Zhu Chao accompanied me to watch short videos

[The Emperor Wang Mang who most wanted to travel through time in history. History of the Han Dynasty. Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty]

[He is the most famous of all those suspected of being time travelers. He implemented new policies, banned the slave trade, established state-owned enterprises, took over the land, established a cheap rental policy, and implemented unified price control. ]

[In order to unify the scale, he invented the vernier caliper. In his spare time, he personally designed a miniskirt for his wife, making full use of modern technology.]

——"From the fact that he invented the vernier caliper, it shows that he was a science student, so he didn't know much about history. He only knew that there was a thief with thick eyebrows and big eyes named Liu Xiu who founded the Eastern Han Dynasty."

——"I don't think he is a science student. If he were a science student, he wouldn't be able to invent gunpowder. That thing is not difficult. If he is a time traveler and invents gunpowder, even if Liu Xiu can summon meteorites, he still can't be his opponent."

[Most importantly, in all the time-travel novels he wrote, the thing that the time-travelers most wanted to do was to become an emperor.]

[He forcibly divided the powerful Han Dynasty into the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty, and established the Xin Dynasty with only him as emperor. Therefore, the history of the Xin Dynasty can be said to be Wang Mang's memoirs alone. 】

[So was Wang Mang a time traveler or a genius who was born in the wrong era? In this video, we will take a look at the life of Wang Mang, the emperor of the Xin Dynasty, in chronological order. 】

——"Wang Mang was definitely a time traveler, but he was not very good at studying history. He arrested people named Liu Xiu all over the country, but he didn't know that Emperor Guangwu was not called Liu Xiu at that time. (Covering face)"

——"If Wang Mang is a time traveler, then Liu Xiu is the son of the plane. Wang Mang disrupted the order of time and space, and Liu Xiu corrected it. So it seems that the universe has consciousness!"

【Born in 45 BC and killed in 23 AD, Wang Mang was 68 years old. He was the first person in Chinese history to succeed in becoming emperor through abdication, but the Xin Dynasty he established had only one emperor, and the dynasty lasted only 15 years, so it is often overlooked by all of us. 】

【But in this short period of 15 years, Wang Mang carried out a number of modern policy reforms. He implemented the Wangtian system, restricted land privatization, banned rewards for slaves, promoted state-owned enterprises, and reformed the currency system. However, because the orders were changed every day and the policies were too complicated, the reforms eventually failed and accelerated the demise of the Xin Dynasty. 】

[To fully understand Wang Mang's life story, we have to start from the beginning. ]

[Since the reign of Emperor Cheng of the Western Han Dynasty, the Liu family's control over the court gradually began to fall into the hands of the Wang family's in-laws group, centered around Empress Xiaoyuan Wang Zhengjun.]

[The four brothers of the Wang family each held important positions, forming a situation where Wang Zhengjun's elder brother Wang Feng monopolized power and the five marquises were in power. Most of the Wang family members held high positions, and nine of them were successively made marquises, and five served as Grand Marshals.]

[Wang Mang was born in 45 BC, the second child in the family. His aunt was Empress Xiaoyuan Wang Zhengjun. Unfortunately, his father and elder brother died one after another when Wang Mang was a teenager.]

[Because Wang Mang's father died before he could be granted a title of nobility, Wang Mang did not live a life of luxury when he was young. Instead, he worked hard and studied hard, lived a simple life, took on the responsibility of taking care of his mother and serving his widowed sister-in-law, and was very filial to his uncles, becoming a clear stream among his many cousins. ]

——"Before Wang Mang usurped the throne, he was humble and courteous."

[In 24 BC, Wang Feng, who was the Grand Marshal, was seriously ill. The -year-old Wang Mang took care of his uncle as if he were his own father.]

[Two years later, Wang Feng recommended Wang Mang as the Imperial Court Assistant Minister before his death, and also asked Wang Zhengjun to take good care of Wang Mang. From then on, Wang Mang began his official career and rose rapidly all the way. Not long after, he was promoted to the rank of Shesheng Xiaowei, which is equivalent to a military-level cadre today.]

【The position of Grand Marshal of the Regent fell into the hands of Wang Shang. 】

[In 16 BC, Wang Mang's uncle, Grand Marshal Wang Shang, reported to Emperor Cheng of Han that he was willing to give up part of his fiefdom to his nephew Wang Mang, so the 30-year-old Wang Mang was granted the title of Xindu Hou.]

[After that, he was promoted again and again, becoming the imperial attendant and close minister to the emperor.]

[Wang Mang was in a high position, but he never took himself for granted. He was always respectful to the wise and humble, honest and frugal, and often distributed his salary to his retainers and civilians. Therefore, he was deeply loved by the people. Gradually, Wang Mang's reputation surpassed that of his uncles.]

[In the following eight years, the Grand Marshal was firmly controlled by the Wang family, and was handed over from Wang Shang to Wang Gen. Wang Mang's biggest rival in the court was his cousin, Chunyu Chang, the nephew of Queen Mother Wang.]

