First, Wang Mang lived a simple life, was respected, and attached importance to the role of role models. Although Wang Mang was born in a wealthy family with consorts and his aunt was the queen of Emperor Han Yuan, Wang Mang lived in poverty when he was young because his father died early due to illness. The hardships of life made him develop a thrifty and simple character, and he understood the sufferings of the lower class better than those noble children. In the first year of Yongshi, Wang Mang was named the new capital Hou. Different from the greedy plunder of other officials, Wang Mang's title is beneficial, and his moral integrity is more modest. After breaking up, changing clothes and shaking the guests, there is nothing at home. "("Ban Gu: The Biography of Han Wang Mang ") After he became a Fu, he was" more frugal "and" rewarded the city with money ". As a result, "mother's illness", "public officials and ministers sent their wives to ask, and the wayward wives greeted them without mopping the floor or covering their knees. "People who saw it thought the servant was surprised to hear the news of his wife." (Biography of Bangu Wang Han Mang) "Whenever there is a flood or drought, Mang should be a vegetarian." ("Ban Gu: Biography of Wang Han")
Life frugality is Wang Mang's consistent quality. He wanted to set a good example for the dissolute officials and nobles to save the crumbling Western Han Dynasty. Influenced by Confucianism, Wang Mang paid too much attention to the role of education. Wang Mang believes that as long as the ruling class sets an example and pays attention to thrift, the flashy atmosphere in society will disappear. Especially in the first year of Emperor Pingdi, after Wang Mang assisted Chang 'an, he "donated one million, donated 30 hectares of land, and rewarded the farmers for helping the poor". ("Ban Gu: Biography of Wang Han Mang") Later, many officials and bureaucrats were motivated by various reasons. "They are all eager for efficiency. Whoever gave 230 people a farmhouse gave the poor a gift. " (Ban Gu: Biography of Wang Han) Wang Mang's "rags and food, poor chariots and horses", (Ban Gu: Biography of Wang Han) donated money every year to help the poor; Not only that, but also urged the queen mother to "dress properly and practice, which is quite detrimental to diet to show the world"; ("Ban Gu: Biography of Wang Han"), thus winning the praise of the ruling and opposition parties. Many ministers claimed: "The world is famous for its wealth, so it should be localized." . (Ban Gu: Biography of Wang Han Mang) Therefore, Wang Mang pays more attention to the role of education.
In the reform, Wang Mang particularly emphasized the necessity of education, hoping to change the official atmosphere of advocating extravagance and extravagance. In the first year of the Emperor, Tang Zun, a thrifty and simple man, was appointed as an important minister. Tang Zun believes that "the country is empty and the people are poor, and the blame lies in luxury." To save from peril, we must advocate thrift, which coincides with Wang Mang's view. Therefore, Tang Zun, who wore a small sleeve coat, rode in a carriage and used inferior pottery, became an example that Wang Mang admired. He asked Tang Zun to send inferior food from pottery to his officials in an attempt to influence them and make the new dynasty clean. This approach is too simple and naive. At that time, social contradictions became more and more acute. Wang Mang did not consider how to solve the problem fundamentally, but tried to save the disadvantages by means of education, which doomed the failure of the reform.
Second, Wang Mang yearned for the etiquette system of Zhou Dynasty, and tried to find a solution to get rid of the social crisis based on it. The poverty and hardship of Wang Mang's childhood made him develop a diligent, simple and studious character. When he was young, he studied the Book of Rites and Classics from the famous Confucian scholar Chen Shen, and became a thorough admirer of Confucianism, and his worship of Confucianism reached an almost obsessive level. In the process of restructuring, Wang Mang tried to follow the Confucian classic Zhou Li, which eventually led to the failure of restructuring. After the establishment of the new dynasty, Wang Mang's words must be called three generations, and everything must be based on the "Zhou Li", quoting classics everywhere. Starting from Confucian classics such as The Book of Songs and The Book of History, Wang Mang thinks that "yesterday was ordered after Tuesday, so it is home to both the East and the West. Give it an order, and so does Guy. The state thinks nine, and the title is Friday. " (Ban Gu: The Biography of Wang Han) Wang Mang also ignored the actual situation of the society at that time and resumed the enfeoffment system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which violated the trend of historical development; The construction of the East Capital City has intensified social contradictions.
