Chapter 17 Chapter Sixteen Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan

Liu Xuan, courtesy name Shenggong, was born in Chongling (now south of Zaoyang County, Hubei Province), and is a descendant of Liu Bang.His father, Liu Zizhang, married the daughter of Pinglin He's family.Later, he was supported by various ministries of the peasant uprising army at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, and was known as the "Emperor Gengshi" in history. Liu Xuan was proclaimed emperor, which was full of chance, and the one who supported him as emperor was precisely the rebel army who wanted to overthrow a dynasty. In the fourth year of Tianfeng (AD 17), the people in western Hubei revolted due to famine. With Wang Kuang and Wang Feng as leaders, they gathered in Lulin Mountain (now Dahong Mountain, Hubei), and they were named "Green Forest Army".After several years of fighting, the Green Forest Army was dispersed and divided into "Xiajiang Soldiers", "New Soldiers" and "Pinglin Soldiers". ".

Liu Xuan was also in the rebel army. It turned out that one of Liu Xuan's younger brothers was killed by the enemy, so Liu Xuan gathered a group of friends to avenge his younger brother.One day, he had a banquet with his friends and invited the local magistrate to the banquet. One of the guests offended the magistrate by talking drunkenly.Seeing that Liu Xuan had escaped, the local officials arrested his father Liu Zizhang and put him in prison.When Liu Xuan heard that his father had been arrested, he let out the news that he had died of illness and made a coffin for people to transport back to his hometown for burial.When the officials heard that Liu Xuan was dead, they released Liu Zizhang.Liu Xuandong, who cheated his death, was hiding in Tibet and wandering around.Later, when he heard that Chen Mu, a native of Pinglin, raised the banner of rebellion, he came to join him.Chen Mu took him in and appointed him an official position - Anji rafter, which is an official of the Anji army.

Soon, Liu Xuan's cousins ​​Liu Yinyin and Liu Xiu set up troops in Nanyang and formed a "Chungling Soldier".They fought side by side with Xinshi soldiers, Pinglin soldiers and Xiajiang soldiers and defeated Wang Mang's army. There are many factions in the Green Forest Army, and there is no unity.In order to coordinate their actions, all rebels advocated setting up a supreme commander.Wang Mang's new emperor's seat was usurped by the Han family, and all the rebels called for anti-new and restored Han, so the Green Forest Sergeant decided to appoint a man surnamed Liu as the emperor.There are two candidates: one is Liu Yuyin and the other is Liu Xuan.Liu Weiyin was tough by nature, rough and forthright, and informal, and quite a few advocated the establishment of Liu Weiyin.Xinshi soldiers and Ping Lin soldiers were afraid of Liu Yuyin and advocated the establishment of Liu Xuan.They supported Liu Xuan as "Emperor Gengshi", which created a fait accompli, and Liu Yuyin and his supporters had to acquiesce.

In the fourth year of Emperor Dihuang (23 A.D.), Liu Xuan proclaimed himself emperor on the altar by the banks of the Feishui River, and met with his officials.Facing the group of Jiujiu warriors under the altar, he was ashamed and sweating, tongue-tied and speechless.Then, he stuttered and announced Jianyuan's "Gengshi", worshiped Wang Kuang as the Duke of Dingguo, Wang Feng as the Duke of Chengguo, Zhu Tuo as the Grand Sima, Liu Yuyin as the Grand Situ, Chen Mu as the Grand Sikong, and set up Jiuqing and Zhujiang. The various departments of the Green Forest Army were victorious, especially in the battle of Kunyang, which wiped out the main force of Wang Mang's army.Brothers Liu Yuyin and Liu Xiu have a great reputation.Gengshi's monarch and ministers felt: Brother Liu Yuyin is a tiger next to his bed and must be eliminated as soon as possible.Therefore, Emperor Gengshi held a meeting of generals in Wancheng, and wanted to take the opportunity to punish Liu Yuyin.At the meeting, Emperor Gengshi admired Liu Weiyin's sword and asked Liu Weiyin to untie it and present it to him.Liu Yuyin presented the sword, but the cowardly Emperor Gengshi was too timid to strike.Embroidered clothes censor Shen Tujian presented a piece of jade, signaling him to make a decision as soon as possible.However, Emperor Gengshi never dared to do anything.

