Liu Xuan led more than 100,000 coalition troops to besiege Wancheng, and the county magistrate of Cen Peng in the city led the remnants of Nanyang officials and troops to resist desperately.

After several major battles, the officers and troops in Nanyang have been almost eaten by the coalition forces, including the county magistrate Cen himself, most of them are wounded and defeated, and Wancheng's military quartermasters

Heavy is also lacking.

However, the county magistrate Cen who had been injured bravely took up the burden that should have been carried by the mayor of a provincial municipality at the prefectural and departmental levels, completely relying on his own outstanding group

Weaving ability and command ability, it was able to resist wave after wave of attacks by the coalition forces.

At this time, the outside of the city was desperately attacking, and the city was desperately defending.

More and more ordinary people from outside the city came to join the coalition army, and the number of people and materials in the city decreased day by day.

Wancheng's attack and defense are in a state of stalemate.

With the changes in the national situation and the current war situation, especially the rapid expansion of the ranks, the coalition forces are faced with a very urgent problem: the establishment of a leadership body

Department, to elect the supreme leader.

In the past, when the coalition forces were divided into several groups and acted independently, the problem of establishing an organizational leadership system was not prominent because of the small number of people, ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands

Out, just go away, if you can beat it, you will fight very much, and if you can't beat it, run quickly.

After the great alliance, because Liu Xuan's personal ability is too strong, he can catch everyone.

However, it is not possible now, an army of 100,000 people must eat, drink, and march to fight, and it is no longer possible to rely on the individual ability of a few people, there must be one

a recognized supreme leader and a unified organizational system.

Let's take a simple example, when there are few people, Liu Jiu calls everyone together, arranges the work, and everyone goes to do it separately.

When there are more people, things are complicated.

Even if a few thousand people went there to make a speech, those who were a little farther away would not be able to hear what he was saying, let alone follow it

Finish.

Therefore, at this time, the leaders of the coalition also felt that it was difficult to bring too many troops (there were too many soldiers but there was no unity), and they had to elect a supreme leader and establish it

Leadership.

Due to the social reasons analyzed above, the coalition officers and soldiers unanimously agreed to nominate a person from the Liu clan to be the supreme leader, or even the emperor.

However, there was a huge disagreement on the question of who to promote, and the question immediately became very complicated and the contradiction immediately became very acute.

We have also said that the basis of common interests in coalition cooperation is "common goals, different pursuits".

Although everyone is highly consistent in the goal of eliminating Wang Mang, in the process of destroying him, and how to divide the benefits after success, they have their own differences

Idea.

In other words, when the enemy is facing and must fight for survival, everyone will work together for a "common goal". And once the situation is good, "No

The pursuit of the same "will intensify internal contradictions, and even lead to insidious calculations and brutal killings!"

On the premise that everyone unanimously agreed to select people from the Liu clan, there were several candidates: Liu Xuan, Liu Xiu, and Liu Xuan.

In the eyes of many people, among the three candidates, Liu Xuan has the greatest hope, and his performance is very eye-catching, and everyone has seen it; followed by Liu Xiu, he Wen

has both martial arts, and he is also very good, but because he has been active under the banner of his eldest brother Liu Xuan, there are few opportunities to be alone, and ordinary people can't see him yet

potential; The most unsuccessful is Liu Xuan, who has no virtue and no talent, a cowardly personality, greedy for life and afraid of death, defected to Pinglin Bing a few years ago, and nothing can be seen about him, he is current

Get a change of the first general, the main sticky is the light of the Liu clan.

At this time, the children of Chungling, the so-called Nanyang Haojie, and Wang Chang, the leader of the Xiajiang soldiers, advocated the promotion of Liu Xuan. The reason is simple,

Whether it is morality, ability, combat record, or prestige, no one in the coalition army can compare with Liu Xuan. And the leaders of the Xinshi soldiers and the Pinglin soldiers resolutely advocated pushing Liu Xuan

, they are Wang Kuang, Wang Feng, Zhang Wei, Chen Mu and so on.

The reason for this is a bit more complicated.

When "different pursuits" prevail, especially when power and interests are distributed in such a way as the election of a supreme leader, the leaders of the entire coalition are effectively divided

It became two factions:

One faction is Liu Xuan, Liu Xiu, Wang Chang and others.

They have clear goals to strive for, far-sightedness, loyalty, rigor, and openness, whether it is political strategy, organizational ability, or military affairs

The level of command has reached a considerable height, and it has been preliminarily tested by practice.

The other faction is Wang Kuang, Wang Feng, Zhang Wei, Chen Mu, etc.

While armed against Wang Mang's official army, they like to indulge, be unruly, willing to plunder, greedy for enjoyment, not very good personal quality, and have a good eye

Not so ambitious.

