Wang Mang in CE 5 revives an ancient ceremony intended for those who have made great contributions to the state, and has himself awarded the “nine bestowments”. (Receipt of the "nine bestowments" will, after Wang Mang, hereafter become a customary step for usurpers to take before they ascend the throne.)

Around this time, Emperor Ping appears to grow out of a heart condition that he suffered as a child, and it becomes fairly clear that he resentsd Wang for slaughtering his uncles and not allowing his mother to visit him in Chang'an.

Wang therefore resolves to murder the emperor.

In the winter of 5, Wang administers pepper wine (considered at the time to be capable of chasing away evil spirits) to the thirteen-year-old-year-old emperor, but has the wine spiked with poison.

As the emperor suffers from the effects of the poison, Wang writes a secret petition to the gods, in which he offers to substitute his life for Emperor Ping's, and then has the petition locked away.

(Historians generally believed that Wang had two motives in doing this—one, in case Emperor Ping recovered from the poisoning, would have been to use this to try to absolve himself of involvement in the poisoning, and the second would have been to leave for posterity evidence of his faithfulness.)

After a few days of suffering, Emperor Ping dies.