1
卷九十九中王莽傳第六十九中
Volume 99b: Biography of Wang Mang, the sixty-ninth chapter, middle portion.
2
始建國元年正月朔，莽帥公侯卿士奉皇太后璽韍，上太皇太后，順符命，去漢號焉。
At New Year's Day in the first year of Shijian, Wang Mang, at the head of the nobility and chief ministers, carried the empress dowager's seal ribbons up to the Grand Empress Dowager in observance of the portents and formally cast aside the Han name.
3
初，莽妻宜春侯王氏女，立為皇后。 本生四男：宇、獲、安、臨。 二子前誅死，安頗荒忽，乃以臨為皇太子，安為新嘉辟。 封宇子六人：千為功隆公，壽為功明公，吉為功成公，宗為功崇以，世為功昭公，利為功著公。 大赦天下。
Wang Mang had earlier married the daughter of the Marquis of Yichun in the Wang line, who was enthroned as his empress. The empress bore him four sons: Wang Yu, Wang Huo, Wang An, and Wang Lin. Two of the sons had already been put to death; Wang An was too unsteady in conduct, so Wang Mang named Wang Lin crown prince and gave Wang An the title of Xinjia Earl instead. Yu's six sons received ducal ranks: Qian became Duke Gonglong, Shou Duke Gongming, Ji Duke Gongcheng, Zong Duke Gongchong, Shi Duke Gongzhao, and Li Duke Gongzhu. A general amnesty was declared throughout the empire.
4
莽乃策命孺子曰：「咨爾嬰，昔皇天右乃太祖，歷世十二，享國二百一十載，歷數在於予躬。 《詩》不雲乎？ 『侯服於周，天命靡常。』 封爾為定安公，永為新室賓。 於戲！ 敬天之休，往踐乃位，毋廢予命。」 又曰：「其以平原、安德、漯陰、鬲、重丘，凡戶萬，地方百里，為定安公國。 立漢祖宗之廟於其國，與周後並，行其正朔、服色。 世世以事其祖宗，永以命德茂功，享歷代之祀焉。 以孝平皇后為定安太后。」 讀策畢，莽親執孺子手，流涕DF4F欷，曰：「昔周公攝位，終得復子明辟，今予獨迫皇天威命，不得如意！」 哀歎良久。 中傅將孺子下殿，北面而稱臣。 百僚陪位，莫不感動。
Wang Mang then issued a formal charge to the boy emperor: "Ying, long ago Heaven blessed your founding ancestor across twelve reigns and two hundred and ten years of rule; the mandate of the calendar has now passed to me. Has not the Book of Songs said? The regional lords bow to the house of Zhou, for Heaven's mandate does not rest forever on one line." I therefore enfeoff you as Duke of Ding'an, with the standing of a perpetual guest of the new dynasty. Alas! Honor Heaven's favor, take your place, and do not disregard what I have charged you to do." He added: "Let Pingyuan, Ande, Luoyin, Ge, and Chongqiu—altogether ten thousand households and a territory of one hundred li—serve as the state of the Duke of Ding'an. Within that state Han ancestral temples were to stand beside those of Zhou's descendants, using Zhou's calendar and court colors as the proper model. Thereafter each generation would maintain those sacrifices to the Han forebears, perpetuating the merit that earned them offerings down the ages. He appointed the Empress of Emperor Ping as Grand Empress Dowager of Ding'an." When the document had been read, Wang Mang clasped the boy's hand, weeping and catching his breath, and said, "The Duke of Zhou once acted as regent yet finally returned power to his young sovereign in enlightened rule; I alone am forced by Heaven's stern command and cannot do as I would wish!" He grieved and sighed for a long while. The boy's tutor escorted him from the dais to stand facing north and acknowledge himself a vassal. Every official present was visibly moved.
5
又按金匱，輔臣皆封拜。 以太傅、左輔、驃騎將軍安陽侯王舜為太師，封安新公； 大司徒就德侯平晏為太傅，就新公； 少阿、羲和、京兆尹、紅休侯劉歆為國師，嘉新公； 廣漢梓潼哀章為國將，美新公：是為四輔，位上公。 太保、後承承陽侯甄邯為大司馬，承新公； 丕進侯王尋為大司徒，章新公； 步兵將軍成都侯王邑為大司空，隆新公：是為三公。 大阿、右拂； 大司空、衛將軍廣陽侯甄豐為更始將軍，廣新公； 京兆王興為衛將軍，奉新公； 輕車將軍成武侯孫建為立國將軍，成新公； 京兆王盛為前將軍，崇新公：是為四將。 凡十一公。 王興者，故城門令史。 王盛者，賣餅。 莽按符命求得此姓名十餘人，兩人容貌應卜相，逕從布衣登用，以視神焉。 余皆拜為郎。 是日，封拜卿大夫、侍中、尚書官凡數百人。 諸劉為郡守，皆徙為諫大夫。
According to the names sealed in the golden coffer, the chief ministers were enfeoffed and given their posts. Wang Shun, Grand Tutor, Left Assistant to the throne, and general of agile cavalry, Marquis of Anyang, became Grand Preceptor with the ducal title Anxin; Ping Yan, Grand Minister over the Masses and Marquis of Jiude, was named Grand Tutor and Duke Jiuxin; Liu Xin—Junior Mentor, Director of the Calendar, and Jingzhao governor, Marquis Hongxiu—received the titles National Instructor and Duke Jiaxin; Ai Zhang from Zitong in Guanghan became National General with the ducal name Meixin. These four offices formed the "Four Supports," each ranked as a supreme duke. Zhen Han, Grand Guardian, Rear Assistant, Marquis of Chengyang, was appointed Grand Marshal and Duke Chengxin; Wang Xun, Marquis Pijin, became Grand Minister over the Masses with the title Duke Zhangxin; Wang Yi, general of foot soldiers and Marquis of Chengdou, was named Grand Minister of Works, Duke Longxin. Together they constituted the Three Dukes. The list continued with the Grand Mentor of the Right and the office of Right Assistant— Zhen Feng, Grand Minister of Works, general of the guard, and Marquis of Guangyang, was made General of Renewal and Duke Guangxin; Wang Xing of Jingzhao became general of the guard with the ducal title Fengxin; Sun Jian, general of light chariots and Marquis Chengwu, was named General Who Establishes the State, Duke Chengxin; Wang Sheng of Jingzhao was appointed forward general, Duke Chongxin. These four posts were the "Four Generals." Altogether eleven men held ducal rank in this scheme. Wang Xing had once been a lowly gate-clerk. Wang Sheng had made his living selling cakes. Wang Mang, citing the prophetic registers, tracked down a dozen men who bore the prescribed names; two matched the expected physiognomy and were raised overnight from commoners to advertise Heaven's choice. The others were enrolled as palace gentlemen. On the same day hundreds of chief ministers, palace attendants, and secretariat officials received new titles or fiefs. Every Liu clansman who had governed a commandery was reassigned as a remonstrance grandee.
6
改明光宮為定安館，定安太后居之。 以故大鴻臚府為定安公第，皆置門衛使者監領。 敕阿乳母不得與語，常在四壁中，至於長大，不能名六畜。 後莽以女孫宇子妻之。
Mingguang Palace was renamed the Ding'an residence for the Grand Empress Dowager of Ding'an. The old Grand Herald offices became the Duke of Ding'an's mansion, each site watched by gatekeepers and overseers. The nurses were forbidden to talk with the boy, who was kept walled off until adulthood so that he never even learned the names of common livestock. Later Wang Mang married him to a granddaughter—Yu's granddaughter by a son.
7
莽策群司曰：「歲星司肅，東嶽太師典致時雨，青煒登平，考景以晷。 熒惑司哲，南嶽太傅典致時奧，赤煒頌平，考聲以律。 太白司艾，西嶽國師典致時陽，白煒象平，考量以銓。 辰星司謀，北嶽國將典致時寒，玄煒和平，考星以漏。 月刑元股左，司馬典致武應，考方法矩，主司天文，欽若昊天，敬授民時，力來農事，以豐年谷。 日德元B235右，司徒典致文瑞，考圜合規，主司人道，五教是輔，帥民承上，宣美風俗，五品乃訓。 斗平元心中，司空典致物圖，考度以繩，主司地裡，平治水土，掌名山川，眾殖鳥獸，蕃茂草木。」 各策命以其職，如典誥之文。
Wang Mang issued a charge to his ministers: "The Year Star oversees austerity; the Grand Preceptor of the Eastern Marchmount must bring seasonable rains; when the green auspice rises evenly, test it with the sundial's shadow; Mars oversees discernment; the Southern Peak's Grand Tutor governs summer heat; the red auspice should hymn harmony; verify it with the pitch-standard. Venus presides over severity; the Western Peak's National Instructor brings clear autumn days; the white auspice mirrors balance; weigh it with the balance-beam. Mercury governs counsel; the Northern Peak's National General commands winter cold; the black auspice should harmonize; read it against the water-clock. The moon, agent of punishment, stands on the left; the Grand Marshal answers with military omens, squaring the method with the try-square, ordering the stars, revering Heaven, fixing the calendar for the people, and pressing agriculture so the harvest may abound. On the right the solar virtue, rooted in the primordial Yuan [lacuna in text], falls to the Minister over the Masses, who summons literary portents, tests the circle against the compass, guides human relations through the Five Teachings, leads the people upward, refines local custom, and trains the five grades of conduct. The Northern Dipper steadies the cosmic center; the Minister of Works reads the pattern of things, straightens boundaries with the plumb-line, orders the land, drains and dams rivers, catalogs peaks and streams, and lets creatures and plants flourish." Each minister received a formal mandate for his duties, couched like the language of the canon.
8
置大司馬司允，大司徒司直，大司空司若，位皆孤卿。 更名大司農曰羲和，後更為納言，大理曰作士，太常曰秩宗，大鴻臚曰典樂，少府曰共工，水衡都尉曰予虞，與三公司卿凡九卿，分屬三公。 每一卿置大夫三人，一大夫置元士三人，凡二十七大夫，八十一元士，分主中都官諸職。 更名光祿勳曰司中，太僕曰太御，衛尉曰太衛，執金吾曰奮武，中尉曰軍正，又置大贅官，主乘輿服御物，後又典兵秩，位皆上卿，號曰六監。 改郡太守曰大尹，都尉曰太尉，縣令長曰宰，御史曰執法，公車司馬曰王路四門，長樂宮曰常樂室，未央宮曰壽成室，前殿曰王路堂，長安曰常安。 更名秩百名曰庶士，三百石曰下士，四百石曰中士，五百石曰命士，六百石曰元士，千石曰下大夫，比二千石曰中大夫，二千石曰上大夫，中二千石曰卿。 車服黻冕，各有差品。 又置司恭、司徒、司明、司聰、司中大夫及誦詩工、徹膳宰，以司過。 策曰：「予聞上聖欲昭厥德，罔不慎修厥身，用綏於遠，是用建爾司於五事。 毋隱尤，毋將虛，好惡不愆，立於厥中。 於戲，勖哉！」 令王路設進善之旌，非謗之木，敢諫之鼓。 諫大夫四人常坐王路門受言事者。
New posts were added—Supervisor of Promise under the Grand Marshal, Supervisor of Uprightness under the Grand Minister over the Masses, and Supervisor of Compliance under the Grand Minister of Works—each equal to a "solitary" minister. Grand Minister of Agriculture became "Director of the Calendar," later "Receiver of Words"; the Court of Trials became "Worker of Punishments"; the Grand Master of Ceremonies "Master of Ranks"; the Grand Herald "Master of Music"; the Privy Treasurer "Minister of Works for All"; the chief of waters and parks "Master of Yu." With the three dukes' own ministers they formed nine ministries under the Three Dukes. Each chief minister had three grandees, each grandee three "primordial gentlemen," twenty-seven grandees and eighty-one gentlemen in all, dividing responsibility for metropolitan bureaus. The Superintendent of the Household became "Central Director," the Grand Coachman "Grand Driver," the Guard commandant "Grand Commandant of the Guard," the Bearer of the Gilded Mace "Exalted Martial Director," the capital commandant "Army Rectifier." A Grand Usher was added for imperial transport and wardrobe, later for army rations; these six overseers ranked as senior ministers. Governors became "grand intendants," commandants "grand commandants," county heads "stewards," censors "law-enforcers," the imperial equipage office the "Four Gates of the Royal Road." Changle was renamed Ever-Joy, Weiyang Longevity-Achieved, the main hall the Hall of the Royal Road, and the capital itself "Chang'an-of-Constancy." Salary grades were renamed in Confucian style: one hundred piculs became "common gentleman," three hundred "lower gentleman," on up through "primordial gentleman" and grandee ranks to full ministerial rank. Chariots, dress, and ritual caps were tiered to match each rank. Further officers—of reverence, openness, acuity, and balance—joined hymn specialists and household stewards in a board that watched for official misconduct. The edict declared, "A supreme sage who would manifest virtue first polishes his own conduct to win the far reaches; hence I set you over the Five Affairs of state. Do not hide faults or traffic in hollow pretense; let neither favor nor dislike wander from the mean. Take care—strive!" He commanded that along the Royal Road there stand the banner for good advice, the post for honest criticism, and the drum for bold remonstrance. Four remonstrance grandees kept permanent seats at the Wanglu Gate to take petitions and reports.