For example, when they were resisting the official army and robbing their families, they often abducted other people's wives and daughters, and felt that they had a share when they won the battle of Tangzi Township

The few things immediately proposed to break up, and Liu Xiu persuaded the children of Chungling to give them his things and immediately rejoiced, which shows a lot of problems.

It is worth noting that Liu Xuan and Liu Xiu are ambitious and capable, and they are busy with work all day long - dispatching troops and marching to fight; And Wang Kuang and others are selfish

Heavy, not capable enough to work, always suffering defeats, hiding behind to play with power and pondering others.

It can be said so simply, Wang Kuang and others chose Liu Xuan because of Liu Xuan's incompetence, not because Liu Xuan was incompetent, but because Liu Xuan was excellent, on the contrary, it was because of Liu Xuan

is too good, Liu Xuan is too incompetent.

First of all, Liu Xuan has the heroic ambition of reviving the Han dynasty and making meritorious contributions, with strong ability and high prestige, and he is rigorous in governing the army, and he is as evil as hatred

The old one, Wang Kuang and others want to indulge in pleasure again, and it will be very inconvenient to grab things and women unscrupulously.

Secondly, Liu Xuan is arrogant, has a strong temperament, and is unwilling to be under others, if he becomes the old one, no one can control it, and Wang Kuang and others will be difficult to control the shape

Force.

Third, in the eyes of Wang Kuang and others, Liu Xuan is the best candidate to replace Liu Xuan, who has the ability to join the Pinglin soldiers alone in order to escape the pursuit of the government a few years ago

Poor, small official position, a nest, no circle, easy to control, very suitable for puppets and puppets. If he is allowed to come to power, it is just an ornament and a great power

It's still in the hands of a few brothers.

From the point of view of us as bystanders, if the coalition forces choose the best and the best to stand, choosing Liu Xuan or Liu Xiu is in line with the wishes of the majority of the coalition officers and men, and this is true

This has proven, and will continue to prove, the best option for coalition forces.

However, there was a law of history that came into play at this time and led the coalition astray because of this crucial choice.

I call this historical law the "law of misalignment of the virtuous and the ignorant," that is, under certain historical conditions, due to the lack of a healthy mechanism for selecting and employing people

As a result, virtuous and talented people are excluded and have no stage, while dull and stubborn people hold power and control the situation, and finally things go bad.

This is a bit like the "bad money drives out the good money" in economics, which we will talk about in more detail later.

In February 23 A.D., when Liu Jiu was busy working and nervously commanding the attack on Wancheng in the front, Wang Kuang and others were hiding in the rear on the bank of Yushui

The battalion counted him.

Wang Kuang, Wang Feng, Chen Mu, Zhang Wei and others conspired, in order to facilitate their own control and puppetry, they made up their minds to make Liu Xuan the emperor, and at the same time

Dig a pit and let Liu Jiu jump in.

They decided that they were not an opponent in the competition, so they decided to strike first.

The plan was decided, and they sent a fast horse to invite Liu Xuan from the front line, and immediately convened a meeting of the leaders, asking him to immediately express his position on the issue of appointing Liu Xuan as emperor.

(A total decision was made, and then the rider summoned Bosheng to show his proposal.) ）

It must be noted that this meeting of the leaders of the coalition forces is a bit like a simplified version of the "Hongmen Banquet", and most of the participants were arranged by Wang Kuang and others.

Liu Xiu is doing heavy work in front with his handy soldiers: besieging Wancheng.

This caught Liu Xuan off guard and was very embarrassed.

He knew very well that the showdown between these people was actually to be unprepared and force him to agree to the established plan.

He was faced with a dilemma:

If you agree, it means that not only will you give up the opportunity to be emperor, but the leadership of the coalition will completely fall into the hands of these people, and the coalition can be

How far to go is a problem, and the prospect of reviving the Han dynasty is worrying; If you don't agree, it is tantamount to openly working against these people, and the coalition is as valuable as a life-saving unity general

The appearance of a huge crack is equivalent to openly saying that I led everyone out desperately to be the emperor for myself.

After all, Liu Xuan is an emperor with both wisdom and bravery.

He objectively analyzed the complicated situation in front of him, and said that the purpose of everyone's army was to eliminate the Xinmang regime

Fang wants to support the Liu clan, and in the future, it will inevitably kill each other, but lose the support of the people.

Therefore, he suggested postponing the determination of the candidate for the emperor.

