As we all know, many emperors in history either laid down the country by themselves, or they fought their fathers and mothers to inherit the throne, but there is such an emperor in history who was actually "elected by the people", is it really fake?
The answer is: really, this person successfully ascended to the throne step by step by relying on "human design" to capture people's hearts, and then fell off the altar for the retro and advanced riot operation, so that after his death, the head was still collected by the later dynasty for nearly 300 years.
He is Wang Mang, who is jokingly called the "crosser" by posterity, because the various policies he implemented after he became emperor, as well as the various objects he invented, and even the way of thinking are not at all like the ancients 2,000 years ago, but especially like the young people who were influenced by the new academic trend when New China was founded.
So what kind of person did he rely on to get to the throne? And how to make it both retro and advanced?
It is said that although Wang Mang was born into a family of foreign relatives who were in power and opposition, he did not indulge in luxury because of the powerful power of the family. On the contrary, it is like a different kind of person in this prominent family, living a simple life, being humble, and making many "wise leaders", it can be said that wang Mang in the early days was a very idealistic and cultured young man with lofty ideals.
Some people say that he is the Duke of Zhou, so under the gold of all mouths, his good reputation has spread far and wide, and because of this, he has won the hearts of the people. After the death of the Han Emperor, who had no heirs, Wang Mang began to act as an agent for the government, and although he supported the nine-year-old Hanping Emperor to ascend the throne, the government and the public were still the only ones to follow him, and the power was getting bigger and bigger, and Wang Mang's ambitions were gradually exposed.
As the politics of the Han Dynasty became more and more decadent, the taxes became more and more heavy, coupled with the lack of justice and the frequent natural disasters, the peasants' resentment against the Han Dynasty became deeper and deeper, and a multi-scale peasant uprising began to break out. At this time, the Han imperial family did not take effective measures to curb the development of the situation.
At this time, Wang Mang felt that the good time to become emperor had also come, and through clever operation, he forced Zi Baochan to give the throne to himself, became the emperor under the support of the whole people, and established a new dynasty. It can be said that he was the first emperor elected by the people in Chinese history, which was really incredible in ancient times, is there any? Moreover, Wang Mang went from the Duke of An Han to zai heng to the false emperor to the real emperor in only 8 years, and he embarked on the peak of his life, which shows his strength.
However, the ending of Wang Mang's becoming emperor is very interesting, saying that after the emperor, he did not do anything else to be retro, to the point of going crazy, he initiated a series of reforms, especially in the political aspect, the ideology is very avant-garde.
1. The land shall be nationalized and distributed equally, and the tianxiatian shall be renamed 'Wangtian' and the well-field system shall be restored in the name of the Wangtian system.
2. Abolition of slavery, which was renamed 'privately owned', and could not be bought or sold like land.
3. Proposed a planned economy, in which the government controls prices and prevents businessmen from speculating, and agricultural businessmen can apply for loans from the state, and they can also apply for interest-free loans in the event of some funeral sacrifices and the like.
4. In wine, salt, iron and mountain forest mines, private mining must obtain the consent of the State.
(5) Decrees requiring the unemployed vagrant to participate in labour, fines or servitude for non-participation in labour.
6. To encourage the development of science and technology, in order to unify the national measurements, the vernier caliper was invented, which predates the West by 1700 years! And whether it is from the principle, performance, or use, Wang Mang's vernier caliper is very similar to modern...
From a modern point of view, the starting point of the "Wang Mang Transformation Law" is good and serves the welfare of the people at the bottom. However, it is undeniable that under the historical conditions at that time, such reforms were abrupt, not only were not understood by the people at the bottom, but also seriously violated the interests of the landlord class, and it was inevitable to cause social unrest.
For example, he stipulated that all land should be owned by the state, which meant that all peasants served the emperor, which made the peasants lose their enthusiasm for production and the grain output dropped significantly. He also did not allow merchants to own assets of more than ten thousand dollars, and once the property exceeded this amount was confiscated and confiscated, the merchant's business activities were meaningless, and the commercial activities were also hit hard.
Such a policy that is not in line with the times is bound to be counterproductive, because this retro and advanced riotous operation has made the people unhappy, not only reducing the country's population from 60 million to 21 million, but finally forcing the common people to rebel, unveiling the uprising to overthrow his regime, and cutting off his head and hanging it on the city gate to set an example.
Looking at Wang Mang's life, it can be said that what is gained by the people is also lost to the people. His life can be divided into two stages: in the previous stage, although he held a bad hand, he played the gorgeous effect of the king bombardment. But in the later stage, he destroyed all the good cards, and in the final analysis, it was still "bookish politics", which was bound to fail if it was not combined with reality!