University of Virginia Library

C. THE HISTORY OF THE [FORMER] HAN [DYNASTY]

C. [Chapter] XCIX
THE SIXTY-NINTH [MEMOIR]

C. The Memoir of Wang Mang

C. PART C

In [the period T'ien-feng], the fourth year, in the

fifth month, [Wang] Mang said [in a message], "The
Libationer for the Masters and Companions [to the
Heir-apparent] Guarantor of His Perfection, T'ang
Lin, and the former Libationer for the Remonstrants
and Consultants, Chi Ch'ün, ([a man] from Lang-yeh
[Commandery), have shown] filial devotion, brotherly
respectfulness, loyalty, and reciprocity; they
have been respectful to their superiors and have loved
their inferiors; they have been extensively learned in
ancient traditions; their upright characters have
been excellent and perfect; and even to old age they
have not committed any errors. Let [T'ang] Lin be
enfeoffed as the Marquis Established Through Virtue
and [let Chi] Ch'ün [be enfeoffed as] the Marquis
Enfeoffed Through Virtue; the rank of both shall be a
Specially Advanced and they shall be received in
audience with rites like those of the three highest
ministers. They are [each] to be granted one residence,[1982]
three million cash, and are to be given
stools and canes."

In the sixth month, when [Wang Mang] changed

[the rites, removing to] the Ming-t'ang the bestowal
of earth [enveloped in] quitch grass to nobles [as a
token of enfeoffment], he said [in a message], "I
have instituted the geographical arrangements and
have established and enfeoffed [nobles] in five grades.
I have examined them by the canonical books and
harmonized them with the written traditions [concerning
the classics] and the records, and pervaded
them by the principles of right relationships.

"I have discussed them and pondered over them
again and again, from the beginning of the first [year]

in [the period] Shih-chien-kuo down to the present,
[which is] the ninth year. Now they have however
been indeed fixed upon. I have myself established
the [inclined] plane of ornamented stones,[1989] I have
arranged the three-ribbed quitch-grass and the four-colored
earth,[1994] and have respectfully given information
[of the enfeoffments] to Mount T'ai,[1996] to the
Grand [Imperial] Mound Altar to the Gods of the
Soils, to Sovereign Earth, to my deceased male and
female ancestors, in order to publish and transmit
[these classical practises. Let] each [noble] go to
his state to care for and shepherd his common people
in order to accomplish meritorious achievements.
For those whose [estates] are on the borders or in
Chiang-nan, except for those who are summoned by
an imperial edict to be sent to wait upon [the Emperor]
in the imperial capital, the Grandee in Charge
of Goods [subordinate to] the Communicator shall
temporarily collect the old [style] cash from the
capital treasuries [in order to] pay them their allowances:
to dukes, 800,000 [cash] per year; to marquises
and earls, 400,000 [cash per year]; to viscounts and
barons, 200,000 [cash per year]."[1998]

Yet even then they could not receive the full
amount. [Wang] Mang loved bombastic speeches
and admired ancient practises. He enfeoffed very
many people as nobles, [but] in his nature he was in
reality niggardly. He took as a pretext that the
geographical arrangements had not yet been determined
upon, hence temporarily in advance distributed
clods with quitch-grass [in token of enfeoffment], using
them to console and delight those whom he enfeoffed.

In this year, [Wang Mang] again published ordinances

for the six controls.[2001] For each control he
established regulations to restrain violators [of the
monopoly]; the penalties were as great as capital
[punishment. Yet] the officials and common people
who suffered for crime became increasingly[2004]
numerous.

He moreover temporarily made a levy [even] upon
the highest class of the highest ministers [and those
ranking] lower, that whoever possessed male or female
slaves should pay a tax of 3600 cash per [slave], so
that the empire became even more discontented and
thieves and robbers arose.[2007]

When the Communicator, Feng Ch'ang, remonstrated
against the six controls, [Wang] Mang became
furious and dismissed [Feng] Ch'ang from office.

[Wang Mang] established Administrators of the
Laws at [the Emperor's] Right and Left for the
Extirpation of Wickedness, and selected for employment
[in this office] capable officials, Hou Pa and
others, dispersing them to supervise the six Commandants'
[Commanderies] and the six Neighboring
Commanderies, like the Inspectors of the Han [dynasty],
with one Officer of the three highest ministers
for a commandery as an Attendant official [to the
Administrator of the Laws for the Extirpation of
Wickedness].

Kua-t'ien Yi of Lin-huai [Commandery] and
others became thieves and robbers, relying upon [the
fastnesses in] Ch'ang-chou of K'uai-chi [Commandery].
Mother Lü, a woman of Lang-yeh [Commandery],
also arose. Previously, Mother Lü's son had
been an official of the county and had been killed on
a false charge by its Ruler. His mother dispersed the
wealth of her household on [the pretext] of dealing
in liquor, by purchasing arms and crossbows, and
privately treating poor youths liberally. When she
had obtained more than a hundred men, she thereupon
attacked the county-seat of Hai-ch'ü and killed
its Ruler. She used [his corpse] as a sacrifice at the
grave of her son. She led her troops into the sea.
These bands gradually became greater. Later both
[bandit bands] were numbered by the ten-thou-sands.[2014]

[Wang] Mang sent commissioners to go to and
pardon the thieves and robbers. When [the commissioners]
returned, they said, "Whenever the
thieves and robbers disperse, they immediately
reunite." When he asked them the reason for this

[action], they all said, "They are grieved at the laws
and prohibitions, which are vexatious and tyrannous,
so that they can do nothing, and what they obtain by
hard work is insufficient to pay the taxes, while if
they close their doors in order to guard themselves,
they are moreover sentenced because their group of
five neighboring [families] might be casting cash or
possessing copper. Wicked officials take advantage
of that to afflict[2016] these common people. When
common people are improverished, they all arise and
become thieves or robbers." [Wang] Mang [became]
furious and dismissed them.

Some of them fell in with his ideas and said that
the common people were perverse and crafty and
ought to be executed and also said that the revolution
of the seasons was opportune and [the robbers] would

before long be annihilated, [whereupon Wang] Mang
was pleased and immediately promoted them.

In this year, in the eighth month, [Wang] Mang in
person went to the place for the suburban sacrifice
at the south [of the Capital] to have the majestic tou
[measures] cast.[2021] For making the majestic tou
[measures], five [colors of] minerals were used with
bronze.[2024] They were like the Northern Bushel [in
shape], two feet five inches long. [Wang Mang] intended
to use them to repress various military forces
by incantations. When they were completed, he ordered
the Directors of Mandates [from the Five
Majestic Principles] to carry them on their shoulders.
When [Wang] Mang went out, they went before
him; when he had entered [the palace], they waited
upon him at his sides.[2029] On the day that these tou
[measures] were cast, there was a severe cold [spell],
so that some men and horses of the various offices
froze to death.

In the fifth year, the first month, on the first day
of the month, there was a visitation [of fire] to the
southern gate of the Northern Army [Encampment].

Fei Hsing, the Director of Confidence in the Commander-in-chief,
was made the Shepherd of Ching
Province. When he was asked at an audience what
would be his plans of action when he reached his
regional division, [Fei] Hsing replied, "The common
people of Ching and Yang[2036] [Provinces] generally
take advantage of their mountains and marshes in
making fishing and the picking [of wild fruits] their
occupations. Recently the state has set up the six
controls, which tax [the products of] the mountains
and marshes and have interfered with and taken away
the profits of the common people. For a long time
in successive years there have been droughts, so that
the people are hungry and impoverished. Hence
they have become thieves or robbers.

"When I, Hsing, reach my regional division, I intend
to order and to make it clearly known and
inform the thieves and robbers that they should return
to their homes and I will lend them oxen for
plowing, seed, and food, and exempt them from the
land and capitation-taxes. I hope that thereby I
may be able to disperse and tranquillize them."

[Wang] Mang became incensed [at this proposal] and
dismissed [Fei] Hsing from his office.

Because the officials of the [whole] empire did not

receive their salaries, they all did evil for profit.
The personal property of [Grand] Governors of commanderies
and Rulers of counties [amounted to] a
thousand [catties of] gold. [Hence Wang] Mang
issued an imperial edict which said, "Investigate
carefully [the deeds of] the military officials and the
officials of the borders, from the grandees and upwards,
beginning with the second year of [the period]
Shih-chien-kuo, when the northern barbarian (Hu)
caitiffs troubled China.[2041] If any, have done evil
for profit, so that they have increased their property
and have become rich, [let] four-fifths of the property
in their families be taken and used to aid the
distress of the borders." Officers from the highest
ministers' yamens [rode] galloping quadrigae [all
over] the empire, examining and investigating avaricious
[persons]. They persuaded officials to inform
on their generals, and male and female slaves to
inform on their masters, hoping thereby to stop the
evil, [but] the evil became very much more serious.

An Imperial Grandson, the Duke of Eminent

Merits, [Wang] Tsung, was sentenced for having had
a picture of himself painted, wearing the robes and
bonnet of the Son of Heaven, and having had three
seals engraved. One read, "Because of celestial
blessings, my official hat is prepared and ready. In
the summer [I] dwell in the Southern Mountains,
where there is stored up thin ice."[2045] The second
read, "Revering the Sages and holding precious the
heritage."[2049] The third said, "[To be] enfeoffed because
of virtue and made glorious by the [imperial]
documents."[2050]

The household of [Wang] Tsung's maternal uncle
Lü K'uan, which had previously been exiled to Ho-p'u

[Commandery], had moreover privately communi-
cated with [Wang] Tsung. When [this matter] became
known, an examination was made and [Wang]
Tsung committed suicide.

[Wang] Mang said, "[According to] his relationship,
[Wang] Tsung was an Imperial Grandson;
[according to] his noble rank, he was [among] the
highest of the dukes. He knew that [Lü] K'uan and
the others belonged to rebellious clan, but communicated
with them. He had three bronze seals
engraved whose inscriptions and intentions were extremely
pernicious. He did not know how to be
contented, and was watching for and desiring what
he should not have hoped for.

"[According to] the principle in [the Kung-yang
Commentary on] the Spring and Autumn, `A relative
of the prince should not have had such an intention,
[but] since he had that intention, he should have been
executed,'[2053] [Wang Tsung] was deluded and went
astray, so that he brought this punishment upon
himself. Alas! It is sad!"

[Wang] Tsung's personal name was originally
Hui-tsung; according to the [imperial] institutions, he
had done away with there being two words in his
personal name [and used only Tsung as his name].[2054]
He was now again named Hui-tsung, and his noble

rank was degraded and his title was changed. He
was granted the posthumous name of the Erring Earl
of Eminent Merits, and was buried with the rites of
an earl in his former t'ung in Ku-ch'eng Commandery.

[Wang] Tsung's elder sister, [Wang] Fang, who
was the Lady (wife) of the General of the Guard,

Wang Hsinga, had made [magical] imprecations
against her mother-in-law and had killed a slave-woman
in order to stop up her mouth. The matter
became known and [Wang] Mang sent the Regular
Palace Attendant Tai Yün to interrogate [Wang]
Fang under torture and also to flog [Wang] Hsinga.
Both committed suicide.

The matter also involved the wife of the Director
of Mandates [from the Five Majestic Principles],
K'ung Jen. She also committed suicide. [When
K'ung] Jen had audience with [Wang] Mang, and
doffed his bonnet in acknowledging [his fault, Wang]
Mang had a Master of Writing impeach [K'ung] Jen
[saying that the fact of his] "having ridden in a
heavenly chariot [drawn by] earthly mares, `having
on his left the Azure Dragon [Standard], on his right
the White Tiger [Standard], in front the Vermillion
Bird[2059] [Standard], and in his rear the Dark Warrior
[Standard],' in his right hand grasping the majestic
credentials and on his left [shoulder] bearing the
majestic tou [measure], and being called the Red

Planet, was not in order to make [K'ung] Jen proud,
but to honor the majestic mandate of the Hsin house,
[and yet K'ung] Jen has presumed to doff his astrological
bonnet, which constitutes [the capital crime]
of being extremely disrespectful." [Then] there was
an imperial edict [ordering that K'ung Jen] should
not be impeached and exchanging his bonnet for a
new one. [Wang Mang's] love for marvels was like
the foregoing.

The Marquis of the Straight Path, Wang Shê, was
made the General of the Guard. [Wang] Shê was
the son of the Marquis of Ch'ü-yang, [Wang] Ken.
In the reign of Emperor Ch'eng, [Wang] Ken had

been Commander-in-chief, and, [when he had been
about to retire], he had recommended [Wang] Mang to take his place [as Commander-in-chief,[2065] so that
Wang] Mang was grateful to him. [The latter] had
considered that Ch'ü-yang (crooked phallus) was not
a good designation, so had posthumously [granted
Wang] Ken the posthumous name, Duke Jang
(Ceding) of the Straight Path. [Wang] Shê had
inherited this noble title.

In this year, Li Tzu-tu, Fan Ch'ung, and others of

the Red Eyebrows gathered together because of the
famine and arose in Lang-yeh [Commandery]. They
moved about and robbed. Their bands all numbered
in the ten-thousands. [Wang Mang] sent commissioners
to mobilize the troops of the commanderies
and kingdoms to attack them, [but these troops]
were unable to vanquish [the robber bands].

In this sixth year, in the spring, [Wang] Mang saw

that the thieves and robbers were so many, hence
ordered the Grand Astrologers to calculate a calendar
for thirty-six thousand years, with one change of the
year-period [every] six years, and to publish it to
the empire.

[Wang Mang] issued a message, saying, "The
Tzu-ko T'u[2071] says, `The Supreme One and the Yellow
Lord both [became] immortals and [then][2072] ascended
to heaven, [where they] made music on top of the
K'un-lun and Ch'ien Mountains.[2073] A sage lord who

is of their later generations and is to secure auspicious
presages is due [similarly] to have music made upon
the top of the Chung-nan Mountains in [the state of]
Ch'in.'

"Because of my lack of penetration, my performance
of [Heaven's] commands has not been intelligent,
yet now I have been informed [of the correct
procedure]. I restore [a former title, changing] the
General of a Peaceful Beginning to be the General of a
New Beginning, in order to conform to the Mandate
[of Heaven given through] portents. Does not the
Book of Changes say, `The daily renewing [of nature]
is what is called the flourishing of its virtue; its production
of what is produced is what is called its
change.'[2078] May I receive [Heaven's protection]."
He wished thereby to deceive and dazzle the people
and to scatter and disperse the thieves and robbers,
[but] the vulgar all laughed at him.

Previously when the music of the Hsin [House]had
been offered in the Grand [Ancestral] Temple of the
Ming-t'ang, when the courtiers had first worn the
female unicorn-skin caps,[2080] someone who heard the
sound of this music said, "It is limpid and inspiring,
but plaintive,[2081] not the music that will make a state
flourish."

At this time, east of [Han-ku] Pass there had been

a famine and drought for several years, so that the
partizan bands of Li Tzu-tu and the others became
gradually larger. When the General of a New Beginning,
Lien Tan, had attacked [the rebels] in Yi
Province, he had not been able to vanquish them,
hence he was summoned to return in order that someone
might be sent in his place. He was [however]
restored to his [former] position [as General of a New
Beginning]. Afterwards when Kuo Hsing, [the
Commissioner Over] the Army [subordinate to] the
Commander-in-chief, and the Shepherd of the Yung
Regional Division, Li Yeh, [were sent to] attack the
barbarian Jo Tou and others, and the Third Brother
Hsi, Sun Hsi, a higher subordinate official of the
Grand Tutor, [was sent to] purify the Yangtze valley[2085]
from thieves and robbers, and when moreover
the Huns raided the borders very seriously, [Wang]
Mang made a great solicitation of the empire's freemen
together with those imprisoned for capital crimes
and the slaves of the officials and common people.
[Those who responded] were called "Boar braves who
are porcupines rushing out,"[2087] and were considered
as ardent troops.

