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

Chapter 164: Reform Failed
Wang Mang had been planning this reform for half his life. He was very confused when he was young and was quite dissatisfied with the turbulent world, but he had no choice because after all, he was just an ordinary member of the Wang family at that time.

He was not close to the powerful official Wang Feng. His father died early, and he had nothing except a low-income title. He also had to take care of his mother and widowed sister-in-law, and his life was quite difficult.

But Wang Mang had no complaints at all. He served his mother respectfully and took good care of his widowed sister-in-law and her children.

He has been a moral role model in the Wang family since he was young, but he is not that famous yet.

Until he came into contact with the ancient system, that is, the well-field system that had long been buried in the dust of history!

At that moment, Wang Mang began to work on this mission: This is the way to save the country! The current land system is too corrupt. It was not so bad when Emperor Gaodi just divided the land and Emperor Wudi cracked down on it severely.

But once the situation stabilizes and the court's control is reduced, those extravagant and powerful people will start to establish a land system and will never be satisfied. They will concentrate wealth wantonly, leave no way for the lower class to survive, and exploit the labor force.

The imperial court turned a deaf ear to these claims. The buttocks determined the head. All the ministers and princes in the court were landowners, and the emperor was the largest landowner! The royal family held countless fertile fields.

All these factors have led to a situation where the rich have vast fields and ridges, while the poor have no place to stand.

This is the inherent bad nature of the feudal system and it is impossible to cure it, only delay it. However, the authority of the imperial court is weak and this cannot be guaranteed.

The people's situation became increasingly difficult, bandits were rampant, and peasant uprisings occurred repeatedly. All this made Wang Mang, who was concerned about the country and the people, extremely sad.

He was determined to save this corrupt country! Just like Jinghou Xu Zhen assisted Emperor Gaodi in overthrowing the tyrannical Qin Dynasty and using powerful people to abolish the nobles, he also assisted the hero in his heart and became a capable minister who would be remembered for thousands of years!

However, after a few years, Wang Mang discovered that this was just a dream created by his loyal ministers for themselves.

The Liu family was never as powerful as Emperor Gaodi and Emperor Wen. They were just tyrants and incompetent rulers who occupied high positions and only knew how to make money. The downfall of Emperor Li made him lose confidence in the Liu family.

He had been in confusion for a long time, and even the inside of his body was rotten. No matter what he did, it was of no use. The emperor was content with the status quo. What was the point of a minister trying harder?

Once upon a time, Wang Mang envied many sages, their lofty ambitions, and the wise rulers who could help them realize them.

The emperor he admired most was Emperor Xiaowen, a benevolent ruler throughout history who created the Reign of Emperors Wen and Jing. The country became extremely prosperous, all the people were well fed and clothed, and the treasury was full.

That kind of prosperity might not even be as good as the era of Yao and Shun. It was unprecedented and would never be repeated. This was a thought that always came to Wang Mang's mind when he read this.

This is even more true of Emperor Wen, who can only exist in legends.

The monarch he most wanted to meet was Emperor Conti, because he was not so far away and illusory.

In those days, Emperor Wu of Han attacked the Xiongnu in the north and conquered the Baiyue in the south, pushing the military power of the Han Dynasty to its peak and achieving the pinnacle in military power that no one dared to touch.

But later on, Emperor Xiaowu became incompetent, engaged in massive construction projects, and was cruel and ruthless. In addition, the huge amount of wealth spent in previous wars directly exhausted the accumulation of several generations of Emperors Wen and Jing.

Just when everyone thought that the Han Dynasty was beginning to decline, Emperor Kang suddenly appeared. He appointed capable and wise ministers to recuperate the country in order to restore the lost national strength. In order to check and balance the court officials, he vigorously supported the Imperial Academy and gave them extremely high power for the first time.

As a result, he became one of the most respected monarchs, the national strength was repaired and restored, and his successor Emperor Xuan was equally capable.

Unfortunately, ideals are full of hope, but reality is very skinny. The monarchs he met were all useless...

In the end, Wang Mang came up with a bold idea. Since the emperor himself was of poor quality and he could not control his thoughts, why didn't he become the emperor himself?
In this way, the country will surely be saved! He can also help loyal and capable officials realize their ideals.

Once this idea came into being, it became lingering, taking root in the heart and growing under the nourishment of ambition.

Until Emperor Ai ascended the throne, after he overthrew Chunyu Chang and became the heir of the Wang family, his ambition to become monarch reached its peak and could never be eliminated, although Emperor Ai himself was a good person.

