Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 147: Advancement to the position of Grand Assistant, the Ancient Sage

According to the original trajectory, Wang Mang was canonized as Duke of Anhan in the first year of Yuanshi, which was not long after the new emperor ascended the throne.

Because at that time he was the minister appointed by the Empress Dowager, the most powerful relative! In addition to his status as the leader of Confucian scholars and the powerful reputation of Grand Marshal Kong Guang, he was almost without rivals and threats.

He has long become a veritable powerful official. Although there are some opposition forces, they are insignificant and their strength is far superior to his.

Although Wang Mang spent two years suppressing Xu Hua, he still faced the same dilemma as Wang Gen in the past, that is, the local authorities obeyed orders but not proclamations. The General of Cavalry's Mansion in Jingzhou and the General of Zhenbei's Mansion in Youzhou both secretly disobeyed the edict issued by Wang Mang in the name of the empress dowager.

The Xiliang Military Governor's Office openly opposed it and ignored any appointment or dismissal of officials that were not stamped with the seals of the four ministers.

Wang Mang had no way to deal with this, because although the other party's attitude was not very good, it was reasonable and legal.

The Zhenjun Military Governor's Office had independent power to appoint and dismiss officials, and no one in the court except the emperor had the right to interfere.

The emperor was young and most of the orders were issued by Wang Mang, so no one could find fault if they were not executed.

"Wang Mang, Xu Hua, Wang Shun, Kong Guang, listen to my orders."

Wang Zhengjun thought for a moment and decided to agree to the joint memorial of all the ministers, which was to upgrade the status of the four assistant ministers and give them higher official positions. Although the Three Dukes were the heads of officials, they were still not honorable enough.

The new emperor was too young, and the three dukes alone could not control all the ministers in the court, especially Wang Shun. The General of Chariots and Cavalry had no qualifications to interfere in the court, so his situation was rather embarrassing.

"We obey your orders." The four of them said in unison.

"Pick Grand Marshal Wang Mang as Grand Tutor, Grand Minister of Education Xu Hua as Grand Protector, Grand Minister of Works Kong Guang as Junior Tutor, and General of Chariots and Cavalry Wang Shun... as Junior Teacher."

"From now on, all military and state affairs, no matter how big or small, except for the issue of conferring titles, will be decided by the four ministers. Even I am no exception. Our Han Dynasty needs to centralize power."

Wang Zhengjun basically raised the positions of the four assistant ministers to a higher level. These were originally official positions in Zhou Li. Before this, except for Xu Zhen who had served as Tai Shi and Huo Guang who had served as Tai Fu, there were no other such officials.

In order to lift them up, the Queen Mother made an exception.

She originally wanted Wang Mang to be the Grand Tutor, which was Xu Zhen's official position. Wang Mang privately also liked others to compare him to Xu Zhen.

He believed that he was a famous minister of all ages, second only to Xu Zhen and Xu Gong, and on par with Huo Guang, and that the title of Grand Marshal was not enough to highlight his status. Of course, he remained humble in his words. After all, he could not lose his image, and he still presented himself as a humble and selfless minister to the outside world.

One interesting point is that the original four assistants should be Taifu, Taishi, Taibao and Shaofu. But this time, Taishi was skipped.

The reason lies in Xu Zhen. He is the ancestor of the Xu family. Not only was he the first meritorious minister of the founding of the country, he also defeated the Lü clan and stabilized the country of the Liu family. In addition, with the powerful influence of his descendants, his own status was also very high.

Originally, this was nothing, it was just a position of Grand Tutor, why would it be so sensitive? There was another reason for this. Emperor Wu wanted to give Xu Gong the position of Grand Tutor, so as to match the combination of Emperor Gaodi and Xu Zhen.

But Xu Gong chose to refuse, saying that he would never be as good as his father and would never do such an presumptuous thing.

In this way, the Grand Master was given another sacredness. If it was given to someone else rashly, he would undoubtedly be cursed to death by the vast number of Confucian scholars and legalists. Even King Jingsheng could not hold this position, so what makes you think you can hold this position?
At that time, Xu Gong was only a prime minister all his life, which was already quite offensive. If it weren't for the example of Huo Guang, it would have been impossible for him to be promoted to the position of Grand Tutor and Grand Protector.

No matter how arrogant Wang Mang was, he could not possibly think of being stronger than the Holy Master.

"We thank the Queen Mother and Your Majesty." The four of them hurriedly expressed their gratitude.

The era of the Four Assistants began. From then on, these four people would exercise the power of the emperor! Led by Duke Jing and Duke Anhan, one represented the central government of Chang'an and the other represented the local forces.

Before being squeezed out of the Four Ministers, Xu Hua had been keeping Wang Mang in check.

After all, he is responsible for all government affairs in the world.

.........

In the third year of Yuanshi, severe drought broke out again across the country, with Qingzhou being the worst hit. Millions of people were displaced and local treasuries were short of food, which was simply a drop in the bucket for the huge number of victims.