[Because Chunyu Chang was born earlier than himself and was good at flattery, and he also played a role in the event of Emperor Cheng of Han making Zhao Feiyan the empress, he was deeply trusted by Emperor Cheng of Han and was soon appointed as one of the Nine Ministers, in charge of the imperial palace guards.]

[In order to defeat his mortal enemy in his career, Wang Mang secretly collected evidence of Chunyu Chang's affair with the deposed Queen Xu, and sent him to prison. In the end, Chunyu Chang was executed by Queen Mother Wang.]

[In 8 BC, Wang Gen was seriously ill, and the -year-old Wang Mang was recommended to take over the position of Grand Marshal. After Wang Mang came to power, he strictly required himself to recruit virtuous people, and used all the money rewarded to entertain various talents, while he lived a very simple life. ]

[Once, officials came to visit Wang Mang's mother. They even regarded the poorly dressed old lady as a servant in Wang Mang's house.]

[A year later, Emperor Cheng of Han died and Emperor Ai of Han succeeded to the throne. The families of Empress Dowager Fu and Empress Ding, the grandmother of Emperor Ai of Han, began to gain power. Wang Mang had no choice but to resign from his post as Grand Marshal and lived in seclusion in his fiefdom, Xindu, without going out.]

[In order to avoid giving others a handle, Wang Mang even forced his second son, who had committed murder, to commit suicide, which won praise from the people. It was also for this reason that during Wang Mang's seclusion, many people and officials stood up for Wang and asked him to come back. ]

[Under pressure, the Han emperor had no choice but to summon Wang Mang back to the capital to serve the empress dowager, but he still did not restore his official position.]

[Until 1 BC, Emperor Ai of Han died without leaving any offspring. Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun immediately took back the imperial seal after the emperor's death. Unsurprisingly, the 45-year-old Wang Mang was recommended by everyone and was appointed as the Grand Marshal again.]

[He supported the nine-year-old Emperor Ping of Han to ascend the throne and took charge of government affairs himself, but after everything was stable, Wang Mang's ambition was exposed. He began to exclude everyone, forced Wang Zhengjun, and drove away his uncle Wang Li. ]

【After that, Wang Mang began to promote his own confidants and kill those who opposed him. A year later, Wang Mang deceived the Queen Mother and concealed his ambitions from the common people. He did not blatantly monopolize power, but together with his three most trusted people, he served as the Four Assistants, ranking above the Three Dukes. Thus, he monopolized the power of the Four Ministries.】

[Except for the conferment of titles, all matters were handled by Wang Mang. In 2 AD, a locust plague broke out in most parts of the country. Wang Mang personally took the lead in donating land and houses to help the victims, and implemented preferential policies such as reducing rent and taxes in the disaster area. He not only changed the local royal Huchi Garden into Anmin County to accommodate the victims. ]

[He also built 1000 houses for the disaster victims in Chang'an City, which was very similar to the current low-cost housing policy. Wang Mang's reputation among the people also reached its peak.]

[A year later, Wang Mang made his eldest daughter Wang Yan the empress. In 4 AD, the -year-old Wang Mang was given the title of Prime Minister by Emperor Ping of Han, ranking above the princes and dukes.]

[At Wang Mang's request, the Han Dynasty began to build markets and court reserves, and built 10,000 houses specifically for scholars to attract scholars and people with special expertise to Chang'an. The number of people once exceeded several thousand.]

】Wang was therefore deeply loved by Confucian scholars. Later, Wang Mang used a policy of luring envoys from foreign tribes such as the Xiongnu to come to the Han Dynasty to submit and pay tribute. For a time, Wang Mang became a virtuous saint in people's minds who ruled the country and brought peace to the world. He was granted the Nine Gifts by the court, which symbolized the highest courtesy. 】

【Two years later, Emperor Ping of Han died. In order to prevent the older new emperor from ascending the throne and preventing himself from arbitrarily manipulating the political situation, Wang Mang supported the two-year-old Liu Ying as the crown prince. Wang Mang's son called himself the fake emperor and acted on behalf of the emperor.】

[At the age of 51, Wang Mang's power in the court was at its peak, almost equal to that of the emperor, which caused a backlash from the opposition, mainly members of the Liu clan.]

[It was Anzhong Hou Liu Chong who took the lead and led more than a hundred people to attack Wancheng, but he failed before he even broke through the city gate.]

[The next year, the governor of Dongjun, Zhai Yi, raised an army to support Yanjiang Hou Liu Xin as the emperor. Twenty-three counties west of Chang'an rebelled. Wang Mang, feeling the crisis, held Ru Ziying in his arms and prayed in the ancestral temple all day, saying that his succession was only temporary and that he would definitely return the throne to Ru Ziying in the future.]

