There were few peasant uprisings and died of ideology
History begins to reveal the last real power emperor of the Han Dynasty - Emperor Han Ai (finale) Author: Xian Lesheng Zhu Hui In 7 BC, Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty died of sudden illness, according to the official history, Emperor Cheng suddenly couldn't speak in the early morning, his body suddenly collapsed, and he passed away on the same day, and the symptoms were suspected of cerebral hemorrhage.
However, some wild histories believe that Emperor Cheng died of excessive excitement and exhaustion due to overdose**. This way of dying seems to be quite similar to Ximenqing.
Emperor Cheng had no children, so he made his nephew Liu Xin the crown prince and inherited the throne as Emperor Ai of Han. Although Liu Xin entered Beijing as a foreign vassal and ascended the throne, he was selected as the crown prince as early as the lifetime of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, rather than being supported by powerful ministers, so he was a powerful emperor.
Moreover, he was the last real emperor of the Western Han Dynasty.
As Emperor Wai's regime gradually stabilized, the Great Sima Wang Mang was sent back to his fiefdom. New relatives Fu, Ding, Zhao and Dong came to power. However, these relatives and families began to be arrogant and lascivious again.
Wang Zhengjun, who was seventy years old and the empress dowager, had to let his relatives lead the way in front so as not to be insulted by the Fu family and the Ding family. Wang Fuzhi once said: "In the world of mourning, do Han still have monarchs and ministers?"
It was just a women's fight. "About Chen Tang, the last famous general of the Western Han Dynasty, the first half of his life was difficult and the second half of his life was bumpy, but the heroism of his life burned in the Western Regions, especially in the night under the Zhizhi City, the fire was soaring, and it was absolutely beautiful.
He pressed his sword and roared, broke the thief for thousands of miles, and beheaded Shan Yu, what a glorious and peerless one. However, we can only learn about his life, his emotions, his love and hate, his corruption, and the moral accusations of Confucianism against him through a few pages of history.
He has never left a text in history that dissects his own heart, except for the sentence that is often misunderstood as the words of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: "Those who commit a strong man, although they are far away, will be punished!" ”
But that's enough. In a person's life, these eight words are enough.
The young Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty had the ambition of Zhongxing and worked hard to revitalize the imperial power and promote land reform. He appointed Zhu Bo and others, restored the position of Si Li's lieutenant, and punished many ministers at the same time, in an attempt to strengthen the imperial power and eliminate the influence of Wang's relatives.
He also followed the policies of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, integrated the state apparatus, implemented a frugal policy, cut expenditures, and issued a land restriction order to try to resolve the issue of land annexation.
However, the aristocratic ministers continued to obstruct the restriction of land to the detriment of their interests, and Emperor Wai was disappointed by this and began to indulge his favored ministers. In the end, the land restriction order was not implemented, and most of the other reforms failed.
Emperor Wai felt that he was not fit to be an emperor, and coupled with his poor health, he died after only six years of reign. It was too difficult for this 20-year-old to endure two hundred years of ills and power imbalances.
Picture: Wang Mang made a comeback with the help of Emperor Wai's funeral, weakened the power of his relatives, became the Great Sima and supported Liu Yin as Emperor Ping of Han. He sold Dong Xian's family property to improve the financial situation of the imperial court, and his political prestige increased greatly.
After Liu Yin ascended the throne, Wang Mang changed his era name to "Yuan Shi", which means a new beginning.
In the first year of the Common Era, a new era was opened in the West, and it seemed that a new era was about to be opened in the East. In the first month of this year, Wang Mang was elected as the Duke of An Han by the ministers and was about to become the new emperor.
Wang Mang was not only a relative, but also a leader of Confucianism, breaking the internal and external power checks and balances established by Emperor Xuan. After Wang Mang held power, in order to buy people's hearts, he sealed the descendants of the clan and meritorious heroes, restored the titles of hundreds of people, let his grandson inherit the title, rehabilitated Chen Tang, and named Chen Feng as the Marquis of Pohu.
Wang Mang also donated land money to the poor, hundreds of officials were kidnapped by morality, and there were many imitators, and even the queen mother handed over "Tang Muyi" for relief. Wang Mang also gave the lonely and widowed old people in the world cloth, built five streets, 1,000 houses, and gave the victims to live, and announced that those who have not completed the probationary period can be turned into regulars, and the people no longer have to prepare the materials needed for military service, and everything is funded and equipped by **.