9
封王氏齊縗之屬為侯，大功為伯，小功為子，緦麻為男，其女皆為任。 男以「睦」、女以「隆」為號焉，皆授印□。 令諸侯立太夫人、夫人、世子，亦受印□。
Wang kinsmen in the qi-cui mourning grade became marquises; those in dafu, xiaogong, and sima grades became earls, viscounts, and barons respectively; their daughters received the honorific "ren." For the men he used "Mu" and for the women "Long" as style-names, all being granted seals [text damaged]. Feudal lords were told to appoint chief consorts, consorts, and heirs, each likewise receiving a seal [lacuna].
10
又曰：「天無二日，土無二王，百王不易這道也。 漢氏諸侯或稱王，至於四夷亦如之，違於古典，繆於一統。 其定諸侯王之號皆稱公，及四夷僭號稱王者皆更為侯。」
He insisted, "There are not two suns in the sky nor two sovereigns on the soil; that is the unchanging principle every true king has upheld. Under Han some fiefs had called themselves kings, and border peoples had aped the title, which violated classical usage and undermined true unity. Henceforth every Han-style "king" among the nobility became a "duke," and every barbarian ruler who had claimed "king" was reduced to "marquis."
11
又曰：「帝王之道，相因而通； 盛德之祚，百世享祀。 予惟黃帝、帝少昊、帝顓頊、帝嚳、帝堯、帝舜、帝夏禹、皋陶、伊尹鹹有聖德，假於皇天，功烈巍巍，光施於遠。 予甚嘉之，營求其後，將祚厥祀。」 惟王氏，虞帝之後也，出自帝嚳； 劉氏，堯之後也，出自顓頊。 於是封姚恂為初睦侯，奉黃帝后； 梁護為脩遠伯，奉少昊後； 皇孫功隆公千，奉帝嚳後； 劉歆為祁烈伯，奉顓頊後； 國師劉歆子疊為伊休侯，奉堯後； 媯昌為始睦侯，奉虞帝后； 山遵為褒謀子，奉皋陶後； 伊玄為褒衡子，奉伊尹後。 漢後定安公劉嬰，位為賓。 周後衛公姬黨，更封為章平公，亦為賓。 殷後宋公孔弘，運轉次移，更封為章昭侯，位為恪。 夏後遼西姒豐，封為章功侯，亦為恪。 四代古宗，宗祀於明堂，以配皇始祖考虞帝。 周公後褒魯子姬就、宣尼公後褒成子孔鈞，已前定焉。
He went on, "The royal way moves forward by orderly succession; great virtue wins the right to offerings for a hundred generations. I reflect that the Yellow Lord, Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Ku, Yao, Shun, the Xia founder Yu, Gao Yao, and yiyin day all bore sacred virtue, leaned on Heaven, and left a towering, far-shining record. I admire them deeply and have traced their heirs so those rites need not die." The Wang line, he said, stems from the sage-king of Yu through Emperor Ku; the Liu house descends from Yao through Zhuanxu. Yao Xun was therefore enfeoffed as Marquis of Chumu to maintain the Yellow Emperor's sacrifices; Liang Hu became Earl of Xiuyuan for Shaohao's line; the imperial grandson Qian, Duke Gonglong, was charged with Ku's line; Liu Xin received the earldom of Qilie for Zhuanxu; Die, son of National Instructor Liu Xin, became Marquis of Yixiu for Yao; Gui Chang was named Marquis of Chumu for the line of the Emperor of Yu; Shan Zun took the viscounty of Baomou for Gao Yao; and Yi Xuan the viscounty of Baoheng for yiyin day. Liu Ying, the Han scion enfeoffed as Duke of Ding'an, was classed as a ritual "guest" of the new throne. Ji Dang, Zhou's representative as Duke of Wei, was transferred to the ducal title Zhangping with the same guest standing. Kong Hong, last Duke of Song for the Yin line, was moved to Marquis of Zhangzhao with the middling rank "reverent." Si Feng of Liaoxi, heir of Xia, became Marquis of Zhanggong under the same "reverent" grade. These four ancient houses were honored as "arch-lords," their offerings joined in the Bright Hall to that of Wang Mang's own primordial forebear, the Emperor of Yu. Ji Jiu, viscount of Baolu for the Zhou duke, and Kong Jun, viscount of Baocheng for Confucius, had already been designated in an earlier decree.
12
莽又曰：「予前在攝時，建郊宮，定祧廟，立社稷，神祇報況，或光自上復於下，流為烏，或典氣熏C02C，昭耀章明，以著黃、虞之烈焉。 自黃帝至於濟南伯王，高祖世氏姓有五矣。 黃帝二十五子，分賜厥姓十有二氏。 虞帝之先，受姓曰姚，其在陶唐曰媯，在周曰陳，在齊曰田，在濟南曰王。 予伏念皇初祖考黃帝，皇始祖考虞帝，以宗祀於明堂，宜序於祖宗之親廟。 其立祖廟五，親廟四，後夫人皆配食。 郊祀黃帝以配天，黃後以配地。 以新都侯東弟為大禖，歲時以祀。 家之所尚，種祀天下。 姚、媯、陳、田、王氏凡五姓者，皆黃、虞苗裔，予之同族也。 《書》不雲乎？ 『惇序九族』。 其令天下上此五姓名籍於秩宗，皆以為宗室。 世世復，無有所與。 其元城王氏，勿令相嫁娶，以別族理親焉。」 封陳崇為統睦侯，奉胡王后； 田豐為世睦侯，奉敬王后。
Wang Mang continued, "While I was regent I set up suburban temples, settled the remote-shrine order, and founded the altars of soil and grain. The gods answered—sometimes radiance poured down and turned into crows, sometimes a prescribed vapor rose in a luminous cloud [lacuna], all to magnify the Yellow Lord and Shun. From the Yellow Emperor to the Wang marquis of Jinan, the imperial ancestry had passed through five distinct surname phases. The Yellow Lord's twenty-five sons yielded twelve separately surnamed lines by imperial gift. Yu's ancestors had been surnamed Yao; under Yao's house they were Gui; under Zhou, Chen; in Qi they became Tian; in Jinan they took the name Wang. I therefore take the Yellow Lord as my distant ancestor and the Emperor of Yu as my founding ancestor; both worshiped in the Bright Hall, they ought to stand in the inner ring of ancestral shrines. He decreed five "primordial" temples and four closer-generation shrines, each later consort sharing in the offerings. At the suburban rites the Yellow Lord would accompany Heaven and his consort would accompany Earth. The east wing of Wang Mang's old Xindu marquis mansion was designated the Grand Match chapel for yearly worship. What the royal house honors is to spread those ancestral offerings across the empire. The five lines—Yao, Gui, Chen, Tian, and Wang—are all branches of the Yellow Lord and Shun, and therefore kin to my own house. Has not the Book of Documents said? Be kind to your kin and put the nine branches of the family in good order." He ordered every district to file the five surnames with the Master of Ranks so that all might be registered as members of the imperial clan. They would enjoy perpetual exemption from service and tax, with nothing demanded of them. The Wangs of Yuancheng were forbidden to marry one another, the better to mark off that lineage and keep marriage rules clear." Chen Chong was made Marquis of Tongmu to maintain sacrifices to the queen of Hu; and Tian Feng Marquis of Shimu to care for the cult of the Reverent Queen.
13
天下牧守皆以前有翟義、趙明等領州郡，懷忠孝，封牧為男，守以附城。 又封舊恩戴崇、金涉、箕閎、楊並等子皆為男。
Governors and magistrates who had stood by the throne when men like Zhai Yi and Zhao Ming raised troops in loyal defense were promoted: governors became barons, magistrates received the rank "attached to the wall." The sons of earlier patrons—Dai Chong, Jin She, Ji Hong, Yang Bing, and the like—were likewise given baronial titles.
14
遣騎都尉囂等分治黃帝園位於上都橋畤，虞帝於零陵九疑，胡王於淮陽陳，敬王於齊臨淄，愍王於城陽莒，伯王於濟南東平陵，孺王於魏郡元城，使者四時致祠。 其廟當作者，以天下初定，且祫祭於明堂太廟。
Cavalry Commandant Nao and a party of officers were sent out to maintain the shrines of the Yellow Lord at the Shangdu bridge altar, of Shun at Jiuyi in Lingling, of the Hu king at Chen in Huaiyang, of the Reverent king at Linzi, of the Compassionate king at Ju in Chengyang, of the Earl king at Dongpingling in Jinan, and of the Child king at Yuancheng in Wei, each site receiving year-round offerings. Permanent temples that still needed building were deferred while the empire was unsettled; meanwhile combined rites were offered in the Bright Hall and the supreme ancestral shrine.
15
以漢高廟為文祖廟。 莽曰：「予之皇始祖考虞帝受嬗於唐，漢氏初祖唐帝，世有傳國之象，予復親受金策於漢高皇帝之靈。 惟思褒厚前代，何有忘時？ 漢氏祖宗有七，以禮立廟於定安國。 其園寢廟在京師者，勿罷，祠薦如故。 予以秋九月親入漢氏高、元、成、平之廟。 諸劉更屬籍京兆大尹，勿解其復，各終厥身，州牧數存問，勿令有侵冤。」
The old Han ancestral temple to Liu Bang was redesignated the shrine of the "Literary Ancestor." Wang Mang declared, "My founding forebear Shun took the throne from the house of Tang; Han likewise traced its line to the Tang emperor, and portents had long hinted at the transfer of the mandate; I myself received the golden tally from the shade of Liu Bang. I mean only to treat the former dynasty generously—how could I neglect the due season of memory? Han had seven chief ancestors; he ordered seven temples raised for them within the duchy of Ding'an according to classical rite. The park shrines in the capital were left standing, and their worship continued unchanged. In the ninth month of autumn he would personally enter the Han temples of Gaozu, Yuandi, Chengdi, and Pingdi. All members of the Liu clan were to reregister under the Jingzhao intendant while keeping their tax immunities for life; regional governors were to look in on them often so that none suffered harassment or injustice."
16
又曰：「予前在大麓，至於攝假，深惟漢氏三七之厄，赤德氣盡，思索廣求，所以輔劉延期之術，靡所不用，以故作金刀之利，幾以濟之。 然自孔子作《春秋》以為後王法，至於哀之十四而一代畢，協之於今，亦哀之十四也。 赤世計盡，終不可強濟。 皇天明威，黃德當興，隆顯大命，屬予以天下。 今百姓鹹言皇天革漢而立新，廢劉而興王。 夫『劉』之為字『卯、金、刀』也，正月剛卯，金刀之利，皆不得行。 博謀卿士，僉曰天人同應，昭然著明。 其去剛卯莫以為佩，除刀錢勿以為利，承順天心，快百姓意。」 乃更作小錢，逕六分，重一銖，文曰「小錢直一」，與前「大錢五十」者為二品，並行。 欲防民盜鑄，乃禁不得挾銅炭。
He went on, "From my time at Great Lu through the regency I brooded on Han's three-times-seven doom: the red phase had run its course. I cast about for every scheme that might shore up the Liu house, leaving no tool unused—hence the metal-blade coinage meant almost as a remedy. Yet once Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn as the pattern for later kings, a full cycle closed in the fourteenth year of Duke Ai—and the present reign lines up with that same fourteenth year. The red dynasty's tally was finished; no force could extend it further. Bright Heaven showed its majesty: the yellow virtue was due to ascend, the great mandate blazed forth, and all under Heaven was entrusted to me. The common people were already saying that Heaven had replaced Han with Xin, set aside the Liu, and elevated the Wang. The graph Liu, he argued, combined the mao tally, metal, and blade; therefore the new-year gang charms and knife-shaped coinage could no longer circulate. When he canvassed his ministers, they agreed that Heaven and humanity answered one another in unmistakable signs. He therefore banned the gangmao plaques as ornaments, demonetized the knife coins, and called this obedience to Heaven and relief for the people." New "small cash" pieces were minted—six fen wide, one zhu heavy, legend "Small cash, value one"—to circulate beside the older "Large cash, fifty" in a two-tier system. To stop private minting he outlawed the possession of copper or charcoal.
17
四月，徐鄉侯劉快結黨數千人起兵於其國。 快兄殷，故漢膠東王，時改為扶崇公。 快舉兵攻即墨，殷閉城門，自系獄。 吏民距快，快敗走，至長廣死。 莽曰：「昔予之祖濟南愍王困於燕寇，自齊臨淄出保於莒。 宗人田單廣設奇謀，獲殺燕將，復定齊國。 今即墨士大夫復同心殄滅反虜，予甚嘉其忠者，憐其無辜。 其赦殷等，非快之妻子它親屬當坐者皆勿治。 弔問死傷，賜亡者葬錢，人五萬。 殷知大命，深疾惡快，以故輒伏厥辜。 其滿殷國戶萬，地方百里。」 又封符命臣十餘人。
In the fourth month Liu Kuai, marquis of Xuxiang, mustered several thousand followers and rebelled in his fief. Kuai's brother Yin, the former Han king of Jiaodong, had been renamed Duke Fuchong. Kuai marched on Jimo, but Yin shut the gates and had himself locked up as a prisoner. The townsfolk turned Kuai back; he fled in defeat and was killed near Changguang. Wang Mang observed, "Long ago my forebear the Compassionate King of Jinan was besieged by Yan and withdrew from Linzi to hold Ju. Tian Dan, a man of Qi, then broke the siege with daring tactics, slew a Yan general, and restored Qi. Today the gentry of Jimo have again united to destroy the traitors; I honor their loyalty and mourn the innocent caught up in the revolt. Yin and his party were pardoned; Kuai's wife, children, and other kin who should bear guilt were likewise not prosecuted. He sent condolences to the wounded and gave fifty thousand cash toward each burial. Yin, recognizing Heaven's decree, loathed his brother's crime and willingly accepted punishment. Let Yin's state be filled to ten thousand households and a territory of one hundred li." More than a dozen men who had produced prophetic registers were enfeoffed as well.
