after zhai and liu xin were defeated, wang became even more convinced that the empire was entirely under his control, and decided to finally seize the throne and start a new dynasty. in the winter of 8 ce, a prophecy written on a casket was presented by ai zhang (哀章). the prophecy was said to be a divine decree from emperor gao (liu bang,) stating that the throne should be given to wang, and that empress dowager wang (who was wang mang's own daughter, but held authority) should follow this divine will. wang issued a decree accepting the position of emperor and establishing the xin (new) dynasty.