Interesting Reading: Zizhi Tongjian: Wang Mang's Disaster

To be honest, every time I pick up "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", I feel like an old man facing a Man-Han banquet but with bad teeth - the good stuff is good stuff, but I just can't chew it! Those densely packed classical Chinese texts, those piles of years and names, I can still hold on after turning to the first page, but my eyes start to wander when I turn to the tenth page, and when I turn to the fiftieth page... I'm sorry, I have already dreamed of Duke Zhou. But what is hidden here is the crystallization of the wisdom of our ancestors for thousands of years. Just leaving it alone makes me feel like I'm at a loss. So I slapped my thigh: I can't chew the whole meal, why can't we pick two soft pieces to chew? This time, I focused on the most magical realist character in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" - Wang Mang. The story of this man is simply more exciting than the online articles: from a moral model to a usurping emperor, from a reform maniac to a subjugated monarch and a rogue. The contrast between the past and the present is so great that one wonders whether the historian was drunk and made it up. But he happens to be real. So without further ado, let's open "Zizhi Tongjian" today, pull out that dusty history, put it on the table, add some vernacular, and add some complaints, so that you can follow the life of this legendary figure just like listening to storytelling. Are you ready? Let's start talking now.