As an ambitious politician, Wang Mang lived a very tiring life. Compared with Liu Bang, throughout Liu Bang's life, his greatest achievement was to conquer the world and create a new world for Liu's descendants.
In short, Liu Bang built a mansion for Liu's descendants, but did not decorate it, leaving the decoration task to his descendants. Have you ever remembered that after becoming emperor, Liu Bang followed all the systems of the Qin Dynasty and did not even change his official title.
Wang Mang rose about two hundred years after the Han Dynasty. During these two hundred years, the Han Dynasty had formed its own system, culture and style. The ambitious Wang Mang wanted to change the Han Dynasty in just a few years. It was not only difficult, but even impossible. Wang Mang sat in Chang'an, reforming domestic affairs with one hand and managing foreign affairs with the other. From this point of view, Wang Mang, who became emperor, was indeed busier than Emperor Liu Bang.
Around the Han Dynasty, there were the countries of the Korean Peninsula in the east, the northern tribes in the north, the Western Regions in the west, and the southwestern barbarians in the south. When the new dynasty was established, Wang Mang sent envoys to various countries to inform them. Wang Mang had never dealt with the Xiongnu before. This time Wang Mang sent envoys to the Huns, which should be his first contact with the Huns. When two strangers interact, it takes time to get used to each other. For the sake of the common people, we wish these two strangers a happy marriage.
The wishes are good, but the reality is cruel. Everything that Wang Mang encountered tells a truth: "The general trend of the world is that if peace lasts, there will be war." Since Wang Mang put down the war and ascended the throne as emperor, he has become invincible in both form and substance. Wang Mang, who had become more humble after becoming an official, was just acting. After a person makes progress, he should be somewhat proud. This is human nature.
Wang Mang prided himself on being invincible, and during the reign of the Liu family, he was inconvenient to challenge foreign masters. After putting the Liu family's children into the cold palace, Wang Mang sent envoys to the Xiongnu to make them surrender. In fact, the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu had not fought for decades, and the people had forgotten the cruelty of the Xiongnu. Wang Mang was even more dismissive of the Xiongnu.
Wang Mang sent an envoy to the Xiongnu, which at best was a peace envoy and at worst was a challenge. In the first year of the founding of the People's Republic of China (AD 9), on a day of drunken autumn wind, Wang Mang newly conferred the title of "Five Mighty Generals". Wang Mang sent them to inform the surrounding countries to explain the legitimacy of the new dynasty. By the way, he took back the seal of the Han Dynasty and issued it. New seal. "Five mighty generals" means to intimidate all parties, which shows that Wang Mang holds a high position.
General Wuwei and his party arrived in Goguryeo first, and things went smoothly without any mistakes. But when it came to the Huns, things went wrong. Because Wang Mang played a word game on the seal. When Wang Mang reforms, he must first change his name. This is the pattern. The seal is engraved with words, and Wang Mang also likes to change it. In the Han Dynasty, the enfeoffment was divided into two levels: king and marquis. The king was one level higher than the marquis. The last word of the chapter used to confer the king was "xi", and the last character of the chapter used to confer the title "zhang" was "zhang". Wang Mang believed that the Xiongnu were barbarians and were not worthy of using the "Xi" seal.
The 18th Chanyu Uzhu Liuruo Di Chanyu received the five mighty generals. Some of the five mighty generals who felt guilty demanded an immediate exchange of seals after explaining the legitimacy of the new dynasty. Shan Yu was forthright and held up the old seal with both hands. But Minister Su next to Chanyu said no, he had to look at the new seals first, one new and one old, and exchange them at the same time.
Minister Su was a strong man who understood political skills, but Shanyu ignored him and just put away the new chapter haphazardly. If you don't listen to loyal advice, you will ruin things; if Shanyu doesn't listen to Minister Su, you will be fooled by Wang Mang.
Wang Mang is a reformer, and the five mighty generals he conferred are indeed experts in fraud. After defrauding the old seal, the five mighty generals were on tenterhooks because of Minister Su's words and deeds, always feeling that Minister Su was hinting at something to them. In the territory of the Xiongnu, defrauding Chanyu could lead to his death; as Wang Mang's envoy, if he could not recover the old seal, he would not be able to deliver the envoy after returning to Chang'an. Facing such an embarrassing situation, Wuwei will have no choice but to take a risk and survive.
If the old seal is obtained through fraud, it cannot be sent back under any circumstances. In order to save his life, a brave guy smashed the old seal into pieces. They thought that the old seal had been destroyed, and even if the Chanyu discovered the conspiracy of the new seal, there would be nothing they could do. In this way, they could not only submit orders to Wang Mang, but also have a way to deal with Shan Yu who came to ask for help. Although General Wuwei's move was understandable, smashing the seal and losing his status as an envoy of a great power was a rogue move.