[Wang Mang] temporarily taxed the officials and

common people of the empire, taking one-thirtieth of
their property. Their close-woven waterproof and
other silks were all transported to Ch'ang-an. It was
ordered that the ministers and those of lower [rank
down] to the [officials] in the commanderies and
counties who wore yellow seal-cords[2092] should all
guarantee[2094] the rearing of horses for the army, the
number of which [horses] should be proportionate to
each [official's] rank.

[Wang Mang] also made a wide solicitation for
those who possessed extraordinary skills that could
be used to attack the Huns, [saying that] they would
be treated [extraordinarily by being given a high]
ranking [at once and] not be [promoted only] by
degrees. Those who said that [their arts] would be
advantageous were numbered by the ten-thousands.
One said that he was able to cross streams without
using boats or oars; that by joining horses and connecting
their riders he could cause an army of a
million to ford [rivers]. One said that without carrying
a measure of grain and by taking drugs, the three
[divisions of] an army would not become hungry.

One said that he was able to fly a thousand li in a
day and so could spy out the Huns. [Wang] Mang
immediately had him try out [his invention]. He
took the quills of a large bird to make his two wings;
on both his head and his body he stuck feathers. He
connected them by pivots.[2096] He flew several hundred
double-paces [and then he] fell.

[Wang] Mang knew that these [people] could not
be useful, [but] he merely wished to make use of
their fame, so he installed them all as Directors of

the Army and granted them chariots and horses
while they waited [until the army should] set out.

Previously, the Hun Ku-tu Marquis of the West,

Hsü-pu Tang, whose wife, [Lüan-ti Yün], was the
daughter of Wang [Ch'iang] Chao-chün, had been
attached to [the Chinese. Wang] Mang sent the
Marquis of Peace and Alliance By Marriage, Wang
Hsi6, the son of [Wang Ch'iang] Chao-chün's elder
brother, to allure and summon [Hsü-pu] Tang[2100] to
the foot of the barrier and by force made him go to
Ch'ang-an, where he was compelled to be set up as
the Shan4-yü Hsü-pu and the Duke of Future Peace.[2102]

[When Wang Mang] first wanted to allure and
receive [Hsü-pu] Tang, the Commander-in-chief,

Chuang Yu, had remonstrated, saying, "[Hsü-pu]
Tang is in the western section of the Huns where his
troops do not invade [the Chinese] borders. Whenever
the Shan-yü moves or remains quiet, he immediately
[sends] word [of it] to China. [Thus] he
is of the greatest assistance in this quarter. If now
you receive [Hsü-pu] Tang and establish him on
Kao Street[2104] in Ch'ang-an, he will be merely an
individual northern foreigner (Hu) and would not be
as helpful as if he were among the Huns." [But
Wang] Mang did not listen [to him.

When Wang Mang] had secured [Hsü-pu] Tang,
he wanted to send [Chuang] Yu with Lien Tan to
attack the Huns. He granted both of them the surname

Cheng (to make a military expedition), entitling
them the Two Generals Making a Military
Expedition. They were required to execute the
Shan-yu [Lüan-ti] Yü, and set up [Hsü-pu] Tang to
take his place. They were to start out[2108] from the
Kuang Stables at the west of the city.

Before they started out, [since Chuang] Yu had
usually had wise plans and had opposed [Wang]
Mang's [project of] attacking the barbarians in the
four [quarters],[2110] and had remonstrated several
times, but [his advice] had not been followed, he
composed [a work] in altogether three fascicles,
[dealing with] the conception that ancient famous
generals, [such as] Yo Yi and Po Ch'i, were [eventually]
not employed [by their lords] and also discussing
matters [concerning the Chinese] borders,
and memorialized [the book] in order to remonstrate
with [Wang] Mang. When they were due to start
out, in a conference at court, [Chuang] Yu said
firmly that the Huns could be temporarily considered
as secondary and that the most important concern
[of the ruler] should be the thieves and robbers east
of the mountains [of Kuang-chung].[2112]

[Wang] Mang became furious and [wrote] a dismissal
notice for [Chuang] Yu, which said, "You have
overseen affairs to the fourth year, [but when] `the
barbarians became troublesome to the Chinese,' you
have not been able to stop or destroy them; when
`robbers and brigands have caused disorder outside
and inside [the government]',[2113] you have not been

able to extirpate them; you have not been awed by
the majestic [mandate] of Heaven and have not carried
out my mandates in imperial edicts. Your
visage has been harsh, [yet] you have approved of
yourself. You insist that what you think is right and
never change. In your bosom you have cherished
inclinations toward rebellion, so that you have condemned
and ruined [my plans] in the deliberations on
military [matters]. I cannot bear to apply the law
to you. You shall deliver up your seals and aprons
of the Commander-in-chief and of the Earl Establishing
Military Power and return to your former
commandery. [Let] the Earl Making Portents Descend,
Tung Chung1b, become the Commander-in-chief."

T'ien K'uang, the Leader of a Combination at

Yi-p'ing [Commandery], memorialized that the commanderies
and counties had not appraised the common
people's [property] according to the facts, so
[Wang] Mang again taxed [their property at the rate
of] one-thirtieth. Because of [T'ien] K'uang's faithful
words and his solicitude for the state, he was
advanced in noble rank, made an earl, and granted
two million cash. The mass of commoners all reviled
him.[2118]

In Ch'ing and Hsü [Provinces], many of the common
people left their native villages and became
vagrants. The aged and weak died on the roads,
and the vigorous entered the robber [bands].

The Leader of a Combination at Su-yeh [Commandery],
Han Po, sent a message to the emperor,

saying, "There is a marvellous gentleman, ten feet
tall and ten spans [in circumference], who came to
your subject's yamen and said, `I am desirous with
all my energy to attack the caitiff northern foreigners
(Hu).' He calls himself Chü-wu Pa and comes from
the shore of the Chao-ju Sea northwest of the five
cities southeast of P'eng-lai. A small chariot is not
able to bear him, and three horses are not able to
transport him, so, on the same day, in a large quadriga
with four horses, on which is erected a tiger flag,
bearing [Chü-wu] Pa, [I have sent him] to go to the
[palace] Portal. When [Chü-wu] Pa lies down, he
pillows [his head] upon a drum.[2124] He eats with iron
chopsticks.

"This [man has been sent] by August Heaven as a
means of assisting the House of Hsin. I wish that
your Majesty would have a large cuirass made, with
a high chariot and garments for a [Meng] Pen or a
[Hsia] Yü, and send a generalissimo and a hundred
of the [Gentlemen] As Rapid As Tigers to meet him
on the road. The gates and doors in the imperial
capital which will not admit him should be enlarged
and made taller and larger, in order to show him to
the barbarians and settle down the world."

[Han] Po's intention was that he wanted thereby
to offer a hint to [Wang] Mang,[2125] [but when Wang]
Mang was informed of it, he disliked it and detained

[Chü-wu] Pa at the place where he was in Hsin-feng.
He changed his surname to be Mr. Chü-mu (Chü's
Mother), saying, "Because of the Empress Dowager
the Mother of Culture there has been this portent
[that Wang (Mang) Chü-(chün) should be] a lord
protector (pa) and a [true] king."[2127]
[Wang Mang]
summoned [Han] Po [to court], sent him to prison,
and had him publicly executed, because he had said
things that were not proper.

In the next year, the year-period was to be changed
to Ti-huang, which was a title taken from the calendar
for thirty-six thousand years.[2130]

In [the period] Ti-huang, the first year, in the first

month, on [the day] yi-wei, an amnesty [was granted]
to the empire. [Wang Mang] issued a message,
saying, "At the time when the army is being sent out
and the troops are being put into motion, those who
presume to run and shout, violating the law, should
immediately be judged and beheaded. It is not
necessary [to wait for] the season [for executions,
winter]. When the year is up, [this order] shall
cease." Thereupon during the spring and summer
people were beheaded in the market-places of the
capitals; the people were terrified and afraid and `on
the highroads and paths, they indicated their hatred
[of Wang Mang] in their eyes.'[2136]

In the third[2137] month, on [the day] jen-shen, in the

center of the sun there was a blackness.[2139] [Wang]
Mang disliked it, and issued a message which said,
"Recently, `in the sun an obscurity has appeared.'[2143]
The Yin [principle] is pressing upon the Yang [principle,
and has produced] the grievous vicissitude of a
black emanation. None of the people have failed to
be startled by the marvel. The Generalissimo of the
Northern City-wall [of Ch'ang-an],[2144] Wang K'uang1d,
has sent an official to examine and question those who
have presented [to the ruler] matters [concerning]
grievous vicissitudes, [to examine] whether they intend
to blind the throne's intelligence. For this
reason, a reprobation has appeared in Heaven, in
order that I might correct [matters by right] principlies,
and stop these great prodigies."

When Wang] Mang saw that the thieves and

robbers in the four quarters were many, he again
wanted to repress them, and so again sent out a message,
saying, "When my August Deceased Original
Ancestor, the Yellow Lord, tranquillized the world, he
led his troops as a First [Ranking] General and established
the flowery baldachin and set up the Bushel
Bowl [Standard].[2150] Within [the imperial court] I[2151]
establish a General-in-[chief]; outside [the court I
also] establish five Commanders-in-chief, 25 Generalissimos,
125 Lieutenant Generals, 1250 Major
Generals, 12,500 Colonels, 37,500 Majors, 112,500
Captains,[2154] 225,000 Centurions, 450,000 Petty Officers,
and 13,500,000 soldiers, in order to respond to
and accord with [the saying in] the Book of Changes,
`[This gave] the benefit of bows and arrows, whereby
they might [awe] the world by their majesty.'[2157] I
have obtained the writings of the mandate [of
Heaven given through] portents and have examined
[my enactments by the deeds] of earlier persons,
since I desire that [my enactments] may be complete
in detail."

Thereupon there were established the positions of
Commander-in-chief at the Van, at the Rear, at the
Left, at the Right, and at the Center. [Wang Mang]
granted to the various Provincial Shepherds the title
of Generalissimo; Directors of Confederations,[2158]
Leaders of Combinations, and Grand Governors of
commanderies became Lieutenant Generals; Prefects
and Chiefs of Associations [became] Major Generals;
and Rulers of counties became Colonels. Almost
ten [groups of] commissioners in riding quadrigae
daily passed through the commanderies and kingdoms.

The granaries had no grain ready for supplying
[their needs] and the chariots and horses in the
post-stations could not be sufficient [for these many
messengers, so the officials] levied and seized chariots
and horses on the roads and requisitioned supplies
from the common people.

In the seventh month, a great wind damaged the
Hall With the Royal Apartments, [so Wang Mang]
again issued a message, saying, "Recently, on [the
day] jen-wu, at the time for eating the afternoon meal,
there was the grievous vicissitude of a strong wind,
with thunder and rain, which unroofed houses and
broke down trees. I was greatly excited. I was in-
spired with great fear. I was greatly terrified. I
humbly reflected and after ten days the riddle was
then solved.[2166]

"Previously, the words of a mandate [granted by]

portents [said, `Wang] An1a should be set up as the
Hsin-hsien[2168] King [(the King, the Immortal of the
Hsin House); Wang] Lin1a should have Lo-yang as
his state and should be the T'ung-yi-yang King [the
King Controlling-the-line in which Right-principles
Shine].[2169] At that time, I was occupying [the post of]
Regent and Acting [Emperor], so deferred and did
not presume to [accept these titles], but made [my
sons] Dukes. After that, there arrived the writing
in the golden coffer. Those who discussed [these
matters] all said, `[Wang] Lin1a's state should be Lo-yang;
to be t'ung means to occupy the center of the
Earth,[2170] to be [the continuer of] the dynastic line
(t'ung) of the Hsin [House, (i.e., T'ung-yi-yang means
to live in the center of the Earth and continue the
dynastic line by which the right principles of the
Hsin House shine)]. It is proper that he should be
the Imperial Heir-apparent.'

"After this [time, Wang] Lin1a was ill for a long
time, and, altho he recovered, he was not entirely

well, so that when he appeared at court, he traveled
borne suspended on a mattress.[2172] When he came
to an audience in the Hall With the Royal Apart-
ments, he set up his bed in the Western Lateral
Apartments together with the Central [Room] for
Changing Garments in the Rear Pavilion.[2177] Because
moreover the Empress was ill, [Wang] Lin1a
temporarily left his original [rooms] and went to her
dwelling. His Crown Princess and concubines were
in the Eastern Long Lane.

"[On the day] jen-wu, a strong wind did violence
to the Western Lateral Apartments of [the Hall]
With the Royal Apartments and the Central Room
for Changing Garments in the Rear Pavilion; an elm
tree, ten spans [or fathoms] in circumference, southeast
of the pool at the Hall of Brilliant Peace, fell
eastwards, striking the Eastern Pavilion. This Pavilion
is the western wall of the Eastern Long Lane.
All [these places] were destroyed. Tiles were broken,
the roofs were taken off, and trees were uprooted.
I was very much frightened.

"The Office for Watching [the Heavens] moreover
memorialized that the Moon has invaded the front
stars of [the constellation] Hsin, which has an interpretation.[2180]
I was very much worried by it.

"I humbly considered the writing in the Tzu-ko-t'u,
`The Supreme One and the Yellow Lord both obtained

auspicious presages and thereby became im-
mortals, and among their later generations a magnificent
lord [Wang Mang] is due to ascend the
Chung-nan [lit., he comes to his end to the south]
Mountains.' What is meant by the Hsin-hsien King
is that he is a descendant of the Supreme One and of
the Immortal of the Hsin [House] (Hsin-hsien).
[What is meant by] the T'ung-yi-yang King is that
he is a descendant of [the one] who uses the five
dynastic principles (t'ung)[2184] and by means of the
rules of proper conduct (li) and moral principles (yi)
mounts up to the sunny side (yang [the south]) and
becomes an immortal.

"[Wang] Lin1a has an elder brother, but is called
the Heir-apparent, so that his title is not correct.
Duke Hsüan-ni [As Recompense for Perfection (of
Pao-ch'eng), Confucius,] said, `If titles are not correct,
then speech will not be in accordance with
[reality,' and so on], even to `punishments will not be
appropriate' and `the common people will not know
how to move their hands or feet.'[2185]

"Verily, since I have ascended the throne, the Yin
and Yang [principles] have not been harmonious, so
that the wind and rain have not been timely, and [the
country] has several times met withering drought,

locusts and caterpillars, which became [calamitous]
visitations. The harvests of grain have been sparse
or lacking, so that the people have suffered from
famine. `The barbarians have troubled the Chinese
and robbers and brigands have caused disorder outside
and inside [the government,'[2187] so that] the
common people are fearful and disturbed[2188] and `do
not know how to move a hand or foot.'

"I have pondered deeply that the blame for this
[lies] in titles not being correct. Let [Wang] An1a
be set up as the Hsin-hsien King and [Wang] Lin1a
be the T'ung-yi-yang King. I hope that thereby I
may protect and preserve my two sons, that my
descendants [may be numbered] by the thousands
and millions, and that, without [the country], the
barbarians of the four [quarters] may be driven away
and within [the country] the Central States may be
pacified."

In this month, the imperial tiger-striped [grave]clothes
[of Emperor Hsüan] in the Side Hall at the
Tu Tomb, which had been set aside and stored in the
coffers of the [inner] chamber, went out and planted
themselves upright outside [the inner chamber] in
the Hall above.[2194] After a quite long time they however
fell to the ground. The officers and soldiers
who had seen them therefore reported it [to the
throne. Wang] Mang disliked it and so issued a
message which said, "For the precious [throne] there
is yellow and for the servitors there is red.[2195] Let it
be ordered that the Gentlemen and the Imperial
Retinue shall all wear carmine."

