Chapter 73 Chapter 73 Goodbye Green Forest

Dangyang County, Hubei Province is the place where Liu Bei was defeated by Cao Cao before the famous Battle of Chibi in the late Han Dynasty.A mountain near the site is called Greenwood Mountain.Anti-Wang Mang faction gathered in this green forest mountain.The leaders of this group of people are Wang Kuang, Wang Feng and others. As mentioned above, people at that time used a single name as a principle, so it was very common for people with the same surname to have the same name.Wang Feng, one of the leaders of the Green Forest Army, has the same name as Wang Mang's uncle, Wang Feng.As for the characters named Wang Kuang, several of them appearing in history books belong to the same era, so if they are not carefully distinguished, there will be confusion.

The second son of Wang Shun, who came to the Empress Dowager to ask for the seal of the kingdom, was also called Wang Kuang.This person is General Taishi, the commander of the army under Wang Mang.Later, when Wang Kuang of the Green Forest Army led an army to attack Luoyang, the general on Wang Mang's side guarding Luoyang was Wang Kuang, and people often confused the two.As a result, Wang Kuang, who was born in the green forest, captured Luoyang, captured Wang Kuang who belonged to Wang Mang alive, and beheaded him. An illegitimate son of Wang Mang was also named Wang Kuang.After all the sons born in the royal family died, Wang Mang summoned Wang Xing and Wang Kuang, who were born with his concubines in the Xinduhou era, and others.He has never made this matter public, probably because it hinders his title of "sage", so he dare not let the world know about his childbirth with his concubine, right?

Wang Xing also had a character of the same name in the same era.When Wang Mang came to the throne, Wang Xing, who used to work as a porter for him, and a biscuit seller named Wang Sheng suddenly became "gong".The reason is that there is a saying in the prophecy that "Wang Xing and Wang Sheng will guard the new dynasty", so people named Wang Xing and Wang Sheng are widely solicited from all over the world.As a result, more than a dozen people with the same name appeared, and they were chosen by a fortune teller. This kind of "appointment of talents" is really amazing.Wang Mang, who took advantage of the divine power, seemed to be insane, and his actions became more and more whimsical.Can such a person still govern the world properly?

In order to distinguish things with the same surname and the same name, the ancients used to say their hometown.Green Forest Army Wang Kuang is from Xinshi County, Hubei Province.The Green Forest Army was later divided into two branches, the Xiajiang Army and the Xinshi Army, and the Xinshi Army led by Wang Kuang.Therefore, let’s call it Xinshi Wang Kuang below. It was around the fourth year of Tianfeng (AD 17) that the Green Forest Army rose up.At first, Wang Kuang and his group of dissatisfied elements near Lulin Mountain gathered, and the number was only a few hundred.But after the news of the "rebel army in the green forest" spread, not only people from the local area, but also many people from far away came to participate.Among the cadres of this group are Ma Wu of Nanyang, Wang Chang of Yingchuan, Cheng Dan and others.Since they each brought their own party members, after a few months, they had expanded into an army of seven or eight thousand.

In the fourth year of Tianfeng, Jingzhou, which straddles today's Hubei Province and Henan Province, experienced a severe famine.In fact, this does not seem to be a purely natural disaster, but more or less man-made.People who were on the brink of starvation became refugees, dug up the soil of the grassland, fed their hunger with tree roots and grass roots, and everyone robbed each other of food—this hellish scene was displayed at that time. "A person must kill nine people to eat a bowl of rice. Isn't this the hell of Asura! Moreover, the person who grabs the rice today may be killed tomorrow! Let's think of a way to survive without killing each other ,how?"

Wang Kuang appealed so.He was originally a local chivalrous man, full of chivalry, good eloquence and courage. "We don't want to kill each other like animals! But, what else can we do!" asked the hungry people in a desperate tone. "There is no way. You see! We are about to starve to death because we have nothing to eat, but the rice bags in the rich people's barn are full! Instead of grabbing a bowl of rice, it is better to grab a barn! Kill each other, and you can eat to your heart's content!" After Wang Kuang finished speaking, he looked around at the crowd.

