At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang won the throne and established a new dynasty . During his reign, Wang Mang implemented a series of reform measures that were divorced from social reality, which intensified social contradictions and led to a nationwide peasant uprising. As a result, the new dynasty collapsed under the attack of the peasant rebel army. On September 3rd of the fourth year (23), he was killed by a man named Du Wu. " Han Shu·Wang Mang Biography " records: "Three days Geng Xu... Mang went to the car, and then gradually Taiwan... Businessman Du Wu killed Mang and took his sash." Later, the school captain Donghai Gongbin beheaded Wang Mang again. 's head. Because Du Wu personally killed Wang Mang, he became a famous figure in history. However, the records about Du Wu in historical books are too brief, only calling him a "merchant", so what identity Du Wu is will form different views in later generations.
Wang Mang usurped Han
One opinion holds that the so-called "businessman" refers to occupation, that is, Du Wu is a person engaged in business activities. Judging from ancient documents, since the Spring and Autumn Period, there has indeed been a phenomenon in which "merchant" is used to refer to commercial activities. For example, "Zuo Zhuan·Xi Gong Thirty-Three Years" has the record that "Zheng Merchant Xiangao will market in Zhou". From the records in "Han Shu: Wang Mang Biography", the day before Du Wu killed Wang Mang, there were Chang'an "the young people in the city, Zhu Di, Zhang Yu, etc., who were afraid that they would be spoiled, and they were chasing and reconciling, and burning the door of the house. , the axe respects the law,", the incident of the invasion of Wang Mang's palace. Those who hold the above views believe that Du Wu is likely to belong to Zhu Di and Zhang Yu. Since Du Wu is a citizen of Chang'an City, it is logical to say that he is engaged in business activities.
Du Wu
Another opinion holds that "shang" is a place name, and the so-called "merchant" refers to Du Wu's place of origin, that is, he is from Shangxian (now Shangzhou District, Shangluo City, Shaanxi).Those who hold this view also use positive and negative reasons to justify their views. First, although the business activities have been called "businessmen" since the Spring and Autumn Period, the synonymous title of "Jiaren" appeared at the same time, and the title of "businessmen" also appeared during the Warring States Period. In the Han Dynasty, the term "merchant" was basically replaced by "Jiaren" and "merchant", so in Han writings, "merchant" was rarely used to refer to business activities. Second, when historical records of the Han Dynasty mentioned people, they often put their place of origin before their names, and wrote the place names of their prefectures and counties. Such as Deng Ye, Donghai Gongbinjie, etc., all belong to this category.
Du Wu
In the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Shuzhuan of Gongsun", when it mentioned the rise of anti-reckless armed forces in various places, there is a record that "the merchant Wang Cen also raised troops in Luoxian, calling himself General Dinghan". The term "businessman Wang Cen" clearly refers to the place of origin. From the records in "Historical View of Han Dynasty ", there is a saying that "Three Fu heroes entered Chang'an and attacked Weiyang Palace. Geng Xu, Du Yu (ie Du Wu) killed Mang Yu Jiantai" Shangxian County is not far from Chang'an. When the anti-reckless armed swarms rose, Du Wu, who lived in Shangxian County, joined the army and entered Chang'an City with the army. It was also reasonable and reasonable to go to Jiantai to kill Wang Mang.
Judging from the above debate, it seems that the reason for the "originality theory" is more convincing.