[While constantly mobilizing the army to suppress the rebellion. After destroying the rebel army and quelling the rebellion, Wang Mang began to think about becoming emperor. ]

[In 9 AD, Wang Mang forced Wang Zhengjun to hand over the imperial seal, accepted the abdication of Ru Ziying, and then proclaimed himself emperor, changing the country's name to "Xin". He was 54 years old at the time.]

[Wang Mang ascended to the highest position of power with the broad support of the government and the people, setting a precedent in Chinese history of becoming an emperor through abdication. It took him eight years to go from Duke of Anhan to Prime Minister, then to the fake emperor, and finally to the real emperor.]

[In addition to the aristocratic revolution and the civilian revolution in the history of Chinese dynasties, there was another precedent for usurping the throne. 】

【After Wang Mang became emperor, he took a series of measures to benefit the people, which were called Wang Mang's reforms in history. He announced that all the land in the world would be transferred to the king's land, and that the king's land would replace private iron. Slaves and maids would be transferred to private property, and like the king's land, they could not be bought or sold.】

【Later, the currency system and official system were reformed, salt and iron were state-run, mountains and rivers were nationalized, and the people were given a break. From then on, the country was peaceful and the people were safe.】

【However, many of these policies were contrary to the actual situation. In addition, the means and methods used in their implementation were incorrect. After encountering fierce opposition, Wang Mang attempted to enforce them through harsh laws.】

[This led to countless people being punished for serious crimes for violating the law, exacerbating social unrest. People suffered before they could even seek benefits. Policies changed every day, leaving the people and officials confused, and ultimately leading to dissatisfaction among the powerful and the common people.]

[Beginning in 11 AD, people from all over the country suffered from Wang Mang's policies, which led to frequent evaporation of the world. They abandoned their cities and fled to become bandits, and thousands of them rebelled.]

[In 17 AD, in order to avenge her son who was unjustly killed by the county magistrate, Lü Mu, a woman from Dongshan Rizhao, led her people to attack the county town, executed the county magistrate, and called herself a general. She appeared on the sea, and her power quickly grew to tens of thousands of people. Lü Mu also became the first female leader of a peasant uprising in Chinese history.]

[A year later, Li Zidu of Donghai led his people in an uprising, and the army quickly grew to tens of thousands. In the same year, dozens of uprising armies also appeared in the north and south, with varying numbers of people, ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands.]

[Among the uprising armies spread all over the country at that time, there were two largest teams that became the mainstream of the peasant uprising army, namely the Green Forest Army in the south and the Red Guards in the north. ]

[In 23 BC, Wang Mang held a ceremony of crying to the sky in the southern suburbs. The Green Forest Army invaded Chang'an, and Wang Mang fled to Jiantai. In the end, more than a thousand people who followed Wang Mang were all killed in the battle. Wang Mang was also killed by the rebel soldiers, and the Xin Dynasty also perished. ]

[After the demise of the Xin Dynasty, Wang Mang's head was collected by successive royal families until it was burned in a fire in the Luoyang Armory during the reign of Emperor Hui of Jin in 295 AD.]

【Wang Mang is a controversial figure in history. Ancient historians believed that he was a "great traitor" who usurped the throne. It was not until the end of the modern imperial system that Wang Mang was praised by many historians as the first social reformer in Chinese history.】

【Thinking that he was a far-sighted and selfless social reformer, the failure of Wang Mang's reform was certainly historically inevitable. But he was manic, impractical, and stubborn. 】

[These personality traits made it impossible for him to adjust policies according to actual conditions during the reform, nor to establish an efficient and prestigious institution to implement the new policies, so he was doomed to failure.]

——"Wang Mang turned the Han Dynasty upside down with his own efforts. This is really amazing."

——"If there is no Wang Mang, there will be Zhao Mang and Han Mang. The emperors of the Han Dynasty at that time were too outrageous, and there were various serious problems. It is basically time to restart the server."

——"When I was studying history at school, I heard that the name of Wang Mang's dynasty was "Xin Dynasty". I was stunned at the time. This name seemed a bit too inappropriate in ancient times."

——"Not only the dynasty name, you can look at the place names and road names he named, the more you look, the more they look like modern people, for example, Nanyang was renamed Qiandui, Hanoi County was renamed Hou County, and Hongnong County was renamed Youdui."

——"Don't talk nonsense. His fiefdom is called Xindu. In ancient times, the name of a country was always taken from its previous fiefdom. For example, the Sui and Tang dynasties both took the fiefdoms of Yang Jian and Li Yuan as their founding names. By the way, the Han Dynasty was the same. Before Liu Bang, there was the King of Han."

——"Isn't Wang Mang's youth the standard beginning of a historical fiction novel? It starts with a crisis, his parents die, he needs to endure humiliation, then accumulate strength, and finally turn the tables."

——"If he could write a few poems that would be passed down through the ages, then I would believe that he was a time traveler, but since he didn't leave any behind, I guess it's just that his wisdom was too advanced."