In the ninth year of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang, a relative of the Western Han Dynasty (his aunt was the Emperor Xiaoyuan of the Han Dynasty, Empress Wang Zhengjun, and his daughter Wang Yan was the Empress of the Han Ping Emperor). After a series of packages and momentum building, Wang Mang finally usurped the power of the Western Han Dynasty and established the New Han Dynasty. towards. To be honest, Wang Mang worked hard to usurp the country and seize power.

In order to create an image of hardship and simplicity, he once made his mother wear rags, and he had four dishes and one soup and did not eat meat.

In order to show his selflessness, he once personally killed his second son Wang Huo for killing his own slave (according to the law at that time, killing his own servant did not require his life).

In order to establish his image as an ambassador of love, when Wang Mang was hit by a disaster in Qingzhou, he donated millions of dollars and donated 30 hectares of farmland, motivating officials to show their love to the disaster area.

It can be said that in order to sit on the throne of emperor, Wang Mang worked hard and took great pains. Because Wang Mang has established a good image for himself among the people, the people have long regarded him as a great savior and a perfect saint, and have high hopes for him. Therefore, hundreds of thousands of ordinary people have signed a letter to the court asking to reward him. .

In the ninth year of AD, Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty and changed the name of the country to Xin, and established the capital Chang'an (today's site of Han Chang'an City in Xi'an), which was called Xinmang in history.

Wang Mang established a new dynasty, and his own ideas were a bit trendy. He was ambitious and vowed to let the people live a happy life.

After coming to power, Wang Mang carried out drastic reforms. The reform measures included:

The new dynasty stipulated that no matter how much land there was, after the introduction of the New Deal, except for a small amount of land, all the rest would be recovered. After returning to the country, he became "Wang Tian".

Then the land will be equally distributed to farmers across the country, in principle one couple will be given one hundred acres. Banning the sale of slaves and improving treatment

Slaves were renamed "private" and the sale was prohibited.

Reform the currency system

Mint new coins and abolish old coins.

Control prices and intervene in the market

In the middle of each quarter, market analysts assess local prices, which is called market leveling.

If the price is higher than the market price, the market leader will sell according to the market price; if the price is lower than the market price, the market will be sold by the people.

Wang Mang's land reform was opposed because it violated the interests of large landowners, and there was no way to implement it. The farmers did not receive the land promised by the emperor.

In the end, Wang Mang had to change the edict and announced that all kings and fields could be bought and sold.

Wang Mang's policy of improving the status of slaves also offended the interests of the ruling class. The law prohibiting the sale of slaves also came to nothing and was not implemented.

Moreover, Wang Mang also stipulated that people who broke the law would be deprived of their freedom and become "official maids".

In this way, not only did the status of the original slaves not improve, but they became new slaves, and the number of people who lost their personal freedom increased greatly.

Moreover, Wang Mang, a great reformer, also formulated an unprecedented and unprecedented law that forced official slaves to "change their couples". Wang Mang's currency reform, like the Kuomintang's currency reform after the War of Resistance and the reforms in Venezuela and Zimbabwe, was a measure to alleviate inflation. To put it bluntly, it was a disguised form of money encirclement. Therefore, it was resisted by the common people, causing economic chaos and accelerating people's bankruptcy.

In order to prevent the people from continuing to use old coins and privately minting coins, he introduced the illegal coinage method of five companies in a row, which intensified social conflicts and accelerated the demise of the new dynasty.

Wang Mang’s efforts to control prices also violate market rules and cannot be implemented.

For example, if the cost of eggs is two yuan and the state sets the price at three yuan, but if the income from part-time work is higher than the income of the farmers, the farmers will switch to work and the eggs will be priced There is no supply, and the people cannot eat eggs.

The same goes for pork. If the cost of raising pork is 5 yuan, and the government sets the price at 6 yuan, farmers can still make some money. But if an epidemic spreads and all the piglets die, the price of meat will rise to 30 yuan per pound. At this time, the government can control the price, but if there is no pork in the market, it will be in vain if the people cannot buy it. If the farmers still sell it for 8 yuan per pound, it is better to just throw the pork away. Only fools will feed pigs again.

So, in order to stabilize prices, the government must have sufficient resources and inventories. However, Wang Mang was unwilling and unable to increase government investment, and this beautiful plan eventually came to nothing.

In short, none of Wang Mang's grand blueprint can be realized.

Grand Rewards for Officials

In order to commend those officials who have made great contributions to usurping the country and seizing power, all of them will be rewarded in an unlimited number.

The consequence of this is that there are princes all over the country, and the country's financial and land resources are insufficient. These princes are in name only, their income is too low, they cannot live a happy life, they can only exploit the people and increase the burden on the people.

Yelang was arrogant and militaristic

Wang Mang thought that he had the support of the people, high prestige, and became the great savior, so he forgot about himself, was arrogant, and discriminated against ethnic minorities.

After he came to power, he deliberately belittled the status of ethnic minorities and humiliated them. For example, he changed the name of the Xiongnu chanyu to "Jiannu surrendered to" and changed the name of Goguryeo to "Xiaguryeo".

In order to divert domestic conflicts, he went to war and launched several wars against various ethnic groups in the northeast and southwest and the Huns.

For example, he once sent more than 100,000 troops to invade the Gouchi tribe in the southwest. As a result, he suffered severe injuries and lost more than half of his troops.

He also organized an army of 300,000 troops to attack the Xiongnu on a large scale, but also failed. Major change of place names

Wang Mang was supported by the people when he came to power and won the hearts of the people, so his personal ambitions expanded and he compared himself with Zhou Gong.

Since he was superior to other emperors, he had to be different in everything, including changing the names of places.

As a result, place names across the country will suffer.

For example, the Western Han Dynasty had four counties (Zhangye, Wuwei, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang) in the Hexi Corridor, among which was Wuwei County. Wang Mang felt that only the capital was powerful, so Wuwei was renamed "Zhangye".

The name of Jiuquan is full of poetry, but Wang Mang changed it to "Fuping" with a stroke of his pen.

The name Dunhuang is grand and grand, but Wang Mang changed it to "Dunde", which probably means that he wants to rule the country with virtue.

Wuxi, this name has a long history and was established by Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty. When Wang Mang saw that this was not possible, he wanted to transform himself into the Han Dynasty. In a tit-for-tat move, he changed his name to "Youxi". In addition, during his rule, Wang Mang also strengthened the state's monopoly on special industries and implemented state monopoly on salt, iron, wine, coinage, and other industries. However, due to limited capabilities, he failed to achieve success and enriched the bureaucrats and lawbreakers. Businessmen have deceived consumers.

If Wang Mang’s behavior during his time in power could be summarized, it would be to cross the river by feeling for the stones and tossing around blindly.

Wang Mang's reforms ended in failure, offending the bureaucrats and nobles, and making the people complain.