After the meeting ended, Liu Yuyin's uncle Fan Hong said to him: "Back then, at the Hongmen Banquet, Fan Zeng held up the jute to show Xiang Yu that he would make up his mind to kill Gaozu. Today, Shentu Jian presented the jade jute with bad intentions, right?" Liu Yuyin laughed it off. Liu Yuyin had a general named Liu Ji, who was the champion of the three armies.When he was away with his soldiers, he heard that Emperor Gengshi wanted to murder Liu Yuyin, and he yelled at him.His words quickly reached the ears of Gengshi's monarch and ministers.In order to appease Liu Ji, Gengshi worshiped him as a general against Wei, but Liu Ji refused to accept it.Emperor Gengshi ordered thousands of generals Chen Bing to arrest Liu Ji and kill him.Liu Yuyin interceded for him.Under the repeated persuasion of Zhu Yu and others, Emperor Gengshi also arrested Liu Yuyin and killed him together with Liu Ji.

At that time, Liu Xiu led the army to fight outside. Hearing that his brother had been killed, he was full of grief, but he pretended to be a criminal and rushed to Wancheng to apologize.Liu Zhenyin's officials came to welcome Liu Xiu, but Liu Xiu didn't say anything else, only blamed himself.He didn't dare to mourn for his brother, and even put on a calm smile.Emperor Gengshi was ashamed to see this scene, so he worshiped Liu Xiu as the general who broke the captives and named him Wu Xinhou. After Gengshi Emperor Jian got rid of his confidant's troubles, he ordered his troops to divide into two groups: King Kuang of Dingguo went north to attack Luoyang;The West Route Army made rapid progress and pushed into Wuguan like a broken bamboo.At this time, Wuguan had fallen into the hands of Deng Ye and Yu Kuang, the Guanzhong uprising army. They switched to welcome the West Route Army, joined forces to attack Chang'an, defeated Wang Mang's counterattack, and entered Chang'an from Xuanping Gate.Zhudi and Zhang Yu, citizens of Chang'an, also raised troops and attacked the palace.Wang Mang fled to Jiantai, and the rebel army pursued him.The businessman Du Wu killed Wang Mang and took his ribbon; a school captain named Gong Binjiu cut off Wang Mang's head.Soon, the Northern Route Army captured Luoyang and captured Wang Mang's grand master Wang Kuang and the state general Aizhang alive.Emperor Gengshi then moved the capital to Luoyang.Wrapped in headbands, wearing women's clothes, and adding a waistcoat to the big tuck, his generals marched into Luoyang proudly.When the officials of the new dynasty saw this attire, they all secretly laughed, while some thought it was "dressing a demon", which heralded catastrophe, and ran to the border county to hide in fright.

After moving the capital to Luoyang, Emperor Gengshi sent Liu Xiu to carry out the affairs of the Great Sima as a general who defeated the captives, and crossed Hebei with festivals to town Weizhou County.Liu Xiu instructed Shen Tujian and Li Song, the leaders of the West Route Army occupying Chang'an, to send the emperor's chariots, horses and clothing from Chang'an, asking the first emperor to move his capital to Chang'an.In February of the second year of Gengshi (AD 24), Emperor Gengshi moved his capital to Chang'an from Luoyang.When Emperor Gengshi entered Changle Palace and was promoted to the front hall to meet the generals, he was so ashamed that he did not dare to look up at the generals, and lowered his head, looking ashamed.

In Chang'an, Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan enshrined 6 members of the Liu clan, including Liu Zhi, as kings, and then made 14 generals including Wang Kuang as kings.Only Zhu Tuan refused to accept the title of King of Jiaodong, so Emperor Gengshi appointed him Zuo Da Sima, and sent him, Li Tie, Li Tong, Wang Chang and others to guard Guandong.He also worshiped Li Song as the prime minister, and Zhao Meng as the right chief Sima, who shared internal affairs. Emperor Gengshi took Zhao Meng's daughter as his wife and loved him very much, so he entrusted Zhao Meng with power.Zhao Meng gains power, Wei Fu decides on his own.A Lang official impeached Zhao Meng for being domineering, and Emperor Gengshi drew his sword and beheaded the Lang official.Since then, no one dared to impeach Zhao Meng again.A servant displeased Zhao Meng, and Zhao Meng was ordered to push out and beheaded.Emperor Gengshi interceded for his servant, please save his life, but Zhao Meng ignored him, and the majestic emperor watched helplessly as the person he wanted to save was dragged out and killed, and he was helpless.