Wise people play politics and will not push themselves to a dead end. Wuwei will smash the old seal and push himself to the cliff, which is very dangerous. In order to open up a plank road, Wuwei will give Shanyu a generous gift. Shan Yu saw that the old seal was destroyed and killing the five mighty generals would not help, so he generously sent gifts to the five mighty generals and allowed them to return to Chang'an.
Wang Mang, a smart man, engraved "New Xiongnu Chanyu Seal" on the new seal he gave to Shanyu. In this way, it not only reduced the status of the Xiongnu Chanyu, but also directly showed that the Chanyu belonged to the new dynasty. The old seal of the Chanyu was only engraved with "Seal of the Xiongnu Chanyu", which did not indicate the affiliation of each other, and also recognized the status of the Chanyu King. A new chapter, with two changes, but the political significance behind it is so great that Shanyu simply cannot accept it.
Shan Yu sent someone to tell Wang Mang that the seal was broken and he had to engrave it himself. Seals represent status, and Chanyu's desire to engrave his own seals means that he wants to redefine his status. Wang Mang is a smart man and naturally knows what Shan Yu means. Shan Yu's move was similar to Wang Mang's request for a jade seal after he proclaimed himself emperor. When Shan Yu saw that the old seal was destroyed, he did not ask Wang Mang for compensation, but carved it himself. All this proves that Shan Yu has turned against him.
In short, the Chanyu's seal engraving is false, but the rebellion is true. Wang Mang's new seal gave the Xiongnu Chanyu an excuse to rebel.
The Xiongnu attacked the Han frontier with all their strength
Heroes always sympathize with each other, and the bold Wang Mang admires equally bold people. The emergence of Wang Mang changed the situation in which emperors of the Han Dynasty only favored beauties and relatives, and injected fresh blood into the rigid Han Dynasty. However, Wang Mang's reforms were too tough. He only copied the experience of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and did not apply to the situation of the Han Dynasty. As a result, the people of the Han Dynasty lived in misery.
After the five mighty generals who succeeded in defrauding Shan Yu with their courage returned, they were rewarded heavily by Wang Mang, especially the guy who smashed the old seal. Wuwei Jiang's risky gamble was actually appreciated by Wang Mang, so he was naturally very happy. They also look forward to encountering similar opportunities more often. The Wuwei generals and several others were rewarded for their deception and rogue behavior, so they could not be regarded as gentlemen, but their behavior of exploring military intelligence had to be said to be meritorious people.
Just when Wuwei Jiang came back, they saw the Xiongnu imprisoning many Wuhuan prisoners. Wu Wei will then ask what is going on. After the Huns answered truthfully, General Wuwei ordered the Huns to release them. The Huns asked in return whether they should escort the Wuhuan people home from outside the fortress or from within the fortress. Outside the Great Wall refers to the people of the Huns, and within the Great Wall refers to the people of the Han Dynasty. The Huns asked this question, which was actually a very difficult statement. General Wuwei did not dare to reply immediately and said that he would ask Wang Mang for instructions. In fact, this question is really difficult to answer. It should be said that once the Xiongnu released the prisoners, the Wuhuan people who were eager to return home would go home without anyone escorting them. However, Wuwei General did not consider this, and Wang Mang did not expect that he would answer directly.
Beyond the Great Wall is a place where the weak prey on the strong. Since Maodun conquered Wuhuan, Wuhuan has always been his defeated general. As the loser, Wuhuan had to pay tribute to the Xiongnu every year.
The Wuhuan people hoped to meet a savior to get rid of such a shameful thing as kneeling down to pay tribute. After Wang Mang's new dynasty was established, he promulgated many laws to protect ethnic equality. After receiving the decree, the Wuhuan people stopped paying tribute to the Xiongnu.
The Huns, who could not receive tribute, saw that the Wuhuan people did not listen to good advice, so they sent troops to conquer and captured a large number of Wuhuan people. The Wuhuan people were captured, and Wang Mang, who issued the decree, was busy with major events in the Central Plains and had no time to take care of it. In order to save the lives of their relatives, the Wuhuan people could only pay tribute and beg to redeem the captured people. However, the Huns who received tribute were reluctant to release the prisoners. These people are the prisoners that Wuwei will see.
Wang Mang, who received the report from General Wuwei, ordered the Xiongnu to send back the Wuhuan people from outside the Great Wall. The Xiongnu took the opportunity to build a defensive military outside the fortress in the name of escorting the captives back home. When Wang Mang heard about this, he immediately sent people to the Western Regions to investigate. The envoy came back and told Wang Mang that the Huns were welcoming the enemies of the Han Dynasty. For example, a Han Dynasty general stationed in the Western Regions killed a lieutenant and fled to the Huns. Moreover, the Xiongnu also accepted the countries in the Western Region as vassal states. Those small countries that submitted to the Xiongnu did not listen to the orders of the new dynasty.
