particularly fond of Huang Sheng's views, their Han dynasty was rebelled by their ancestor Liu Bang, as a courtier of the Qin Dynasty, who betrayed the concept of "loyal to the monarch".
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the ideological and cultural policy of "deposing the hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" was implemented, and the propaganda of moral creeds such as loyalty, filial piety, moderation, righteousness, benevolence, courtesy, wisdom, and faith gradually penetrated into the hearts of the people.
Although none of the thinkers and scholars at this time directly denied the "Tangwu Revolution", no one dared to compare the current emperor to the Emperor and the Emperor.
On the one hand, the class contradictions and social contradictions are becoming increasingly intense, and the people who are facing the "seven deaths" and "seven deaths" are in unbearable pain, and they launch armed resistance from time to time.
However, figures related to the restructuring, such as Gai Raokuan and Xia Heliang, were guillotined one by one. There is a basic moral judgment that is almost unanimously agreed upon by the government and the opposition: loyalty to the monarch is the primary ethical creed that the courtiers should abide by, no matter how corrupt the court is today and how incompetent the emperor is, the courtiers must be absolutely loyal to it, and it is the duty of the courtiers to share weal and woe, life and death.
However, no matter how worried the courtiers were about the decline of the Western Han Dynasty, the momentum of its decline was accelerating. What's more serious is that the fertility of several generations of emperors has also gone wrong, and Emperor Cheng, Emperor Wai, and Emperor Ping can't give birth to a hairy child. Emperor Cheng and Emperor Wai are more absurd than the other, and one is shorter than the other.
And when Emperor Ping grew up to be a fourteen-year-old boy, he was sent to the Netherworld by his father-in-law with a barrel of poisoned wine. The Han Dynasty relied on Wang Zhengjun, the queen of the Yuan Emperor, an old lady who was rich in the Spring and Autumn Period, to support the endgame as the empress dowager and the empress dowager. Of course, Wang Zhengjun, who does not leave the house, trusts her mother's brothers and nephews the most, and she can only entrust her power to a foreign family to help take care of the country.
As a result, the declining and declining Liu royal family was the rise of the Wang family's foreign relatives group. "One family, ten marquis, five Simas", father and son brother Bulie court, more than 20 years of successive auxiliary government, the authority of the Han Dynasty was quietly passed to the hands of Wang's relatives through the hands of Wang Zhengjun.
When Emperor Wai died of illness and Wang Mang served as the general of Da Sima for the second time, Wang's relatives replaced the Liu royal family, and the situation of changing the imperial system was basically formed. "Despicable greed and lust for power are the levers of historical development".
The glory of the emperor, the power of the emperor, the wealth of the emperor, the enjoyment of the emperor, the honorific position that the emperor can pass on to his descendants, all this is so tempting.
Wang Mang has reached the point where he can change the imperial system, so why not seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Obviously, Wang Mang has at least begun to compose an exciting movement for himself in the ninth five-year plan amid the drum music of Emperor Ping's succession.
Wang Mang wanted to realize the new generation of the Han Dynasty, although it was not difficult in terms of strength, because he had actually controlled all the power of the Han Dynasty with the official position of the Great Sima General, and no one could stop him from changing the imperial system.
But to do so, he had to cross a moral threshold: an explanation of the betrayal of the creed of "loyalty to the ruler." Wang Mang is not willing to bear the notoriety of "chaotic ministers and thieves" no matter what.
For this reason, he can only resort to the "Mandate of Heaven", anyway, the ancestor has a ready-made theory of "Fengtian Carrier" that can be used, there is a "talisman order" under the wand of "Heaven and Man Induction" that can be attached to it at will, and there is a group of shameless courtiers who climb the dragon and attach the wind to drive at will.
As a result, Wang Mang waved the flag of "Mandate of Heaven" and continued to accelerate the pace of usurpation, while doing everything possible to dress himself up as a loyal minister of the Han family.
In the first month of the first year of the Yuan Dynasty, he satirized the leaders of the ethnic minorities in Yizhou to offer white pheasants and black pheasants, and on this ground, he obtained the title of "Anhan Gong" from the Yuan Hou. Not only that, but for all the good morals praised by the people in society at that time, he tried his best to let them manifest in himself, and dressed himself up as a moral pacesetter.
In the more than 20 years since Wang Mang passed away, due to unique historical opportunities and his use of endless "inspirational trips", he has gained the prestige and power of "pouring his fathers" in the government and the opposition.