Many of those who watched the [cloudy] emanations
and made divinations said that there were
phenomena of some signal achievements [to be done

by the virtue] of the Earth. [Wang] Mang more-
over saw that the thieves and robbers in the four
quarters were many and wanted to make it appear
that he himself was tranquil and was able to be the
founder [of a dynasty enduring for] ten thousand
generations, so issued a message which said, "I have
received the Mandate [of Heaven] and am meeting
with the distresses of the nine dry years and the untoward
occurrences in the 106 [years],[2199] when the
government treasuries are empty and the people are
exhausted. The [imperial] ancestral temples have
not yet been prepared, [hence] I have temporarily
made common ancestral sacrifices in the Grand [Ancestral]
Temple of the Ming-t'ang. Day and night I
have reflected long and have not presumed to rest.
I pondered deeply that no blessing or prosperity is
better than that to be had in the present year. I
then divined by the tortoise-shell [concerning the
region] north of the Po River and south of the Lang
Pool, and it was [divined as fit to produce] imperial
sustenance. I also divined by the tortoise-shell
[concerning the region] south of the Chin River and
west of the Ming-t'ang, and it was also [divined as
fit to produce] imperial sustenance.[2202] I will now in
person[2205] [begin to] build." Thereupon he accord-
ingly made plans [for buildings] south of the city of
Ch'ang-an with a total acreage[2207] of a hundred ch'ing.

In the ninth month, on [the day] chia-shen, stand-
ing in a chariot, [Wang] Mang went to inspect [the
work], and in person began it by pounding three
times [on the earth in the forms for walls]. The
Minister Over the Masses, Wang Hsün3, and the
Grand Minister of Works, Wang Yi5, bearing credentials,
together with the Palace Attendant, Regular
[Palace][2211] Attendant, and Upholder of the Laws, Tu
Lin, and others, several tens of persons [in all],
were to oversee the work.

Ts'ui Fa and Chang2 Han spoke to [Wang] Mang,
saying, "For those upon whom the virtue [of Heaven
is bestowed] abundantly the ritual practises are
elaborate. It would be proper to make the arrangements
[of these temples] magnificent and to make
[that fact] plainly known [to all] within [the four]
seas, so as to bring it about that [even] after ten
thousand generations, nothing in them should be
changed around or despised."[2212] Thereupon [Wang]
Mang summoned widely the artisans of the empire,
and plans were calculated by means of geometry.[2213]

The officials and people who voluntarily paid cash or
grain [into the government treasury] to assist the
work, moreover came and went on the roads and
highways without interruption.[2216]

[Wang Mang] tore down Chien-chang [Palace],
Ch'eng-kuang [Palace], Pao-yang [Palace], Ch'üan-t'ai

[Palace],[2218] Ch'u-yüan Palace, together with
P'ing-lo [Lodge], Tang-lu [Lodge], and Yang-lu Lodge
in [Shang-lin] Park west of the city [of Ch'ang-an],
in all more than ten places, and took their materials
and tiles to build the Nine [Ancestral] Temples. (In
these months there was a great rain for more than
sixty days.) It was ordered that common people
who paid six hundred hu of grain might become
Gentlemen, and that those who were Gentlemen or
officials might be increased in rank or given a noble
rank, [as high] as that of Sub-Vassal.

The first of the Nine [Ancestral] Temples was
called the Temple to the Aboriginal Founder [of the
Hsin Dynasty], the Yellow Lord; the second was
called the Temple Facing South to the First Founder
[of the Hsin Dynasty], the Lord, Yü [Shun]; the
third was called the Temple Facing North to the
Dynastic Founder [of the Hsin Dynasty], King Hu
of Ch'en, [Kuei Man]; the fourth was called the
Temple Facing South to the Epochal Founder [of
the Hsin Dynasty], King Ching of Ch'i, [Ch'en
Ching-chung]; the fifth was called the Temple Facing

North to the Kingly Founder [of the Hsin Dynasty],
King Min of Chi-po, [T'ien An]; (all [the foregoing]
five temples were not to be discontinued [as succeeding
generations of emperors included their immediate
ancestors among the nine ancestors who are given
separate fanes]); the sixth was called the Temple
Facing South to the Honored Ancestor [of the Hsin
Dynasty], King Po of Chi-nan, [Wang Sui]; the seventh
was called, the Temple Facing North to the Honored
Ancestor [of the Hsin Dynasty], King Ju of
Yüan-ch'eng, [Wang Ho4a]; the eighth was called, the
Temple Facing South to the Close Ancestor [of the
reigning Hsin Emperor], King Ch'ing of Yang-p'ing,
[Wang Chin]; and the ninth was called, the Temple
Facing North to the Close Ancestor [of the Reigning
Hsin Emperor], King Hsien of Hsin-tuc, [Wang
Wan].

The [main] halls [of these temples] were all many-storeyed
buildings;[2222] that in the Temple to the
Aboriginal Founder, [the Yellow Lord], from east
to west and from south to north, in each [direction]
was four hundred feet [long] and one hundred
seventy feet high. The other Temples were half
[that size]. They had bronze brackets,[2223] and were
adorned with gold, silver, and carved tracery, which
reached the limit of the workmen's skill. Because
they sat[2224] upon a high [place, the earth] around

them was raised. The expense of the work was
several ten thousand millions [of cash] and the conscripts
and criminals who died [on this work] were
numbered by the ten-thousands.

A man of Chü-lu [Commandery], Ma-shih Ch'iu,
and others plotted to raise the troops of [the region
comprised in the ancient feudal states of] Yen and
Chao in order to execute [Wang] Mang. Wang
Tana, an Officer to the Grand Minister of Works,
discovered and reported it. [Wang] Mang sent some
Grandees to the three highest ministers to apprehend
and punish the cabal. Several thousand prominent
persons in the commanderies and kingdoms were
involved. All were executed. [Wang] Tana was
enfeoffed as the Marquis Supporting the State.

From the time that [Wang] Mang acted out of
accord with the ordinances for the seasons,[2231] the
people hated him, [yet Wang] Mang [acted] as if he
was undisturbed by that [hatred. So] he again
issued a message, saying, "Verily, ever since these
temporary laws have been established, in the capital,
Ch'ang2-an, with its six districts and great city, the
warning drums have rarely sounded and robbers and
bandits have decreased and become few. The people
are satisfied with their habitations and yearly there
have been [good] harvests. The foregoing [circumstances
have been due to] the strength [coming from]
the establishment of my authority.

"[But] now the caitiff northern foreigners (Hu)
have not yet been annihilated and executed, the
southern and southwestern barbarians have not yet
stopped burning [with rebellion], the Yangtze valley
and the marshes of the sea-[coast] are boiling [with
disturbance],[2232] and the thieves and robbers have

not yet been completely routed and exterminated.
I have moreover taken in hand the great work of
upholding the [imperial] ancestral temples and the
altars to the gods of the soils and grains, so that the
multitude of common people have been agitated.
Now I again temporarily put these ordinances in
effect, [but this practise] will stop with the end of
the second year [of the period Ti-huang], in order
that I may preserve the great multitude and save the
ignorant and wicked."

In this year, the large and small cash were discontinued

and in their place there were put into
circulation currency spade money, which was two
inches five fen in length, one inch broad, and was
worth 25 currency cash. The currency cash were
one inch in diameter, five shu in weight, each of
which was worth one [cash].[2237] The two kinds [of
money] were to circulate together. When anyone
presumed to cast cash illicitly or only partly accepted
the spade money as currency, [if any person] in a
group of five [neighboring families] knew of it but
did not discover and report it [to the authorities],
all [of the five neighboring families were to have their
property] confiscated[2238] and to become government
slaves or slave-women.

The Grand Tutor, P'ing Yen, died, and the My

Forester, T'ang Tsunb, was made the Grand Tutor.
[T'ang] Tsunb said, "The state [treasury] is empty
and the people are impoverished, the reason [for
which is] prodigal extravagance." Consequently, he
personally [wore] short clothes with small sleeves,
rode on a chariot with stakes [and drawn by]
mares,[2244] slept upon a couch [made of] straw, [and
ate from] tile dishes. He also used earthen dishes[2245]
to send [food] to the ministers. When he went out,
if he met any men and women who did not travel
separately on the roads, [T'ang] Tsunb himself would
get down from his chariot and, in accordance with
[the principle of inflicting] punishments by altering
the clothing, he would defile and dye their garments,
[using] an ochre-red cloth.[2246] [When Wang] Mang
heard of it, he was delighted with him, so issued an
imperial edict instructing the ministers "to think of
making themselves equal" with him,[2247] and enfeoffed
[T'ang] Tsunb as the Marquis Equalizing Culture.

At this time, Chang Pac from Nan Commandery,
Yang Mu and Wang K'uang1b from Chiang-hsia
[Commandery], and others arose in the Lu-lin
[Mountains] of Yün-tu [County] and called
themselves Troops from the Lower Yangtze [Region].
Their bands were all of more than ten
thousand men.

In the Chung-shui District of Wu-kung [County[2252] ]

three houses of the common people fell [in a subsidence
of the earth and] became a pool.

In the second year, the first month, because the

Provincial Shepherds had been given the rank of the
three highest ministers,[2256] and so had become remiss
in inspecting and recommending [concerning matters

in their provinces], Shepherds' Superintendents and
Associate [Shepherds] were established in addition
[to the Shepherds], with the rank of First Officers,
who were to wear the Bonnet of the Law and whose
duties were to be like those of the Han [dynasty's]
Inspectors.

In this month, [Wang] Mang's wife died. Her

posthumous name was the Filial and Harmonius
Empress. She was buried west of the Ch'ang-shou
Park at the Wei Tomb. It was ordered that she
should forever attend upon the [Empress Dowager]
the Mother of Culture [nee Wang]. The name of her
tomb was called Yi-nien (a hundred thousand years).

Previously, because [Wang] Mang had more than
once killed her sons, [Wang] Mang's wife had wept

until she lost her sight, [so Wang] Mang had ordered
his Heir-apparent, [Wang] Lin1a, to live at the palace
and care for her. An attendant to [Wang] Mang's
wife was [named] Yüan-pi. [Wang] Mang had
favored her and later [Wang] Lin1a also had relations
with her. They were afraid that the matter would
leak out, so plotted that they would together kill
[Wang] Mang.

[Wang] Lin1a's wife, [Liu] Yin3, was the daughter
of the State Master and Duke [Honoring the Hsin

Dynasty, Liu Hsin1a]. She knew how to interpret
the stars.[2265] She told [Wang] Lin1a that soon there
would be a meeting of [people wearing] plain clothes
in the palace.[2266] [Wang] Lin1a rejoiced, thinking
that what he had planned would soon be achieved.
Later he was degraded to be the T'ung-yi-yang King
and went out [of the palace] to his residence outside.
He was [then] all the more apprehensive.

It happened that when [Wang] Mang's wife became
seriously ill, [Wang] Lin1a sent her a letter which
said, "The Emperor has been extremely severe with
his descendants. Previously when his sons, [Wang
Yü] Chang-sun and [Wang Huob] Chung-sun, were
each in their thirtieth [year], they were [put to]
death. Now your servant Lin1a has in turn come
upon his thirtieth [year, and so I] truly fear that if
some morning I am no [longer] protected by you, the
Empress,[2268] I shall not know whether I shall die

or live."

[When Wang] Mang was waiting upon his wife in
her illness, he saw this letter and became greatly
incensed, suspecting that [Wang] Lin1a had some
evil purpose. [Consequently Wang Mang] did not
permit [Wang Lin1a] to join in the mourning ceremonies.
After [Wang Mang's wife] had been buried,
[Wang Mang] had Yüan-pi and others arrested.
They were examined and questioned, and they
confessed everything about the adultery and the
plans for [Wang Mang's] murder. [Wang] Mang
wanted to have it kept secret, so sent to kill the
commissioner [who had charge of] the case, who was
an Attendant Officer of a Director of Mandates [from
the Five Majestic Principles], and had him buried in
the jail, so that his family did not know where he was.

[Wang Mang] granted poison to [Wang] Lin1a, but
[Wang] Lin1a was unwilling to drink it, so he stabbed
himself and died.

[Wang Mang] had the Palace Attendant, the
General of Agile Cavalry and the Marquis of Like
Delight, [Wang] Lin2, grant the ghost garments and
the Kingly seal and apron [for the deceased].[2272]

[Wang Mang's] funeral eulogy[2274] [for Wang Lin1a]
said, "[According to] the writing in the mandate
[of Heaven given through] portents, [Wang] Lin1a
should have been set up as the T'ung-yi-yang King.
This [phrase] means that 36,000 years after the
House of Hsin had taken the throne, one who is a
descendant of [Wang] Lin1a is then due to rise up
as the dragon sun.[2277]

"Previously, when I erroneously listened to those
who discussed [this matter] and made [Wang] Lin1a
my Heir-apparent, there was the grievous vicissitude
of a violent wind, so I immediately obeyed the mandate
[from Heaven given by] portents and set him
up as the T'ung-yi-yang King. Previous to this

[time] and after this [time], he did not act [in accordance
with] sincerity and obedience and so did
not receive any assistance from this [title], and at an
untimely age his life was destroyed. Alas! How
sad! [According to] his deeds and acts, I grant him
a posthumous name; his posthumous name shall be
King Miu (erring)."

There was also an imperial edict to the State
Master and Duke, [Liu Hsin1a, to the effect that
Wang] Lin1a did not originally understand the stars;
the matter arose from [Liu] Yin3, [so Liu] Yin3 also
committed suicide.

In this month, the Hsin-hsien King, [Wang] An1a,
died of an illness.

Previously, [when Wang] Mang had been [a mere]
marquis and had gone to his state, he had favored

[some] attendants, Tseng-chih, Huai-neng, and K'ai-ming.
Huai-neng had given birth to a boy, [Wang]
Hsingb; Tseng-chih had given birth to a boy, [Wang]
K'uang1c, and a girl, [Wang] Yeh6; and K'ai-ming
had given birth to a girl, [Wang] Chieh6. All had
been detained at [Wang Mang's] state at Hsin-tuc,
for the reason that he did not want to make it
known [that he had had relations with any women
besides his wife].

When moreover [Wang] An1a had become seriously
ill, [Wang] Mang was himself pained that he

would have no sons [remaining, so] he wrote a memorial
for [Wang] An1a and had him send it to the
throne. It said, "Although the mothers of [Wang]
Hsingb and the others are humble in status, yet in
their relationship [to you, my father, these young
people] are still your Imperial Sons and Daughters,
and so should not be discarded." The document was
shown to the various highest ministers and they all
said that [Wang] An1a was "fraternally loving to his
[half]-brothers and sisters,"[2286] so that it would be
proper, when the spring or summer arrived, to give
them enfeoffments and noble titles. Thereupon
kingly chariots were sent with commissioners to go
and bring [Wang] Hsingb and the others [to the
court. Wang] Hsingb was enfeoffed as the Duke of
Cultivated Merits, [Wang] K'uanglc as Duke of
Established Merits, [Wang] Yeh6 as Baroness of
Cultivated Concord, and [Wang] Chieh6 as Baroness
of Attained Concord.

[Wang Mang's] grandson, the Duke of Brilliant
Merits,[2291] [Wang] Shou, became ill and died, so that
within a full month [Wang Mang] had four funerals.[2292]
[Wang] Mang destroyed the Temples of
[Emperors] Hsiao-wu and Hsiao-chao of the Han
[dynasty] and buried his sons and grandsons separately
among these [temples].

Li Yen, the Grand Governor of Wei-ch'eng [Commandery],
had plotted with a diviner, Wang
K'uang4b. [Wang] K'uang4b had said to [Li] Yen,
"Since the time that the House of Hsin took the
throne, the cultivated fields and slaves of the common
people were not allowed to be bought or sold, the
cash and currencies have been changed several times,
there have been numerous levies [of troops] and
collections [of supplies], the armies have caused
disturbances, the barbarians of the four [quarters]
have simultaneously invaded, the people have cherished
hatred [for Wang Mang], and thieves and
robbers have simultaneously arisen [in various localities,
so that] the Han dynasty is due to be restored.
Your surname, sir, is Li. Li [rimes with] chih and
[the note] chih is [equated with] fire.[2295] You are
due to become a coadjutor to the Han [Dynasty]."