Wang Mang has always believed that "connecting the past with the future, governing the people with courtesy". Therefore, after becoming Fu and Zaifu, "it is inevitable to discuss peace." After the establishment of the new dynasty, he said that he would call it three generations, and everything would be subject to Zhou Li. "Every time you make something, you will want to learn from the ancient times." All the decrees and facilities are antiques, and a Zhou Li is almost a blueprint for the restructuring of follwed. Wang Mang is a Confucian idealist, so he envies the ideal state described by Confucianism in history. In order to solve the problem of land annexation, in the first year of the founding of the People's Republic of China, that is, in AD 9, Wang Mang issued a decree to implement the "Wang Tian system". The name of Wang Tian system is taken from the Book of Songs, "All over the world, is it the land of kings?" Wang Mang's imperial edict said, "The ancients set up eight wells, one man and one woman with a hundred acres of land, and even one person paid taxes, so the country praised the wealth of the people. This way of Tang Yu was imitated by three generations ... Now it has been renamed as "Wang Tian" Tian Tian in the world ... Its male population is less than eight, and those who cultivate a well will distribute the remaining fields to the neighboring Jiuzu cultural villages. Therefore, there is no field, and now it is a system. " This is Wang Mang's "Wang Tian system", the core of which is to change the private ownership of land of the landlord class into the feudal state-owned ownership of land in an attempt to curb land merger. At the end of the Han Dynasty, when the feudal private ownership of land had appeared for six or seven hundred years, it was unrealistic to abolish private ownership of land and implement state ownership of land! One of his ministers, Qu Bo, directly remonstrated with him and said, "Although the mining field is a sacred king's law, it has long been abolished. ..... Although Yao and Shun have recovered, Fu can do it in a hundred years. At the beginning of the world, the people were newly attached and could not be implemented. " In fact, the "Wang Tian system" was abolished a few years after its promulgation because it was opposed by powerful landlords. As a historian said, the well-field system "is a scholar's theory, so it is not feasible." (Ma Duanlin: Introduction to General Examination of Literature)
Wang Mang also explored a set of methods of enfeoffment according to Confucian classics such as The Book of Songs and The Book of History: "Nine countries follow, and five nobles follow the Zhou Dynasty. Eight hundred vassals, with the same number of attached cities, made contributions. Many households in one country, hundreds of miles of soil. Hou Bo is a country with 5,000 families and 70 miles of earth. According to the measurement of children and people, there are two thousand households with 500, and the earthwork is 50 miles. " After the centralized county system was established for more than 200 years, Wang Mang fully restored the enfeoffment system and replaced the appointment system with hereditary methods. In fact, it is a retrogression in history, and it will not work anyway. After Wang Mang replaced the Han Dynasty, in order to curb the excessive exploitation of wealthy businessmen, he promulgated the law of "five shares and six awards", saying that "Zhou Li" has made contributions and "Yu Yue" has five products, and biographies vary. Nowadays, credit loans have been opened, and Zhang He has established various models. Therefore, the whole people are harmonious and the merger is suppressed. "("Ban Gu: History of Food in Han Dynasty ") shows that the five strands and six blessings are also based on Zhou Li and other old classics. In fact, this five-average and six-grain law is a part of government-run industry and commerce, and large-scale private businesses such as salt, iron and wine are levied by the government. This is obviously a competition for profits with businessman Jia Jia, and of course they will strongly oppose it. However, Yamazawa's tax revenue made it impossible for people who had expected Yamazawa to survive the locust plague. So the poor and the rich have always opposed this law. Six embarrassing orders, "The more worried the world is, the thief will rise. However, Feng often remonstrated, saying, "I am so angry that I am not allowed to be the official." . "The" Five Equalization and Six Laws "hindered the development of industry and commerce, infringed on the interests of the rich and the poor, made the restructuring lose its social foundation, and failure became an inevitable result.