He said:

"The generals want to respect the clan, which is really a great favor for the descendants of the Liu family. But judging from my stupid ideas, I dare not agree. Now us

My friend Chimei Army is active in Qingzhou and Xuzhou, and there are hundreds of thousands (should be hundreds of thousands) of people

A royal family surnamed Liu, in that case, it will inevitably cause us to fight. Wang Mang has not been eliminated yet, and his own people will fight first, which can only make the people of the world suspicious and cut

Weaken our own authority. This is not a reckless solution. Moreover, there are few who have just used the army to play the imperial banner, such as Chen Sheng and Xiang Ji

Such. We fought from Chungling to Wancheng, and it was only 300 miles of territory, which was not a great feat at all. If the conditions are not ripe, he will be called the emperor in a hurry, and he must

However, it will become the target of concentrated attacks by heroes from all walks of life in the world, giving people an opportunity to take advantage of, which is not the best policy. Now it's better to call the king for the time being and use it to command everyone, if

The leader of the Red Eyebrow Army is virtuous and virtuous, and we will obey his leadership; If they don't stand, we will destroy Wang Mang, collect the red eyebrows, and then again

It's not too late to raise the honorific number. Please think about it. ”

Due to the extremely important importance of this meeting of the leadership group of the coalition forces, the Book of the Later Han Dynasty. The Biography of the Four Kings and Three Marquis of the Clan records Liu Xuan's speech in great detail.

To help you better understand, you may wish to also copy:

"The generals are fortunate to want to respect the clan, and their virtues are very strong, but they are stupid and disdainful. Today, the red eyebrows are green, Xu, hundreds of thousands, and they hear that Nanyang has established a clan

, I am afraid that the red eyebrows will be regained, and in this way, there will be internal strife. Now Wang Mang has not been destroyed, and the clan is attacking each other, because he is suspicious of the world and hurts his power, so he is reckless. And the first soldier

Singing trumpets, few can succeed, Chen Sheng, Xiang Ji, that is, its thing. Chungling went to Wan for 300 miles, but it was not enough. Standing up with self-esteem, for the world's standard, so that future generations can get it

Inherit me, and those who are not good are also good. Now he is called king by command. If the one who is set up by the red eyebrows is virtuous, he will follow it; If there is nothing to stand, break the reckless and lower the red eyebrows, and then lift

It's not too late. Let each of them ponder it. ”

In all fairness, Liu Xuan's remarks are very high-level and reasonable.

He completely stood on the high plane of conforming to the social trend of the coalition forces and making better contributions, and he not only analyzed the situation and expounded the law of social development, but also combined it with reality

The reason for the postponement of the title of emperor was explained.

We can't speculate in detail about Liu Xuan's inner world at that time.

If these words are his true thoughts, then it fully demonstrates his extraordinary strategy and open-mindedness.

Of course, if these words were a delaying tactic taken by him for his future emperor, then there is nothing wrong with that.

Let's think about it, Liu Xuan called himself "Zhutian Capital" at the beginning of the uprising, and when he besieged Wancheng a few days ago, he called himself "Zhutian General", his "revival."

The great cause of the Han family, doesn't it include the content that he wants to be the emperor?

The problem is that he just wants to be an emperor, and it's not too much.

In such a situation, many people want to destroy the king (Mang) and claim the king, according to the needs of work and personal conditions, Liu Xuan is to openly stand up and compete for the emperor

The position is also high-sounding.

Therefore, after listening to Liu Xuan's words, many generals thought it was reasonable, and they agreed at that time.

(The generals say "good")

At this time, the madman Zhang Wei appeared.

He was originally one of the leaders of the Xiajiang soldiers who followed Wang Chang, but when the coalition forces joined forces, he was co-opted by Wang Kuang and Wang Feng.

He has always been brave and strong, unruly, and in this conspiracy to establish the emperor, he sang with a white face. Seeing that the conspiracy couldn't go on, Zhang Wei stood up and pulled out

The sword struck the ground, and he said loudly with a loud voice:

"Half-heartedness, you can't make a big deal! Today, it is said that Liu Xuan will be the emperor, and it is decided! ”

Faced with the situation of being outnumbered at the venue, Liu Xuan was very calm: the great cause has just been raised, and it cannot be destroyed by cannibalism. Besides, now the coalition forces are hard-won

Unity is the blood and lives of many people.

He chose to look at the big picture and remain silent.

Most of the people present are not politicians, and they do not necessarily have much decision-making ability. For them, it is just to make an emperor with the surname Liu

A call, a flag, it doesn't matter who sets it up, anyway, if it's suitable, you will do it with him, and if it's not suitable, you will break up.

Seeing Zhang Wei's menacing appearance, Liu Xuan did not break out, and no one dared to raise any doubts.

(All follows)

The matter of the coalition forces supporting Liu Xuan as the emperor was decided by such a "sword".

Let's think about the "dislocation effect of virtuous and foolish" in political science, and understand how "virtuous" and "foolish" are misplaced, right?

Think about the "bad money driving out good money effect" in economics, and know how "bad money" drives out "good money", right?