Hence [Wang K'uang4b] composed a book of revela-
tions for [Li] Yen. It said, "Emperor Wen has
become indignant and is dwelling on the earth below
where he is urging on armies: To the north, he has
instructed the Huns and, to the south, he has instructed
the people of Yüeh [to attack]. In the
center of the Yangtze [region], Liu Hsin4g will sieze
his enemy, [Wang Mang], revenge [the Han dynasty],
and restore and continue the ancient [line;
in] the fourth year he is due to set his army in motion.
Among the rivers and lakes there will be a robber
who will call himself a tributary king [of the Han
dynasty], his family name will be Liu. Ten thousand
men will form ranks and will not accept an ordinance
of amnesty, [because they] intend to disturb [the
region comprising the former feudal state of] Ch'in
and [the region of] Lo-yang. By the eleventh year,
they are due to attack. When Venus scatters its
light and Jupiter enters [the constellation] Tung-ching,
[Liu Hsin4g's] commands are due to be
obeyed." He also told of the good and evil fortunes
of [Wang] Mang's great ministers, that each had his
fated date. Altogether [the writing comprised]
more than a hundred thousand words.

[Li] Yen ordered a minor official to write out this
book, [but] the official fled and gave information
of it, [so Wang] Mang sent a commissioner immediately
to arrest [Li] Yen [and his confederates], imprison
them, and punish them. They all died.

Robbers and bandits made trouble and arose in
the three capital commanderies,[2299] [so Wang Mang]

established the office of the Chief Commandant
Siezing Robbers and ordered the Upholders of the
Laws and the Internuncios to pursue and attack
[the robbers] within Ch'ang-an. He established the
banner for "beating the drum and attacking"
thieves,[2302] with a commissioner following after it.

He sent Ching Shang, the Second Brother Hsi to
the Grand Master, and Wang Tang, the Commissioner
Over the Army to the General of a New
Beginning, with troops, to attack [the rebels] in
Ch'ing and Hsü [Provinces, sent] Ts'ao Fang, the
Second Brother Ho to the State Master, to assist
Kuo Hsing in attacking Kou-t'ing, and had the

empire's grain and currency transported to Hsi-ho,
Wu-yüan, So-fang, and Yü-yang commanderies, to
each by the millions [of cash worth], with the intention
of attacking the Huns.

In the autumn, a fall of frost killed the beans.
There was a great famine and [a plague of] locusts
east of [Han-ku] Pass.

When the common people violated [the law
against] casting cash, the people of five neighboring
families were sentenced together, [their property] was
confiscated by [the government], and they were
made government slaves and slave-women, their men
[went with] carts having cages and the children
and women [went] on foot. They had iron locks
and chains on [the rings about] their necks.[2307] [Such
persons] were transported to the Office for Coinage
by the hundred thousands. When they arrived,
their husbands or wives were changed, and six or
seven-tenths of them died of grief and suffering.

When Sun Hsi,[2311] Ching Shang, Ts'ao Fang, and

the others attacked the robbers, they could not
vanquish them. Their armies were allowed to do
as they pleased, so that the people were doubly distressed.
Since Wang K'uang4b's revelation had said
that [the Han dynasty] is due to revive [in the region
of the former state of] Ch'u in [Yü's province of]
Ching, and that a Mr. Li would be the coadjutor
[who brought about this revival,[2313] Wang] Mang
wanted to repress [this belief], so installed the Palace
Attendant and Grandee in Charge of Pasturing [Sacrificial
Animals], Li Shen, as Generalissimo and Shepherd
of Yang Province, granted him the given name
Sheng (sage), and sent him, leading troops, to attack
[the bandits] with all his energy.

Ch'u Hsia, [a man] of Shang-ku [Commandery],
in person begged [Wang Mang] that he wanted to
persuade Kua-t'ien Yi [to surrender, so Wang] Mang
made him a Gentleman-of-the-Household, and sent
him to get [Kua-t'ien] Yi to leave [his banditry.
Kua-t'ien] Yi wrote that he surrendered, but before
he left [his banditry], he died. [Wang] Mang asked
for his corpse, buried it, and built for him a grave-mound
and a sacrificial temple, with the posthumous
name, Baron Shang of Kua-ning. He hoped thereby

to induce the other [bandits] to come [and surrender].
But none were willing to surrender.[2315]

In the intercalary month, on [the day] ping-ch'en,

a general amnesty [was granted] to the empire.
The heavy mouring of the empire [for Wang Mang's
wife was done away with] and those common people
who had been mourning for their own [relatives]
previous to this written imperial edict were also
freed [from their mourning].

A Gentleman, Yang-ch'eng Hsiu, presented a mandate
[from Heaven by] a portent saying, "In succession
to [Wang Mang's wife] a mother should be set
up for the people, [i.e., an Empress]." He also said,
"Because the Yellow Lord had 120 women, he became
a supernatural immortal." [Wang] Mang
hence sent Palace Grandees Without Specified Appointments
and Internuncios, forty-five of each, by
divisions, to inspect the empire and select widely
from [families] that were esteemed highly in their
native villages, who had "virtuous young ladies,"[2322]
and send up their names [to the throne].

[Wang] Mang dreamed that five of the bronze
[statues of] men in the Ch'ang-lo Palace arose and
stood up. [Wang] Mang hated it, and reflected that
in the inscription on the bronze [statues of] men,
there were the words, "The August Emperor has first
taken possession of the whole world." [Wang Mang]
immediately sent workmen from the Master of
Recipes to chisel out and destroy the writing on the
breasts of the bronze [statues of] the men, about
whom he had dreamt.[2324]

He was also excited against the supernatural spirits
in the Han [dynasty's] Temple to [Emperor] Kao,[2325]

and sent [Gentlemen] As Rapid as Tigers and Men of
War to enter the Temple of [Emperor] Kao, draw
their swords, throw and strike in all directions, destroy
its doors and windows with axes, whip the walls
of the building with ochre-red whips[2328] and sprinkle
them with peach-water. He ordered a Chief Commandant
of Light Chariots to dwell in its midst and
also ordered the [Colonel of] the Northern Encampment
of the Capital Army[2330] to dwell in the funerary
chamber of [Emperor] Kao.

Someone said, "At the time of the Yellow Lord,

he established the flowery baldachin in order that he
might mount up [to become] an immortal." So
[Wang] Mang had made a flowery baldachin in nine
layers, eighty-one feet tall, with a golden claw-tip
and feather covering, and had it borne by a carriage
with a hidden mechanism and four wheels[2333] yoked
to six horses and three hundred strong men with
yellow clothes and [red] turbans.[2335] On the carriage
there was a man beating a drum. Those who pulled
it all called out, "He will mount up to be an immortal."
When [Wang] Mang went out, he ordered
[this carriage] to go before him. The many officials
[however] said secretly, "This is like a funeral cart,
not a thing for an immortal."[2338]

In this year, the band of Ch'in Feng in Nan Commandery
[numbered] almost ten thousand persons.
Ch'ih Chao-p'ing, a woman of P'ing-yüan [Commandery],
was capable at explaining the Classic on
the Playing Blocks,[2340] using eight [blocks] to a throw.
She also collected several thousand men in the difficult
places of the [lower reaches of the Yellow] River.
[Wang] Mang summoned and questioned his various
courtiers about stratagems for capturing the bandits,
and [the courtiers] all said, "These [people] are
Heaven's [condemned] criminals and walking corpses.
Their lives will [last] only an instant."

The former General of the Left, Kung-sun Lu, was

summoned to come and participate in the deliberations.
[Kung-sun] Lu said, "The Chief Grand
Astrologer, Tsung Hsüan, has had charge of prognostications
by the heavenly bodies, and of interpreting
the mutations in the emanations [and
weather]. He has called the baneful fortunate, has
in a disorderly fashion [reported] the astrological
[phenomena], and has misled the court. The Grand
Tutor, the Marquis Equilizing Culture, [T'ang
Tsunb], has covered [his faults] by false pretenses,
so that he has been able to treat lightly [the duties of]
his title and his position and `has done ill turns to
other men's sons.'[2345] The State Master, the Duke
Honoring the Hsin [Dynasty, Liu Hsin1a,] has overturned
the five Classics, has done away with the
traditions [about the classics handed down from
generation to generation] by his teachers, and has
caused his students to doubt and be misled.[2347] The
Baron of Brilliant Scholarship, Chang2 Han, and the
Marquis of Geographical Arrangements, Sun Yang,
have instituted the ching [system] of cultivated
fields, [thus] causing the common people to neglect
their occupation [in cultivating] the earth. The
Hsi-and-Ho, Lu K'uang, has set up the six monopo-
lies and has thereby impoverished the artisans and
merchants. The Marquis Delighting in Portents,
Ts'ui Fa, has truckled and flattered in order to curry
your favor and has brought it about that the feelings
of inferiors have not been communicated to the
throne. It would be proper to execute these several
persons in order to calm the empire."

He also said, "The Huns should not be attacked,
but peace and an alliance by marriage ought to be
made with them. Your subject fears that the
[proper] cause for the House of Hsin's anxiety does
not lie with the Huns, but lies within the borders."
[Wang] Mang became incensed and had a [Gentleman]
As Rapid as Tigers assist [Kung-sun] Lu to
leave.

Nevertheless [Wang Mang] adopted his ideas to a
certain [extent]. He demoted Lu K'uang to be the
Director of a Confederation at Wu-yüan [Commandery],
because the people hated and maligned

him. [Although] the six monopolies had not been
set up by [Lu] K'uang alone, [yet Wang] Mang
[wanted to] satisfy the ideas of the crowd, so sent
[Lu K'uang] out [of the court].

Previously, because the four quarters [of the
country] had all [suffered from] famine and cold,
[the people] were impoverished and troubled, and so
had arisen and become thieves and robbers, until
gradually crowds gathered. They constantly thought
that if the harvest would be good,[2353] they would be
able to return to their native villages. Although
their bands were numbered by the ten-thousands,
[their leaders] only called themselves attendants upon
great persons, Thrice Venerables, or Libationers.
They did not presume to take or to possess cities
or towns and went about foraging and seeking for
merely what food they would use up daily. When
various Chief Officials, Shepherds and Administrators
all themselves fought with them in a disorderly
manner, were wounded by weapons, and
died, it was not because the bandits presumed to
intend to kill them.[2356] But [Wang] Mang to the end
did not understand the purposes of these [bandits].

In this year, an Officer of the Commander-in-chief

was in Yü Province, examining [into what had been
reported in] a document, and was captured by the
bandits, [whereupon] the bandits escorted and sent
him to the county-seat. When the Officer returned
and memorialized [his report], he wrote out the whole
circumstance. Wang] Mang became greatly incensed,
and sent him to prison because he considered
[that the man] was falsifying [the situation] to deceive
[his superiors].

Thereupon he issued a message reproving the seven
highest ministers, which said, "Verily, to be an
official [means] to bring about order.[2358] To diffuse
virtue and make favors manifest in order to shepherd
the common people is the principle of benevolence.
To repress the strong, control the wicked, and arrest
and execute thieves and robbers are components
of justice.

"Now however [the situation] has been otherwise.

When thieves appeared, they were not immediately
apprehended, so they were able to form cliques and
intercept and kidnap Ruling Officers from [government]
riding quadrigae. An Officer who succeeded
in getting free from them moreover himself said
senselessly, `I questioned and reprimanded the robbers,
[saying], "Why do you do this [robbing]?" and
the robbers replied, "Merely because we are impoverished
and in need." [Then] the robbers protected
and sent me away. At present, vulgar people
who discuss [banditry say that the bandits] for the
most part are like these [ones].'

"I reflect [that, when people], out of distress from
famine or cold violate the laws and do evil, the
greater ones become groups of thieves and the lesser
ones steal [by making] holes [in people's walls].
There are no more than these two kinds. But now
they have conspired together and joined to form
gangs of thousands and hundreds. This is the greatest
disobedience and rebellion; how could it be spoken
of as [due to] famine or cold?

"Let the seven highest ministers strictly order the
High Ministers, Grandees, Directors of Confederations,
Leaders of Combinations, and `the heads of
offices'[2362] carefully to shepherd the good common
people and hurriedly arrest and exterminate the
thieves and robbers. If there are any who do not,
with one mind and with mutual assistance, hate and
drive out the bandits, and, if they say unreasonably
that [the bandits] have been caused by hunger or
cold, they shall immediately be arrested and held in
prison, and [the officials] shall beg [me to pass sentence
upon] their crime."

Thereupon the numerous subordinates [of the
ruler] feared all the more and none presumed to speak
of the bandits' circumstances. They also were not
permitted to mobilize troops unauthorizedly. Because
of this, the bandits were not restrained.

Only the Leader of a Combination at Yi-p'ing
[Commandery], T'ien K'uang, had for some time

past dared to mobilize the common people who were
in their eighteenth year and above, [to the number
of] more than forty thousand persons, had furnished
them arms from the arsenals, and had given them
engraved stones as [signs of their] convenant. The
Red Eyebrows had heard of it and had not presumed
to enter his borders. [T'ien] K'uang impeached
himself in a memorial, and [Wang] Mang reprimanded
[T'ien] K'uang: "You have not been granted
a tiger credential,[2368] yet have unauthorizedly mobilized
troops. This is playing with weapons. This
crime is that of negligence in raising [troops].[2369]
Because you, K'uang, have reproved yourself [and
have said that you would] certainly capture and
destroy the robbers, you are [however] temporarily
not to be punished."

Later [T'ien] K'uang himself begged to go out of
the boundaries [of his commandery] and attack the
robbers, [saying that] those against whom he turned
would all be routed. [Wang] Mang used a message
[stamped] with the imperial seal to order [T'ien]
K'uang to be put in charge of the affairs of the
Shepherds in the two provinces of Ch'ing and Hsü.

[T'ien] K'uang [memorialized] the throne, saying,
"Although when thieves and robbers first start out,
in the beginning they are very unimportant, yet they
cannot be captured by the divisional officers and
[the organization of] people in groups of five.[2371]
The fault lies [in the fact that] the Chief Officials
[of counties] do not give it a thought. The counties
deceive the commanderies, and the commanderies
deceive the [imperial] court. When in reality there
are a hundred [robbers], they say ten; and when in
reality there are a thousand, they say a hundred.

Then the court is negligent and does not immediately
supervise and punish[2374]
[the bandits], so that they
even spread over adjoining provinces.

"When moreover generals and lieutenants are sent,
and many commissioners are sent out continuously
to supervise and urge each other on, [the officials of]
the commanderies and counties serve their superior

officials energetically, in answering and excusing
themselves, in replying to questions, in offering wine
and food, and in furnishing necessaries, in order to
save themselves from being sentenced and beheaded,
and so do not have [the time] again to think of the
thieves or robbers or to perform their official business.
The generals and lieutenants moreover are not able
in person to lead their officers and soldiers, and so,
when a battle [is fought, their troops] are routed by
the bandits, their officers gradually [become] dispirited,
and [the expedition] is merely an expense
upon the people.

"When previously [the bandits] fortunately received
an order of amnesty and the bandits wanted
to disband and scatter, some [of them] on the contrary
were prevented [from returning home] and
were attacked, so from fear they entered the mountains
and valleys, and in turn told the others [about

it]. Hence the bandits in the commanderies and
counties who had surrendered all changed [their
attitudes] and became terrified, fearing that they
would be destroyed by trickery. Because of the
famine, they were easily moved, and within ten days
there were again more than a hundred thousand men
[in the bandit troops]. The foregoing is the reason
that the thieves and robbers are so numerous.

"At present, east of Lo-yang, grain is two thousand

[cash per] picul. Your humble servant has seen a
written imperial edict that it is intended to send the
Grand Master, [Wang K'uang1a], and the General
of a New Beginning, [Lien Tan, to attack the bandits].
They are important courtiers who are your
military assistants. If their crowds of followers are
multiplied, [these followers] will become exhausted
[from lack of food] on the way; whereas if [their
followers are] reduced [in number, these ministers]
will have no way of overawing the distant quarters
[of the empire].