In the process of restructuring, Wang Mang thought that "the Duke of Zhou was the emperor's throne, and he was a vassal for six years, with a system of rites and music, and the world was well dressed", so he thought that "the system stipulated that the world should be self-balanced, so he thought sharply about geography, made rituals, had fun, and combined the theory of the Six Classics" (Yuan Mei: "Wang Mang usurped Han as a mirror"). However, Wang Mang's view of Zhou Li is very simple. He thinks that as long as the new dynasty has three generations of provisions and orders in form, it can achieve three generations of prosperity, which can only be an unrealistic fantasy.
Wang Mang has always admired Confucian ethics, "longing for the ancient times, but not taking the time" (Sima Guang: Zi Zhi Tong Jian, Volume 37) and is rigid and formal. Therefore, the increasingly serious social crisis has not been stopped, but has promoted its further development. Even when the fire of peasant uprising was about to reach Guanzhong, where the capital was located, he was still "state-owned disaster" in Li Zhouyi. Lead the ministers to the southern suburbs of Chang 'an, set up an altar to cry to heaven, and ask God why he didn't help him put out thieves since he stood in the position of Han. Wang Mang's crying failed to move the world, and he was finally beheaded in the wave of peasant uprising. "Emancipation in Reflection" (Liang Qichao: An Introduction to Qing Dynasty) is a characteristic of China's history. However, few people, Rainbow, blindly believe in the past and try their best to restore it. His words and deeds should be based on historical ancient books, which is ignorance and love for the past, rather than the attitude that reformers should have. Therefore, in a sense, Wang Mang is the victim of retro-ism.
Third, Wang Mang is vain, doing whatever he wants and carrying out reforms at will. Wang Mang's personality is vain, and he likes to show off his bravado and seek fame, which is lighter than job-hopping, but he also underestimated the difficulties encountered in the restructuring, which led to many measures being abandoned halfway or limited to the introduction of laws and regulations. In this regard, the reform of currency system and the change of place names are particularly prominent. During the ten years from the second year of Jushe to the first year of Emperor Huang, Wang Mang successively issued four letters to change the currency and reiterated the decree of changing the currency five times, and changed the currency once in less than three years on average. The main purpose of Wang Mang's change of currency is to accumulate wealth through currency devaluation. As a result, once the currency system is reformed, Wang Mang will plunder the people's wealth, and there will be great social and economic chaos, so that "farmers and businesses are unemployed, food and goods are wasted, and the people are in dire straits." (Ban Gu: Grain History of Han Dynasty) Such frequent, chaotic and absurd monetary reforms are unique in the history of China's monetary system.
Wang Mang also frequently changed official names, official systems, place names and administrative divisions. At the beginning of the establishment of the new dynasty, Wang Mang changed the title of vassal king of the Han Dynasty to "Gong". According to the Book of Rites, many new officials were set up, and the names of central and local officials in the Han Dynasty were changed. For example, the county satrap is called Yin Da, a captain is called Qiu, the county magistrate is called Zaijun, the suggestion is called law enforcement, and the bus Sima is called Wang Lu, and so on. As for place names, they have also been changed from central to local, such as Chang 'an, Changle Palace, Weiyang Palace and Wanglutang. There are many changes in local counties, almost every year, so that "one county has changed five, and it is still the same." Officials and people are lawless. Every time I send a letter, I need to name it after them, saying that I want to send a letter to Chen Yin and Tai Wei: I want to pay for Xinping, south of Yishui. Xinping, so Huaiyang; To Chen Ding, east of Qiu Yong. Therefore, Chen Ding, Liang Jun ... and so did his orders. "This kind of reorganization not only increases the trouble of memory, but also brings social instability, without any benefit. This is also an important factor in Wang Mang's failure. During his reign, Wang Mang repeatedly provoked wars against ethnic minorities in Northeast, Northwest and Southwest China. He sent troops to Xiongnu several times. Although he never attacked, there were hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the side of the village, which lasted for many years. " Officials indulge, and the inner county is worried about recruiting, and the people abandon the battlements as thieves, especially in Bingzhou and Pingzhou. "Disturbing the world, destroying the frontier and improving the situation, the reform is carried out in this environment, and the result can be imagined. During Wang Mang's reign, he often promulgated some reform measures, but he often only paid attention to the form and seldom paid attention to the concrete implementation. He put more energy into discussing whether the wording of the revised regulations is beautiful and conforms to the classic norms. Constantly amending the regulations is actually disturbing the people and bringing instability to society.