Jizhou next door is indeed rich, but the war of the Han Dynasty is nationwide. Jizhou itself is not enough, how can it help others? The same is true for Yanzhou, Xuzhou and Jingzhou next door.

There was no harvest and people could only rely on stored grain to survive. Those people who could not get food gradually became refugees. Some even became bandits and became new thieves, causing trouble to the people.

While the Xu family was busy with disaster relief, Wang Mang was not idle either. He also donated all his family property as an example and called on 235 officials in Chang'an to donate together.

Under his soft and hard tactics, most bureaucrats compromised and donated large amounts of land for the resettlement of disaster victims. At the same time, the imperial court also introduced measures to reduce rent and taxes in response to this situation, which received widespread acclaim. The reputation of the Duke of Anhan soared, and everyone gave him a thumbs up and called him a saint of the time.

At the same time, Wang Mang also revoked a large amount of fertile land owned by the royal family in Anding County and changed it to Anmin County to resettle disaster victims.

These practical measures also made the people look forward to this Taifu. What if he could really change the current predicament of the Han Dynasty and curb land annexation?
Among them, the newly appointed Grand Tutor Chen Chong was the most prominent. He cheered for Wang Mang and had people spread nursery rhymes among the people, the general meaning of which was to link him with the former Xu Gong.

Some even directly called him King Jingsheng, who was born into the Wang family to continue benefiting the people.

It's a bit like cutting off the source of the trouble.

Coupled with so many people-friendly policies, he has achieved twice the result with half the effort. Now he has surpassed the Xu family and become the most prestigious person in the Han Dynasty.

After all, the two Xu states would provide grain and land for disaster relief every time there was a severe drought. Everyone has become accustomed to it, and it doesn't feel so obvious. This is human nature. People will feel good about others because of some small favors, but will turn a blind eye to long-term favors.

By doing this, Wang Mang gradually built up a great reputation among the people.

"This guy has a good plan."

In the residence of Duke Jing, Xu Hua's confidant Xu Li said angrily that he did not hold an official position, but had access to intelligence.

Therefore, the changes among the people were clearer. Wang Mang's cronies continued to distribute land, grain, harvest and fame in the name of the Wang family, but these things belonged to the Liu family!
It didn't even cost anything, it was just shameless to the extreme.

Xu Hua raised his head and said silently: "I'm afraid he has big ambitions. Why would he want such a good reputation if he wants to be in power? I remember Wang Feng didn't do that much."

"And do you know how those ministers of the Wang family petitioned the Queen Mother, asking Your Majesty to appoint him as Prime Minister! What is a Prime Minister? A prime minister in the true sense." "If I hadn't strongly opposed it, I'm afraid he should be called a prince now."

The position of Prime Minister is above the four assistants, and is roughly equivalent to Xu Zhen's Grand Tutor! It's only the third year of Yuanshi, and the power has developed to such an extent. It seems that the Queen Mother's support is very strong.

In the entire court, except for the Xu family, no one voiced opposition! Chang'an seemed to have collapsed completely.

In fact, it is normal and unavoidable. Wang Mang himself is the chief relative of the emperor, and three of the four ministers are his people. Even if they compete in numbers, they cannot win. Xu Zhong's withdrawal has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that he can keep the three states of Jing, Yang and Jiao, and the disadvantage is that Chang'an will lose power.

The disadvantages are beginning to show.

This guy's process of eliminating dissidents was difficult to counter. Kong Guang, who had the highest reputation and was a great scholar in the world, submitted an impeachment petition using his supervisory power as Grand Marshal and Junior Tutor, while Wang Mang, the chief of all ministers, slandered the empress dowager.

As time went by, almost all those who openly opposed were liquidated. Even if there were still people who were dissatisfied, they could only hold it in and dared to be angry but not speak out.

"Alas...if you ask me, we should just clear out the imperial court." Xu Li was very radical.

"That's enough." Xu Hua scolded, "Don't say such treasonous words. The current emperor was appointed by the Empress Dowager. It is reasonable and legal. There is nothing wrong with it."

"What's the difference between raising an army now to clean up the emperor's entourage and the rebellion of Zhao Wang Liu Ruyi?"

Because the family was gradually becoming weaker in Chang'an, many people were quite angry and dissatisfied, believing that Wang Mang's autocracy would one day lead to the downfall of the Han Dynasty, and that hundreds of years of their efforts would be wasted.

Therefore, he suggested to Xu Hua more than once that he should forge an edict from the empress dowager and use the excuse of purging the imperial court as an excuse to start a rebellion.

The Northwest Military Governor's Office in Liangzhou has 100,000 elite soldiers who have experienced hundreds of battles, Youzhou has 50,000 border troops, and Jingzhou also has 60,000 troops under the command of the General of Cavalry's Office. After recruiting some new soldiers, it will be enough to raise 300,000 combat-capable soldiers!
This was completely different from the mob without any fighting power. With this army, they attacked Chang'an and supported King Guangyang to succeed to the throne.