18
莽曰：「古者，設廬井八家，一夫一婦田百畝，什一而稅，則國給民富而頌聲作。 此唐、虞之道，三代所遵行也。 秦為無道，厚賦稅以自供奉，罷民力以極欲，壞聖制，廢井田，是以兼併起，貪鄙生，強者規田以千數，弱者曾無立錐之居。 又置奴婢之市，與牛馬同蘭，制於民臣，顓斷其命。 奸虐之人因緣為利，至略賣人妻子，逆天心，悖人倫，繆於『天地之性人為貴』之義。 《書》曰『予則奴戮女』，唯不用命者，然後被此辜矣。 漢氏減輕田租，三十而稅一，常有更賦，罷癃鹹出，而豪民侵陵，分田劫假。 厥名三十稅一，實什稅五也。 父子夫婦終年耕芸，所得不足以自存。 故富者犬馬余菽粟，驕而為邪； 貧者不厭糟糠，窮而為奸。 俱陷於辜，刑用不錯。 予前在大麓，始令天下公田口井，時則有嘉禾之祥，遭以虜逆賊且止。 今更名天下田曰『王田』，奴婢曰『私屬』，皆不得賣買。 其男口不盈八，而田過一井者，分余田予九族鄰里鄉黨。 故無田，今當受田者，如制度。 敢有非井田聖制，無法惑眾者，投諸四裔，以御魑魅，如皇始祖考虞帝故事。」
Wang Mang lectured: "In high antiquity eight families shared a well and a common field; a farming couple held a hundred mu and paid one tenth in tax, so the treasury filled, the people thrived, and songs of praise were heard. That was the model of Yao and Shun, followed through the Three Dynasties. The Qin tyrants taxed without mercy, wrung the people dry for their own luxury, tore down the well-field laws, and let great estates swallow small holdings until the mighty owned thousands of acres and the poor not a pinprick of soil. They even opened slave markets where human beings were penned like cattle, subject to official whim and stripped of any say over their own lives. Villains turned the trade to profit, kidnapping wives and children for sale—an outrage against Heaven and kinship, a mockery of the teaching that among all creatures man is noblest. The Documents warn, "I will make slaves or corpses of you"—only the defiant should suffer such a fate. Han boasted a thirty-to-one land tax, but head levies never stopped; even the crippled paid, while magnates seized holdings and extorted rack-rents. In name it was a three-percent tithe; in fact the people surrendered half their crop. Families toiled the year through yet could not feed themselves. The rich fed dogs and horses on grain and turned arrogant and vicious; the poor choked on husks, sank into want, and slid into crime. Both sides ended in the law, and the executioner's axe never rested. When I first ordered the well-field plan at Great Lu, excellent grain sprouted as an omen—only the rebellion forced a pause. Henceforth all land was called "king's fields," all bond servants "private dependents," with sale of either forbidden. Households with fewer than eight males but more than a well's worth of land had to surrender the surplus to kin, neighbors, and village mates. Landless families were to receive allotments under the new statute. Anyone who dared attack the well-field model and stir the crowd would be banished beyond the pale like the monsters of old—after the example of Shun."
19
是時，百姓便安漢五銖錢，以莽錢大小兩行難知，又數變改不信，皆私以五銖錢市買。 訛言大錢當罷，莫肯挾。 莽患之。 復下書：「諸挾五銖錢，言大錢當罷者，比非井田制，投四裔。」 於是農商失業，食貨俱廢，民人至涕泣於市道。 及坐賣買田宅、奴婢，鑄錢，自諸侯、卿、大夫至於庶民，抵罪者不可勝數。
The people still trusted Han's five-zhu pieces; Wang Mang's large and small issues were confusing and changed so often that markets quietly went on using the old five-zhu. Word spread that the big coins would be demonetized, and no one would hold them. Wang Mang fretted at the disobedience. He again issued a document: "All who carry five-zhu cash and say the large cash ought to be abolished shall be treated like those who condemn the well-field system and be cast to the four outlands." Farmers and traders were ruined, commerce collapsed, and the streets echoed with weeping. Countless people—from nobles to peasants—fell afoul of the bans on trading land, houses, servants, or minting coin.
20
秋，遣五威將王奇等十二人班《符命》四十二篇於天下。 德祥五事，符命二十五，福應十二，凡四十二篇。 其德祥言文、宣之世黃龍見於成紀、新都，高祖考王伯墓門梓柱生枝葉之屬。 符命言井石、金匱之屬。 福應言雌雞化為雄之屬。 其文爾雅依托，皆為作說，大歸言莽當代漢有天下雲。 總有說之曰：「帝王受命，必有德祥之符瑞，協成五命，申以福應，然後能立巍巍之功，傳於子孫，永享無窮之祚。 故新室之興也，德祥發於漢三七九世之後。 肇命於新都，受瑞於黃支，開王於威功，定命於子同，成命於巴宕，申福於十二應，天所以保祐新室者深矣，固矣！ 武功丹石出於漢氏平帝末年，火德銷盡，土德當代，皇天眷然，去漢與新，以丹石始命於皇帝。 皇帝謙讓，以攝居之，未當天意，故其秋七月，天重以三能文馬。 皇帝復謙讓，未即位，故三以鐵契，四以石龜，五以虞符，六以文圭，七以玄印，八以茂陵石書，九以玄龍石，十以神井，十一以大神石，十二以銅符帛圖。 申命之瑞，浸以顯著，至於十二，以昭告新皇帝。 皇帝深惟上天之威不可不畏，故去攝號，猶尚稱假，改元為初始，欲以承塞天命，克厭上帝之心。 然非皇天所以鄭重降符命之意，故是日天復決以龜書。 又侍郎王盱見人衣白布單衣，赤繢方領，冠小冠，立於王路殿前，謂盱曰：『今日天同色，以天下人民屬皇帝。』 盱怪之，行十餘步，人忽不見。 至丙寅暮，漢氏高廟有金匱圖策：『高帝承天命，以國傳新皇帝。』 明旦，宗伯忠孝侯劉宏以聞，乃召公卿議，未決，而大神石人談曰：『趣新皇帝之高廟受命。 毋留！』 於是新皇帝立登車，之漢氏高廟受命，受命之日，丁卯也。 丁，火，漢氏之德也。 卯，劉姓所以為字也。 明漢劉火德盡，而傳於新室也。 皇帝謙謙，既備固讓，十二符應迫著，命不可辭，懼然祗畏，葦然閔漢氏之終不可濟，F258□左右之不得從意，為之三夜不御寢，三日不御食。 延問公侯卿大夫，僉曰：『宜奉如上天威命。』 於是乃改元定號，海內更始。 新室既定，神祇歡喜，申以福應，吉瑞累仍。 《詩》曰：『宜民宜人，受祿於天； 保右命之，自天申之。』 此之謂也。」 五威將奉《符命》，繼印綬，王侯以下及吏官名更者，外及匈奴、西域，徼外蠻夷，皆即授新室印綬，因收故漢印綬。 賜吏爵人二級，民爵人一級，女子百戶羊、酒、蠻夷幣、帛各有差。 大赦天下。
That autumn twelve agents led by Wang Qi of the Five Might host carried the forty-two-chapter Book of Talisman Mandates to every corner of the empire. The collection comprised five themes of virtue, twenty-five mandate texts, and twelve blessing responses—forty-two parts in all. The "virtue" chapters cited Emperor Wen and Emperor Xuan: yellow dragons at Chenji and Xindu, and leafy shoots sprouting from the catalpa posts at the tomb of Wang Mang's great-grandfather. The "mandate" sections rehearsed the well stone, the golden coffer, and similar prodigies. The "responses" told of hens crowing like roosters and kindred signs. The prose mimicked the classics and argued throughout that Heaven had chosen Wang Mang to supplant Han. In sum it was explained: "When emperors and kings receive the mandate, there must be virtuous omens and auspicious signs, coordinating to complete the five mandates, extending through blessing-responses; then they can establish lofty merit, transmit to sons and grandsons, and eternally enjoy inexhaustible blessing. So it was, the text claimed, that Xin's omens appeared only after Han had run its "three sevens" span. The mandate began at Xindu, tokens arrived from Huangzhi, kingship opened at Weigong, the charge fixed at Zitong, sealed at Badan, and twelve blessed responses piled up—proof of Heaven's steadfast favor toward Xin. The Wugong cinnabar stone had emerged in Pingdi's last years when Han's fire phase was spent and earth was due to succeed; Heaven, it said, had shifted the mandate from Han to Xin, the red stone being the first sign for the new emperor. The emperor modestly held only the regency, which still fell short of Heaven's wish—so in the seventh month Heaven sent a second sign, the three-stripe horses. He still refused the throne, prompting twelve further signs: iron covenant, stone turtle, Yu tally, inscribed jade, black seal, Maoling stone text, black-dragon stele, spirit well, great spirit rock, and finally the bronze tally on silk. Sign after sign stacked up to the twelfth, each meant to leave the new emperor no room for doubt. He professed awe before Heaven, dropped the open title of regent, yet still styled himself "acting," and renamed the era Initial—thinking this might stall the mandate and appease God. That was still not what Heaven intended by its solemn tokens, so on the same day another tortoise oracle settled the matter. Then Wang Xu, a palace attendant, met a figure in white linen with a red-trimmed collar and small cap standing before the Wanglu Hall who said, "Heaven and earth are of one hue today; I commit the empire's people to the emperor." Xu stared in wonder; after a dozen steps the stranger vanished. That bingyin evening a golden coffer appeared in Gaozu's temple bearing the text: "The High Ancestor received Heaven's command to hand the realm to the new emperor." At dawn Liu Hong, marquis of loyalty, reported it; the court was still debating when a great stone spirit cried, "Send the new emperor at once to Gaozu's temple for the charge. Do not linger!" Wang Mang entered his carriage, rode to Gaozu's shrine, and took the mandate on the dingmao day. The stem ding stood for fire—the virtue of Han. The branch mao formed part of the graph for the Liu surname, together with metal and blade. Together they showed that Han's fire and the Liu name were spent, and both passed to Xin. Though he piled refusal on refusal, the twelve omens would not relent; awestruck and grieving that Han could not be saved, and with a damaged passage in the received text regarding his attendants, he forsook his bed three nights and fasted three days. When he asked his nobles, they answered in one voice, "You must obey Heaven's stern command." He therefore adopted a new era name and title, and the realm was told that a new age had begun. With Xin established, the gods rejoiced, blessings multiplied, and good omens came in waves. The Odes say, "He suits the people, suits the people, and wins Heaven's gift of rank; Heaven shields him, Heaven appoints him, Heaven renews the charge again and again. This is what it speaks of." The Five Might generals toured with the talisman book, new seals and cords for every changed title from inner nobles to outer barbarians, collecting the old Han credentials as they went. Officials gained two steps in rank, commoners one; each block of a hundred female-headed households received sheep and wine, and frontier peoples gifts of silk graded by status. A general amnesty was proclaimed.
21
五威將乘《乾》文車，駕《坤》六馬，背負鷩鳥之毛，服飾甚偉。 每一將各置左右前後中帥，凡五帥。 衣冠車服駕馬，各如其方面色數。 將持節，稱太一之使； 帥持幢，稱五帝之使。 莽策命曰：「普天之下，迄於四表，靡所不至。」 其東出者，至玄菟、樂浪、高句驪、夫餘； 南出者，逾徼外，歷益州，貶句町王為侯； 西出者，至西域，盡改其王為侯； 北出者，至匈奴庭，授單于印，改漢印文，去「璽」曰「章」。 單于欲求故印，陳饒椎破之。 語在《匈奴傳》。 單于大怒，而句町、西域後卒以此皆畔。 饒還，拜為大將軍，封威德子。
Each general rode a chariot emblazoned with the hexagram Qian, drove six horses fit for Kun, wore kingfisher plumes across his back, and cut a magnificent figure. Each Five Might general had five sub-commanders—left, right, van, rear, and center. Dress, chariots, and teams were color-coded and numbered to match the direction each envoy served. The generals carried tallies and announced themselves as messengers of the Supreme One; while the commanders bore pennants and called themselves agents of the Five Emperors. Wang Mang's charge read, "From pole to pole, to the edge of the four seas, nothing lies beyond your errand." The eastern circuit reached Xuantu, Lelang, Koguryŏ, and Puyŏ; the southern party crossed the frontier, crossed Yizhou, and reduced the Gouding king to a marquis; the western mission reached the Western Regions and turned every local king into a marquis; the northern envoys rode to the Chanyu's court with a new seal whose legend dropped Han's character for imperial jade in favor of a lesser 'seal.' When the Chanyu demanded the old seal back, Chen Rao shattered it with a hammer. The full story is told in the Treatise on the Xiongnu. The Chanyu exploded with anger; Gouding and the Western Regions eventually broke away for this very reason. Chen Rao came home to appointment as grand general and the title Viscount Weide.
22
冬，雷，桐華。
That winter thunder rolled and paulownias flowered out of season.