"It would be proper to select promptly Shepherds
and Governors or those [ranking] below them, make
plain the rewards and punishments that they [can
deal out], and [have them] collect together those
people from scattered villages and small states [of
nobles] that have no city walls, transport their old
and weak [persons], putting them inside the large
cities, [then] collect and store foodstuffs and mutually

assist in firmly guarding [these centers]. When the
bandits come to attack the cities, they will then be
unable to take them and [the places] by which they
pass will have no food, so that their circumstances
will not permit them to collect in bands. Under such
[a situation], when they are summoned, they will
certainly surrender, and when they are attacked, they
will be annihilated.

"If now generals and lieutenants are vainly sent
out in numbers, the commanderies and counties will
suffer from them more severely than from the bandits.
It would be proper to summon back all the commissioners
in riding quadrigae in order to give rest to
the commanderies and counties, and entrust to your
servant K'uang the thieves and robbers of [these]
two provinces, for I will certainly tranquillize them."

[Wang] Mang feared and dreaded [T'ien] K'uang,
so secretly sent a substitute for him, and [also] sent a

commissioner to grant [T'ien] K'uang a message with
the imperial seal. When the commissioner arrived
and had audience with [T'ien] K'uang, he thereupon
ordered the substitute to superintend [T'ien
K'uang's] troops. [T'ien] K'uang followed the commissioner
westwards. When he reached [the court],
he was installed as the Metropolis Commandant
Grandee. When [T'ien] K'uang had left, the region
of [the former feudal state of] Ch'i was thereupon
lost [to the bandits].

In the third year, the first month, the roofing of
the Nine [Ancestral] Temples was completed and the
spirit tablets were installed. [When Wang] Mang
[went] to be presented [to the divinities there, he
rode] in the grand carriage of state,[2386] to which were
yoked six horses, [on which] were robes with dragon
stripes made of vari-colored feathers, to which were
affixed three-foot long horns. The carriage with a
flowery baldachin and "ten large war chariots"[2387]
went before him. Thereupon he granted to the
Minister Over the Masses, [Wang Hsün3], and the
Grand Minister of Works, [Wang Yi5], who had
built the temples, to each ten million [cash]. The
Palace Attendants, Regular Palace Attendants, and
those of lower [rank] were all enfeoffed. He enfeoffed
the Chief Workman, Ch'iu Yen, as the Sub-Vassal
of Han-tan Hamlet.

In the third month,[2391] there was a visitation [of
fire] at the Pa [River] Bridge. Several thousand
people sprinkled water to save it, [but the fire was]
not [thereby] extinguished. [Wang] Mang hated it,
so issued a message which said, "Verily, the three
August Ones typify spring, the Five Lords typify
summer, the three [dynasties of] Kings typify
autumn, and the five Lords Protector typify winter.
The virtues of the August Ones and the Kings followed
[one another] in a cycle. The Lords Protector
[including the Ch'in dynasty] succeeded [to
the rule of the world in] the vacancy and continued
in the gap [between the periods ruled by the elements
wood and fire][2395] in order to complete the
[full] number in a cycle; hence their ways were
disorderly.

"Verily, in Ch'ang2-an most of the imperial highways
have taken their names from recent [events].[2396]
Recently in the third month,[2397] in the night of [the
day] kuei-szu and on the morning of [the day]

chia-wu, fire burnt the Pa [River] Bridge from the
eastern side going westwards. By the evening of
[the day] chia-wu, the Bridge was completely destroyed
by the fire. When the Grand Minister of
Works, [Wang Yi5], went to inspect it, he examined
and questioned [persons], and someone said that
shivering people dwelt below the bridge, and he suspected
that they warmed themselves by a fire, which
became this visitation [of fire].

"The next day was [the day] yi-wei, which was the

day of the vernal equinox.[2402] [From the time that]
I received the mandate [of Heaven] through the line
of succession transmitted from the gods my sage
ancestors, the Yellow [Lord] and Yü [Shun], down
to the fourth year of [the period] Ti-huang, it will be
the fifteenth year. Exactly at the end of winter in
the third year [of the period Ti-huang], the bridge
which is [named] Pa (`tyrannical' or `Lords Protector')
and [therefore] disorderly has been broken
and destroyed. [Heaven] thereby intends to prosper
and perfect the way the House of Hsin is to be unified
in control [of the country] and preserved for a
long [time].

"This is also a warning [from Heaven in that the
breaking of] this bridge has placed a gap in the highway
to the eastern quarter [of the empire]. Now in
the eastern quarter the harvest has been lacking, the
common people are starving, and the highways and
roads are impassible [because of bandits. The Chief
of] the Eastern Sacred Peak and Grand Master,
[Wang K'uang1a], shall promptly [make] regulations

for opening the various granaries in the eastern
quarter and giving or lending to the distressed
[people, in order] to apply the principle of benevolence.[2408]
Let the name of the Pa Lodge be changed
to be the Ch'ang-ts'un (Long-preserved) Lodge, and
let the Pa [River] Bridge become the Ch'ang-ts'un
Bridge."

In this month, the Red Eyebrows killed Ching
Shang, the Second Brother Hsi to the Grand Master.
East of the [Han-ku] Pass, people ate each other.

In the fourth month, [Wang Mang] sent the Grand
Master, Wang K'uang1a, and the General of a New
Beginning, Lien Tan, eastwards. When, outside the
Capital Gate, they were sacrificing to the gods of the
roads, Heaven [sent] a great rain which dampened
their clothes,[2413] and the elders sighed and said, "This
is because [Heaven] weeps for the army."[2414]

[Wang] Mang said, "Verily, the distresses of the
nine dry years conjoined with disastrous emanations
have come to a climax in the past years, when
withering droughts, frosts, locusts, and famines came
as previously, so that the people are miserably poor,
and wander scattered along the roads. In this spring,
[the calamity] is especially pitiable. I have been
very much saddened by it.

"Now I am sending [the Chief of] the Eastern
[Sacred] Peak and Grand Master, [Wang K'uang1a],
who is a Specially Advanced and the Marquis as
Recompense to [the House of] Hsin, to open the
various granaries in the eastern quarter and give or

lend to those in distress. On those highways along
which the Grand Master and Highest Minister does
not pass, he shall separately send a Grandee or
Internuncio to open the granaries simultaneously, in
other to preserve the great multitude.

"The Grand Master and Highest Minister, [Wang
K'uang1a], shall thereupon, with the Chief Envoy and
Director of Mandates from the Five Majestic [Principles],

ranking as Commander-in-chief of the Right,
the General of a New Beginning and Marquis of
Equalization and Standards, Lien Tan,[2418] go to Yen
Province, to pacify [the region] of which he, [the
Grand Master], is in charge. Moreover those who
formerly have been lawless and the bandits in Ch'ing
and Hsü [Provinces] who have not yet completely
dispersed or have later again assembled shall all be
purified. I hope that thereby the myriad people may
be pacified."

The Grand Master, [Wang K'uang1a, and the
General] of a New Beginning, [Lien Tan], together
led more than a hundred thousand ardent soldiers,
and wherever they went they did as they liked, so
that the eastern quarter said about them,

[Thus] it was eventually as T'ien K'uang had said.

[Wang] Mang also sent out many Grandees and
Internuncios by divisions to teach the common
people to boil grasses and [parts of] trees to make a
vegetable juice,[2422] [but] the vegetable juice could
not be eaten, and [the sending merely] made much
trouble and expense.

[Wang] Mang issued a message which said, "Verily,
the common people are miserably poor, so that although
the granaries have been universally opened to
give relief to them, I fear that nevertheless it will
not be sufficient. Let the interdiction on the mountains
and marshes of the empire be temporarily lifted,
and let those who are able to take things from the
mountains or marshes and [who do so] in accordance
with the ordinances for [the various] months [of the
year] be freely allowed to do so, and let them not be
ordered to pay any taxes [for doing so]. In the
thirtieth year [of the period] Ti-huang, [the restrictions
shall be reapplied] as formerly. This [year] will
be the sixth year of [the period] Wang-kuang-shang-mou.[2432]

"If powerful and unruly officials or common people
have committed crime and monopolized the [mountains
and marshes, so that] the uninfluential common
people have not received [any advantages], this has
not been my intention. Does not the Book of
Changes say,

The Book of History says that when speech is not
practical, this means that there will not be order [in
the state].[2437] Alas, that you, various highest ministers,
should fail to be solicitous [concerning these
matters]!"

At that time the Troops From the Lower Yangtze
[Region] were powerful, and Chu Wei, [a man from]
Hsin-shih, Ch'en Mu, [a man from] P'ing-lin, and
others had all again collected bands and were attacking
villages,[2439] so [Wang] Mang sent the Director of
Mandates [from the Five Majestic Principles] and
Generalissimo, K'ung Jen, [to be in charge of] the
division, Yü Province, and the Communicator and
Generalissimo, Chuang Yu, and the Arranger of the
Ancestral Temples and Generalissimo, Ch'en Mou,
to attack [the rebels] in Ching Province. Each one
was followed by more than a hundred officers and
soldiers. They rode in boats down the Wei [River]
into the [Yellow] River to Hua-yin, then left [the
boats and took] riding quadrigae.

When they reached their divisions, they solicited
soldiers. [Chuang] Yu said to [Ch'en] Mou, "To
send a general and not to give him the credentials
[for levying] troops, so that he must first beg [the
emperor] and then only can he make a move, is like
tying up a Hanh black hunting-dog[2442] and yet demanding
it to catch [game]."

In the summer, there was [a plague of] locusts
which came from the eastern quarter. In flying they
covered the sky. They came to Ch'ang-an, entered
the Wei-yang Palace, and crawled in its Halls and
Pavilions. [Wang] Mang sent out officials and common
people and established bounties for those who
seized and killed them.

Because the empire's grain was expensive, [Wang]

Mang wanted to depress [its price].[2448] For the
Great Granary he established a guard with joined
lances and named them Supporters of the Smaller
Gates to the Beginning of Public Authority.[2449] The
vagrant people who had entered the passes [of Kuan-chung
numbered] several hundred thousand persons,
so [Wang Mang] established an Office for Maintenance
and Relief, to feed them. [But] the commissioners
who supervised and had charge of [the matter],
together with the minor officials, together stole
their grain allowances, so that seven- or eighth-tenths
of them died of hunger.

Previous to this [time, Wang] Mang had sent a

Palace Attendant Within the Yellow Gate, Wang
Yeh5b, to have charge of buying at the Ch'ang-an
markets, and he took things at a low price from the
common people, so that the common people suffered
severely from it. [Because Wang] Yeh5b had
achieved the merit of having economized expenses,
he had been granted the noble rank of Sub-Vassal.
[When Wang] Mang heard that in the city there was
a famine, he asked [Wang] Yeh5b about it, and [Wang]
Yeh5b replied, "These all are vagrants." Then he
brought some millet mush with meat and thick meat
and vegetable soup which were being sold at the
market, and showed them to [Wang] Mang, saying,
"The food of all the resident commoners is like this,"
[and Wang] Mang believed him.

In the winter, So-lu Hui of Wu-yen and others
raised troops and siezed their city.[2456] Lien Tan and
Wang K'uang1a attacked and took it by storm, cutting
off more than ten thousand heads, [so Wang] Mang
sent a General of the Gentlemen-at-the-Household,
bearing a message with an imperial seal, to congratulate
[Lien] Tan and [Wang] K'uang1a. Their noble
ranks were advanced and they became Dukes. More
than ten of their officers and soldiers who had distinguished
themselves were enfeoffed.

A detached Colonel of the Red Eyebrows, Tung
Hsien4a, and others, with a band of several ten-thousand
men, were in Liang Commandery. Wang
K'uang1a wanted to advance and attack them, [but]
Lien Tan considered that [their own troops] had but
newly taken a city by storm, so were utterly weary,
and their men ought temporarily to be rested, in
order to increase their prestige. [Wang] K'uang1a
would not listen, so alone led his troops to advance,
and [Lien] Tan followed after him. Battle was
joined at Ch'eng-ch'ang. [The imperial] troops were
defeated and [Wang] K'uang1a fled. [Lien] Tan sent
an official bearing his seals, apron, and tally credentials,
to give them to [Wang] K'uang1a and say, "You,
boy, may flee, but I cannot." Thereupon he stayed
and died fighting.[2461] When his Colonels, Ju Yün,
Wang Lung, and others, more than twenty persons
[in all], who were fighting separately, heard of it,
they all said, "Duke Lien is already dead. For
whom should we live?" So they galloped rapidly at
the bandits and all died fighting.

[Wang] Mang was afflicted by it, so issued a written

message which said, "Verily, you, Duke, [Lien
Tan], controlled many select gentlemen and picked
troops. From all the fine horses, the grain in the
storehouses, and the stores in the treasuries of the
many commanderies, you might have made your
own selection, but you cared not for documentary
imperial edicts and separated yourself from the majestic
credentials [of power]. Mounting a horse you
shouted and [your followers] yelled and were killed
by wild swords. Alas! How sad! I grant him the posthumous name of Duke Kuo (Intrepid)."

The State General, Ai Chang, spoke to [Wang]
Mang, saying, "In the time of your August Deceased
Original Ancestor, the Yellow Lord, when Chung-huang
Chih was his General, he routed and killed
Ch'ih-yu. Now your servant is occupying the post
of Chung-huang Chih, and wishes to tranquillize
[the region] east of the mountains." [Wang] Mang
[accordingly] sent [Ai] Chang to gallop eastwards
and join his forces with the Grand Master, [Wang]
K'uang1a. He also sent Generalissimo Yang Chün to

guard the Ao Granary. The Minister Over the
Masses, Wang Hsün3, leading more than a hundred
thousand [men], encamped at Lo-yang, where he
garrisoned the Southern Palace. The Commander-in-chief,
Tung Chung1b, instructed soldiers and practiced
archery in the Northern Encampment of the
Capital Army.[2467] The Grand Minister of Works,
Wang Yi5, [was given] concurrently the duties of
[all] the three highest ministers.

When the [Grand] Minister Over the Masses,
[Wang] Hsün3, first started out from Ch'ang-an and
spent the night at the Pa-ch'ang Stables, he lost his
yellow battle-axe. [Wang] Hsün3's Officer, Fang
Yang, was ordinarily impetuously outspoken, but he
wept and said, "This is what the Classic means [when
it says], `He has lost his sharp axe.' "[2472] He accused
himself [of the loss] and left [the army. Wang]
Mang had [Fang] Yang killed with a battle-axe.

The thieves and robbers in the four quarters,
[whose bands] frequently [numbered] several ten-thousands
of men, attacked cities and towns, killing
[officials ranking at] two thousand piculs and under.
The Grand Master, Wang K'uang1a, and others
fought several battles, but unsuccessfully.

[Wang] Mang knew that the empire had got out

of his control and rebelled, that matters were at a
last extremity and some expedient was urgent, so he
discussed sending the Grandee In Charge of Customs
and Morals, Szu-kuo Hsien, and others, by divisions,
to inspect the empire and to do away with the prohibitions
against the ching [system of] cultivated
fields, [private] slaves and slave-women, [free use of]
mountains and marshes, and the [other] six monopolies,
and that all the imperial edicts and ordinances
since [Wang Mang] had ascended the throne, which
were inconvenient to the common people, should be
recalled.

[While the messengers] awaited an audience, and
had not yet been sent out, it happened that the
[future] Epochal Founder, [Emperor Kuang-wu, Liu
Hsiu4α]; with his elder brother, [Liu Yin4α] Po-sheng,
[later] King Wu of Ch'i; Li T'ung, a man from Yüan;
and others led several thousand followers from
Ch'ung-ling and induced Chu Wei and Ch'en Mu
from Hsin-shih and P'ing-lin, and others to come.
Together they attacked and took Chi5-yang by
storm. At this time Chuang Yu and Ch'en Mou
routed the Troops from the Lower Yangtze [Region,
under] Ch'eng Tan, Wang Ch'ang2, and others, [to
the number of] several thousand men, and they
separately fled into the borders of Nan-yang [Commandery].