He worked diligently day and night, made great efforts to make the country prosperous, suggested "An Han", assisted the nine-year-old Liu Yan to be the emperor, and continued the incense of the Han Dynasty, which was his "loyalty";
Zhou Xuan's uncle Wang Feng and uncle Wang Gen were beside the sickbed, unkempt and dirty, and their clothes were untidy for more than a month, which was his "filial piety"; he loved his brother's son in every way, regarded him as a teacher, chose Confucianism as his teacher, gave him strict education, and married a woman on the same day as his son, regardless of Xuanxuan, this was his "kindness"; he killed his relatives with great righteousness, severely punished the son who killed the slave, and strictly ordered him to commit suicide to pay for his life; he worshipped the famous Confucian Chen San as his teacher, "was obeyed like a Confucian student", studied hard, went to his nephew's husband's house, served sheep wine, and benefited his classmates, which was his "respect for the teacher"; Several resignations and knighthoods, a few concessions, scattered wealth to help guests, and favors to widows and widows, this is his "humility", "honesty" and "concern for the people".
For more than 20 years, Wang Mang has continued to gain fame, with the aim of forming a situation in which "who can do without me in governing the country and the world today" in the government and the opposition. Then, Wang Mang planned to obtain the reward of King Cheng to the Duke of Zhou from the Empress Yuan, and asked for the seal of "Zai Heng", and added "Jiuxi".
In May of the fifth year of the first year, a ceremony was held for Wang Mang to add nine tin, and the reward was blown by Cewen to the nine heavens. Soon, he disregarded the happiness of being the daughter of Emperor Ping, and in order to remove the obstacle of jumping onto the dragon throne, he brutally killed the 14-year-old Emperor Ping of Han, and set up the two-year-old Guangqi Marquis as a puppet.
Then, he quoted scriptures and asked the Empress Yuan to "live in the throne", "the position of the Son of Heaven", "serve the crown of the Son of Heaven, face the south and the courtiers, give orders, and often call the king's order" as the basis, and actually changed the Yuan Dynasty and "took the emperor" and "fake emperor" to do it, and at the same time demoted the son who symbolized the Han Dynasty to his own "prince".
Even at this point, he still regarded himself as a loyal servant of the Han family, and said that all these usurpation actions were for the safety of the Han family.
Just as Wang Mang was about to step further towards the dragon throne, Zhai Yi's army in Dongjun occurred. In the edict against Zhai Yi, Wang Mang continued to dress himself up as a loyal minister of the Han family, and swore to reiterate the sincerity of "returning the widows".
However, not long after the victory of the crusade against Zhai Yi, Wang Mang asked the Empress Dowager to ask the Empress Dowager to no longer be called "Emperor Regent" when she met the Empress Dowager in the future, but directly to the emperor. has reached this point, and he is still unwilling to lose the reputation of a loyal minister of the Han family, and still says that he will definitely "restore the son" in the future.
However, the words were still in his ears, and the blood in his mouth was not dry, and the scoundrel lament of Zitong in Shu County offered a show of heaven's will, asking Wang Mang to immediately become the emperor's two copper inspectors.
Wang Mang did not stop doing it, and immediately issued an edict to be the emperor and change the imperial system, and changed the Liu emperor's imperial system to the new imperial system of the Wang family.
At this point, the moral creed of Tianzi No. 1 of "ministers and kings are loyal" was finally replaced by "Mandate of Heaven". On New Year's Day, the first year of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Wang Mang held a grand enthronement ceremony. He ordered the abolition of the crown prince and made him the "Duke of Ding'an" with only five county fiefs.
The child, who was only 5 years old at the time, certainly could not understand this dramatic scene.
Until this time, Wang Mang still squeezed out a few crocodile tears, and swore an oath, in fact, to the bureaucrats, especially to the Gongsun Prince of Liu Han who did not participate in Wang Mang's usurpation of Han, showing that it was not his own selfish wish to become the new emperor on behalf of Han, but a last resort forced by the mandate of heaven.
In this way, even if Wang Mang deceived himself to get rid of the drag of "chaotic ministers and thieves", he appeared in front of the world as a true dragon son with a "destiny".
No matter what others think or say, after such an operation, at least in the eyes of Wang Mang and his party members, Wang Mang's usurpation behavior easily passed the moral threshold of "ministers and gentlemen" and was worthy of his heart.
Wang Mang used the "Mandate of Heaven" text to compose and kill, and gently painted his face with a protective color on the face of the giant traitor Da Dun who read "the ministers are loyal to the king". Although Wang Mang and his followers seemed to be seamless, he and the planners around him knew that it was nothing more than a trick.
However, Wang Mang's substitution technique of replacing the "Mandate of Heaven" with the "Loyal Monarch", although clumsy, was regarded as a treasure by all the usurpers in Chinese history later, thus performing scene after scene of tragicomedy under the guise of the "Mandate of Heaven".
Cao Pi's "Zen Rang" drama that replaced Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, the replacement method of the four dynasties of Song, Qi, Liang and Chen in the Southern Dynasties, the means of Emperor Wen of Sui to take the crown from his grandson's head, and Zhao Kuangyin's "Imperial Robe Plus" repertoire are all inseparable from this model.
Behind this tried-and-true game of "Mandate of Heaven" and "loyalty to the monarch" is actually a game of interests of different powerful groups, and the victors always boast that they are "favored by the will of heaven," but in fact they are nothing more than the victory of the game between the strong group and the weak group.