Chapter 75 74 Green Forest Red Eyebrow Uprising

Wang Mang's brutal oppression, coupled with a series of natural disasters, forced the peasants to have nowhere to go, and they revolted one after another.Large numbers of peasants rose up against the officers and soldiers in both the east and the south. In 17 AD, there was a famine in Jingzhou in the south, and the common people had to go to the swamp area to dig wild water chestnuts to satisfy their hunger.There are many people and few wild water chestnuts, which has caused competition.In Xinshi (today's Northeast of Hubei, Beijing, and Shandong), two well-known people, one named Wang Kuang and the other named Wang Feng, came out to mediate with the peasants and were supported by them.Everyone elected them as leaders.

Wang Kuang and Wang Feng organized this group of starving people to revolt, and hundreds of people gathered at once, and some escaped prisoners also joined them. Wang Kuang and the others occupied Lulin Mountain (now Dahong Mountain, Hubei) as their base, and captured nearby villages.In less than a few months, this rebel army grew to seven or eight thousand people. Wang Mang sent 20,000 officers and soldiers to encircle and suppress the Green Forest Army, but was defeated by the Green Forest Army and fled.The Green Forest Army took advantage of the situation and captured several county towns, opened the prisons, and released the prisoners; part of the food in the official granary was distributed to the local poor, and most of it was moved to the Green Forest Mountain.More and more poor people went to Lulin Mountain, and the rebel army increased to more than 50,000.

In the second year, an epidemic happened on Greenwood Mountain, and almost half of the 50,000 people died.The other half had to leave Lvlin Mountain, and later divided into three groups of troops-Xinshi soldiers, Pinglin (in the northeast of Sui County, Hubei today) soldiers, and Xiajiang (the Yangtze River is called Xiajiang below the west of Hubei) soldiers.These three groups of people each occupied a territory, and the team became stronger again. When the Green Forest Army in the south attacked officers and soldiers in Jingzhou, the rebel army in the east also grew stronger.In Langya Haiqu (now Rizhao County, Shandong Province), there was an old lady surnamed Lu, whose son was an official in the county. He was killed by the county magistrate because he refused to follow the county magistrate's order to beat poor people who had no money to pay taxes.This aroused public outrage.Hundreds of poor peasants rose up to avenge Lu's mother's son, killed the county magistrate, followed Lu's mother to the Yellow Sea, and went ashore to fight officers and soldiers whenever they had the opportunity.

At this time, another uprising leader Fan Chong led hundreds of people to occupy Mount Tai.After Lu's mother died, her subordinates defected to Fan Chong's uprising army.In less than a year, it has grown to more than 10,000 people, traveling between Qingzhou and Xuzhou to attack the government and landlords. Fan Chong's rebel army was very disciplined, stipulating that whoever killed the common people would be executed, and whoever hurt the common people would be punished.Therefore, the people can support them. In 22 AD, Wang Mang sent Taishi Wang Kuang (two people with Wang Kuang in the Green Forest Army) and general Lian Dan to lead an army of 100,000 to suppress the Fan Chong uprising army.Fan Chong is ready to fight the officers and soldiers.In order to prevent the uprising soldiers from mixing with Wang Mang's soldiers, Fan Chong asked his subordinates to paint red on their eyebrows as a mark of identification.In this way, Fan Chong's rebel army got an alias, "Red Eyebrow Army".

Wang Mang's army fought a battle with the Red Eyebrow Army.As a result, the officers and soldiers were defeated and more than half of them fled.Grand Master Wang Kuang was shot in the thigh by Fan Chong and fled back; General Lian Dan was killed in the chaos.The Red Eyebrow Army became stronger and stronger, growing to more than 100,000 people. As soon as the news spread that the two uprising armies of Lvlin and Chimei had defeated Wang Mang's army in the south and east respectively, farmers in other places also became active.There are dozens of rebel armies, large and small, on the great plains on both sides of the Yellow River.A group of declining nobles, landlords, and tyrants also took the opportunity to raise troops against Wang Mang.

Brothers Liu Yan (yin) and Liu Xiu from Chongling (now Ningyuanbei, Hunan) Township, Nanyang County, felt resentful in their hearts because Wang Mang abolished the title of the imperial family of the Han Dynasty and did not allow people surnamed Liu to be officials. Eight thousand people raised troops in Chongling Township. They united with the three groups of the Green Forest Army and defeated several generals of Wang Mang one after another, and their momentum became stronger. Several teams of the Green Forest Army did not have a unified command.The soldiers believed that there must be a leader in order to unify orders when there are too many troops.Some generals who came from aristocratic landowners took advantage of the orthodox ideas of some people at the time and believed that they must find a man surnamed Liu as their leader in order to be in line with the hearts of the people.

There are many people surnamed Liu in the Green Forest Army, who should be recommended as the leader?Chongling soldiers wanted to push Liu Yan, but the generals of Xinshi Hepinglin soldiers were afraid that Liu Yan would be too powerful, so they insisted on appointing Liu Xuan, a dilapidated nobleman, as emperor.Liu Yan also proposed to establish an emperor after Wang Mang was eliminated and the red eyebrow army was subdued, but this was also opposed.Liu Yan felt that he was not strong enough, so he had no choice but to agree. In 23 A.D., all the soldiers of the Green Forest Army formally established Liu Xuan as the emperor, restored the country name of the Han Dynasty, and the reign title was "Gengshi", so Liu Xuan was also called Gengshi Emperor.Emperor Gengshi worshiped Wang Kuang and Wang Feng as Shanggong, Liu Yan as Da Situ, Liu Xiu as General Taichang, and other generals also had their own titles.

Since then, the Green Forest Army has also been called the Han Army.