In the eleventh month, a comet appeared in [the

constellation] Chang. It traveled southeastwards
for five days and disappeared.[2480] [Wang] Mang
several times summoned and questioned his Chief
Grand Astrologer, Tsung Hsüan, and various diviners.
They all answered falsely, saying, "The astrological
phenomena are peaceful and good, so that the
many bandits will soon be destroyed." Thereupon
[Wang] Mang [felt] a little more tranquil.

In the fourth year, the first month, the Han troops

secured [the Troops from] the Lower Yangtze [under]
Wang Ch'ang and others, and made them auxiliary
troops. They [together] attacked the Southern
Neighboring Commandery Grandee, Chen Fou, and
his Director of an Association, Liang-ch'iu Tz'u, and
beheaded them both, killing several ten-thousands
of their forces.[2491]

Previously, the imperial capital had heard that the
bands of bandits from Ch'ing and Hsü [Provinces]
numbered several hundred-thousands of men, and
yet that they had absolutely no written orders, banners,
or marks of identification. [The people of the
capital] all considered it a portentious prodigy and
those who loved [strange] things[2493] said furtively,
"Are not they like the three ancient August Ones,
who had no written messages or titles?"

[Wang] Mang also [considered] in his heart that it
was wonderful and asked his various courtiers about
it. None of the various courtiers answered, only
Chuang Yu said, "This [circumstance] is not sufficient
[to be considered] wonderful. From the time
that the Yellow Lord, T'ang [the Successful] and
[King] Wu led their armies, [armies] have always
been provided with regiments, companies,[2495] banners,
and orders. These [people] who now do not
have them are merely a crowd of thieves [produced
by] hunger and cold, [like] dogs or sheep that have
gathered together, who merely do not know how to
formulate [such institutions." Wang] Mang was
greatly pleased and the various courtiers acquiesced
completely.

However later, when the Han troops [under] Liu
[Yin4α] Po-sheng arose, [their leaders] all called
[themselves] Generals. They attacked cities and

overran territory. When they had killed Chen Fou,
they sent letters about, giving an account of [Wang
Mang's crimes.[2499] When Wang] Mang heard of it,
he was worried and fearful.

The Han troops took advantage of their victories
and thereupon besieged the city of Yüan.

Formerly, [Liu Hsüan2α] Sheng-kung, a second
cousin of the Epochal Founder, [Emperor Kuang-wu],
had previously been among the P'ing-lin Troops,

and, in the third month, on [the day] hsin-szu, the
first day of the month,[2502] the P'ing-lin and Hsin-shih
[Troops] and the Troops from the Lower Yangtze
[Region], led by Wang Ch'ang2, Chu Wei, and
others, together set up [Liu Hsüan2α] Sheng-kung as
the Emperor. He changed the year-[period] to be
the first year of [the period] Keng-shih and installed
and established a bureaucracy.

When [Wang] Mang heard of it, he was all the

more afraid. He wanted to show to the world that
he himself was calm, so he dyed his beard and hair[2505]
and promoted the "virtuous young ladies"[2506] whom
he had summoned from the empire, setting up[2507] a
daughter of the Shih clan at Tu-ling as his Empress.
He sent her [family] as betrothal presents 30,000
catties of actual gold, [together with] chariots and
horses, slaves and slave-women, variegated silks, and
precious things, which were valued by the hundred
millions [of cash.[2509] Wang] Mang in person wel-
comed her between the two stairs to the Front Hall
and completed the ceremonies of the common [marriage]
meal above in the Western Hall.[2511]

[The prescribed number of] Harmonious Ladies,
Spouses, Beauties, and Attendants were all complete.
The Harmonious Ladies were three [in number]; their

rank was equal to that of the highest ministers. The
Spouses were nine [in number; their rank] was equal
to that of the high ministers. The Beauties were
twenty-seven [in number; their rank] was equal to
that of Grandees. The Attendants were eighty-one
[in number; their rank] was equal to that of First
Officers. Altogether there were a hundred twenty
women. All wore seals with aprons at their girdles,
and held bowcases.[2514]

[Wang Mang] enfeoffed [Shih] Shen, the father of
the Empress, as Marquis of Harmony and Peace,
and installed him as General of a Peaceful Beginning.
[Shih] Shen's two sons were both [made] Palace
Attendants.

On that day, a great wind blew [off] roofs and
broke trees. When the many courtiers offered congratulations,
they said, "Verily, on [the day] keng-tzu,

rainwater sprinkled the highways, and on [the
day] hsin-ch'ou, they were clean and pure, without
any dust. That evening, the life-giving valley
wind[2518] blew swiftly and promptly from the north-
east. Hsin-ch'ou is the day of [the musical note]
kung belonging to [the hexagram] sun.[2521] Sun [indicates]
wind and [indicates] obedience. [Thus] the
principles of an Empress are made plain and the way
of motherhood is secured. [The whole is due to] the
influence of your geniality and kindness. The Book
of Changes says, `He will receive this great blessing
from his [Queen], the Royal Mother [of the
country].'[2522] The [Yi-li] says, `May you receive
Heaven's blessing and myriad happinesses without
bounds.'[2523] Those who intend to attach themselves
to the abolished Han [dynasty], the Liu [clan, which
depends upon the virtue of] fire, shall all be flooded,
disappear like melting snow, and extirpated, without
any remaining fragments. All the grains shall be
bountiful and plants shall grow abundantly. The
great multitude will be glad and rejoice and the
myriad common people will have the blessings that
come from being good,[2525] so that the world will be
greatly favored [because of you]."

[Wang] Mang was daily in the harem with persons
versed in the magical arts, Chao-chün, from Cho
Commandery, and others, testing magical and technical

arts and giving himself up to lustful pleasures.

A general amnesty [was granted] to the empire.
[Wang Mang] however said [in a message], "The
descendants of the Marquises of Ch'ung-ling [under]
the former Han dynasty, Liu [Yin4α] Po-sheng, with
the members of his clan, his relatives by marriage,
and his cabal, have falsely spread groundless rumors
to delude the crowd into a treasonable rebellion
against Heaven's mandate. They have by their own
hands killed the General of a New Beginning, Lien
Tan, the Southern Neighboring Commandery Grandee,
Chen Fou, and his Director of an Association,
Liang-ch'iu Tz'u. [To them], together with the
northern barbarian caitiff,[2530] the rebel [Lüan-ti] Yü,
and the southwestern barbarian caitiffs Jo Tou and
Meng Ch'ien, this message [of amnesty] shall not
apply. Whoever are able to sieze these persons [Liu
Yin4α Po-sheng, etc.], will all be enfeoffed among the
highest ranking of the dukes, will be given the income
of an estate of ten thousand households, and will be
granted fifty million [cash] of the valuable currency."

There was also an imperial edict [saying], "The
Grand Master, Wang K'uang1a, the State General, Ai
Chang, the Director of Mandates [from the Five
Majestic Principles], K'ung Jen, the Shepherd of
Yen Province and Director of the Confederation at
Shou-liang, Wang Hung, and the Shepherd of Yang
Province, Li Sheng, shall quickly send forward the
troops of the provinces and commanderies in the
regional divisions which are their charge; altogether
a force of three hundred thousand [men], in order to
pursue and arrest the thieves and robbers in Ch'ing
and Hsü [Provinces]. The Communicator and General,
Chuang Yu, the Arranger of the Ancestral
Temples and General, Ch'en Mou, the General of
Chariots and Cavalry, Wang Hsün2, and the Eastern
Neighboring Commandery Grandee, Wang Wu2, shall
quickly send forward the troops of the provinces and
commanderies in the divisions which are in their
charge, a force of altogether a hundred thousand men,
to pursue and arrest the band of caitiffs in the
Southern Neighboring Commandery, [Liu Yin4α, Liu
Hsiu4α, etc.]. Inform them clearly with trustworthiness
[like that of a painting done in] cinnabar
and azurite,[2536] that [if they surrender, they shall]
live, [but] if they are again deluded and do not disperse,
[these leaders] will all join forces, attack
unitedly, and extirpate them.

"Previously, when the Grand Minister of Works,
the Duke Prospering the Hsin [Dynasty, Wang Yi5],
a relative and member of the imperial clan, as the
Tiger Teeth General, went east and pointed [at
them], rebellious caitiffs were routed and ruined;
when he went west and attacked, seditious bandits

were ground to powder. He is thus a majestic and
precious minister of the Hsin House. If the crafty
bandits do not disperse, I will send the Grand Minister
of Works, leading an army of a million [men],
to make a punitive military expedition [against them
and] exterminate them."

[Wang Mang] sent Wei Ao, an Executive Officer
of one of the Seven Highest Ministers, [Liu Hsin1a],
and others, seventy-two persons [in all], by divisions,
to issue the ordinance of amnesty and plainly instruct
[the people. When Wei] Ao and the others had left
[the court], availing [themselves of this opportunity],
they escaped.

In the fourth month, the Epochal Founder, [Liu
Hsiu4α], with Wang Ch'ang2 and others, separately
attacked Ying-ch'uan [Commandery] and caused
K'un-yang, Yen, and Ting-ling to surrender. When
[Wang] Mang head of it, he was all the more fearful,
and sent the Grand Minister of Works, Wang Yi5,
riding a galloping quadriga, to go to Lo-yang, with
the [Grand] Minister Over the Masses, Wang Hsün3,
to mobilize the troops of numerous commanderies,
[to the number of] a million [men], calling them the
Tiger Teeth [Troops and] the Troops of the Five
Majestic [Principles], in order to tranquillize [the
region] east of the [Kuan-chung] mountains. [Wang
Yi5] was permitted on his own authority to raise
[persons] to the nobility. [The power of] making final
decisions concerning government [business was also
given] to [Wang] Yi5. [Wang Mang] appointed to
office the [various] persons skilled in methods of the
sixty-three schools of military arts whom he had
summoned.[2545] Each one bore his charts and writings,
received military implements and armor, and
acted as a military officer. [Wang Mang] emptied
the government storehouses in order to send out
[Wang] Yi5 provided abundantly with precious things
and wild beasts, with the purpose of showing the
exceeding wealth [of the imperial forces,] in order to
frighten [the region] east of the [Kuan-chung]
mountains.

When [Wang] Yi5 reached Lo-yang, the provinces
and commanderies each selected their picked troops,
led by their Shepherds and Administrators in person.
Those for whom a rendezvous had been appointed
[numbered] more than four hundred twenty thousand
men and [marched] on the highways in a continuous
[stream]. From the [most] ancient [times] that
armies had set forth, [such] magnificence in chariots,
armor, men, and horses had never before been [seen].

In the sixth month, [Wang] Yi5 and the [Grand]

Minister Over the Masses, [Wang] Hsün3, started
from Lo-yang, intending to go to Yüan. Their road
went out of Ying-ch'uan [Commandery] past K'un-yang.
At that time, K'un-yang had already surrendered
to the Han [troops], and the Han troops
were defending it. Chuang Yu and Ch'en Mou had
joined [their troops] with [those of] the two highest
ministers. When the two highest ministers [were
about to] launch their troops to besiege K'un-yang,
Chuang Yu said, "[The rebel] who has been called
by the imperial title, [Liu Hsüan2α Sheng-kung], is
below [the walls of] Yüan, [besieging it]. It would
be proper to hasten and advance [to that place]. If
he is routed, the various [other] cities will of their
own accord be tranquillized." [Wang] Yi5 replied,
"Wherever an army of a million passes, it is due to
annihilate [the enemy]. We will now massacre [the
defenders of] this city, trample in blood,[2552] and then
advance [to Yüan]. The van will sing and the rear
will dance; would not that be enjoyable?"[2555] Thereupon
they surrounded the city several tens [of
men] deep.

[The defenders] in the city begged [for permission]
to surrender [on terms], but [permission] was refused.
Chuang Yu also said, " `When an army
[wishes] to return [home], do not stop it; in besieging

a city, [leave] an opening for them.'[2557] In accordance
with the Military Methods you might cause them
to be permitted to escape and leave [the city], and
thereby frighten [the attackers of] Yüan."[2558] Again
[Wang] Yi5 would not listen.

It happened that when the Epochal Founder, [Liu
Hsiu4α], mobilized all the troops in Yen and Ting-ling,
to the number of several thousand men, and came to
rescue [the defenders of] K'un-yang, [Wang] Hsün3
and [Wang] Yi5 made light of it. They themselves
led more than ten thousand men and reviewed their
battle-array. They ordered that the various encampments
should all to be retained and that the
regiments [therein] should not to be permitted to
move. [Then Wang Hsün3 and Wang Yi5] by themselves
[went to] meet the Han troops. When they
were not successful in battle, their great army did

not presume on its own authority to rescue them.[2560]
The Han troops took advantage of their victory and
killed [Wang] Hsün3. Simultaneously the [Han]
troops inside K'un-yang came out and fought.
[Wang] Yi5 fled and the army was in confusion. A
great[2562] wind blew away tiles, and the rain was as if
water were being poured down, so that the great band
[of soldiers] collapsed in ruin. The shouting [made
even] the tigers and leopards tremble with fear in
their haunches. [Wang Mang's] soldiers fled hastily,
each returning to his own commandery. [Wang] Yi5,
with only the several thousand brave and daring men
from Ch'ang-an whom he commanded, returned to
Lo-yang. When [the people] in Kuan-chung heard
of it, they quaked with fear and thieves and robbers
arose simultaneously.

Since it was moreover reported that the Han troops
said that [Wang] Mang had murdered Emperor

Hsiao-p'ing by poison, [Wang] Mang thereupon assembled,
in the Hall With the Royal Apartments,
the ministers and those [ranking] below and opened
the metal-bound document in which he had begged
[to substitute his own] life for that of Emperor
P'ing.[2566] He wept silently as he showed it to his
various courtiers.

He commanded the Baron of Brilliant Scholarship,
Chang2 Han, to state and explain the virtue [of the

power, earth, which brought] him, [Wang Mang, to
the throne], together with the mandates [given him
through] portents. Thereupon [Chang2 Han] said,
"The Book of Changes says,
Mang is the personal name of the Emperor; sheng
means Liu [Yin4α] Po-sheng; kao-ling means Chai Yi,
the son of the Marquis of Kao-lingb, [Chai Fang-chin].
It means that Liu [Yin4α Po]-sheng and Chai
Yi will have troops with "hidden weapons in" [the
reign of Wang "Mang"],[2572] the Emperor of the Hsin
[House], but yet will be extirpated and "will not
prosper."[2573] The courtiers all called out, "Long
life!"

[Wang Mang] also ordered carriages with cages to
transport several men from the eastern quarter [of
the empire], saying that [these men] were Liu [Yin4α]
Po-sheng and the others. All of them underwent the
grand exposure [of their corpses. But] the common
people[2575] knew that it was false.

Previous to this, the General of the Guard, Wang
Shê, had kept a gentleman versed in the ways of
magic,[2577] Hsi-men Chün-hui. [Hsi-men] Chün-hui
loved astrology and prophetic accounts. He said to
[Wang] Shê, "A comet has swept in the [Heavenly]
Palace,[2578] [hence] the Liu clan is due to be restored.
[The next emperor] will have the surname and given
name of the State Master and Highest Minister."[2582]
[Wang] Shê believed his words, and spoke of them
to the Commander-in-chief, Tung Chung1b, who urged
that they both go to the private apartments of the
State Master, [Liu Hsin1a], in the [Palace] Hall and
talk to him about the zodiacal constellation. [But]
the State Master did not respond.

Later [Wang] Shê went alone to him. He wept
silently before [Liu] Hsin1a and said, "I really wish
with you, Duke, to bring peace to our clans. Alas,

why will you not believe me, [Wang] Shê?" Thereupon
[Liu] Hsin1a said to him that, [according to] the
astrological phenomena and human affairs, [the insurgents]
in the eastern quarter, were bound to
succeed.

