Chapter 18 Chapter 17 Jianshi Emperor Liu Penzi

Liu Penzi was born in the second year of the founding of the People's Republic of China (AD 10), and the year of his death is unknown.Originally a descendant of the Han clan, but his family was in decline, and he was a cowherd boy before becoming emperor.He proclaimed himself emperor in the first year of Jianwu (AD 25), stepped down at the beginning of the third year of Jianwu (AD 27), and reigned for two years, with the reign title "Jianshi". At the end of the Han Dynasty, there were two peasant uprising armies, the Lvlin and the Chimei. In order to seek fame and justice, the leaders of the Lvlin Army, Wang Kuang and Wang Feng, supported Liu Xuan, a descendant of the Han Dynasty, as the Gengshi Emperor.When Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan moved his capital to Luoyang, the Red Eyebrow Army was active in Hanyang.The leader of the Red Eyebrow Army once went to Luoyang in person to express his willingness to cooperate with the Gengshi regime, but Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan took a cold attitude and only granted Fan Chong and others as lieutenants, with no rights and no salary.Fan Chong and others returned to the Red Eyebrow Army camp angrily, determined to attack Liu Xuan.

In the winter of the second year of Gengshi (24 A.D.), the Red Eyebrow Army decided to march westward, split into two groups, and point directly at Chang'an (at this time Liu Xuan had moved his capital to Chang'an).In order to replace the Gengshi regime, the Red Eyebrow Army also wanted to establish an emperor.Since the Red Eyebrow Army was also influenced by the orthodox ideology of "Fu Han", it was necessary to find a person who was born as an emperor of the Liu family to be the emperor.Therefore, in June of the first year of Jianwu (AD 25), when the Red Eyebrow Army entered Zhengxian County (now Huaxian County, Shaanxi Province), they learned that Liu Penzi, a 15-year-old cattle-herding boy, belonged to the royal family of the Western Han Dynasty, and immediately supported him as an official. He established the "Jianshi" regime with Xu Xuan as the prime minister, Fan Chong as the censor doctor, Feng'an as the left chief minister, and Xie Lu as the right chief minister.Using Wang Kuang, the general of the Green Forest Army in the Gengshi regime, the Red Eyebrow Army finally invaded Chang'an in September of the first year of Jianwu (AD 25) and overthrew the Gengshi regime.

In the spring of the second year of Jianwu (AD 26), the Red Eyebrow Army was forced to leave Chang'an.At the beginning of the third year of Jianwu (AD 27), when the Red Eyebrow Army withdrew from Guanzhong, it was intercepted by Liu Xiu in Kuidi (northeast of Luoning, Henan today), and more than half of them were killed or injured; the remaining troops retreated to Yiyang (now Yiyang, Henan) , and fell into heavy siege by Liu Xiu's army, starved to the extreme, Liu Penzi and others were forced to surrender, and the "Jianshi" regime was overthrown.