Why was Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty Liu Xiu able to defeat Wang Mang’s 420,000 troops with 10,000 troops? (Image source: Public domain)
“Song of Ten Thousand Years of Heaven and Earth”It is a very ancient prophecy in China. According to legend, it isJiang Taigong of Zhou DynastyWritten by. There are a total of 110 sentences in the whole article, six of which are metaphors for “Zhongque in Han Zuo”. Only when the time came did we realize that the so-called “Zhongque” refers to the sudden ups and downs.Wang Mang’s New Deal.
Wang Mang was a very bizarre person. The “New Dynasty” he founded was very short-lived, lasting only fourteen years (9-23 AD), but it divided the four-hundred-year-old Han Dynasty into two parts, becoming the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty. Many of the new policies he implemented were untimely, causing public dissatisfaction to rise, and ultimately ended up destroying the country. Perhaps this is because Wang Mang did not have the right to be a king, but he did the right thing!
Ascend to the throne
Wang Mang’s road to seizing power was smooth and smooth, and he successfully usurped the Han Dynasty in the name of abdication. There are three conditions that laid the foundation for his rise. One is the power of his relatives, the other is the image created by himself, and the third is the support of many Confucian scholars.
Wang Mang’s aunt, Wang Zhengjun, was the empress of Han Yuan Emperor Liu Shi (Queen Xiaoyuan). She lived through the four reigns of Emperor Yuan, Emperor Cheng, Emperor Ai, and Emperor Ping, and served the country for more than sixty years. Wang Feng, the eldest brother of the Queen of the Yuan Dynasty, was granted the title of Grand Sima General when he became emperor. From then on, the Wang family prospered, with “nine nobles and five great Sima” in the family. The rest of the Wang family’s children also served as ministers, officials, ministers, and ministers. Zhu Cao; the surname Wang is distributed in the imperial court.
Although Wang Mang is a member of the Wang family, he was lonely and poor when he was young due to the early death of his father and brother. When he was young, he devoted himself to his own work, was diligent and knowledgeable, served his mother and widowed sister-in-law, raised his brother’s orphans, and acted cautiously and thoughtfully, as he learned from “Li” of Confucian scholars. He was also “a handsome man in diplomacy and a father in domestic affairs”. When his eldest uncle, Grand Sima Wang Feng, fell ill, he stayed with him for several months without undressing his clothes, and the clan called him filial piety. “Filial piety” was also an important condition for selecting scholars in the Han Dynasty.
Before his death, Wang Feng entrusted Wang Mang to the Empress of the Yuan Dynasty and Emperor Cheng, and granted Wang Mang the title of Huangmenlang (the emperor’s closest servant), and later moved to Shesheng Xiaowei (in charge of the archery unit of the Imperial Guard). A few years later, his uncle, the Marquis of Chengdu, also wrote to the court, willing to allocate his fiefdom to Wang Mang. Several ministers and celebrities also spoke for Wang Mang, and Emperor Cheng learned about Wang Mang’s virtuous reputation.
In the first year of Emperor Yongshi of the Han Dynasty (16 BC), Wang Mang was granted the title of Marquis of the New Capital, and was moved to the rank of Cavalry Captain and Minister of Guanglu. He was diligent in his work, “the nobleness of his title and the humility of his integrity”, and he often distributed supplies to guests so that he had nothing left at home. He also “accepted famous people and made friends with many generals, ministers and officials”, and was supported by many ministers and famous people. His reputation spread throughout the government and the public, even surpassing that of his uncles and uncles. Ban Gu, who did not like to see Wang Mang, had to praise him in the “Book of Han”: “Wang Mang began to raise relatives, and worked hard to gain reputation. The clan praised filial piety. , mentor and friend Quy Nhon.”
The two emperors Ai and Ping who succeeded Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty were young heirs and their kingdoms were not long-lived, which gave Wang Mang an opportunity to take advantage of. Wang Mang rose through the ranks by virtue of his relative’s status and personal reputation, and became the chief secretary of the Grand Sima when Emperor Ping was young. After the death of Emperor Ping (West 5), the cause of death was suspicious. Wang Mang selected the infant Liu Ying from the royal family as the crown prince, and guided the ministers to follow the example of Duke Zhou as regent and persuade him to act as emperor. The following year, Wang Mang proclaimed himself “Emperor She” and changed his title to Ju She. Finally, in the third year of Ju She (8 AD), under the call of many Confucian scholars, he took advantage of the situation and officially usurped the Han Dynasty, changing the country’s name to “Xin”.
Wang Mang was a very bizarre person. The “New Dynasty” he founded was very short-lived, lasting only fourteen years (9-23 AD), but it divided the four hundred-year-old Han Dynasty into two. (Picture source: Internet picture)
Chonggu transformation
In the last century of the Western Han Dynasty, “the rich had vast fertile fields, while the poor had no place to stand.” The gap between the rich and the poor caused by the annexation of land by powerful families was already a serious problem. Wang Mang was familiar with the Six Classics and hoped to use the “Li” of Zhou to reform the current situation. The New Deal also aimed at “bringing all the people together, suppressing mergers and annexation”. Although the intention was beautiful, it often backfired because of neglect of the objective environment and lack of comprehensive plans. Finally retreated completely.