23
置五威司命，中城四關將軍。 司命司上公以下，中城主十二城門。 策命統睦侯陳崇曰：「咨爾崇。 夫不用命者，亂之原也； 大奸猾者，賊之本也； 鑄偽金錢者，妨寶貨之道也； 驕奢逾制者，凶害之端也； 漏洩省中及尚書事者，『機事不密則害成』也； 拜爵王庭，謝恩私門者，祿去公室，政從亡矣：凡此六條，國之綱紀。 是用建爾作司命，『柔亦不茹，剛亦不吐，不侮鰥寡，不畏強圉』，帝命帥由，統睦於朝。」 命說符侯崔發曰：「『重門擊柝，以待暴客。』 女作五威中城將軍，中德既成，天下說符。」 命明威侯王級曰：「繞B346之固，南當荊楚。 女作五威前關將軍，振武奮衛，明威於前。」 命尉睦侯王嘉曰：「羊頭之厄，北當燕、趙。 女作五威後關將軍，壺口捶扼，尉睦於後。」 命掌威侯王奇曰：「餚、黽之險，東當鄭、衛。 女作五威左關將軍，函谷批難，掌威於左。」 命懷羌子王福曰：「汧隴之阻，西當戎狄。 女作五威右關將軍，成固據守地，懷羌於右。」
He created the office of Five Might Overseer of Fate and four gate generals for the capital's walls. The overseer ranked every noble below the senior duke, while the inner-city command controlled all twelve gates. Marquis of Tongmu Chen Chong received a mandate that began, "Chong, I speak to you. Defiance of orders is the root of chaos; cunning villainy is the taproot of rebellion; counterfeiting coin blocks the proper flow of money; arrogance beyond sumptuary law is the first step toward disaster; whispering palace or secretariat business breaks the rule that 'loose talk ruins great schemes'; those who take rank from the throne but pay court in private houses drain the public fisc and privatize power—these six articles are the pillars of good order. Therefore you are named Overseer of Mandate, to be neither cowed by the strong nor harsh to the weak, and to knit the court together under Heaven's charge." To Cui Fa, Marquis of Shuofu, he said, "As the Classic warns, double gates and night watchmen keep off raiders. You shall be Five Might general of the inner walls—once the capital's virtue is firm, the empire will rally to the signs." He charged the Marquis of Mingwei, Wang Ji, saying: "The strength of the entrenched barrier [lacuna in text] faces south toward Jing and Chu. You shall be Five Might Forward Pass General, rousing martial prowess and guarding with brilliance to the fore." He charged the Marquis of Weimu, Wang Jia, saying: "The crisis at Yangtou faces north toward Yan and Zhao. You shall be Five Might Rear Pass General, Hukou striking and choking, harmonizing the rear in guard." He charged the Marquis of Zhangwei, Wang Qi, saying: "The narrows of Yao and Min face east toward Zheng and Wei. You shall be Five Might Left Pass General, Hangu resisting difficulty, holding authority on the left." He charged the Viscount Who Cherishes the Qiang, Wang Fu, saying: "The barrier of Qian and Long faces west toward the Rong and Di. You shall be Five Might Right Pass General, firm in defense of the ground, cherishing the Qiang on the right."
24
又遣諫大夫五十人分鑄錢於郡國。
Fifty remonstrance grandees were sent out to mint cash in the various commanderies.
25
是歲，長安狂女子碧呼道中曰：「高皇帝大怒，趣歸我國。 不者，九月必殺汝！」 莽收捕殺之。 治者掌寇大夫陳鹹自免去官。 真定劉都等謀舉兵，發覺，皆誅。 真定、常山大雨雹。
That year a madwoman in Chang'an, Bi, shouted in the road, "High Emperor is greatly angered; hasten and restore my state. If you refuse, in the ninth month I will kill you!" Wang Mang had her seized and executed. Chen Xian, grandee against robbers who had handled the case, resigned his post. Liu Du of Zhending and fellow conspirators were caught plotting revolt and put to death. Zhending and Changshan were lashed by a violent hailstorm.
26
二年二月，赦天下。
The second year opened with a general amnesty in the second month.
27
五威將帥七十二人還奏事，漢諸侯王為公者，悉上璽綬為民，無違命者。 封將為子，帥為男。
Seventy-two generals and commanders reported back: every Han prince who had been made a duke handed in his seals and accepted commoner status without protest. Generals were given viscountcies, their sub-commanders baronies.
28
初設六管之令。 命縣官酤酒，賣鹽鐵器，鑄錢，諸採取名山大澤眾物者稅之。 又令市官收賤賣貴，賒貸予民，收息百月三。 犧和置酒士，郡一人，乘傳督酒利，禁民不得挾弩鎧，徙西海。
The Six Monopolies were proclaimed for the first time. The state would retail wine, peddle salt and ironware, mint money, and levy excises on forest, mountain, and marsh products. Market officers were to speculate on prices, lend to the public, and charge three percent monthly interest. Each commandery got a wine agent who galloped about enforcing the liquor monopoly; private crossbows or mail meant exile to the western sea.
29
匈奴單于求故璽，莽不與，遂寇邊郡，殺略吏民。
The Chanyu demanded his old jade seal; Wang Mang refused, and the nomads raided the frontier, killing and looting.
30
十一月，立國將軍建奏：「西域將欽上言，九月辛已，戊己校尉中陳良、終帶共賊殺校尉刁護，劫略吏士，自稱廢漢大將軍，亡入匈奴。 又今月癸酉，不知何一男子遮臣建車前，自稱『漢氏劉子輿，成帝下妻子也。 劉氏當復，趣空宮。』 收系男子，即常安姓武字仲。 皆逆天違命，大逆無道。 請論仲及陳良等親屬當坐者。 奏可。 漢氏高皇帝比著戒雲，罷吏卒，為賓食，誠欲承天心，全子孫也。 其宗廟不當在常安城中，及諸劉為諸侯者當與漢俱廢。 陛下至仁，久未定。 前故安眾侯劉崇、徐鄉侯劉快、陵鄉侯劉曾、扶恩侯劉貴等更聚眾謀反。 今狂狡之虜或妄自稱亡漢將軍，或稱成帝子子輿，至犯夷滅，連未止者，此聖恩不蚤絕其萌牙故也。 芳愚以為漢高皇帝為新室賓，享食明堂。 成帝，異姓之兄弟； 平帝，婿也； 皆不宜復入其廟。 元帝與皇太后為體，聖恩所隆，禮亦宜之。 臣請漢氏諸廟在京師者皆罷。 諸劉為諸侯者，以戶多少就五等之差； 其為吏者皆罷，待除於家。 上當天心，稱高皇帝神靈，塞狂狡之萌。」 莽曰：「可。 嘉新公國師以符命為予四輔，明務侯劉龔、率禮侯劉嘉等凡三十二人皆知天命，或獻天符，或貢昌言，或捕告反虜，厥功茂焉。 諸劉與三十二人同宗共祖者勿罷，賜姓曰王。」 唯國師以女配莽子，故不賜姓。 改定安太後號曰「黃皇室主」，絕之於漢也。
In the eleventh month the General Who Establishes the State, Jian, memorialized: "the Western Regions general Qin reported that on xinsi in the ninth month, Chen Liang and Zhong Dai of the Wuji colonel staff jointly murdered Colonel Diao Hu, plundered officers and men, styled themselves Great General Who Ends Han, and fled into the Xiongnu. That same month a stranger blocked Sun Jian's chariot, claiming to be Liu Yu, bastard son of Emperor Cheng by a lesser wife, come to restore Han. He demanded the Lius be restored and the palace cleared for them. Guards seized him and learned he was a Chang'an commoner surnamed Wu, personal name Zhong. Both cases were heaven-defying treason. Sun Jian asked that Wu Zhong and the families of Chen Liang's party be prosecuted. The throne approved the memorial. Gaozu's spirit had long warned Han to dismiss arms and feast allies—meaning to obey Heaven and save his line. Their shrines should not stand in the capital, and Liu nobles ought to fall with the Han name. Your Majesty's kindness has delayed the decision. Liu Chong, Liu Kuai, Liu Zeng, Liu Gui, and others had already raised repeated rebellions. Now every rogue calls himself a Han general or Liu Yu, bringing whole clans to ruin—because we did not nip the evil in the bud. I humbly suggest Gaozu be kept only as a ritual guest of Xin, fed in the Bright Hall. Chengdi was a brother-in-law by adoption, not of Wang blood; Pingdi was a son-in-law; neither should retain a personal temple. Yuandi was one flesh with the grand empress dowager; he alone may deserve continued honor. I ask that every Han temple inside the walls be closed. Liu nobles should be folded into the five-rank system by the size of their fiefs; all Liu officeholders should be sent home pending reassignment. This will match Heaven's mind, declare High Emperor's spirit, and stop the sprouts of wild cunning." Wang Mang replied, "Granted. Thirty-two men, from National Instructor Liu Xin down to Liu Gong and Liu Jia, had proved Heaven's will by omens, good counsel, or catching traitors. Any Liu who shared descent with those thirty-two might keep office but must take the surname Wang." Only Liu Xin was exempt because his daughter had married Wang Mang's son. The former Han empress dowager was renamed "Lady of the Yellow Imperial House," cutting her last tie to Liu.
31
冬十二月，雷。
Thunder rolled again in the twelfth winter month.
32
更名匈奴單于曰「降奴服於。」 莽曰：「降奴服於知威侮五行，背畔四條，侵犯西域，延及邊垂，為元元害，罪當夷滅。 命遣立國將軍孫建等凡十二將，十道並出，共行皇天之威，罰於知之身。 惟知先祖故呼韓邪單于稽侯犬冊累世忠孝，保塞守徼，不忍以一知之罪，滅稽侯犬冊之世。 今分匈奴國土人民以為十五，立稽侯犬冊子孫十五人為單于。 遣中郎將藺苞、戴級馳塞下，召拜當為單于者。 諸匈奴人當坐虜知之法者，皆赦除之」。 遣五威將軍苗訢、虎賁將軍王況出五原，厭難將軍陳欽、震狄將軍王巡出雲中，振武將軍王嘉、平狄將軍王萌出代郡，相威將軍李C97C、鎮遠將軍李翁出西河，誅貉將軍陽俊、討穢將軍嚴尤出漁陽，奮武將軍王駿、定胡將軍王晏出張掖，及偏裨以下百八十人。 募天下囚徒、丁男、甲卒三十萬人，轉眾郡委輸五大夫衣裘、兵器、糧食，長吏送自負海江淮至北邊，使者馳傳督趣，以軍興法從事，天下騷動。 先至者屯邊郡，須皆具乃同時出。
He retitled the Chanyu "Vassal who submits and serves," an intentional insult. Wang Mang announced that the Chanyu Zhi—mock-titled "Slave Who Submits and Serves"—had mocked the Five Agents, broken the four treaties, raided the west, and harried the border people, crimes worthy of extermination. Twelve generals led by Sun Jian would strike along ten roads to visit Heaven's wrath on Zhi himself. Yet Huhanye's heir Jihuoshan had guarded the frontier in loyalty for generations; I will not wipe out his line for the crimes of Zhi alone. He therefore split the steppe into fifteen parts and named fifteen of Jihuoshan's kin as rival Chanyus. Lin Bao and Dai Ji galloped to the border to invest each puppet Chanyu. Xiongnu guilty only of obeying Chanyu Zhi were pardoned." He launched Miao Xin and Wang Kuang from Wuyuan, Chen Qin and Wang Xun from Yunzhong, Wang Jia and Wang Meng from Dai, two generals surnamed Li from Xihe, Yang Jun and Yan You from Yuyang, Wang Jun and Wang Yan from Zhangye, one hundred eighty officers in all. Three hundred thousand men were mobilized, supplies requisitioned down to the Yangzi, and couriers flogged the convoys north under martial law until the empire seethed. Early arrivals camped on the frontier until every column was ready for a joint advance.
33
莽以錢幣訖不行，復下書曰：「民以食為命，以貨為資，是以八政以食為首。 寶貨皆重則小用不給，皆輕則僦載煩費，輕重大小各有差品，則用便而民樂。」 於是造寶貨五品，語在《食貨志》。 百姓不從，但行小大錢二品而已。 盜鑄錢者不可禁，乃重其法，一家鑄錢，五家坐之，沒入為奴婢。 吏民出入，持布錢以副符傳，不持者，廚傳勿捨，關津苛留。 公卿皆持以入宮殿門，欲以重而行之。
Because coin and currency in the end would not circulate, Mang again issued a document saying: "The people take food as their life and goods as their capital; therefore among the Eight Policies food comes first. Currency must balance weight and face value or trade either starves or groans under transport costs; graded coinage keeps markets happy." He minted five denominations of treasure currency, as the Treatise on Food and Goods records. The people ignored the scheme and clung to the large and small cash alone. Secret minting spread until he decreed collective guilt: one family caught forging doomed five neighbors to slavery. Travelers had to show a cloth token with their passport or be refused inns and ferries. Even ministers had to display the cloth money at palace doors to force the habit.
34
是時，爭為符命封侯，其不為者相戲曰：「獨無天帝除書乎？」 司命陳崇白莽曰：「此開奸臣作福之路而亂天命，宜絕其原。」 莽亦厭之，遂使尚書大夫趙B03C驗治，非五威將率所班，皆下獄。
At this time they vied to be enfeoffed marquises for talisman-mandates; those who were not teased one another, saying, "Have you alone no edict of removal from the Celestial Thearch?" Overseer of Mandate Chen Chong reported to Mang, saying, "This opens a road for wicked ministers to make their fortune and confuses Heaven's mandate; it is fitting to cut off its source." Weary himself, Wang Mang had a secretariat grandee investigate and jail everyone whose omen had not come through the Five Might generals.