Not only Zhao Meng is like this, but other dignitaries are also like this.Li Tie and Zhu Yu ordered Dongguan without authorization, while Wang Kuang and Zhang Ang made the three assistants arbitrarily.Most of the officials they appointed were insurgents from humble backgrounds.The bureaucrats edited a ballad to ridicule these upstarts: "Be raised under the stove, Zhonglang general. Rotten sheep stomach, riding captain. Rotten sheep head, Guanneihou." Li Shu, the general of the army, wrote a letter, saying that the ministers and ministers were all from military backgrounds, and the ministers and other officials were all from mediocre backgrounds. It might be possible to be a pavilion chief and catch a thief. How can they be allowed to govern the country?He suggested deposing the villain and continuing to use the handsome.After Emperor Gengshi heard this, Longyan was furious and put Li Shu in prison.

Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan blushed when he saw the ministers in the court hall, but he was very lively with his concubines in the harem.He drank and had fun with his concubines all day long in the back court, without asking about political affairs.The officials report to him when they have something to do, but he is always so drunk that he cannot meet the officials.Sometimes, the attendant is asked to sit in the curtain to meet the ministers.The officials heard that it was not the voice of Emperor Gengshi, and they were very angry, saying: "Success or failure is still unknown, so let's indulge like this!" Mrs. Han, whom Emperor Gengshi loved, was fond of alcohol and drank, and often drank with Emperor Gengshi. When reporting political affairs, she scolded: "The emperor just sat down to drink with me. You didn't come early or late, so you came to report at this time." She even got up and broke the plan.

What Liu Xuan did not only aroused the dissatisfaction of courtiers, but also took advantage of outsiders.It was no one else who took advantage of the fire to loot, but another peasant uprising army, the "Red Eyebrow Army".Earlier, Liu Xuan sent someone to recruit Fan Chong, the leader of the army, and made him and more than 20 people below him Liehou.But Fan Chong did not stop there, but attacked the city and land, the team grew to more than 300,000 people, and attacked Chang'an in the west.They divided the army into 30 battalions, each with 10,000 people.Entering Huayin (now Huayin, Shaanxi), the red-browed army supported Liu Penzi, a 15-year-old shepherd boy who was a descendant of the Han clan, as emperor. He is the great Sima on the left, and Xie Lu is the great Sima on the right. Just when the Red Eyebrow Army pushed into Chang'an, internal strife broke out in the Gengshi regime.The Red Eyebrow Army took advantage of the infighting of the Gengshi regime to advance to Gaoling (now Gaoling, Shaanxi) and attack Chang'an.Upon hearing the news, Emperor Gengshi fled alone on horseback.A group of concubines kept shouting from behind: "Your Majesty, thank the city immediately!" The emperor dismounted to thank the city, got back on his horse and fled. Yan Ben, the captain of Youfu, was afraid that Liu Xuan would escape and be killed by the red eyebrow army, so he sent troops to defend Emperor Gengshi, actually putting him under house arrest.The red-browed army announced: "Liu Shenggong surrendered and made him the king of Changsha. After 20 days, he will no longer be surrendered." Emperor Gengshi hurriedly sent Liu Penzi's brother Liu Gong to meet the red-browed army and expressed his willingness to surrender.General Xie Lu of the Red Eyebrow Sect accepted the surrender, and Emperor Gengshi went to Changle Palace with meat and presented him with a seal and ribbon.Liu Penzi ordered Gengshi to be beheaded. Liu Gong and Xie Lu interceded for him, but Liu Penzi refused.Liu Gong shouted: "I can't save you, please die first!" He drew his sword and wanted to kill himself.Fan Chong took his sword, pardoned Emperor Gengshi, and made Liu Xuan king of Changsha, living in Xie Lu's camp. Chimei looted Sanfu, and the residents missed Emperor Gengshi.Zhang Ang said to Xie Lu: "There are many people who want to rescue the king of Changsha and set up another banner. Once he is rescued, it will be very disadvantageous for us to fight back." So Xie Lu sent his guards to the suburbs with the king of Changsha. Shepherd the horse and secretly order the guards to hang him to death.When Liu Gong heard the news, he took the night to collect his body.Later, Liu Xiu ordered Da Situ Zheng Yu to bury Liu Xuan in the cemetery of Baling, the mausoleum of Emperor Hanwen. Liu Xuan had three sons: Qiu, Xin and Li.In the second year of Jianwu (AD 26), Liu Qiu's brothers accompanied their mother to Luoyang. Liu Xiu made Liu Qiu the Marquis of Xiangyi, Liu Xin the Marquis of Gushu, and Liu Li the Marquis of Shouguang.