For example, in the year of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Mang issued an edict, “The land in the world is the ‘king’s land’, and the slaves are ‘private (members of the family)’, and they are not allowed to be bought or sold. Those who have less than eight men in each family and occupy more than one acre of land (900 acres), and the remaining land will be distributed to the neighboring township parties of the nine ethnic groups. Therefore, those who have no land can receive land according to the system, and those who violate it will be given the border. “He wants to make the private land in the world belong to the imperial court! Faced with opposition from the rich and big landowners to the vast number of peasants, the edict had to be abolished in the third year after it was issued.
For another example, in the second year of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (10 AD), Wang Mang first established the “Six Management Orders” and ordered six items of huge profits, including salt, wine, iron, famous mountains and rivers, copper smelting, money and cloth, and Wujun credit loans. All businesses were managed by the imperial court. In addition, the imperial court unified prices and balanced market supply through the five-equal system. The purpose of all this is to control the exploitation of powerful monopolies and unscrupulous businessmen. However, because the supervisors are all wealthy businessmen, they collude with the counties and counties, which makes it easier to plunder the people, making “all the people uneasy.” Coupled with Wang Mang’s frequent and chaotic monetary reform policies, “farmers and businessmen lost their jobs, food and supplies were all gone, and the people wept in the market.” So Wang Mang issued an order in the third year of Emperor Dihuang’s reign (22 AD): “Since he came to the throne, all the edicts that are not convenient for the people will be returned.”
due to defeat
The collapse of Wang Mang’s new dynasty was not only related to powerful mergers and untimely restructuring, but also related to prolonged drought and locust plagues. Drought and locusts often go hand in hand, and they were common occurrences when Wang Mang was in power. The “Book of Han” also repeatedly mentioned the social consequences of drought and locust disasters. for example:
In the autumn of the second year of Emperor Ping’s reign (West 2), “locusts spread all over the world. At that time, Wang Mang was in charge.”
In the third year of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (West 11), “locusts appeared in the county near the (Yellow) River.”
In the fifth year of Tianfeng (West 18), “At that time, there was a famine and drought in Guandong for several years.”
In the autumn of the second year of the Emperor of the Earth (21 AD), “meteor frost killed beetles, and there was a great famine in Guandong, and there were locusts.”
In February of the third year of Emperor Dihuang’s reign (West 22), Wang Mang wrote: “Dry drought, frost locusts, famine and severe famines (successive years of famine), the people are exhausted and displaced from the road, especially in spring.” And “Summer locusts come from the east.” , covered the sky, reached Chang’an, entered Weiyang Palace, Yuan Palace Pavilion… Hundreds of thousands of refugees entered the customs…”
Natural and man-made disasters caused large-scale hungry refugees. These hungry people then rallied with bandits and became a force of popular rebellion in various places. Therefore, at the turn of the Han Dynasty, heroes rose up together, and crowds gathered to raise armies everywhere. Liu Xiu, who is said to have a clan lineage with the surname Liu of the Western Han Dynasty, also raised troops in Wancheng (now Nanyang City, Henan Province) and became Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty who would stabilize the chaos in the world.
But the most rare thing is Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty. If he did not have the perseverance and courage to face the huge enemy army, there would be no subsequent miracles and final victory. (Picture source: Internet picture)
Restoration of the Han Dynasty
The “Battle of Kunyang” (West 23) is one of the famous battles in Chinese history where a small number of people defeated a large number. After this battle, the defeat of Wang Mang’s new dynasty was a foregone conclusion. From then on, “Guangwu (Liu Xiu) was powerful in the world, and Wang Ye’s rise began.” This is it.” It is incredible to say that Liu Xiu defeated Wang Mang’s main army of 420,000 troops with 10,000 troops! This kind of plot similar to a storybook is actually played out in the human world. If it wasn’t God’s will, what else could it be!
Not only was the result incredible, the battle was also a miracle. “Hanshu” records that when Kunyang City was about to be captured by Wang Mang’s army, meteors fell on Wang Mang’s army camp at night; during the day, dark clouds fell towards Wang Mang’s army camp like a landslide and dispersed less than a foot above the ground. , all the soldiers fell to the ground. When the battle came to an end, Liu Xiu led the reinforcements to attack the rebels inside and outside the city. The demoralized troops trampled on each other while fleeing, and the dead were scattered for more than a hundred miles. At this time, strong winds and thunder appeared in the sky, and the roof tiles flew off. It rained heavily, and the water surged. Thousands of people were drowned by the reckless soldiers. If not for God’s help, what else can there be!
But the most rare thing is Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty. If he did not have the perseverance and courage to face the huge enemy army, there would be no subsequent miracles and final victory.
This period of history about Wang Mang’s usurpation of the Han Dynasty and Liu Xiu’s revival is said to have been metaphorized in the “Song of the Universe” written by Jiang Taigong of the Zhou Dynasty.
“The Thousand Years Song of Qiankun” contains:
Sitting on a golden head with a straight knife, he can cut off all the heads of wooden sheep in the world.
It’s even more unclear when the land comes to the court, and the year changes and the country changes to usurp the throne.
The Lord of Glory gushes out of the spring, reviving the country for a long time.
The golden sword refers to the character “Liu”, which is a metaphor that Liu Bang killed all the heroes in the world and was established as the King of Han in the Year of the Wood Sheep (the last year of Yi). One soil refers to the word “king”, implying that Wang Mang’s arrival in the court was more ominous, usurping the position of Emperor Ping and changing the name of the country. The characters for spring are respectively “white” and “water”, which is a metaphor that Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu raised troops from Baishui Township in Nanyang to revive the Han Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty ruled the country for another two hundred years.
Editor in charge: Gufeng Source: Look at China
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