35
初，甄豐、劉歆、王舜為莽腹心，倡導在位，褒揚功德； 「安漢」、「宰衡」之號及封莽母、兩子、兄子，皆豐等所共謀，而豐、舜、歆亦受其賜，並富貴矣，非復欲令莽居攝也。 居攝之萌，出於泉陵侯劉慶、前煇光謝囂、長安令田終術。 莽羽翼已成，意欲稱攝。 豐等承順其意，莽輒復封舜、歆兩子及豐孫。 豐等爵位已盛，心意既滿，又實畏漢宗室、天下豪桀。 而疏遠欲進者，並作符命，莽遂據以即真，舜、歆內懼而已。 豐素剛強，莽覺其不說，故徙大阿、右拂、大司空豐、托符命文，為更始將軍，與賣餅兒王盛同列。 豐父子默默。 時子尋為侍中京兆大君茂德侯，即作符命，言新室當分陝，立二伯，以豐為右伯，太傅平晏為左伯，如周、召故事。 莽即從之，拜豐為右伯。 當述職西出，未行，尋復作符命，言故漢氏平帝后黃皇室主為尋之妻。 莽以詐立，心疑大臣怨謗，欲震威以懼下，因是發怒曰：「黃皇室主天下母，此何謂也！」 收捕尋。 尋亡，豐自殺。 尋隨方士入華山，歲余捕得，辭連國師公歆子侍中東通靈將、五司大夫隆威侯B14B，B14B弟右曹長水校尉伐虜侯泳，大司空邑弟左關將軍掌威侯奇，及歆門人侍中騎都尉丁隆等，牽引公卿黨親列侯以下，死者數百人。 尋手理有「天子」字，莽解其臂入視之，曰：「此一大子也，或曰一六子也。 六者，戮也。 明尋父子當戮死也。」 乃流B14B於幽州，放尋於三危，殛隆於羽山，皆驛車載其屍傳致雲。
Zhen Feng, Liu Xin, and Wang Shun had been Wang Mang's inner circle, drafting honors and edicts; the titles 'Pacifier of Han' and 'Regulator of the Realm' and the enfeoffments of Mang's mother, two sons, and elder brother's son were all jointly plotted by Feng and the others, yet Feng, Shun, and Xin also received those gifts and together became rich and noble—they no longer wished to make Mang hold the regency in proxy. The regency idea itself had sprung from Liu Qing, Xie Xuan, and Tian Zhongshu. Once Wang Mang's faction was complete, he set his own sights on the regency. Zhen Feng and company played along, so Wang Mang renewed fiefs for Wang Shun's and Liu Xin's sons and for Zhen Feng's grandson. Their titles had peaked and their ambition was sated, yet they still dreaded the Liu clan and the realm's heroes. Outsiders forged omens to get ahead; Wang Mang used them to seize the throne, leaving Wang Shun and Liu Xin quietly terrified. Zhen Feng was proud; Wang Mang sensed his resentment and demoted him—Grand Minister of Works and all—to General of Renewal, the same rank as the baker Wang Sheng. Father and son fell silent. His son Zhen Xun then forged an omen that Xin should split the realm like ancient Shan, naming Zhen Feng right elder and Ping Yan left elder after the Duke of Zhou and Duke of Shao. Wang Mang accepted the script and named Zhen Feng right elder. Before Zhen Feng could depart, Zhen Xun forged another omen—that the Han empress, Lady of the Yellow House, should become his wife. Mang, having gained the throne by fraud, inwardly suspected that great ministers resented and slandered him, wishing to shake awe to frighten those below; therefore he flew into a rage, saying, 'The Mistress of the Yellow Imperial House is mother of the realm—what does this mean!' Zhen Xun was arrested. Zhen Xun fled and Zhen Feng killed himself. After more than a year, Zhen Xun was captured after following fangshi into Mount Hua. His confession implicated the State Preceptor Liu Xin's son, Palace Attendant and Central Eastern Numinous General B14B, Marquis Longwei and Grandee of the Five Offices; B14B's younger brother Liu Yong, Right Bureau Chief and Changshui Commandant, Marquis Falu; Wang Qi, younger brother of Grand Minister of Works Wang Yi and Left-Pass General, Marquis Zhangwei; and Ding Long, Liu Xin's disciple, Palace Attendant, and Cavalry Commandant. The case drew in ministers, nobles, party associates, kin, and marquises; several hundred people died. Wang Mang examined Zhen Xun's palm, where the lines seemed to spell "Son of Heaven," and claimed it read as one large "zi"—or one "six" and one "zi"—playing on the graphs for Son of Heaven. Six, he said, meant execution. It proved, he claimed, that the Zhen family deserved death." The chief conspirators were exiled or executed, their corpses carted away as a warning.
36
莽為人侈口蹶顄，露眼赤精，大聲而嘶。 長七尺五寸，好厚履高冠，以DA3E裝衣，反膺高視，瞰臨左右。 是時，有用方技待詔黃門者，或問以莽形貌，待詔曰：「莽所謂鴟目虎吻豺狼之聲者也，故能食人，亦當為人所食。」 問者告之，莽誅滅待詔，而封告者。 後常翳雲母屏面，非親近莫得見也。
Wang Mang had a gaping mouth, thrusting chin, bulging bloodshot eyes, and a hoarse bellow for a voice. He stood seven and a half feet, favored towering caps and thick soles, strutted in stiff brocade [one character unreadable in the source], chest thrown back, eyes glaring down at everyone. At this time there was a fang-shi awaiting edict at the Yellow Gate; someone asked him about Mang's appearance, and the awaiting-edict said, 'Mang is what is called owl eyes, tiger muzzle, jackal-wolf voice—therefore he can devour men, and likewise ought to be devoured by men. Wang Mang executed the diviner and rewarded the informer. After that he hid behind a mica screen so only favorites saw his face.
37
是歲，以初睦侯姚恂為寧始將軍。
Yao Xun, Marquis of Chumu, was named General Who Begins Tranquility.
38
三年，莽曰：「百官改更，職事分移，律令儀法，未及悉定，且因漢律令儀法以從事。 令公卿、大夫、諸侯、二千石舉吏民有德行通政事能言語明文學者各一人，詣王路四門。
In the third year Mang said: 'The hundred officials have been changed and renamed, duties divided and shifted, statutes, commands, and ritual law have not yet all been fixed; for the time being follow Han statutes, commands, and ritual law in conducting affairs. He ordered nobles and governors each to nominate one worthy scholar to present at the capital's four gates.
39
遣尚書大夫趙B03C使勞北邊，還言五原北假膏壤殖谷，異時常置田官。 乃以B03C為田禾將軍，以戍卒屯田北假，以助軍糧。
An envoy reported that the Beijia pasturelands north of Wuyuan were rich farmland once worked by Han garrison colonies. That officer became General of Field and Grain and sent border troops to farm there for the army.
40
是時，諸將在邊，須大眾集，吏士放縱，而內郡愁於征發，民棄城郭流亡為盜賊，并州、平州尤甚。 莽令七公六卿號皆兼稱將軍，遣著武將軍逮B03C等填名都，中郎將、繡衣執法各五十五人，分填緣邊大郡，督大奸猾擅弄兵者，皆便為奸於外，撓亂州郡，貨賂為市，侵漁百姓。 莽下書曰：「虜知罪當夷滅，故遣猛將分十二部，將同時出，一舉而決絕之矣。 內置司命軍正，外設軍監十有二人，誠欲以司不奉命，令軍人鹹正也。 今則不然，各為權勢，恐猲良民，妄封人頸，得錢者去。 毒B063並作，農民離散。 司監若此，可謂稱不？ 自今以來，敢犯此者，輒捕系，以名聞。」 然猶放縱自若。
While armies massed on the frontier, troops ran riot, the interior buckled under conscription, and refugees swelled the bandit ranks in Bingzhou and Pingzhou. He gave every high minister a general's title and sent them to border seats, where they bullied locals, took bribes, and spread chaos. Mang issued a document saying: "The barbarian Zhi's guilt deserves extermination; therefore I dispatch fierce generals in twelve divisions, who will go out together and in one stroke cut them off utterly. Within the host he set overseers of mandate and army rectifiers; without, twelve army overseers—to keep troops from disobeying orders and make every soldier upright. Instead each officer became a petty tyrant, shaking down the innocent for cash. Poisons and extortions multiplied until the peasants fled their fields. Was this supervision fit for its name? Henceforth any such offender was to be seized and denounced by name." The abuse continued unchecked.
41
而藺苞、戴級到塞下，招誘單于弟鹹、鹹子登入塞，脅拜鹹為孝單于，賜黃金千斤，錦繡甚多，遣去； 將登至長安，拜為順單于，留邸。
Lin Bao and Dai Ji lured the Chanyu's brother Xian and son Deng inside the wall, forced Xian to accept the title Filial Chanyu, heaped gold and silk on him, then sent them off; they escorted Deng to Chang'an as Obedient Chanyu and housed him in the capital.
42
太師王舜自莽篡位後病悸，浸劇，死。 莽曰：「昔齊太公以淑德累世，為周氏太師，蓋予之所監也。 其以舜子延襲父爵，為安新公，延弟褒新侯匡為太師將軍，永為新室輔。」
Grand Tutor Wang Shun fell ill with heart palpitations after the usurpation and died as his symptoms worsened. Mang said: 'In antiquity Grand Duke Qi, by pure virtue through successive generations, was Grand Tutor to the Zhou house—this is what I take as my mirror. Let Shun's son Yan inherit his father's noble rank as Duke of Anxin; Yan's younger brother, Marquis of Baoxin Kuang, shall be Grand Tutor and general, forever to assist the new house.'
43
為太子置師友各四人，秩以大夫。 以故大司徒馬宮為師疑，故少府宗伯鳳為傅丞，博士袁聖為阿輔，京兆尹王嘉為保拂，是為四師； 故尚書令唐林為胥附，博士李充為奔走，諫大夫趙襄為先後，中郎將廉丹為禦侮，是為四友。 又置師友祭酒及侍中、諫議、《六經》祭酒各一人，凡九祭酒，秩上卿。 琅邪左鹹為講《春秋》、穎川滿昌為講《詩》、長安國由為講《易》、平陽唐昌為講《書》、沛郡陳鹹為講《禮》、崔發為講《樂》祭酒。 遣謁者持安車印綬，即拜楚國龔勝為太子師友祭酒，勝不應徵，不食而死。
The crown prince received four tutors and four companions at grandee rank. Ma Gong, Zong Feng, Yuan Sheng, and Wang Jia filled the four tutor posts with archaic titles; Tang Lin, Li Chong, Zhao Xiang, and Lian Dan became the four companions with equally archaic names. Nine libationers oversaw the classics and the heir's household at senior-minister rank. Specialists were named for each of the Six Classics, from Zuo Xian on the Spring and Autumn to Cui Fa on the Music. Messengers with a carriage and seals went to appoint Gong Sheng, who refused, fasted, and starved himself to death.
44
寧始將軍姚恂免，侍中、崇祿侯孔永為寧始將軍。
Yao Xun stepped down; Kong Yong replaced him as General Who Begins Tranquility.
45
是歲，池陽縣有小人景，長尺餘，或乘車馬，或步行，操持萬物，小大各相稱，三日止。
Chiyang reported tiny phantom figures over a foot tall riding toy chariots or walking, mimicking human affairs for three days.
46
瀕河郡蝗生。
River counties suffered a locust hatch.
47
河決魏郡，泛清河以東數郡。 先是，莽恐河決為元城塚墓害。 及決東去，元城不憂水，故遂不堤塞。
The river broke in Wei and poured across the lands east of the Qinghe. Wang Mang had long dreaded a breach that would flood the Wang tombs at Yuancheng. When the flood ran eastward and spared Yuancheng, he left the breach undiked.
48
四年二月，赦天下。
The fourth year opened with a general amnesty in the second month.
49
夏，赤氣出東南，竟天。
A red mist rose in the southeast and stretched across the heavens.
50
厭難將軍陳欽言捕虜生口，虜犯邊者皆孝單于鹹子角所為。 莽怒，斬其子登於長安，以視諸蠻夷。
Chen Qin reported from captives that the raids were led by Jiao, son of the puppet Chanyu Xian. Wang Mang beheaded the hostage prince Deng in Chang'an as a warning to the steppe.
51
大司馬甄邯死，寧始將軍孔永為大司馬，侍中大贅侯輔為寧始將軍。
Zhen Han died; Kong Yong became grand marshal while Fu took the old title of General Who Begins Tranquility.
52
莽每當出，輒先搜索城中，名曰「橫搜」。 是月，橫搜五日。
Before each outing he ordered a city-wide dragnet called a 'transverse search.' That month's sweep lasted five days.