Wang Kuang and others quickly organized Liu Xuan's enthronement ceremony.

While Wang Kuang and the others were busy preparing for Liu Xuan's enthronement ceremony, we talked about the "effect of bad money driving out good money".

In fact, there is nothing to prepare for this enthronement ceremony, firstly, the material conditions are poor, the army is marching and fighting, and the coalition army has to rely on everything it needs

Rob; Second, there is no decent nest, and I have been killed all the way from Chungling, and the small county towns and small market towns I encountered have been smashed, and I can't say that I can't hold one

The activity pulled the team back to the road, and Wancheng had not yet been defeated, so he had to find a place on the beach on the bank of Yushui, pick up the soil, and make it together on a flat ground

down; The third is also the most important, Wang Kuang and others are afraid that Liu Jiu will regret and have long nights and dreams, so they have to hurry.

You only have to look at the date chosen for the enthronement ceremony to understand that the preparation of this event is even more hasty than the preparation of ordinary peasant ceremonies: that year (

23 AD) on February 1, that is, a few days after the coalition forces won the great victory of Yuyang and besieged Wancheng.

Then let's take advantage of this time to talk quickly.

The so-called "bad money drives out good money effect", or "bad money drives out good money law", was first proposed as a famous theory in economics.

The phenomena it reveals and explains are very widely present in all historical periods and in different aspects of social life.

Among them, the "dislocation effect of the virtuous and the foolish" we mentioned earlier is another way of using this famous theory to explain some undesirable phenomena in the selection and employment of people.

In the peasant uprising alliance between the two Han Dynasty, Liu Xuan was replaced by Liu Xuan, a historical phenomenon that became "the effect of bad money driving out good money" and "the dislocation of virtuous and foolish".

effect" is the best example.

What makes us sad, and often saddened by the whole society, is that this phenomenon abounds in different historical periods.

This "bad money drives out good money effect" was first proposed by Gresham, the director of the English Mint (known as the Chancellor of the Exchequer) in the 16th century, so it is also called

The Gresham Effect.

It is said that at that time, Lao Ge found with a professional eye that in the exchange of goods and currency circulation activities, consumers often retain good fineness (precious metal content

high) currency, and put the currency with color difference (low precious metal content) into circulation, resulting in the withdrawal of "good money" with high real value from the market, and the real price

Low-value "bad coins" flood the market.

This phenomenon existed not only in the era of coinage circulation, but also in the era of paper money circulation.

For example, people always like to spend paper money that is polluted, damaged, or inconvenient to store, and the cash that needs to be stored is also neatly stored. This leads to the city

There are dirty paper money in the field that is passed around in people's hands like drumming and passing flowers, and very neat paper money is rarely seen by people.

As a result, touching money with your hands has become a very unhygienic thing.

This phenomenon exists in large numbers in all fields of social life, so the theory of "bad money drives out good money" has universal significance.

Another example is that when waiting in line for a bus, those who are honest and well-behaved in line often have to wait for a long time and make several trips

The car couldn't get on.

And those who don't follow the rules are able to grab time and seats by pulling away from the crowd and getting first.

Later, there were fewer and fewer people queuing up to get on the bus, and every time a car came, people flocked to it, making the ride like a war, which made people miserable.

In various social organizations and social environments, including officialdom, this phenomenon of misalignment of good and bad, virtuous and ignorant, is even more severe on the issue of cadres and personnel

points are universal.

For example, in places where there is a lack of a healthy mechanism for selecting and employing people, and in units that "eat a big pot of rice", people's promotion, treatment and personal morality and performance

It has nothing to do with it, some people who are young and strong and have both ability and political integrity either seek another career, or they have no stage, and maybe they are still excluded, and some mediocre people are even

The unscrupulous people hold power and control the situation.

Because people's energy is always limited, the former spend their main energy on improving themselves and doing a good job, and they are unwilling and have no time to engage in crooked ways

Road; And the latter, for the sake of promotion and treatment, plus they can't do work, will inevitably use their main energy to ponder people and engage in intrigues.

As a result, the work of this place and unit was in shambles, and a local and even a social crisis was brewing.

A poem by a famous contemporary poet that we have quoted in the past is an unfortunate portrayal of this phenomenon:

Noble is the epitaph of the noble, meanness is the pass of the mean.

We would like to take this opportunity to say that the "effect of bad money driving out good money" should attract people's attention, especially those in power!

Because this "bad money drives out good money effect" can be both devastating and bad, the opposite law came into being.

We'll talk about it later.

Now, the "good money" Liu Xuan was expelled by the "bad money" Liu Xuan, which is by no means just Liu Xuan's personal tragedy.

Liu Xiu is also a "good currency".

In order to avoid being "expelled", at least from now on, Liu Xiu has increased his vigilance against "bad money".