4. In the process of reorganization, Wang Mang abused the villain and was too conceited. Before Wang Mang replaced the Han Dynasty, his modest and simple style made him famous. Not only the people praised his honesty, but also scholars praised his actions. Even the emperor and queen mother praised him. Such a good reputation made Wang Mang immersed in a sweet talk, which made him too confident and superstitious about Confucian classics in the restructuring, so that he was opinionated, headstrong and refused to give advice. Wang Mang often thinks that all his laws and regulations are perfect, so he can't directly deal with those who make suggestions. For example, you wrote a letter stating the difficulties and disadvantages of fighting against the Huns, and suggested stopping the war against the Huns and concentrating on suppressing the peasant uprising. As a result, Wang Mang was demoted to fu. When an emissary truthfully reported that the reason for the peasant uprising was harsh laws and heavy exploitation, Wang Mang didn't believe it at all, thinking it was a rumor, and immediately dismissed the emissary. He asked Fu Si to let Fei Xing do Jingzhou animal husbandry and asked him how to manage it after he took office. Fei Xing said to him: "Jingyang people take blocking mountains and rivers as the guide and take fishing as their business. In the meantime, the state is in charge of six things, and taxes and mountains hinder the people's interests. After years of drought, the people are hungry and cold, so they are thieves. Xing to the county, want to make the thief return to the field, borrow cattle for food, and broaden their taxes, which can solve Anji. " Follwed was furious and removed his Jingzhou shepherd. To get rid of the tyranny of Su Min, this is the way to solve the people's problems. Only capable officials can do it, but Wang Mang was removed from his post. Politicians don't know how to use talents. No wonder Wang Mang has become a real "loner". "The more I am afraid of being in a group, the more I dare to say a thief." (Sima Guang: "Zi Tong Zhi Jian", Volume 38) The people used by Wang Mang in his later period were mostly flattering and mean people. During the emperor's three years, there were hundreds of thousands of refugees entering Guanzhong. Wang Mang "gave food to the catering officials", and the officials took the opportunity to take food and rice for themselves, resulting in "starvation". When Wang Mang heard that there was a famine in the city, he asked Wang Ye, who was in charge of the matter, "The rice and broth bought in the city are stupid, saying that' the salty people eat is salty'." (Sima Guang: History as a Mirror, Volume 38) Wang Mang actually believed his words. Most of the officials sent by Wang Mang to inspect the casting of money were wealthy businessmen in Dajia. They "use the news to travel across the world. Because of adultery with counties and counties, there are many empty books, the government is left unlocked, and the people are sick. " (Ban Gu: History of Food in Han Dynasty) Isn't the fall of Xin Mang's regime inevitable for such a flattering and black-and-white official as Manchu? Reform must attach great importance to the way of employing people. Everything depends on people's efforts, and all reform measures can only be realized through people's implementation, and the effect is directly related to the appropriateness of employing people. Wang Mang's stubbornness and inhumanity caused the complete failure of the restructuring, and the lesson was profound.
Generally speaking, Wang Mang's replacement and reorganization of the Han Dynasty has its historical inevitability. As a thorough Confucian scholar and a feudal emperor, Wang Mang promulgated a series of measures to consolidate the new regime, which is worthy of recognition in many aspects. However, he is manic, lighter than changing jobs, obsessed with the past, unrealistic, headstrong and inhuman, which eventually led to the failure of his restructuring.