53
莽至明堂，授諸侯茅土。 下書曰：「予以不德，襲於聖祖，為萬國主。 思安黎元，在於建侯，分州正惑，以美風俗。 追監前代，爰綱爰紀。 惟在《堯典》，十有二州，衛有五服。 《詩》國十五，布遍九州。 《殷頌》有『奄有九有』之言。 《禹貢》之九州無並、幽，《周禮‧司馬》則無徐、梁。 帝王相改，各有雲為。 或昭其事，或大其本，厥義著明，其務一矣。 昔週二後受命，故有東都、西都之居。 予之受命，蓋亦如之。 其以洛陽為新室東都，常安為新室西都。 邦畿連體，各有采任。 州從《禹貢》為九，爵從周氏有五。 諸侯之員千有八百，附城之數亦如之，以俟有功。 諸公一同，有眾萬戶，土方百里。 侯伯一國，眾戶五千，土方七十里。 子男一則，眾戶二千有五百，土方五十里。 附城大者食邑九成，眾戶九百，土方三十里。 自九以下，降殺以兩，至於一城。 五差備具，合當一則。 今已受茅土者，公十四人、侯九十三人、伯二十一人、子百七十一人、男四百九十七人，凡七百九十六人。 附城千五百一十一人。 九族之女為任者，八十三人。 及漢氏女孫中山承禮君、遵德君、修義君更以為任。 萎有一公，九卿，十二大夫，二十四元士。 定諸國邑采之處，使侍中講禮大夫孔秉等與州部眾郡曉知地理圖籍者，共校治於壽成硃鳥堂。 予數與群公祭酒上卿親聽視，鹹已通矣。 夫褒德賞功，所以顯仁賢也； 九族和睦，所以褒親親也。 予永惟匪解，思稽前人，將章黜陟，以明好惡，安元元焉。」 以圖簿未定，未授國邑，且令受奉都內，月錢數千。 諸侯皆困乏，至有庸作者。
At the Bright Hall he handed out the ritual clods of earth for each noble's fief. His edict began, "I lack virtue yet have inherited the sage ancestors and rule the myriad states. To settle the people I must enfeoff lords, redraw provincial boundaries, and polish local custom. I have traced antiquity to lay down the warp and woof of administration. The Canon of Yao speaks of twelve provinces; the guards of the five domains appear in classical texts. The Odes list fifteen states across the nine regions. The Shang hymns boast of holding the nine domains. Yu Gong's nine provinces omit Bing and You; the Zhou Rites omit Xu and Liang. Each dynasty has reshaped the map to suit its needs. The details differ, but the goal is the same: orderly rule. When the Zhou founders received the mandate, they ruled from paired eastern and western capitals. My own accession follows that pattern. Luoyang became the eastern capital of Xin, Chang'an the western. The twin capitals would share one royal domain with graded fiefs around them. He restored nine provinces after the Tribute of Yu and five noble ranks after Zhou. He set aside 1,800 marquisates and the same number of 'attached-to-wall' slots for future merit. A duke held ten thousand households within a hundred li. Marquises and earls held five thousand households across seventy li. Viscounts and barons held twenty-five hundred households on fifty li. The largest 'attached-to-wall' rank drew nine hundred households on thirty li. Lower ranks stepped down by half down to a single walled town. The five grades formed a coherent ladder. Seven hundred ninety-six men already held patents: fourteen dukes down to 497 barons. Another 1,511 held the attached-to-wall rank. Eighty-three women of the nine branches bore the title ren. Han princesses with court titles were redesignated ren. Each fief was to field one duke, nine ministers, twelve grandees, and twenty-four primordial gentlemen. Kong Bing and regional experts collated fief maps in the Vermilion Bird Hall. He claimed he had personally reviewed the maps with his ministers until every detail was clear. Rewarding merit publicly is how a ruler honors the worthy. Keeping the nine branches in harmony is how he strengthens the royal clan. I mean to judge officials by clear standards of reward and punishment for the people's sake." Until the maps were final, nobles drew only a few thousand cash monthly stipends inside the capital. Many nobles grew so poor they hired out as day laborers.
54
中郎區博諫莽曰：「井田雖聖王法，其廢久矣。 周道既衰，而民不從。 秦知順民之心，可以獲大利也，故滅廬井而置阡陌，遂王諸夏，訖今海內未厭其敝。 今欲違民心，追復千載絕跡，雖堯、舜夏起，而無百年之漸，弗能行也。 天下初定，萬民新附，誠未可施行。」 莽知民怨，乃下書曰：「諸名食王田，皆得賣之，勿拘以法。 犯私買賣庶人者，且一切勿治。」
Palace Gentleman Qu Bo remonstrated with Mang, saying: 'The well-field, though the sage-kings' law, has long been abandoned. Even late Zhou could not enforce it, he said. Qin abolished communal fields for private plots and conquered China—yet the empire still prefers that system to the well-field. Reviving a millennium-old grid overnight would fail even if Yao and Shun returned without a hundred years of preparation. The empire was still too raw for such a wrenching reform." Seeing the anger, Wang Mang allowed holders of 'king's fields' to sell land again. As for those who violated the law by privately buying or selling commoners, for the time being investigate nothing in all cases.'
55
初，五威將帥出，改句町王以為侯，王邯怨怒不附。 莽諷牂柯大尹周歆詐殺邯。 邯弟承起兵攻殺歆。 先是，莽發高句驪兵，當伐胡，不欲行，郡強迫之，皆亡出塞，因犯法為冠。 遼西大尹田譚追擊之，為所殺。 州郡歸咎於高句驪侯騶。 嚴尤奏言：「貉人犯法，不從騶起，正有它心，宜令州郡且尉安之。 今猥被以大罪，恐其遂畔，夫餘之屬必有和者。 匈奴未克，夫餘、穢貉復起，此大憂也。」 莽不尉安，穢貉遂反，詔尤擊之。 尤誘高句驪侯騶至而斬焉，傳首長安。 莽大說，下書曰：「乃者，命遣猛將，共行天罰，誅滅虜知，分為十二部，或斷其右臂，或斬其左腋，或潰其胸腹，或紬其兩脅。 今年刑在東方，誅貉之部先縱焉。 捕斬虜騶，平定東域，虜知殄滅，在於漏刻。 此乃天地群神、社稷、宗廟佑助之福，公卿、大夫、士民同心將率虓虎之力也。 予甚嘉之。 其更名高句驪為下句驪，佈告天下，令咸知焉。」 於是貉人愈犯邊，東北與西南夷皆亂雲。
When the Five Might envoys demoted the Gouding king to a marquis, Wang Han refused to submit. Wang Mang had the Zangke intendant Zhou Xin murder Wang Han by treachery. Wang Cheng avenged his brother by killing Zhou Xin. Koguryŏ conscripts, pressed to fight the steppe, had fled beyond the wall and turned bandit. Grand Intendant Tian Tan of Liaoxi pursued them and died in the fight. Local officials blamed Marquis Zou of Koguryŏ. Yan You memorialized, saying, 'The Mo people broke the law; it did not begin with Zou; they have other intentions; it is fitting to order commanderies and prefectures for the time being to comfort and settle them. A blanket indictment, he warned, would drive allies such as Puyŏ into revolt. With the Xiongnu still unbeaten, a second front in the northeast would be disastrous." Wang Mang ignored the advice; the Mo rebelled, and he sent Yan You against them. Yan You lured Zou in and executed him, sending the head to the capital. Mang was greatly pleased and issued a document saying, "Recently I ordered fierce generals jointly to carry out Heaven's punishment, exterminating the barbarian Zhi, dividing into twelve divisions, some cutting off his right arm, some hacking his left armpit, some piercing his chest and belly, some trussing his two ribs. Heaven's 'punishment' lay in the east, he said, so the Mo column struck first. Zou's death would finish Chanyu Zhi in an instant. He credited gods, altars, and the united host for the victory. He lavished praise on the campaign. He renamed Koguryŏ 'Lower Gouding' and published the insult empire-wide." The Mo raided harder, and both northeast and southwest tribes erupted.
56
莽志方盛，以為四夷不足吞滅，專念稽古之事，復下書曰：「伏念予之皇始祖考虞帝，受終文祖，在璇璣玉衡以齊七政，遂類於上帝，禋於六宗，望秩於山川，遍於群神，巡狩五嶽，群後四朝，敷奏以言，明試以功。 予之受命即真，到於建國五年，已五載矣。 陽九之厄既度，百霹之會已過。 歲在壽星，填在明堂，倉龍癸酉，德在中宮。 觀晉掌歲，龜策告從，其以此年二月建寅之節東巡狩，具禮儀調度。」 群公奏請募吏民人馬布帛綿，又請內郡國十二買馬，發帛四十五萬匹，輸常安，前後毋相須。 至者過半，莽下書曰：「文母太后體不安，其且止待後。」
Mang's ambition was then at its height; thinking the four yi insufficient to swallow and destroy, he focused his mind on investigating antiquity; he again issued a document saying, 'I humbly ponder that my august founding ancestor the Emperor of Yu received the succession from Wen Ancestor, with the pearl-bordered jade sight-tube armillary and jade traverse to align the seven powers, then performed grouping sacrifice to August Heaven, dense offering to the six honors, orderly sacrifice to mountains and rivers, comprehensively to the host of spirits, toured and hunted the five marchmounts, the hosts of nobles courting at the four audiences, spreading presentation in words, clearly testing by merit. Five years had passed since he took the throne in the Shijian era. The cosmologists' 'yang-nine' crisis and the 'hundred-six' conjunction were now behind him. Omens aligned: the year-star in Shouxing, Saturn in the Bright Hall, the guiyue cycle, virtue in the center. Guan Jin holds the year; tortoise and milfoil declare compliance; with this year's second month, the jianyin festival, tour eastward in hunt, fully preparing ritual and arrangements." The court requisitioned horses, silk, and porters from twelve inner commanderies, rushing supplies to the capital without waiting for convoys to bunch. When those who arrived exceeded half, Mang issued a document saying, 'The Empress Dowager Wenmu's person is unwell; for the time being stop and await a later time.
57
是歲，改十一公號，以「新」為「心」，後又改「心」為「信」。
He rewrote the eleven ducal titles, swapping the character for 'new' to 'heart,' then to 'trust.'
58
五年二月，文母皇太后崩，葬渭陵，與元帝合而溝絕之。 立廟於長安，新室世世獻祭。 元帝配食，坐於床下。 葬為太倔服喪三年。
The Grand Empress Dowager Wang died in the second month and was buried at Weiling beside Yuandi but cut off by a trench. Xin built her a separate shrine in Chang'an for perpetual offerings. Yuandi shared the altar, placed below her couch. Wang Mang wore three years' mourning for her.
59
大司馬孔永乞骸骨，賜安車駟馬，以特進就朝位。 同風侯逯B03C為大司馬。
Kong Yong retired with honor—a carriage, four horses, and 'special advancement' rank at court. Lu Zhao (name partially unreadable in the received text) of Tongfeng became grand marshal.
60
是時，長安民聞莽欲都雒陽，不肯繕治室宅，或頗徹之。 莽曰：「玄龍石文曰『定帝德，國雒陽』。 符命著明，敢不欽奉！ 以始建國八年，歲纏星紀，在雒陽之都。 其謹繕修常安之都，勿令壞敗。 敢有犯者，輒以名聞，請其罪。」
Hearing Luoyang would be the capital, Chang'an residents let their houses decay or tore them down. He cited a stone inscription: 'Fix the sovereign's virtue; establish the capital at Luoyang. The omen was clear—how could he disobey? The eighth Shijian year would see the court installed at Luoyang. Meanwhile Chang'an must be kept in repair. Vandals were to be named and punished.'
61
是歲，烏孫大小昆彌遣使貢獻。 大昆彌者，中國外孫也。 其胡婦子為小昆彌，而烏孫歸附之。 莽見匈奴諸邊並侵，意欲得烏孫心，乃遣使者引小昆彌使置大昆彌使上。 保成師友祭酒滿昌劾奏使者曰：「夷狄以中國有禮誼，故詘而服從。 大昆彌，君也。 今序臣使於君使之上，非所以有夷狄也。 奉使大不敬！」 莽怒，免昌官。
Both Wusun rulers sent tribute that year. The Greater Kunmi was Han's grandson by a princess marriage. The Lesser Kunmi, born of a Xiongnu mother, nevertheless held Wusun's loyalty. To court Wusun while the frontier burned, Wang Mang ranked the Lesser Kunmi's envoy above the Greater Kunmi's. Libationer Who Guards and Completes Tutor and Companion Man Chang impeached the envoy, saying, 'The yi and di yield because the Central States has ritual and righteousness; therefore they bend and submit. The Greater Kunmi was the true sovereign of Wusun. Placing a vassal's embassy above the king's reversed proper order. It was gross disrespect to the mission." Wang Mang sacked Man Chang in a fury.
62
西域諸國以莽積失恩信，焉耆先畔，殺都護但欽。
Having lost faith in Xin, Yanqi struck first and killed Protector-General Dan Qin.
63
十一月，彗星出，二十餘日，不見。
A comet shone twenty days in the eleventh month, then vanished.
64
是歲，以犯挾銅炭者多，除其法。
So many broke the copper-and-charcoal ban that he repealed it.
65
明年改元曰「天鳳」。
The next year he changed the era name to 'Heavenly Phoenix.'
66
天鳳元年正月，赦天下。
Tianfeng opened with a general amnesty in the first month.