Afterwards, Wang Mang began his own plan. After his uncle Wang Gen died, he chose to show weakness temporarily in the face of the emerging Ding and Fu relatives.

He surrendered his power and official positions as General and Grand Marshal and withdrew from the imperial court.

After Emperor Ai Liu Xin passed away, he returned with the support of his aunt Wang Zhengjun and took up the important position of Grand Marshal, starting his journey to seize power and usurp the throne.

In the blink of an eye, more than ten years had passed. He sat on the throne of the emperor, but he also forced the Xu family, the biggest opposition force in the court, to rebel. However, this was also expected.

The Xu family has extremely high influence and power in the local area, directly controlling three states, plus Jizhou, which has been infiltrated like a sieve.

One third of the world's land is already in his hands. Together with Xiaoyong's Northwest Army, they already have the capital to rebel, but are still dormant.

A few months ago, Wang Mang's cousin, the then Grand Tutor Wang Yi, defeated Li Yang in Ruyin, Yuzhou, and took over the entire Runan area, directly threatening Nanyang.

Having swept away the last resistance to reform, he was blessed with a great victory and possessed unparalleled prestige.

Therefore, the new ancestor did not intend to wait any longer. He struck while the iron was hot and pushed forward the reforms directly. The main reform was the royal field system, which would take the land back to the court and distribute it to the people for cultivation.

Fundamentally solve the problem of land annexation and the plight of people suffering from hunger and cold.

Now that he controls all the troops, who has the ability to resist?

Looking at the imperial guards holding spears, the minister who had tried to persuade him before immediately shrank his head. As an old minister of the Xinmang Dynasty, he knew that His Majesty really dared to kill him!

What's more, he was the first one to stand up and question it, so it is normal to kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

Wang Mang glared at them and said in a deep voice: "Today, I have made up my mind. The royal land system is the most suitable system for our Daxin. Anyone who dares to stop it is hindering the development of the country and the happiness of the people, and will be treated as treason!"

"Anyone who dares to refuse will be executed! I am not here to discuss this matter, but to discuss how to reduce resistance to reform as much as possible."

This has been his long-cherished wish. Since Wang Mang ascended the throne, he has been quite gentle towards his ministers and has never scolded them even once, let alone threatening and suppressing them with the Imperial Guards like he is doing now.

This has been his biggest wish for many years and he would never give in.

"Your Majesty, I have something to say."

One minister stood up and faced the sharp spears of the imperial guards, saying respectfully: "I am not here to stop your majesty. I also think that this reform is the right way."

"But since ancient times, all those who have carried out reforms have shed blood and sacrificed their lives. I just want to tell you about the resistance you will face so that you can deal with it properly."

Hearing this, Wang Mang's angry expression eased a little. He waved his hand to signal the imperial guards to withdraw and said calmly: "I am all ears."

He is not the kind of incompetent ruler who would not listen to advice, and this time he really touched his bottom line.

As long as it is beneficial to the reform, we can listen to it and make certain changes. After all, a system that shakes the fundamental interests of the powerful will definitely arouse fierce resistance.

Even in Chang'an, there would be not enough space for people to sit. Nowadays, every wealthy family owns thousands of acres of fertile land.

Land has always been the most valuable thing. Seeing the spears and spears gradually fade away, the minister breathed a sigh of relief, cleared his throat, clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that land is the foundation of the country and the most important wealth in the world."

"From the court officials to the common people, everyone has land. It would be a good idea to nationalize all of it and distribute it uniformly to the people who have no or little land."

"But this will, after all, hurt the interests of a considerable number of people, and these people cannot just sit there and wait for death."

"So I think we must pay attention to these people. Our Daxin soldiers are brave, but wasting our manpower in civil strife would be a bargain for Xiang Han."

"You must be careful."

This time, Wang Mang did not refute, but nodded thoughtfully. He also felt that it made sense.

This is exactly what he is worried about. If Xu Hua had not rebelled, he would not care. If an enemy comes, he will fight him; if a flood comes, he will block it with earth. If someone rebels, he will suppress it.

With that little strength, you still want to rebel against the imperial court? But now it’s impossible.

Whenever there were any problems internally, Xu Hua would immediately lead his troops north to attack Runan and take it back.

At least make sure there are no internal problems.

"What you said makes sense, go on." Seeing that someone was giving honest advice sincerely, Wang Mang was no longer angry.

He knew that his idea was a little unrealistic, but how could he know it would not work if he didn't try it? This was the only way to completely solve the problem of land annexation and realize the principle of "land to the tiller".

The others were only temporary solutions and did not address the root cause. The imperial court directly banned the sale of land.