Wang Mang also abolished the Royal Huchi Garden, reestablished Anmin County, and invested in the construction of infrastructure, moved the poor to live, and the food and drink along the way were provided free of charge by the counties.
When the poor arrive in Anmin County, they will be allocated land and necessary daily necessities, farm tools, cattle and seeds. Wang Mang also built 10,000 houses and a large number of Confucian ceremonial buildings for scholars in Chang'an, and popularized Confucian schools in the countryside.
Wang Mang implemented a series of policies not only to buy people's hearts, but also to improve people's livelihood, and to be on par with the Confucian holy king. However, his approach was a mistake. In the absence of an increase in the total wealth of the state, his extensive benevolence has neither a material basis nor a promotion of social reproduction, but only accelerates the depletion of the treasury and the collapse of finances.
In this way, the old interest groups must be maintained, and the new Confucian groups must be curried, and the stock game is very fierce, but the incremental game is impossible. As a result, Wang Mang hollowed out the foundations of the Han Dynasty and at the same time started the turmoil of the new dynasty.
In December of the first five years of Emperor Han Ping, Emperor Han Ping died, only 14 years old, for his death, there are different records in the history books, some people think that it was a death of illness, some people think that it was Wang Mang's poison, but no matter what, Emperor Han Ping did not leave an heir.
With the addition of Emperor Cheng and Emperor Wai, the Han family has not had an imperial system for three generations. The death of Emperor Mourning and Emperor Ping made Emperor Yuan completely extinct. Wang Mang could only find Liu Ying, the youngest great-grandson of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, and set him up as the crown prince of the Western Han Dynasty.
In Confucian theory, the emperor is seen as the representative of the Mandate of Heaven, and the severance of the imperial system is considered a serious curse, meaning that the foundations of the state will be destroyed and the regime will perish.
During the Han Dynasty, the climate in the Northern Hemisphere changed from a warm period to a cold period, with frequent natural disasters and astrological chaos, which was interpreted as a punishment from heaven for Liu. Confucianism believes"Celestial and human induction", that is, the behavior of heaven and the behavior of man are mutually influential, which makes the monarchs and ministers of the late Han Dynasty convinced the people of the disaster.
In this case, some Confucian ministers and royal clans believed that the Han family surnamed Liu could no longer effectively govern the world, and that Zen must be ceded to virtuous sages in order to reproduce the prosperity of the three generations.
The Liu family of the Han family is the descendants of Emperor Yao, and their virtues have declined, so they should cede the throne to the descendants of Emperor Shun according to the saying of the Five Virtues. Wang Mang was a descendant of Wang Tian'an of Jibei during the Chu and Han dynasties, and the Qi Guotian clan was also a descendant of the Chen Guogong clan, so he was considered a descendant of Emperor Shun.
This view holds that the replacement of Yao by Di Shun, the replacement of Qi by Tian, and the replacement of Han by Wang are the traditional techniques of their families, which is the will of God. Wang Mang was born in a wealthy family, but he used strict Confucian morality to demand himself, not only diligent and studious, filial piety to his parents, but also humble and thrifty, not arrogant or impatient.
This is like a towering tree in an oasis in a family of relatives who advocate luxury and arrogance, fresh and refined. Therefore, it is believed that Wang Mang possessed a lofty Confucian moral spirit and ideal personality, was the leader of both Confucian politics and religion, and was the best candidate to replace the Han family as the holy king of Confucianism.
Even the famous Confucian scholar and great thinker Yang Xiong wrote an article entitled "Drama Qin Meixin", praising Wang Mang and calling him "towering to the heavens and the earth, annexing the gods, worthy of five emperors, crowning three kings."
Since the opening up, it has not been heard of. Although the sycophants were shocking, this basically represented the voices of all Confucian scholars in the late Western Han Dynasty.
In 6 BC, the Confucian ministers proposed that Wang Mang should be the regent of the Duke of Zhou and practice the position of the Son of Heaven, ** the position of the emperor, and change the era name to "Ju Se". This resulted in the Han Dynasty having no emperor for three whole years, with Wang Mang in charge of ruling and the crown prince and his son in charge**.
This unprecedented form of government is extremely unique in history. In December of 8 A.D., after a long period of political performances, Wang Mang finally accepted the Zen concession in the high temple, officially changed from a fake emperor to a real emperor, changed the country name to a new one, changed the year name to "Shi Jianguo", and changed the color and corrected Shuo.