"However, rich families employ guards. Take the Zhao family by the river as an example. They employ more than 50 peasants to guard them!" "More than fifty people? Okay, then let's send one or two hundred people! If this is the case, will we not be able to defeat them?" "Where do we get so many people?" "Are you afraid that you won't be able to recruit people if you have food to eat? Yes, I have a friend named Wang Feng. I can ask him to work together. This guy is very useful." Wang Kuang rolled up his tattered sleeves and said. Wang Kuang gathered a group of people who were hungry and used the Green Forest Mountain as a base to attack the rich people and government treasuries nearby.

Green Forest Mountain then became the base to shake the new dynasty. Wang Mang's countermeasures against the rebel army were just a set of "forgive me" imitating the tone of the saints, and there was no fundamental solution at all.It also seems that they did not understand the real reasons that forced people to rebel. As mentioned earlier, this famine "contains somewhat man-made elements" because the "weekly system" promoted by Wang Mang was complicated, and the tax system made the people "not enough income to pay tribute", so people's willingness to work was greatly reduced.

Some important ministers reported the situation truthfully and put forward the opinion that "taxes should be lowered".In this regard, Wang Mang was furious on the grounds that he only found fault with the sacred Zhou system.Jingzhou Mu Feixing was an upright person. After making this suggestion, he was dismissed by Wang Mang on the spot. After Fei Xing, Jingzhou Mu (whose name is not recorded in the history books) was ordered by Wang Mang to lead 20,000 soldiers to crusade against the "Green Forest Thieves". "What! There are 20,000 officers and soldiers coming to attack! That's great! They must have a lot of rations and supplies, can't we grab them and enjoy them!"

After hearing the report, Wang Kuang laughed loudly in front of the green forest partners. Most of these green forest gangsters whom Wang Mang called "bandits" were actually gentle farmers.Their rebellion was entirely driven by poverty.Most of these rebels would tremble all over just hearing the term "officer and soldier". The reason why Wang Kuang laughed out loud was to get rid of their "phobia of officers and soldiers". "We are about to have a big harvest. Isn't that something to be thankful for? In fact, the officers and soldiers are nothing special. They were originally common people like us, and they were considered to be with us! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Wang Kuang came out with a laugh. The Green Forest Army came to Yundu to meet the official army.Yundu is close to the northwest of what is now Mianyang County, Wuhan City. In the past, the Green Forest Army mostly fought guerrillas, and had very little experience in fighting large armies in the field. But they found that the official army was not worth being afraid of at all. As a result of the Yundu battle, the 20,000 officers and soldiers sent by Wang Mang were defeated by thousands of green forest troops.Jingzhou Mu left thousands of dead and fled to the north. Military food, weapons, luggage and other materials were all captured by the Green Forest Army.The biggest gain of this battle is not these trophies, but the confidence that "officials and soldiers are not afraid". Green Forest Mountain is no longer a lair of rogues, but a stronghold of the separatist forces.Due to the victory in the Battle of Yundu, the number of this group of Green Forest Army has greatly increased.The incident of plundering women during this period proved that some green forest gangsters intended to establish a family in this stronghold. Greenwood Mountain's population soon exceeded 50,000. This mountain was originally just a hiding place for Wang Kuang and his group of hundreds of rebels. The place is not enough for more than 50,000 people to live in. If they barely think of it as a stronghold, problems will definitely arise. There was a problem—a disease. This is not a suitable place for people to live, and the sanitary conditions are extremely poor.Once a disease occurs, it spreads rapidly.Not to mention a vicious disease. The green forest warriors who can defeat even the officers and soldiers are helpless in the face of the epidemic. The great epidemic in the green forest was the second year after the Jingzhou Mu government army was defeated.Of the 50,000 people, half died of the disease. "If this continues, we will all perish. For the current plan, it is best to go down the mountain immediately and divide the group into two. This is more convenient for finding food." Wang Kuang then decided to go down the mountain. The world under the mountain is in a state of extreme chaos. After Lulin Jianer went down the mountain, he immediately got involved in the chaotic world. A group of people led by Wang Chang and Cheng Dan went west, and because they went down the river (Yangtze River), they called themselves "soldiers going down the river". A group of people led by Wang Kuang, Wang Feng, Ma Wu and others headed north.Most of them were from Xinshi, so they called themselves "Xinshi soldiers". On their way north, this group of new city soldiers absorbed the Pinglin Army led by Chen Mu, a native of Pinglin, near Suixian County, Hubei Province, and the lineup became even larger.