In this way, Xu's difficulties could be resolved immediately. Even if they could not capture Chang'an, they could establish a new king elsewhere, and defeating Wang Mang was only a matter of time.

This idea became more and more popular within the clan, but it was only among the core members of the clan. Otherwise, Wang Mang would have made a big fuss and exaggerated the public opinion that the Xu family wanted to rebel.

Regardless of whether it is useful or not, it will at least make the Empress Dowager more suspicious and distrustful.

But Xu Hua has always been firmly opposed to it, which is too radical. What's more, Xu Yuan took the initiative to write a letter to express his support, which made the radicals in the clan even more crazy.

Fortunately, Xu Zhong still had some rationality. He believed that starting a war without authorization would not have a good end, and that he should resolve the issue peacefully if possible. Using force was always the worst option.

"I was too abrupt." Xu Li calmed down and realized his mistake.

"It's okay. Remember, it's not wrong to purge the emperor's entourage. It's the duty of a minister to eliminate treacherous officials for His Majesty, but the prerequisite is that the treacherous officials deceive the emperor!"

"That means he has the intention of usurping the throne. Otherwise, it would be neither justifiable nor legitimate. Mencius once said that those who are righteous will have many supporters, while those who are unrighteous will have few supporters. Do you understand? We must make everyone in the world believe that there is nothing wrong in killing Wang Mang."

As the head of the family, Xu Hua cannot act on impulse. It is not easy to start an army. Now that the Xu family is showing weakness in the court, it is self-evident why they threaten to purge the court.

The elders in the clan had such thoughts only because their own interests were damaged. How could they be so noble as to do it for the sake of the world or the Liu family?

Over time, the Xu family inevitably fell into corruption and began to indulge in power.

Fortunately, leaders such as Xu Hua, Xu Zhong and Xu Min can remain rational. I don’t know if it is the so-called destiny, but every generation of the Xu family’s helmsmen has basically never failed at critical moments.

The reason why Xu Nan split into Qinghe Xu was mainly because the family had no rivals under the leadership of Jingsheng King Xu Gong, so they became more powerful.

"Let's wait and see. If he wants to be the prime minister, let him be the prime minister. There is a saying that goes, if you want to destroy someone, you must first make him crazy!"

"When he loses his patience, you can fight back."

Xu Hua thought for a moment and said, "How is it, have the traitors been dealt with?"

"Handed."

Xu Li nodded. The eunuch Pushe who had betrayed them before had been purged and assassinated. He had been at the helm for so many years and had never been lenient towards the traitors, otherwise anyone could defect, right?

"That's good. Keep an eye on Wang Mang. Don't miss any sign of trouble. It can save lives in many cases." Xu Hua reminded. He always had a special feeling that this caution might come in handy!

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger. This saying is definitely not wrong.

.........

In the fourth year of Yuanshi, Wang Mang transferred the current emperor's maternal clan, Wei, to Zhongshan State. He wanted to eliminate all possible hidden dangers!

The Wang family was able to surpass the old aristocratic family, the Xu family, simply because of their status as foreign relatives. They could legitimately exercise power on behalf of the young emperor, and the Wei family obviously had this qualification as well. The Queen Mother Wei also had a high status in the court, and the Queen Mother Wang gave her a very high status, almost the same as the Queen Mother.

The previous Empress Dowager Zhao Feiyan had been deposed by Wang Mang, and Empress Dowager Wei was the first person after Wang Zhengjun.

Therefore, in order to prevent the Wei family from becoming powerful after his aunt died of illness, he exiled them to Zhongshan State.

A huge joke was caused by this. Wang Mang's eldest son, Wang Yu, was afraid of being retaliated by the young emperor in the future, so he tried to use superstitious methods to force his father to give power to the Wei family.

The people of the Han Dynasty believed in ghosts and gods very much. This superstition played a big part in why Wang Mang was able to ascend the throne without any setbacks. Everyone believed that the Wang family was destined to rule, just like how Emperor Gaodi defeated the tyrannical Qin and the powerful Chu in the past.

This plan was discovered by Wang Mang before it was implemented. He was very angry about his eldest son's betrayal, so he poisoned Wang Yu and took this opportunity to completely wipe out the Wei family to eliminate future troubles. They didn't even have the chance to go to Zhongshan.

By the way, political enemies such as Princess Jingwu were also eliminated. The Grand Coachman Xu Zhen was demoted to the post of Governor of Lingling, and hundreds of people were implicated.

Wang Mang also understood the role of public opinion. After packaging himself, he portrayed himself as a saint who sacrificed his relatives for the sake of justice, and was widely praised by the outside world.

Wang Yu was not as frugal and honest as his father, so he was naturally disliked by his followers. His unjust death in prison was a real treat!
After that, the only variable that could threaten the Wang family's status no longer existed, because not long after, Wang Mang made his own daughter the queen, providing double insurance.

(End of this chapter)