Thus was the first Confucian theological regime in Chinese history. The crown prince and his son were deposed as the Duke of Ding'an, and the Western Han Dynasty perished.
The name of the last Qin lord is Ziying, and the last Han lord is named Ziying, the history is so coincidental that it is amazing. Although the situation in the late Western Han Dynasty was not ideal, with many natural disasters and a large gap between the rich and the poor, the common people could basically have food and clothing, and the imperial treasury was sufficient.
Although there were peasant uprisings in the last years of the Western Han Dynasty, they only occurred sporadically, and they were known as Chengping for a long time. By the time of Emperor Ping of the Han Dynasty, the country's cultivated land had reached more than 8.27 million hectares, and the population had reached the highest peak of 60 million in the past two thousand years, accounting for one-third of the world's population at that time.
However, the Confucian clique that had the right to speak simply fooled the Western Han Dynasty to death. This may be the only dynasty in Chinese history that does not fall apart because of its collapse, and it is also the only dynasty that has perished by ideology.
Wang Mang's choice was a surprise to the Confucian courtiers, and while his retro ideas were in line with Confucian fundamentalism, they could not solve the harsh realities. The only criterion of truth is the unity of knowledge and action.
1. Seeking truth from facts and practicing this is the truth that Chinese scholars have only understood after 2,000 years of exploration and countless sacrifices and tears.
In 23 AD, Wang Mang died for participating in the rebel army, and before that, the Confucian scholars had abandoned the defeated Wang Mang and regathered under Liu Xiu to sing the praises of the new world.
If Wang Mang had not lost his way on the path of reform, China might have developed into a Confucian constitutional regime. However, Wang Mang's defeat made Confucians lose the courage and courage to carry out fundamental political changes to the imperial system, and even lost the ambition to criticize society and transform the world, and to limit and constrain imperial power.
As a result, Confucianism was unable to save the dynasty in the face of political, cultural, and ideological crises, and eventually lost its status and influence. Although Chen Tang, the Western Han Dynasty and the Xinmang Dynasty have all come to an end due to historical accusations, we need not feel sorry or sad for this.
This is because our ancestors and their passions, confusions, mistakes, and sins made us who we are. We are Han Chinese, and we should cherish our history and culture, but we should also have the courage to accept new ideas and challenges to create a better future.
Although Wang Mang failed, his attempt at Confucian constitutionalism provided lessons for later dynasties. The introduction of eunuchs in the bureaucracy, although reducing the risk of usurpation, led to more serious internal friction in partisanship.
Wang Mang's New Deals, such as the use of saints as rulers and the reform of currency and weights and measures, also show that he was trying to deal with the crisis of the gradual collapse of the old order of the ancient aristocracy, and to re-establish the social order with a new and more universal moral ethics.
Emperor Ping of Han's illness prevented him from breathing and speaking freely, which deprived the Han court's loyal Han subjects and the Liu clan of their strength to resist Wang Mang. Wang Mang praised himself as a Confucian sage Zhou Gong, calling Liu Ying his son, imitating Zhou Gong's political strategy.
However, since the Han Zhao and Xuan eras, some Confucian ministers insisted that the Han Dynasty had "the misfortune of the Three Sevens" and that "after the Han Jiayao, there should be the luck of passing on the country". The Han Dynasty's national fortunes were only 210 years, and when a dynasty reached a certain number of years and no longer had the virtue to rule, it was not eligible to continue to be a ruler.
Wang Mang's defeat proved this theory, because his reform measures did not conform to the highest ideals of Confucianism and did not enjoy the support of the people. Wang Mang's cronies were famous as Huan Tan, Du Lin, Fu Zhan, Zhang Chun, etc., and later joined Liu Xiu and became Confucian ministers in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Especially Zhang Chun, when he was young, he designed the Jiuxi etiquette for Wang Mang to help him successfully usurp the throne, but when he was old, he actively organized the Zen Ceremony for Liu Xiu, and he was really a seven-trick all-rounder for the Eastern Han Dynasty.
In general, whether it is Chen Tang, the Western Han Dynasty, the Xinmang Dynasty or the Eastern Han Dynasty, they have all come to an end because of historical accusations, but we don't have to feel sorry or sad for this.
We should cherish our history and culture, but we should also have the courage to embrace new ideas and challenges to create a better future.