The minister said, "I think we can first take back the tyrants who have huge amounts of land, and as for the ordinary wealthy families and the tyrants with relatively small local power, we can put them aside for later."

"This will greatly reduce the possibility of civilians joining forces to resist, and the pressure on the court to quell the rebellion will also be greatly reduced."

It's a typical case of using one faction to fight against another, isolating those wealthy families who hold huge amounts of land.

It will be fully implemented later.

This method is feasible... Wang Mang thought about it for a moment and felt that it made a lot of sense and that he was too anxious.

It was normal. He was almost 60 years old this year. If he were an ordinary person, he would have one foot in the coffin. How could he not be anxious? What if the successor prince gave up the reform?

Then all your efforts will be wasted. After all, when a person dies, it is like a light goes out. You can no longer control or do anything.

"That makes sense. I will promote you to the position of Grand Marshal, and all matters related to the promotion of Wang Tian will be handed over to you."

"Yes, sir. I will do my best!" The other party was immediately delighted. He didn't expect that His Majesty would really use him!

It seems that he attached great importance to the reform, and he gave the powerful official position of Grand Marshal to the emperor.

.........

In February of the first year of Tianfeng, the emperor appointed Grand Marshal Chen Ning to preside over the reform, and his main responsibility was to take all the land back to the court, which became the royal land.

As soon as the news came out, it was unsurprisingly boycotted by all the powerful people in the world. As vested interests, this undoubtedly greatly damaged their interests. The land accumulated by several generations over the years was directly wasted!
Who could bear this? The nobles from all over Guanzhong jointly wrote a petition to the imperial court.

He said that the laws of the ancestors could not be violated, and this action would cause chaos in heaven, so that people in the court and the country were in panic, and finally Xiang Han took advantage of the situation.

As expected, Wang Mang ignored it and even posted a notice saying that he had made up his mind and anyone who stood in his way would be killed. He would also take full responsibility for any problems that arose.

Under the operation of Grand Marshal Chen Ning, the reform was not as radical as before, and only the land of the big families was confiscated.

That is, a certain amount of land will be retained, and all land exceeding this target will be reclaimed.

But the effect was not as great as imagined. These ordinary powerful people were not fools. They certainly knew that it was the court that was dividing them, and they were well aware of the principle of "the lips and the teeth are cold".

There are also active protests.

Of course it did have an effect. A considerable number of rich peasants turned a blind eye to the matter because it did not affect them, and even took pleasure in its misfortune.

In April of the first year of Tianfeng, Zhang De, a powerful man in Guanzhong, organized an army to rebel and gathered 2,000 people. He received strong support from powerful people along the way. Everyone contributed manpower, food and money, and was determined to fight the court to the end!
So that they will give up and keep their property.

The army and the local tyrants worked together and were unstoppable in a short time, capturing several counties in succession.

When this matter reached the court, Wang Mang was furious and cursed these rebels for taking advantage of the opportunity to disrupt the country, plotting evil, and attempting to collude with the tyrants.

So he sent Wang Yi to lead an army of 100,000.

The arm is no match for the thigh. Facing the well-equipped soldiers of the imperial court, Zhang De was completely unable to resist and was quickly defeated. The new army took advantage of the victory to pursue him.

It took two months to completely quell the rebellion, and the domestic opposition voices were temporarily suppressed. The powerful people dared not speak out and had to hand over their land.

But in their hearts they had completely abandoned the Xin Dynasty and missed the Han Dynasty, whom they had buried with their own hands.

At least the big guy doesn’t mess around!

At the same time, various other reforms were also begun. At the beginning, the people applauded and thought that this would help them.

But over time, these originally good reforms immediately changed their nature.

After losing their land, those powerful people could only plunder it back from other places, collude with corrupt officials, and reap the people's fat and blood. The so-called distribution of land was not carried out.

Eventually, it returned to those powerful landlords again, but Wang Mang, who was in Chang'an, was unaware of it.

During the three years of Tianfeng, natural disasters continued and crops were completely destroyed.

The Han Dynasty actively organized disaster relief, and so did Wang Mang, but the failure of his reforms led to a weakening of his control over the grassroots.

In order to appease the imperial court, local governments concealed the reporting of taxes, causing Wang Mang to believe that local treasuries were full, but in fact they had no money or grain at all.

This reform can be said to be a complete failure. Even the ordinary people who were finally inclined towards the new dynasty gradually ran out of patience. Coupled with the comparison with the Han people next door, the gap immediately became apparent.

Many people spontaneously fled to Nanyang, Xuzhou and Hebei.

The Han court accepted this without hesitation.
(End of this chapter)