[Wang] Shê said, "Marquis Ai of Hsin-tuc, [Wang
Wan, Wang Mang's father], suffered from illness
when he was young, and the Baronetess of Apparent
Merits, [Wang Mang's mother], habitually loved
wine. I suspect that the Emperor was not in his
origin a child of my clan.[2585] His excellency Tung
[Chung1b] has charge of the picked troops in the
Palace Encampments. I, [Wang] Shê, command the
Palace Guard; the Marquis of Yi-and-Hsiu, [Liu
Tieh], is in charge inside the [Palace] Hall. If we
unitedly cooperate in the plot, together sieze the
Emperor by force, and surrender to the Son of

Heaven in Nan-yang [Commandery] to the east,
[Liu Hsüan2α Sheng-kung, we] will be able to preserve
our clans. If not, we will all be executed and
our clans annihilated."

The Marquis of Yi-and-Hsiu, [Liu Tieh], was [Liu]
Hsin1a's eldest son. He was a Palace Attendant and
General of the Fifth Rank Gentlemen-at-the Palace.
[Wang] Mang habitually loved him, [but Liu] Hsin1a
held a grudge [because Wang] Mang had killed three
of his children,[2590] and also feared that the great calamity
[of execution] would come upon him. Consequently
he plotted with [Wang] Shê and [Tung]
Chung.

When they wanted to act, [Liu] Hsin1a said, "We
must wait until [the planet] Venus appears,[2591] and
then only may we [act]." Because the Director of

the Palace and Grand Keeper of the Robes, the
Marquis Raising Military Power, Sun Chi, also controlled
troops, [Tung] Chung1b also plotted with
[Sun] Chi. When [Sun] Chi returned to his home,
the color of his face had changed and he could not eat.
When his wife marvelled and asked him about it, he
told her the circumstances. His wife told it to her
younger brother, Ch'en Han, a man from Yün-yang,
and [Ch'en] Han wanted to give information about
it. In the seventh month, [Sun] Chi and [Ch'en]
Han together gave information [about the plot.
Wang] Mang sent commissioners separately to summon
[Tung] Chung1b and the others.

[Tung] Chung1b was just at that time teaching
military [methods] at a grand review [of his troops].
His Commissioner Over the Army, Wang Hsien2d,
said to [Tung] Chung1b, "Your plot has been made
for some time but no action has been taken, so that
I fear it has been divulged. It would be better immediately
to behead the commissioner, take command
of your troops, and enter [the Palace to carry
out the plot." But Tung] Chung1b did not listen
[to him], and consequently joined [Liu] Hsin1a and
[Wang] Shê outside the gate of the inner [Palace]
apartments.

[Wang] Mang ordered Tai Yün to interrogate
them under torture, and all confessed. Palace Attendants
Within the Yellow Gate, all with swords
drawn, conducted [Tung] Chung1b and the others to
an antechamber. [Tung] Chung1b drew his sword
with the intention of cutting his own throat. A
Palace Attendant, Wang Wang, reported that the
Commander-in-chief, [Tung Chung1b], had rebelled.
[The Palace Attendants Within] the Yellow Gate had
drawn their swords, and jointly fought with and
killed [Tung Chung1b. The people in] the inner [palace]
apartments frightened one another by the report
that troops under a command would arrive. [The Gentlemen] in the Gentlemen's quarters all drew
their swords and cocked their crossbows. The General
of a New Beginning,[2601] Shih Shen, visited the
various quarters and informed the Gentlemen and
officials, saying, "The Commander-in-chief, [Tung
Chung1b], had [a spell] of insanity come upon him;
he has already been executed. All are ordered to
unbend their weapons." [Wang] Mang wanted to
repress any baneful influence, so had the [Gentlemen]
As Rapid As Tigers use a sword for beheading
horses[2603] to cut off [Tung] Chung1b's [head], put it
in a bamboo vessel, and sent it about [the empire,
with a label] saying, "A rebellious caitiff who has
left [his office]."

[Wang Mang] issued a message of amnesty to the
officers and soldiers belonging to the office of the
Commander-in-chief, who had been led into error
by [Tung] Chung1b, had plotted to rebel, and had not
yet been discovered. He had the clan and relatives
of Tung Chung1b arrested, and buried them together
in one pit with strong vinegar, poisonous drugs, foot[long]
naked two-edged blades,[2606] and a thicket of
thorns.[2607]

Liu Hsin1a and Wang Shê both committed suicide.

[Wang] Mang considered that [one] of these two
persons was [of the same] flesh and blood [as himself
and the other was] a minister [who had been in
office] for a long [time, so,] because [Wang Mang]
disliked [it to be known] that these [persons] within
[the court] had been infected [with evil], he kept
their execution secret. Because moreover the Marquis
of Yi-and-Hsiu, [Liu] Tieh, had constantly been
circumspect and [Liu] Hsin1a had finally not informed
[Liu Tieh of the plot], he was merely dismissed [from
his posts as] Palace Attendant and General of the
Gentlemen-at-the-Palace, and was changed to be a
Palace Grandee Without Specified Appointment.

A day later, in the [Palace] Hall, beside the palm
[of the hand] of the immortal on the hill of earth
[in the park under the charge of] the Intendant of
the Imperial Palace Parks,[2613] there was a white-headed
old man in cerulean clothes. The Gentlemen
and officials who saw it said privately that it was the
State Master and Highest Minister, [Liu Hsin1a].

The Marquis of Vast Merit, [Wang] Hsi3a, was
usually good with the hexagrams, [so Wang] Mang
had him to interpret its divination. He said, "One
should be careful about weapons and fire."[2615]

[Wang] Mang replied, "How did you, boy, get this
erroneous explanation? This is indeed my august
ancestor's younger uncle, [Wang] Tzu-ch'iao, who
has wanted to come and invite me [to become an
immortal]."

When, outside [the court, Wang] Mang's armies

had been routed and, inside [the court], his greatest
ministers had rebelled, so that none of those about
him could be trusted, he could no longer deliberate
[with them] about matters at a distance in the commanderies
and kingdoms. When he wanted to summon
[Wang] Yi5 and make plans with him, Ts'ui Fa
said, "[Wang] Yi5 is habitually cautious. Now that
he has lost a large force, if he is summoned, I fear
that he will grasp his credentials and commit suicide.
It would be proper that you should in some great
manner console his feelings." Thereupon [Wang]
Mang sent [Ts'ui] Fa in a galloping quadriga with
verbal instructions for [Wang] Yi5, [saying], "I am
aged and have no[2622] son by my legitimate wives. I
wish to transmit the empire to you, Yi. It is ordered
that you shall not need to beg pardon [for your
defeat] and when I receive you in audience you shall
not again speak [of the past]."

[When Wang] Yi5 arrived, he was made the Commander-in-chief.
The Grand Prolonger of Autumn,
Chang2 Han, became the Grand Minister Over the
Masses. Ts'ui Fa became the Grand Minister of
Works. The Director of the Palaces and Shelterer

of Long Life, Miao Hsin, became the State Master.
The Marquis of Like Delight, [Wang] Lin2, became
the General of the Guard.

[Wang] Mang was so distressed and worried that
he could not eat. He only drank wine, ate shellfish,[2624]
and read books on military matters. When
he was tired, he would rest [his head] upon his stool
and sleep without again seeking his pillow.

By nature, [Wang Mang] loved the numerology
of lucky times and days.[2626] When moreover matters
became urgent, he merely repressed them by incanta-
tions. He sent a commissioner to destroy the screening
walls at the gates to the parks of the Wei Tomb
and the Yen Tomb, saying, "Do not cause the common
people to think of the Han [Dynasty] again."[2630]
He also used black to defile the color of their surrounding
walls.[2631] He entitled his generals,[2632] "The
general for whom [the planet] Jupiter rests in [the
cyclical sign] shen and [the element] water is an
assistant,"[2633] "the Colonel who honors [the cyclical
sign] keng and injures [the element] wood,"[2634] and
"the Chief Commandant who sets [the cyclical sign]
ping in front and glorifies [the element] metal."[2635]
He also [gave titles] reading, "[The military leader]
holding a great axe to chop down withered wood,"
[and, "The military leader] causing great waters to
run, extinguishing any fire that has arisen."[2636] The
things of this sort [that he did and said are too many]
to be recorded completely.

In the autumn, Venus moved into [the constel-
lation] T'ai-wei, and lighted the earth like the light
of the moon.[2640]

Wei Ts'ui and his elder brother, [Wei Yi, men
from] Ch'eng-chi, together kidnapped the Grand
Governor [of T'ien-shui Commandery], Li Yü5α.
They made their elder brother's son, Wei Ao, their
General-in-chief, and attacked and killed the Shepherd
of Yung Province, Ch'en Ch'ing, and the Director
of a Confederation at An-ting [Commandery],
Wang Hsün1,[2644] and joined his force [with their own].
They sent a letter to the commanderies and counties
enumerating [Wang] Mang's crimes and wickednesses,
[saying that they were] ten thousand [times
the number of those committed by] Chieh and
Chou.[2645]

In this month, Teng Yeh and Yü K'uang, men
from [the prefecture of] Hsi5, raised troops at Nan-hsiang
[to the number of] more than a hundred men.
At that time, the Ruler of Hsi5 led several thousand
troops and garrisoned the Ch'iao Commune to defend
the Wu Pass. [Teng] Yeh and [Yü] K'uang said to
the Ruler, "An Emperor of the Liu [clan] has already
been set up. Why do you, sir, not recognize the
mandate [of Heaven]?" The Ruler [thereupon]
begged [permission] to surrender, [and so Teng Yen
and Yü K'uang] secured all of his band.

[Teng] Yeh called himself the General of the Left
Supporting the Han [Dynasty] and [Yü] K'uang
[called himself] the General of the Right [Supporting
the Han Dynasty]. They took Hsi5 and Tan-shui
by storm. When they attacked the Wu Pass, the
Chief Commandant [of the Pass], Chu Meng, surrendered.

They advanced and attacked the Western
Neighboring Commandery Grandee, Sung Kang,
and killed him. Then they went west and took Hu2
by storm.

[When Wang] Mang was all the more worried and
did not know what to do, Ts'ui Fa said, "[According
to] the Chou Offices and Mr. Tso's [Commentary on]
the Spring and Autumn, whenever a state has a great
visitation, [the ruler] should weep, in order to repress
[the evil].[2650] Hence the Book of Changes says, `He
at first wails and cries out, but later laughs.'[2651] It

would be proper to cry out and sigh, in giving information
to Heaven, in order to seek for rescue."

[Wang] Mang himself knew that he would be defeated,
but he led his courtiers to the Southern Place

for the Suburban Sacrifice [to Heaven], set out his
mandates [by means of] portents from first to last,
looked up to Heaven, and said, "Since thou, August
Heaven, hast given thy mandate to thy subject,
Mang, why doest thou not immediately order extirpated
the bands [of troops] and the robbers? But
if thy servant Mang has done wrong, I wish that
thou wouldst send down thy thunderbolt to execute
thy servant Mang." Thereupon he struck his heart
with his palm and wept loudly. When his breath
was exhausted, he prostrated himself and knocked
his head [upon the ground].

He also composed a document giving information
to Heaven, setting out his own important achievements,
in more than a thousand words. The various
Masters and uninfluential common people met in the
mornings and evenings to weep, and for them he
established repasts of congee. Those who were
[really] melancholy, together with those who were
able to recite the words of his document, were made
Gentlemen.[2657] [They numbered] more than five
thousand persons. Tai Yün led them.

[Wang] Mang installed nine persons as Generals,
all of whom had "tiger" as their title. They were
called the Nine Tiger [Generals]. They led several
ten-thousand picked soldiers from the Northern Army
and went eastwards. Their wives and children were
taken into the palaces, to serve as hostages.

At this time, in the inner apartments [of the Wei-yang
Palace], ten thousand catties of actual gold
were put into one chest and there still remained sixty
chests.[2659] In each of [the offices] of the Yellow
Gate and of the Intendant of Palace Parks in the
storehouses, and [in the workshop of] the Empress's
Master of Recipes, there were [also] several chests.
In the Imperial Wardrobe at the Ch'ang-lo [Palace],
the Empress's Wardrobe and the storehouses of the
[Bureau of] Equalization and Standards in the capital[2663]
there was [in addition] very much cash, silk,
pearls, jade, and valuables. [Wang] Mang became
[even] more parsimonious with them, and granted
[only] four thousand cash to each of the soldiers of
the Nine Tiger [Generals].[2664] Their troops were
greatly discontented, so that they had no intention
of fighting.

The Nine Tiger [Generals] reached the Hui Gorge

at Hua-yin and blocked the defiles to the north along
the [Yellow] River and south to the mountains.
Yü K'uang, with several thousand crossbow [men],
mounted the [Feng-ling] mound to provoke a battle.
Teng Yeh, leading more than twenty thousand men,
went south from Wen-hsiang Highroad and came out
of the Tsao-[hsiang] Highroad and the Tso-ku [River
valley], routed one division [of soldiers], went north,
came out behind the Nine Tiger [Generals], and
attacked them. Six Tiger [Generals] were defeated
and fled. [Of these six], Shih Hsiung and Wang
K'uang4a came to the [Palace] portal [and asked for
pardon and permission] to return home to die.[2667]
[Wang] Mang sent a messenger to reproach [them,
saying], "How is it that those who should be dead
are [still] alive?" so they both committed suicide.
Four [defeated] Tiger [Generals] fled. Three Tiger
[Generals], Kuo Ch'inb, Ch'en Hui, and Ch'eng
Chung, collected the scattered troops and took refuge
in the Capital Granary.

Teng Yeh opened the Wu Pass and invited in Li
Sung, the Han [dynasty's] Director of Service to the
Lieutenant Chancellor. He led more than two thousand
men and came to Hu2. With [Teng] Yeh and
the others, they together attacked the Capital
Granary.

When it did not surrender, [Teng] Yeh made a
Division Head of Hung-nung [Commandery], Wang
Hsien4, his Colonel. [The latter] led several hundred
men north, crossed the Wei [River], and entered the
territory of Tso-p'ing-yi [Commandery], making
cities surrender and overrunning territory. Li Sung
sent a Lieutenant General, Han Ch'en, and others,
to go across westwards to Hsin-feng, where [Han

Ch'en] fought a battle with [Wang] Mang's General
of the Po River, [Tou Jung. The General of] the
Po River fled.[2673]

Han Ch'en and the others pursued the fleeing
[troops], and so they came to Ch'ang-men.[2674] Wang
Hsien4 went north to P'in-yang, and wherever he
passed, [the people came out] to welcome him and

surrender. [People] of the powerful clans, Shen
Tang of Yüeh-yang and Wang Ta of Hsia-kuei, both
led their bands to follow [Wang] Hsien4. From
counties in [the capital commanderies], Chuang
Ch'un from T'ai, Tung Hsi from Mou-ling, Wang
Meng4b from Lan-t'ien, Ju Ch'en from Huai-li, Wang
Fu2b from Chou-chih, Chuang Pen from Yang-ling,
T'u-men Shao from Tu-ling, and the like, whose
bands all [numbered] several thousand men, took
titles and called themselves Generals of the Han
[dynasty].

At this time, Li Sung and Teng Yeh considered
that although the Capital Granary was a very small
[place], if they had not yet been able to make it
surrender, how much more [this would be the case
with] the city of Ch'ang-an, so that it would be necessary
for them to wait until the great army of the
Keng-shih Emperor arrived [before attacking Ch'ang-an].
When they thereupon led their armies to Hua-yin

to prepare implements for attacking [Ch'ang-an],
troops from [places] neighboring Ch'ang-an however
assembled from all quarters below the [Ch'ang-an]
city walls. It was reported that the troops of the
Wei clan from T'ien-shui [Commandery][2681] would
presently arrive, so they all rivaled [one another],
wanting to be the first to enter the city, for they were
covetous of the profit [they would gain by] achieving
the great glory [of executing Wang Mang] and from
kidnapping and plundering [in the palaces].

