Chapter 19 9. The "emperor" who herds cattle

During the period of Hongnong, the Red Eyebrow Army reorganized an increasingly large team. With 10,000 people as a battalion, there were three elders and one person each. The whole army was reorganized into thirty battalions—that is to say, the Red Eyebrow Army had three About one hundred thousand people. Secondly, in order to fight against the Gengshi regime, the Red Eyebrow Army established Liu Penzi as emperor after Liu Zhang, the king of Yangjing in West Hancheng. King Chengyang Jing was the first generation king of Chengyang Kingdom in the Western Han Dynasty, that is, Zhu Xuhou Liu Zhang who made great contributions in the coup d'état of Liu Lu's court in the early Western Han Dynasty. The country of Yang is king.The King of Chengyang Jing was always a god widely worshiped in Shandong during the Han Dynasty. Until the time of Cao Cao, the local people still held prostitute sacrifices at the Temple of King Jing of Chengyang.

Liu Penzi's experience as emperor is also an interesting tidbit in this peasant war. He was originally a native of Shandong, but the Red Eyebrow Army passed by his hometown and took him and his two older brothers into the army.The eldest brother Liu Gong has read "Shangshu", and he is a rare intellectual in the Red Eyebrow Army, so when Fan Chong entered Luoyang, he was taken with him, and Emperor Gengshi named him Shihou—this is exactly what his grandfather granted him. It can be seen that Gengshi still respects his clan status.When Fan Chong fled, he stayed in Luoyang, and later moved to Chang'an with Emperor Gengshi.

Liu Penzi and his second brother Liu Mao stayed in the Red Eyebrow Army. Because they were too young, they were only fourteen or fifteen years old, and they were assigned to herd cattle. They were called "cow officials" in the army. Most of the red-browed soldiers are from Shandong, and naturally they have no doubts about the great god Chengyang Jingwang, who is native to Shandong.There was Qi Wu in the army, and he raged that King Chengyangjing said angrily: "If you are a county magistrate, why should you be a thief!" After Fan Chong and others put it together, this is not simple?If we put someone surnamed Liu in charge, isn't that considered a "thief"?

So I checked the household registration in the army to see who had the closest relationship with Emperor Liu's family, preferably the descendants of Chengyangjing Wang's family.After such an investigation, more than 70 people were found, and another three generations were checked... In the end, there were three candidates: the two brothers Liu Penzi, and Liu Xiao, the former Marquis of Xi'an. Three people can't be the leader together, can they?This is also easy to handle, draw lots. Fan Chong discussed with everyone, what should I write on this note?Everyone summed it up: I heard that the emperor's generals in ancient times were all called generals, so let's just write "generals"?

So three lots were made, one of which was written with the word "General", and the remaining two were blank and placed in bamboo tubes for the candidates to gamble their luck. But there is probably only the Tang Dynasty's "polo betting in Sanchuan" that is reflected in the history of this "drawing lots to be the emperor". For this lottery, the Red Eyebrow Army also organized a decent ceremony.The Red Eyebrow Army set up a mandala in Zhengcheng, north of Huaxian County, Shaanxi Province. First, they solemnly offered sacrifices to King Chengyang Jing, and then the three candidates drew lots according to their age.Liu Penzi, who was the youngest, was the last to be caught, but an emperor came out in one go.

The red-browed generals knelt down and professed their ministers, scaring the half-grown child so much that he almost cried.Fortunately, his second brother was calm and said that you should hide the things you caught.Liu Penzi didn't care, he threw away the deadly thing when he turned around, and ran back to the camp to continue to be his cowherd. After the emperor was elected, the red-browed generals also proclaimed their official titles one after another. Xu Xuan was a jailer in the county.Although Fan Chong was brave and good at fighting, he was a vulgar person after all, so points would be deducted to some extent, and he was only a royal doctor.Pang An is the chief minister of the left, Xie Lu is the chief minister of the right, and all below Yang Yin are Lieqing.

The scene of setting up the emperor with red eyebrows was a bit chaotic, and no one could tell whether they really wanted to establish the emperor, or they were just having fun.So much so that the biography of the protagonist Liu Penzi records that no one cared about the emperor at that time, and he was allowed to hang around with a group of cowherd boys. The only emperor's treatment was that his supervisor gave him a set of nondescript outfits when he was grazing cattle. Although the "General" was drawn by lottery, the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Biography of Liu Penzi" said that Chimei was later changed to "Jianshi", which should be called the emperor out-and-out.Liu Penzi, this poor child, was pushed to the crest of history in this way, and then fell heavily, becoming an innocent sacrifice on the altar of power.