67
莽曰：「予以二月建寅之節行巡狩之禮，太官繼E05F乾肉，內者行張坐臥，所過毋得有所給。 予之東巡，必躬載耒，每縣則耕，以勸東作。 予之南巡，必躬載耨，每縣則耨，以勸南偽。 予之西巡，必躬載銍，每縣則獲，以勸西成。 予之北巡，必躬載拂，每縣則粟，以勸蓋藏。 畢北巡狩之禮，即於土中居雒陽之都焉。 敢有趨言雚犯法，輒以軍法從事。」 群公奏言：「皇帝至考，往年文母聖體不豫，躬親供養，衣冠稀解。 因遭棄群臣悲哀，顏色未復，飲食損少。 今一歲四巡，道路萬里，春秋尊，非E05F乾肉之所能堪。 且無巡狩，須闋大服，以安聖體，臣等盡力養牧兆民，奉稱明詔。」 莽曰：「群公、群牧、群司、諸侯、庶尹願盡力相帥養牧兆民，欲以稱予，繇此敬聽，其勖之哉！ 毋食言焉。 更以天鳳七年，歲在大梁，倉龍庚辰，行巡狩之禮。 厥明年，歲在實沈，倉龍辛已，即土之中雒陽之都。」 乃遣太傅平晏、大司空王邑之雒陽，營相宅兆，圖起宗廟、社稷、郊兆雲。
Mang said: 'I shall in the second month, the jianyin festival, perform the rites of touring hunt; the Grand Provisioner will supply dried meat, the Inner Service will set out seats and couches for lying and sitting; along the way none shall be supplied. Eastward he would carry a plough into each county to model spring planting. Southward he would hoe each county to encourage summer growth in the southern fields. Westward he would reap a token field to bless the autumn harvest. Northward he would winnow grain to encourage granaries and storage. After the northern leg he would take up residence in Luoyang, 'center of the earth. Gossip or lawbreaking along the route would be tried under military law." The hosts of dukes memorialized, saying, 'The emperor is supremely filial; in former years when the Empress Dowager Wenmu's sacred person was unwell, he personally attended and nourished her, rarely loosening cap or sash. Because of the bereavement the whole court grieved; his complexion had not recovered, and food and drink had diminished. Four annual tours over ten thousand li would exhaust even a younger man, let alone dried rations. They begged him to wait until mourning ended while they governed in his name." Mang said, 'The hosts of dukes, shepherds, bureaus, feudal lords, and many intendants wish to exhaust their strength, leading one another in nourishing and shepherding the million people, thereby to match me; for this I respectfully listen; strive in it! He warned them not to break their promise. The grand tour was rescheduled to Tianfeng 7, gengchen year. The next year, the year lodged in Great Darkness, azure-dragon xinsi, then the capital of Luoyang at the center of the earth.' He sent Ping Yan and Wang Yi to Luoyang to stake out temples and suburban altars.
68
三月壬申晦，日有食之。 大赦天下。 策大司馬逯B03C曰：「日食無光，干戈不戢，其上大司馬印□，就侯氏朝位。 太傅平晏勿領尚書事，省侍中、諸曹兼官者。 以?男苗訢為大司馬。」
A solar eclipse fell on the last day of the third month, renshen. A general amnesty followed. He charged Grand Marshal Lu Zhao as follows: 'The sun eclipse had no light; arms are not stowed; let him submit the grand marshal's seal-cord and take court station with the Marquis clan. Ping Yan was removed from the secretariat and redundant dual offices cut. He made Miao Xin, [title damaged in text] nan, Grand Marshal.'
69
莽即真，尤備大臣，抑奪下權，朝臣有言其過失者，輒拔擢。 孔仁、趙博、費興等以敢擊大臣，故見信任，擇名官而居之。 公卿入宮，吏有常數，太傅平晏從吏過例，掖門僕射苛差問不遜，戊曹士收系僕射。 莽大怒，使執法發車騎數百圍太傅府，捕士，即時死。 大司空士夜過奉常亭，亭長苛之，告以官名，亭長醉曰：「寧有符傳邪？」 士以馬棰擊亭長，亭長斬士，亡，郡縣逐之。 家上書，莽曰：「亭長奉公，勿逐。」 大司空邑斥士以謝。 國將哀章頗不清，莽為選置和叔，敕曰：「非但保國將閨門，當保親屬在西州者。」 諸公皆輕賤，而章尤甚。
Once emperor, he kept senior ministers under tight watch, stripped their power, yet promoted anyone who denounced them. Kong Ren, Zhao Bo, and Fei Xing won trust by attacking senior officials and took prestigious posts. Ping Yan's oversized escort quarreled with the gate captain, who was then arrested by a junior clerk. Wang Mang ringed the grand tutor's mansion with hundreds of horsemen and executed the clerk summarily. A Grand Minister of Works clerk was halted at an inn; the drunk post chief demanded: "Where are your tallies and passports?" The clerk lashed the chief, who killed him and fled; a manhunt followed. The killer's kin appealed; Wang Mang said, "The pavilion chief served the public; do not pursue him. Wang Yi discharged the dead man's colleagues as apology. For the dissolute Ai Zhang, Wang Mang appointed a 'Harmonizing Uncle' to watch both his household and his western kin. The high nobles despised Ai Zhang above all.
70
四月，隕霜，殺草木，海瀕尤甚。 六月，黃霧四塞。 七月，大風拔樹，飛北闕直城門屋瓦。 雨雹，殺牛羊。
April brought killing frost that blackened the coast worst. Yellow fog choked the sky in the sixth month. July gales tore trees and stripped tiles from the northern Zhicheng Gate. Hailstorms killed livestock.
71
莽以《周官》、《王制》之文，置卒正、連率、大尹，職如太守； 屬令、屬長，職如都尉。 置州牧、部監二十五人，見禮如三公。 監位上大夫，各主五郡。 公氏作牧，侯氏卒正，伯氏連率，子氏屬令，男氏屬長，皆世其官。 其無爵者為尹。 分長安城旁六鄉，置帥各一人。 分三輔為六尉郡，河東、河內、弘農、河南、穎川、南陽為六隊郡，置大夫，職如太守； 屬正，職如都尉。 更名河南大尹曰保忠信卿。 益河南屬縣滿三十。 置六郊州長各一人，人主五縣。 及它官名悉改。 大郡至分為五。 郡縣以亭為名者三百六十，以應符命文也。 緣邊又置竟尉，以男為之。 諸侯國閒田，為黜陟增減雲。 莽下書曰：「常安西都曰六鄉，眾縣曰六尉。 義陽東都曰六州，眾縣曰六隊。 粟米之內曰內郡，其外曰近郡。 有障徼者曰邊郡。 合百二十有五郡。 九州之內，縣二千二百有三。 公作甸服，是為惟城； 諸在侯服，是為惟寧； 在采、任諸侯，是為惟翰； 在賓服，是為惟屏； 在揆文教，奮武衛，是為惟垣； 在九州之外，是為惟籓：各以其方為稱，總為萬國焉。」 其後，歲復變更，一郡至五易名，而還復其故。 吏民不能紀，每下詔書，輒系其故名，曰：「制詔陳留大尹、太尉：其以益歲以南付新平。 新平，故淮陽。 以雍丘以東付陳定。 陳定，故梁郡。 以封丘以東付治亭。 治亭，故東郡。 以陳留以西付祈隧。 祈隧，故滎陽。 陳留已無復有郡矣。 大尹、太尉，皆詣行在所。」 其號令變易，皆此類也。
He renamed governors after Zhou guise—Army Rectifier, Chain Leader, grand intendant. County heads became 'subordinate magistrate' and 'subordinate chief' like Han commandants. Twenty-five 'shepherds' and overseers were greeted like the Three Dukes. Each overseer ranked as senior grandee and watched five commanderies. Noble houses inherited these renamed posts by rank. Commoners in charge were simply 'intendants.' Chang'an's six suburban townships each got a commander. The capital region split into six 'Wei' divisions; six inner commanderies became 'cohort' divisions with grandees replacing governors; each with a 'rectifier' playing the old commandant's role. The Henan intendant became 'Guardian of Loyalty and Trust.' Henan was bloated to thirty counties. Six suburban 'chiefs' each oversaw five counties. Every other title was reshuffled again. The largest commanderies were split into as many as five new units. Three hundred sixty jurisdictions were renamed with ting in the title to satisfy the prophetic glosses. He added frontier 'border overseers,' always men of baronial rank. Vacant land in princely fiefs was earmarked for shuffling fiefs up or down. He decreed that the western capital region be organized as 'Six Townships' and its counties as 'Six Commandants. Luoyang, the eastern capital, was styled the Six Provinces, with counties as the Six Cohorts. Commanderies inside the grain belt were 'inner'; those just outside were 'near. Walled frontier districts were classed as 'border commanderies. The empire was tallied at 125 commanderies. Within the nine provinces there were 2,203 counties. Dukes held the inner royal-domain belt—the 'wall' zone. Marquises held the next ring—'peace. Nobles in cai and ren fiefs formed the 'wing' tier. Guest-rank lords were the 'screen. The next belt mixed civil order with military guard—the 'rampart. Beyond the nine provinces lay the 'hedge' of outer states, each named by its quarter—ten thousand polities on paper.' Names churned yearly—one county might be renamed five times, then changed back. Clerks and people could not keep records; whenever an edict was issued, he always appended the old name, saying, 'By edict to the Chenliu grand intendant and grand commandant: south of Yisui assign to Xinping. Xinping was old Huaiyang. East of Yongqiu went to Chengdings. Chengdings was the old Liang commandery. East of Fengqiu went to Zhiting. Zhiting was old Dong commandery. West of Chenliu went to Qisui. Qisui was old Xingyang. Thus Chenliu ceased to exist as a single commandery. Both officers were ordered to the mobile court.' His renaming mania looked like this everywhere.
72
今天下小學，戊子代甲子為六旬首。 冠以戊子為元日，昏以戊寅之旬為忌日。 百姓多不從者。
Primary schools were told to start the sexagenary cycle with wuzi instead of jiazi. Court caps used wuzi as New Year's dawn; dusk avoided the wuyin ten-day week. The people largely ignored the new calendar quirks.
73
匈奴單于知死，弟鹹立為單于，求和親。 莽遣使者厚賂之，詐還許其侍子登，因購求陳良、終帶等。 單于即執良等付使者，檻車詣長安。 莽燔燒良等於城北，令吏民會觀之。
When the Chanyu died, his brother Xian took the throne and sued for peace. Wang Mang bribed the new Chanyu and dangled the return of prince Deng while demanding the Han traitors. The Chanyu handed over the fugitives in caged carts for Chang'an. Wang Mang burned them north of the walls before a crowd.
74
緣邊大饑，人相食。 諫大夫如普行邊兵，還言「軍士久屯塞苦，邊郡無以相贍。 今單于新和，宜因是罷兵。」 校尉韓威進曰：「以新室之威而吞胡虜，無異口中蚤虱。 臣願得勇敢之士五千人，不繼斗糧，饑食虜肉，渴飲其血，可以橫行。」 莽壯其言，以威為將軍。 然采普言，征還諸將在邊者。 免陳欽等十八人，又罷四關填都尉諸屯兵。 會匈奴使還，單于知侍子登前誅死，發兵寇邊，莽復發軍屯。 於是邊民流入內郡，為人奴婢，乃禁吏民敢挾邊民者棄市。
The frontier famine turned neighbors into food. Remonstrance Grandee Ru Pu toured the border troops and returned, saying, 'Soldiers long encamped on the wall suffer hardship; border commanderies have no means to supply them. Now the Chanyu has newly made peace; it is fitting to take this occasion to dismiss the troops.' Colonel Han Wei advanced, saying, 'With the new house's majesty to swallow the Hu captives is no different from fleas or lice in the mouth. Your servant wishes to obtain five thousand brave men, needing no successive rations of grain, who will eat the captives' flesh when hungry and drink their blood when thirsty, and can rampage across them.' Wang Mang admired the bravado and made Han Wei a general. Still, he recalled the border generals on Ru Pu's advice. He cashiered Chen Qin and seventeen others and stripped the inner four passes of their garrisons. When word reached the steppe that Deng was dead, raids resumed and Wang Mang re-garrisoned the line. Refugees were enslaved inland until he banned harboring frontier folk on pain of public execution.
75
益州蠻夷殺大尹程隆，三邊盡反。 遣平蠻將軍馮茂將兵擊之。
Yi tribes killed Cheng Long, and all three border zones rose. Feng Mao marched as Pacification-of-Yi general.
76
寧始將軍侯輔免，講《易》祭酒戴參為寧始將軍。
Hou Fu stepped down; Dai Shen, Changes lecturer, took General Who Begins Tranquility.
77
二年二月，置酒王路堂，公卿、大夫皆佐酒。 大赦天下。
In the second month of Tianfeng 2 he feasted the nobility in the Wanglu Hall. He declared a general amnesty.
78
是時，日中見星。
Stars could be seen at noon.
79
大司馬苗訢左遷司命，以延德侯陳茂為大司馬。
Miao Xin was shunted to Overseer of Mandate; Chen Mao took his place as grand marshal.
80
訛言黃龍墮死黃山宮中，百姓奔走往觀者以萬數。 莽惡之，捕系問語所從起，不能得。
Rumor of a dead yellow dragon in Huangshan Palace drew tens of thousands of gawkers. Wang Mang cracked down but never traced the rumor's source.
81
單于鹹既和親，求其子登屍，莽欲遣使送致，恐鹹怨恨害使者，乃收前言當誅侍子者故將軍陳欽，以他罪系獄。 欽曰：「是欲以我為說於匈奴也。」 遂自殺。 莽選儒生能顓對者濟南王鹹為大使，五威將琅邪伏黯等為帥，使送登屍。 敕令掘單于知墓，棘鞭其屍。 又令匈奴卻塞於漠北，責單于馬萬爭，牛三萬頭，羊十萬頭，及稍所略邊民生口在者皆還之。 莽好為大言如此。 鹹到單于庭，陳莽威德，責單于背畔之罪，應敵從橫，單于不能詘，遂致命而還之。 入塞，鹹病死，封其子為伯，伏黯等皆為子。
To send Deng's body without risking his envoys, Wang Mang jailed Chen Qin on a pretext—the man who had urged executing Deng. Qin said, 'This is wanting to use me as an explanation to the Xiongnu.' He killed himself. He chose Wang Xian of Jinan as chief envoy and Fu An as escort commander to return Deng's remains. He also ordered Zhi's corpse exhumed and flogged with brambles. He demanded the nomads pull back beyond the Gobi, deliver huge herds, and return every living captive. Such grandiose demands were typical of Wang Mang. Wang Xian lectured the Chanyu in his own court yet walked out alive. Wang Xian died on the road home; his son got an earldom; Fu An and party were made viscounts.