[Wang] Mang sent commissioners separately to
amnesty the convicts in the various prisons within
the city and gave them all arms. [The commissioners

had] some swine killed, and had [the former
convicts] drink the blood [of the swine, thereby]
making an oath with them, saying, "If there is
anyone who is not for the House of Hsin, may the
gods of the soils and the spirits remember it." The
General of a New Beginning, Shih Shen, led them.
They crossed the Wei [River] Bridge and all scattered
and ran, [so that Shih] Shen returned empty[handed].

The bands of troops dug up the tomb-mounds of
[Wang] Mang's wife, sons, father, and grandfather,
and burnt their coffins and grave-vaults, together
with his Nine [Ancestral] Temples, the Ming-t'ang,
and the Pi-yung. The fire shone into the city.

Someone said to [Wang] Mang, "The soldiers at
the city gates are people from the east, so that they
cannot be trusted." [Wang] Mang [accordingly]
changed them and mobilized men from the Picked
Cavalry to be the guards [for the city gates], establishing
one Colonel at each Gate with six hundred
men.

In the tenth month, on [the day] mou-shen, the
first day of the month, the troops entered by way of
the Hsüan-p'ing City Gate, which among the common
people is called the Capital Gate. Chang2 Han
was inspecting the city gates, happened upon the
troops, and was killed. Wang Yi5, Wang Lin2, Wang
Hsün2, Tai Yün, and others separately led troops to
resist the attack outside the Northern Portal [of the
Palace]. The Han troops were ambitious for enfeoffment
[in reward for killing Wang] Mang and
more than seven hundred of them fought strenuously.
When it happened that the sun went down,
[the people in] the government yamens, the lodges
[for the commanderies and kingdoms], and the residences
[adjoining the Palace] had all run away
and fled.

On the second day [of the month, the day] chi-yu,
some young people from within the city [of Ch'ang-an],
Chu Ti, Chang Yü2, and others, who had feared
that they would be kidnapped or robbed, and had
shouted vehemently in response to [the invaders],
set fire to the Artisans' Chamber Gate [an inner gate
in the northwestern part of the Wei-yang Palace],
and hacked open a side door of the [Hall] of Reverence
for the Law, calling out,

The fire reached to the Ch'eng-ming [Hall] in the
Lateral Courts, where the Princess of the Yellow Imperial
House dwelt. [Wang] Mang fled from the fire
to the Hsüan Room, and the fire in the Front Hall
immediately followed him. The Palace Maids and
women wailed, saying, "What must we do?"

At that time [Wang] Mang had on uniformly

purple garments,[2698] was girded with his imperial seals
and apron and held the Lord of Yü, [Shun's], dagger
with a spoon on the end of its hilt; an Astrological
Gentleman held a diviner's board before him,[2699] and
for the day and hour he added [the appropriate] layout
[on the board. Wang] Mang had turned about
his mat and sat according to [the position] of the
handle to the [Heavenly] Bushel, saying, "Heaven
begat the virtue that is in me. The Han troops—
what can they do to me?"[2702]

For some time, [Wang] Mang had not eaten, which
had lessened his energy, so that he had become exhausted.
On the morning of the third day [of the
month, the day] keng-hsü, when it was light, a group
of courtiers supported [Wang] Mang from the Front
Hall southwards down the Zanthoxylum Stairs, and
westwards out of the White Tiger Gate. The Duke
of Peace to [the House of] Hsin, Wang Yi6, had
charge of the chariot and drove it outside the [Palace]
Gate. [Wang] Mang went in the chariot to the
Tower Bathed [by Water], intending to rely upon
the water of the pond [as a magical defence],[2707]
and planning to hold in his arms the mandates [given
through] portents and majestic tou-[measures]. The
ministers, Grandees, Palace Attendants, [Attendants
of] the Yellow Gate, Gentlemen, and Royal Retinue,
who were still more than a thousand persons, followed
him.

Wang Yi5 had been fighting day and night and was
extremely fatigued; when his men had almost all been
killed or wounded, they galloped into the Palace and,
by a difficult and roundabout route, reached the

Tower Bathed [By Water. When Wang Yi5] saw his
son, the Palace Attendant, [Wang] Mu, taking off
his robes and bonnet, with the intention of escaping,
[Wang] Yi5 scolded him, ordering him to return, [so
that the two], father and son, together defended
[Wang] Mang.

When the men of the army entered the [Palace]
Halls, they called out, "Where is the rebellious caitiff,
Wang Mang?" and a Beauty came out of a room and
said, "He is in the Tower Bathed [By Water]." The
bands of soldiers pursued after him, and surrounded
it several hundred deep. Those on the Tower also
exchanged shots with them, using bows and crossbows,
but gradually dropped out and left [off shooting].
When their arrows were exhausted, so that
they had no way of returning shots, they met [the
attackers] with their short weapons. Wang Yi5 and
his son,[2711] [Wang Mu], Tai Yün, and Wang Hsün2,

died fighting, [whereupon Wang] Mang entered the
room [on top of the Tower]. In the very late afternoon,[2713]
the bands of soldiers went up the tower.
Wang Yi6, Chao Po, Miao Hsin, T'ang Tsunb, Wang
Sheng, the Regular Palace Attendant Wang Ts'an,
and others all died on top of the Tower. Tu Wu,[2714]
a man from [the prefecture of] Shang, killed [Wang]
Mang and took his [seals][2716] and cords. A Colonel
from Tunghai [Commandery], Kung-pin Chiu, who
had formerly been a [Gentleman] Dealing With the
Rites, [a subordinate of] the Grand Messenger, saw
[Tu] Wu and asked him where the owner of the seal-cords
was. He replied, "In the room, in the northeast
corner." [Kung-pin] Chiu recognized [Wang]
Mang and cut off his head.[2719] The men of the army
cut [Wang] Mang's body to pieces. His members
and his flesh and bones were sliced and divided.[2721]
"Those who killed each other in the struggle [to
secure parts of Wang Mang's body numbered] several
tens of persons."[2722] Kung-pin Chiu bore [Wang]
Mang's head to Wang Hsien4.

[Wang] Hsien4 called himself a Han Generalissimo
and the troops in the city, [numbering] several hundred

thousand [men], were all subordinate to him.
He dwelt in the Eastern Palace, treated [the women
in Wang] Mang's harem as his wives, rode in [Wang
Mang's] carriages [and wore Wang Mang's] robes.

On the sixth day [of the month, the day] kuei-ch'ou,
Li Sung and Teng Yeh entered Ch'ang-an.
Generals Chao Meng and Shen-t'u Chien also arrived.
Because Wang Hsien4 had received the imperial
seals and cords and had not immediately sent
them [to the Keng-shih Emperor], had taken many
of the women in the palace, and had set up the drums
and flags of the Son of Heaven, he was arrested and
beheaded [for aspiring to the throne. Wang] Mang's
head was transmitted to the Keng-shih Emperorand
was hung up in the market-place at Yüan. The
people all together picked up [things] and threw them
at it. Some cut out and ate his tongue.

The troops of [Wang] Mang's Shepherd of Yang[2729]

Province, Li Sheng, and of the Director of Mandates
[from the Five Majestic Principles], K'ung Jen, were
defeated east of [the Kuan-chung] mountains. [Li]
Sheng fought and was killed. [K'ung] Jen led his
band and surrendered. Afterwards, he sighed and
said, "I have heard that he who eats another's food
must die in his service," so he drew his sword, stabbed
himself, and died. The Department Head and
Superintendant of a Division, Tu P'u, the Grand
Governor of Ch'en-ting [Commandery], Shen Yi,
and the Leader of a Combination at Chiu-chiang
[Commandery], Chia Meng, all moreover defended
their commanderies, did not surrender, and were executed
by the Han troops. When the Grand Governor
of Shang-tu [Commandery], Wang Ch'in, and
Kuo Ch'inb, who were defending the Capital Granary,
heard that [Wang] Mang was dead, they surrendered.
The Keng-shih [Emperor] [considered them] as
righteous, and enfeoffed them both as marquises.
The Grand Master, Wang K'uang1a, and the State
General, Ai Chang, surrendered at Lo-yang. They
were transported to Yüan, where they were beheaded.

After Chuang Yu and Ch'en Mou had been defeated
below [the walls of] K'un-yang, they fled to
Ch'iao in P'ei Commandery. They called themselves
Han Generals and summoned and assembled
officials and common people. [Chuang] Yu gave
them an account, saying that Wang Mang had

usurped the throne, that he would die at the time
[allotted to him by] Heaven, and that the sage Han
[dynasty] would revive again; [meanwhile Ch'en]
Mou prostrated himself and wept. When they heard
that the former Marquis of Chung-wub [under] the
Han [dynasty], Liu Sheng5e, had collected a band in
Ju-nan [Commandery] and was [going to be] entitled
by the imperial title, [Chuang] Yu and [Ch'en] Mou
surrendered to him. He made [Chuang] Yu his
Commander-in-chief and [Ch'en] Mou his Lieutenant
Chancellor. [After] more than ten days, he
was defeated [by the Keng-shih Emperor's Generalissimo,
Liu Hsin4α, and Chuang] Yu and [Ch'en] Mou
both died.

The commanderies and counties all offered their
cities [to the Keng-shih Emperor] and surrendered,
so that the whole empire returned to the Han
[dynasty].

Previously, Shen-t'u Chien had once served Ts'ui
Fa [as a disciple, studying] the Book of Odes. When
[Shen-t'u] Chien arrived, [Ts'ui] Fa surrendered to
him, [but] later he again gave an [apologetic] account
[of Wang Mang,[2744] so Shen-t'u] Chien directed the
Lieutenant Chancellor [of the Keng-shih Emperor],
Liu Tz'u4α, to behead [Ts'ui] Fa in order that he
might accompany [his master, Wang Mang], in
death. Shih Shen, Wang Yen2, Wang Lin2, Wang
Wu2, and Chao Hung also surrendered but nevertheless
were killed.

Previously those soldiers who had taken titles every
one hoped to be enfeoffed as a marquis, [but] because
Shen-t'u Chien had beheaded Wang Hsien4 and also
spread about [a report] that treacherous [persons
from] the three capital commanderies had together

killed their lord, [Wang Mang], the officials and com-
mon people [of Ch'ang-an] became afraid and the
counties subordinate [to Ch'ang-an] assembled
[troops, hence Shen-t'u] Chien and the others were
unable to make them surrender. He galloped and
advised [the Keng-shih Emperor of the situation].

In [the period] Keng-shih, the second year, the

second month, the Keng-shih [Emperor, Liu Hsüan2α
Sheng-kung], reached Ch'ang-an. He issued an imperial
edict [granting] a general amnesty, [stating
that], except for the sons of Wang Mang, all others'
crimes were expunged. Hence the [former imperial]
Wang clan was able to be preserved and the three
capital commanderies all became calm.

The Keng-shih [Emperor] made Ch'ang-an his
capital and lived in Ch'ang-lo Palace. The government

repositories were all intact. Only the Wei-yang
Palace had been burnt. After [Wang] Mang [had
been attacked] for three days and he had died, [the
people of the capital commanderies] had lived peacefully
in their homes and [everything] was as
previously.[2753]

After the Keng-shih [Emperor] had arrived for a

year and more, his governmental instructions were no
[longer] obeyed. In the next year, in the summer,[2756]
after the Red Eyebrows,[2758] [led by] Fan Ch'ung and
others, a band of several hundred thousand men, had
entered through the passes, [Fan Ch'ung and others]
set up Liu P'en-tzu, giving him the imperial title,
and attacked the Keng-shih [Emperor]. The Keng-shih
[Emperor] surrendered to them.

The Red Eyebrows thereupon burnt the palace-buildings,
market-places, and wards in Ch'ang-an, and
killed the Keng-shih [Emperor]. The common
people starved and [even] ate others, so that the
dead [numbered] several hundred thousand, Ch'ang-an
became a waste, and inside the city walls there
were no people going about.[2763] The [imperial ancestral]

temples, funerary parks, and tomb mounds
were all dug up; only the Pa Tomb and the Tu Tomb
were preserved intact.

In the sixth month, the Epochal Exemplar, [Emperor
Kuang-wu], had ascended the throne, and thereafter
the [imperial] ancestral temples and the mounds
to the gods of the soils and grains were re-established
[at Lo-yang], the empire was well governed and at
peace.

In eulogy we say: Wang Mang first arose [because
he was one of] the maternal relatives [of Emperor
Ch'eng].[2770] He humbled himself and acted energetically,
in order to seek for fame and reputation, so
that his clan praised him as filial and his teachers
and associates attributed benevolence to him.[2771]

When he occupied [a high] position and acted as
[chief] assistant in the government, [during] the time
in [the reigns of Emperors] Ch'eng and Ai, he toiled

diligently for the state and "pursued a straightforward
course,"[2773] [so that whenever he] acted, [his
deeds] were reported in detail. Was he not [the sort
of person] referred to [in the sayings, "Such a man]
will certainly be heard of in his clan; he will certainly
be heard of in his state," and "He assumes the appearance
of benevolence, but his actions are contrary
to it?"[2774]

Since [Wang] Mang did not [possess] benevolence,

but had a talent for flattery and evil and also took
advantage of the power his four uncles, [Wang Feng,
Wang Yin, Wang Shang1b, and Wang Ken, had exercised
for] successive generations,[2776] and [because]
it happened that the Han [dynasty] became weak in
the midst [of its period] and the dynastic succession
was thrice broken, so that in her old age the Empress
Dowager [nee Wang] became the mistress of the
[imperial] clan, hence [Wang Mang] was able to give
free rein to his viciousness and thereby to bring to
pass the calamity of his usurpation [of the throne].
If we speak of [the situation by] investigating it from
this [aspect], it was[2778] a time [set by] Heaven and
not brought about by human effort.

When he had stolen the throne and faced south,

so that he occupied [a position which] he should not
have seized, the influences[2780] which would overthrow
[such a person] were more dangerous [in his case than
in the cases of] Chieh and Chou, yet [Wang] Mang
was tranquil and considered himself a second appearance
of the Yellow [Lord] and Yü [Shun]. Then for
the first time he gave rein to his desires[2781] and displayed
his tyrannousness and deceitfulness, being
scornfully [hypocritical] towards Heaven[2782] and
oppressive towards the common people, exhausting
[the possibilities of] banefulness, and [attaining] the
limit of evil. His poison diffused itself among all
Chinese and [his power of causing] disorder [even]
extended to the southern and northern barbarians,
but this did not yet satisfy his desires.

For this reason, [all] within the four seas[2784] murmured
sadly and lost their joy in life. Within and
outside [the country, people] were filled with resentment,
[braves] far and near [the capital] all mobilized,
his city-wall and moat was not defended, so
that his members were cut to pieces. Thereupon he
caused the cities and towns of the empire to become
wastes, [while peoples'] grave mounds were [moreover]
dug into, so that he injured all living people, and

his crimes reached [even] to rotten bones.

Of the rebellious ministers and evil sons and of the
unprincipled men who are recorded in books and
records, if we investigate the calamities [they produced]
and the ruin [they wrought], there have not
been any as severe as [those produced by Wang]

Mang. Anciently [the First Emperor of] the Ch'in
[dynasty] burnt the Books of Odes and of History in
order to establish his private proposals, while [Wang]
Mang chanted the six canons in order to gloss over
his wicked words. "They came to the same result
but by different paths;"[2787] both thereby [came to]
destruction.[2788] They were both "dragons [who had
flown] too high"[2789] and whose breath was cut off,
which was not the destiny [originally bestowed upon
them by Heaven's] decree. They were [like] a
purple color[2790] or a croaking sound,[2791] or the leftover
minutes [that are given] the place of an inter-
calation,[2794]
which are driven out by a sage-king.[2795]