Seven years ago, in 2 AD, Wang Mang ordered the Xiongnu not to allow them to accept rebels and enemies of the Han Dynasty. Chan Yu first asked to carve a seal for himself, then built a defensive military outside the wall, and then harbored the enemies of the Han Dynasty. This was a sign of war. The Xiongnu loved to fight, but Wang Mang was afraid of fighting. Faced with the Xiongnu's secret provocation, Wang Mang's reaction was beyond ordinary people's expectations. He actually accepted the challenge.
In December of the first year of the founding of the People's Republic of China (AD 9), Wang Mang mobilized his troops and horses, and summoned a total of 300,000 troops to attack the Xiongnu. Suppressing domestic rebellion seems to have given Wang Mang a lot of inspiration. Wang Mang's deployment of troops this time is a group operation. Wang Mang appointed a general, who had twelve generals under his command, forming twelve major armies, which were divided into six groups to attack the Huns. The first route was the Wuwei and Huben Group armies, marching together to Wuyuan County (today's Baotou City, Inner Mongolia); the second route was the Yanan and Zhendi Group armies, jointly marching to Yunzhong County (today's Tuoketuo County, Inner Mongolia); the third route was The Zhenwu and Pingdi Group Army marched together to Daijun (now Yuxian County, Hebei Province); the fourth route was Xiangwei and Zhenyuan Group Army, marched together to Xihe County (southwest of today's Geer Banner, Inner Mongolia); the fifth route was Zhuraccoon and Tuhu The group army marched together to Yuyang County (today's Miyun County, Beijing City); the sixth route was the Fenwu and Dinghu Army Groups, and marched to Zhangye County (today's Zhangye City, Gansu Province).
Most of the names of the troops sent by Wang Mang meant to drive out the Huns. This shows that Wang Mang was also a knowledgeable person. Wang Mang claimed to be Emperor Qi, and he devoted himself to studying ancient books, especially those recording the Zhou Dynasty. When the Xiongnu invaded the Zhou Dynasty, they were expelled to far away places by the Zhou Dynasty. When Wang Mang mobilized his army this time, he wanted to imitate the Zhou Dynasty and expel the Huns, and even drove them to the Dinling tribe (today's Lake Baikal in Siberia).
Wang Mang had a good idea, but he used the wrong method, thinking that he would win with more people. Perhaps when he was quelling the domestic rebels, he was too impressed by the victory with more troops and fewer troops, so Wang Mang also wanted to use group fighting to deal with the Huns. Wang Mang ordered the army to set off quickly. After arriving at the front line, they could not fight alone. They had to wait for the entire army to gather before fighting.
It took a year just to mobilize the 300,000 troops, and this did not complete the task of gathering them all on the front line. The Art of War says that soldiers are valuable and quick. Wang Mang wanted to fight in groups but sacrificed the speed of the army. It was really wrong. Some of the three hundred thousand troops arrived first, some were still on the way, and some had not yet set off. It's a really weird war. The first team to arrive is basking in the sun and blowing sand every day; the team on the road is tired from running and sleeping in the open air; the team that has not yet set off is lazy and unaware of the emergency.
Wang Mang did some things foolishly, but he was a man of merit. First of all, Wang Mang knew how to divide the enemy army and defeat them one by one, that is, he wanted to cut the Huns into several pieces and eat them piece by piece like cutting a cake; secondly, while the army was gathering, Wang Mang sent a Zhonglang general and a deputy captain to lead Ten thousand people and carrying a large amount of gold and silver went to Yunzhong County in an attempt to lure the snake out of its cave.
The Xiongnu territory was vast, and Wang Mang wanted to penetrate inside and use barbarian methods to control barbarians. Under Wang Mang's temptation of huge sums of money and huge profits, Huhanxie Shanyu's son surrendered. Wang Mang sealed two Chanyus at once, named Xiao Chanyu and Shun Chanyu. For safety reasons, Wang Mang also detained Xiao Shanyu's son as a hostage in Chang'an. Since ancient times, the Xiongnu had only one Chanyu, but Wang Mang blocked two of them. It's really a joke.
The 18th Chanyu Wuzhu Liuruo Di Chanyu was furious when he heard that Wang Mang had divided the two Chanyus. He led his army to attack Yunzhong County. The angered old Chanyu sent out troops, which was equivalent to the success of Wang Mang's plan. It was a good thing. However, without Wang Mang's order to fight, the troops gathered on the front line did not dare to move and could only watch as the Huns burned, killed and looted along the way.
Wu Zhuliu Ruodi Shanyu divided his troops into two groups and ordered the left and right captains to lead various generals to attack the Han border fortress with all their strength. The Han Dynasty army could not dispatch without receiving Wang Mang's order to dispatch troops. The Xiongnu army ran wildly all the way, as if they were entering an uninhabited country. They killed the Sheriff of Yanmen County and the Sheriff of Shuofang County along the way, causing numerous casualties among the Han people.