82
莽意以為制定則天下自平，故銳思於地理，制禮作樂，講合《六經》之說。 公卿旦入暮出，議論連年不決，不暇省獄訟冤結民之急務。 縣宰缺者，數年守兼，一切貪殘日甚。 中郎將、繡衣執法在郡國者，並乘權勢，傳相舉奏。 又十一公士分佈勸農桑，班時令，案諸章，冠蓋相望，交錯道路，召會吏民，逮捕證左，郡縣賦斂，遞相賕賂，白黑紛然，守闕告訴者多。 莽自見前顓權以得漢政，故務自攬眾事，有司受成苟免。 諸寶物名、帑藏、錢谷官，皆宦者領之； 吏民上封事書，宦官左右開發，尚書不得知。 其畏備臣下如此。 又好變改制度，政令煩多，當奉行者，輒質問乃以從前，前後相乘，憒眊不渫。 莽常御燈火至明，猶不能勝。 尚書因是為奸寢事，上書待報者連年不得去，拘繫郡縣者逢赦而後出，衛卒不交代三歲矣。 谷常貴，邊兵二十餘萬人仰衣食，縣官愁若。 五原、代郡尤被其毒，起為盜賊，數千人為輩，轉入旁郡。 莽遣捕盜將軍孔仁將與兵郡縣合擊，歲余乃定，邊郡亦略將盡。
He believed perfect paperwork would order the world, so he obsessed over maps, rites, and classical harmonization. Nobles debated endlessly while lawsuits and popular distress piled up unread. Vacant magistracies stayed on 'acting' appointees who grew ever more corrupt. Imperial inspectors abused their badges and denounced one another in circles. Eleven dukes' agents swarmed the countryside on agricultural pretexts, extorting and tangling the courts until petitioners mobbed the palace gates. Having seized Han by hoarding power, he now hoarded every decision while clerks rubber-stamped outcomes. Eunuchs took charge of the treasuries and granaries. Sealed petitions therefore never reached the secretariat without being opened first by palace eunuchs. His paranoia about ministers ran that deep. Constant rule changes contradicted earlier edicts until no one knew which law applied. He burned midnight oil yet could not clear the paperwork. The secretariat stalled petitions for years; prisoners waited for amnesties; capital guards went three years without relief. Two hundred thousand frontier mouths kept grain dear and treasuries frantic. Wuyuan and Dai were worst hit, spawning thousand-man bandit bands that spilled into neighbors. Kong Ren spent a year suppressing them while the border counties were bled white.
83
邯鄲以北大雨霧，水出，深者數丈，流殺數千人。
North of Handan a flash flood in fog killed thousands.
84
立國將軍孫建死，司命趙閎為立國將軍。 寧始將軍戴參歸故官，南城將軍廉丹為寧始將軍。
Sun Jian died; Zhao Hong replaced him as General Who Establishes the State. Dai Shen left the post; Lian Dan became General Who Begins Tranquility.
85
三年二月乙酉，地震，大雨雪，關東尤甚，深者一丈，竹柏或枯。 大司空王邑上書言：「視事八年，功業不效，司空之職尤獨廢頓，至乃有地震之變。 願乞骸骨。」 莽曰：「夫地有動有震，震者有害，動者不害。 《春秋》記地震，《易‧系》「坤」動，動靜辟脅，萬物生焉。 災異之變，各有雲為。 天地動威，以戒予躬，公何辜焉，而乞骸骨，非所以助予者也。 使諸吏散騎司祿大衛脩寧男遵諭予意焉。」
A yiyou-day quake and blizzard buried the east pass region a fathom deep, killing bamboo groves. Grand Minister of Works Wang Yi memorialized, saying, 'In eight years of holding office my merit has not been effective; the office of Minister of Works especially lies idle and halted, to the point that there was the transformation of an earthquake. He asked to retire." Mang said, 'Earth has movement and quake; quake is harmful, movement is not harmful. He cited the Annals and the Changes on Kun as proof that motion can be creative. Omens, he said, bear many interpretations. He told Wang Yi the quake warned the throne, not the minister, and refused the resignation. He ordered various clerks, mounted attendants, Director of Blessings Grandee of the Guard, Marquis Xiuning of Great Wei, Zun, to explain his intent.'
86
五月，莽下吏祿制度，曰：「予遭陽九之厄，百六之會，國用不足，民人騷動，自公卿以下，一月之祿十B32F布二匹，或帛一匹。 予每念之，未嘗不戚焉。 今厄會已度，府帑雖未能充，略頗稍給，其以六月朔庚寅始，賦吏祿皆如制度。」 四輔公、卿、大夫、士，下至輿僚，凡十五等。 僚祿一歲六十六斛，稍以差增，上至四輔而為萬斛雲。 莽又曰：「普天之下，莫非王土； 率土之賓，莫非王臣。 蓋以天下養焉。 《周禮》膳羞百有二十品，今諸侯各食其同、國、則； 辟、任、附城食其邑； 公、卿、大夫、元士食其采。 多少之差，鹹有條品。 歲豐穰則充其禮，有災害則有所損，與百姓同憂喜也。 其用上計時通計，天下幸無災害者，太官膳羞備其品矣； 即有災害，以什率多少而損膳焉。 東嶽太師立國將軍保東方三州一部二十五郡； 南嶽太傅前將軍保南方二州一部二十五郡； 西嶽國師寧始將軍保西方一州二部二十五郡； 北岳國將衛將軍保北方二州一部二十五郡； 大司馬保納卿、言卿、仕卿、作卿、京尉、扶尉，兆隊、右隊、中部左洎前七部； 大司徒保樂卿、典卿、宗卿、秩卿、翼尉、光尉、左隊、前隊、中部、右部，有五郡； 大司空保予卿、虞卿、共卿、工卿、師尉、列尉、祈隊、後隊、中部洎後十郡； 及六司，六卿，皆隨所屬之公保其災害，亦以十率多少而損其祿。 郎、從官、中都官吏食祿都內之委者，以太官膳羞備損而為節。 諸侯、辟、任、附城、群吏亦各保其災害。 幾上下同心，勸進農業，安元元焉。」 莽之制度煩碎如此，課計不可理，吏終不得祿，各因官職為奸，受取賕賂以自共給。
In the fifth month Mang issued regulations on clerical salaries, saying, 'I have encountered the calamity of yang-nine and the conjunction of the hundred-six; state use is insufficient, the people are in turmoil; from dukes and ministers downward, one month's salary is ten bolts of cloth or one bolt of silk. He professed grief at the austerity. Now the evil conjunction has passed; though the treasury is not yet full, it is somewhat supplied; from the sixth month's first day, gengyin, begin, and assign clerical salaries all according to the regulations.' Salaries ran in fifteen grades from the Four Supports down to drivers. Base pay was sixty-six hu yearly, rising in steps to ten thousand hu for the top ministers. He quoted the Odes: 'All within the seas is the king's ground. Every shore-dweller is the king's man. The realm must therefore feed its officials. He cited the Zhou Rites banquet lists and tied noble stipends to ducal, state, or rule rank; earls, ren holders, and attached-to-walls drew from their towns; while dukes, ministers, grandees, and gentlemen lived on ritual cai fiefs. Each stipend grade had fixed high and low limits. In good years banquets ran full; in bad years stipends shrank with the people's fortunes. Annual accounting would set court cuisine—full menus only if the realm had no disasters; otherwise meals were cut by tenths according to calamity. The eastern peak minister guarded three eastern provinces and twenty-five commanderies; The southern peak minister was charged with two southern provinces, one division, and twenty-five commanderies. The western peak minister held one province split into two divisions totaling twenty-five commanderies. The northern peak minister watched two northern provinces, one division, and twenty-five commanderies. The Grand Marshal oversaw a thicket of named bureaus and seven cohort divisions. The Grand Minister over the Masses guarded another set of clerks and five commanderies; The Grand Minister of Works oversaw another block of named bureaus plus the ten rear commanderies. Each minister's pay was tied to regional harvest omens under his protection. Capital officials eating from metropolitan granaries matched their meals to the same famine scale. Nobles and clerks likewise bore 'disaster' zones whose misfortune trimmed their pay. The aim was shared belt-tightening to steady agriculture and calm the people.' The scheme was so baroque that salaries never paid out; clerks lived on bribes instead.
87
是月戊辰，長平館西岸崩，邕涇水不流，毀而北行。 遣大司空王邑行視，還奏狀，群臣上壽，以為《河圖》所謂「以土填水」，匈奴滅亡之祥也。 乃遣并州牧宋弘、游擊都尉任萌等將兵擊匈奴，至邊止屯。
That wuchen month a landslide dammed the Jing River near Changping until it burst northward. He dispatched Grand Minister of Works Wang Yi to go inspect; returning, he reported the condition; the host of ministers offered congratulations, thinking it what the River Chart calls 'using earth to choke water'—an omen of the Xiongnu's perishing. Song Hong and Ren Meng marched toward the steppe but stopped at the line.
88
七月辛酉，霸城門災，民間所謂青門也。
Bawcheng Gate—'Green Gate' to locals—burned in the seventh month.
89
戊子晦，日有食之。 大赦天下，復令公卿、大夫、諸侯、二千石舉四行各一人。 大司馬陳茂以日食免，武建伯嚴尤為大司馬。
A solar eclipse closed the wuzi month. Amnesty came with orders to recommend one exemplar of each 'four conduct' virtue. Chen Mao lost his post to the eclipse omen; Yan You became grand marshal.
90
十月戊辰，王路硃鳥門鳴，晝夜不絕，崔發等曰：「虞帝辟四門，通四聰。 門鳴者，明當修先聖之禮，招四方之士也。」 於是令群臣皆賀，所舉四行從硃鳥門入而對策焉。
Tenth month, wuchen, the Wanglu Vermilion Bird Gate sounded, day and night without cease; Cui Fa and others said, 'The Emperor of Yu opened four gates, opened four acuities. The gate's sounding means it is clear one should repair the former sages' rites and summon men of the four quarters.' The court feasted, and 'four conduct' nominees entered by the Vermilion Bird Gate for examinations.
91
平蠻將軍馮茂擊句町，士卒疾疫，死者什六七，賦斂民財什取五，益州虛耗而不克，征還下獄死。 更遣寧始將軍廉丹與庸部牧史熊擊句町，頗斬首，有勝。 莽征丹、熊，丹、熊願益調度，必克乃還。 復大賦斂，就都大尹馮英不肯給，上言「自越巂遂久仇牛、同亭邪豆之屬反畔以來，積且十年，郡縣距擊不已。 續用馮茂，苟施一切之政。 僰道以南，山險高深，茂多驅眾遠居，費以億計，吏士離毒氣死者什七。 今丹、熊懼於自詭期會，調發諸郡兵、谷，復訾民取其十四，空破梁州，功終不遂。 宜罷兵屯田，明設購賞。」 莽怒，免英官。 後頗覺寤，曰：「英亦未可厚非。」 復以英為長沙連率。
Feng Mao's southern campaign lost two-thirds to disease, taxed Yizhou fifty percent, failed, and ended in his prison death. Lian Dan and Shi Xiong replaced him and won some skirmishes. Wang Mang recalled them, but they begged more time and materiel to finish the war. Again there were great levies; the Dadu grand intendant Feng Ying refused to supply, memorializing, 'Since the bands such as Jiujiu Chouniu and Tongting Xiedou rebelled south of Bodao, it has piled up to nearly ten years; commanderies and prefectures resist and strike without cease. He blamed Feng Mao's brutal catch-all policies for the mess. Feng Mao had relocated masses into malarial hills at vast cost, losing seventy percent of his troops. Lian Dan and Shi Xiong, racing deadlines, seized fourteen-tenths levies and gutted Liangzhou for nothing. Feng Ying urged garrison farming and posted bounties instead." Wang Mang fired him in rage. Afterward he somewhat awoke, saying, 'Ying also cannot be deeply blamed.' He reappointed Feng Ying as Changsha chain leader.
92
翟義黨王孫慶捕得，莽使太醫、尚方與巧屠共刳剝之，量度五藏，以竹筵導其脈，知所終始，雲可以治病。
Captured rebel Wang Sunqing was publicly dissected by surgeons and butchers to map anatomy 'for medicine'—a grisly display."
93
是歲，遣大使五威將王駿、西域都護李崇將戊己校尉出西域，諸國皆郊迎貢獻焉。 諸國前殺都護但欽，駿欲襲之，命佐帥何封、戊己校尉郭欽別將。 焉耆詐降，伏兵擊駿等，旨死。 欽、封後到，襲擊老弱，從車師還入塞。 莽拜欽為填外將軍，封劋鬍子。 何封為集胡男。 西域自此絕。」
Wang Jun and Li Chong led a western expedition welcomed with tribute—until ambush. Wang Jun plotted revenge for Dan Qin, sending He Feng and Guo Qin on separate columns. Yanqi feigned submission and wiped out Wang Jun's column. Guo Qin and He Feng arrived late, slaughtered noncombatants, and fled home via Cheshi. Guo Qin was rewarded as 'Fill-the-Outer' general and Viscount Who Cuts the Beard. He Feng became Baron Who Gathers the Hu. After that, Xin lost the Western Regions entirely.”