Chapter 39 The Funeral of Chang'an

Let's press Liu Xiu first, and then pay attention to Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan. Ever since Liu Xuan was kicked out of Chang'an by Zhang Ang and others, he became angry. He could have fled back to Nanyang, accumulated strength, and waited for a comeback, but he didn't. From now on, he will be an emperor with backbone and dignity. He must fight back to Chang'an.He is the emperor, Chang'an is the capital city, the emperor even lost the capital city, so what kind of emperor is he? All he can command now are the two troops of Li Song and Zhao Meng.This was his last bet, and he decided to put all his eggs in one basket and attack Zhang Ang, Wang Kuang, Liao Zhan, and Hu Yin who were entrenched in Chang'an.

Zhang Ang and the others were never afraid of Liu Xuan before, so naturally they are even less afraid now. Under the city of Chang'an, the war broke out again. From the beginning of August to the middle of September in the 25th AD, after more than a month of siege, Liu Xuan finally drove away Zhang Ang and others and took back Chang'an. And this battle seemed to be his last glory. After Zhang Ang and others escaped from Chang'an, they surrendered directly to the Red Eyebrow Army without saying a word, and then led the Red Eyebrow Army to attack Chang'an again. Liu Xuan ordered Li Song to go out of the city to fight.Li Song was defeated, and more than 2,000 of his subordinates died. He himself was captured alive and became a prisoner of the Red Eyebrow Army.

Li Song's younger brother Li Kuang was the captain of the city gate at that time, in charge of the defense of the gates of Chang'an.The red-browed army ordered someone to inform Li Kuang that Li Song's life could be spared as long as the city gate was opened.Li Kuang saw that the general situation was over, and he was eager to save his brother, so he opened the city gate and welcomed the red eyebrow army. As soon as the Red Eyebrow Army entered Chang'an, all Liu Xuan's generals surrendered, but Prime Minister Cao refused to surrender.The old master, who was accustomed to holding a writing brush, picked up the sword for the first time, and died in a fierce battle with the red eyebrow army, becoming the only martyr of the reforming court.

When Liu Xuan learned that the red-browed army had entered the city, he fled in a panic and rode alone. When he left the kitchen gate, the ladies of the court shouted loudly behind Liu Xuan: "Your Majesty, get off your horse and thank the city!" Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, said in the poem "Pozhenzi" when he went to the country: "It is the most hasty resignation from the temple. The church still plays the farewell song and weeps at the palace." Brother Dongpo commented: "The king loses the country, the country loses, When weeping outside the gate of the temple, thanking the people before walking, how can we still have the mood to shed tears and listen to the song of Jiaofang Li!"

The king who lost his country bid farewell to the capital and then died. This is due to etiquette.This is the second time Liu Xuan escaped from Chang'an.Last time, no one asked him to salute, because everyone believed that he could come back.This time, the maids asked him to salute, because they knew that Liu Xuan would probably never come back this time, he had no capital to fight back, and his country had already been lost. Although his life was at stake when he was fleeing for his life, Liu Xuan had no choice but to get off his horse and pay three respects to Chang'an City, then got on his horse, whipped his whip and galloped away, disappearing into the vast expanse.

As for the more than 1,000 court ladies left behind by Liu Xuan, the ending was extremely tragic.After Liu Xuan fled, these young and beautiful girls confined themselves in the palace, isolated from the world, wearing fresh clothes and make-up, singing and dancing with drums, as usual.However, food soon ran out, and they could only make ends meet by digging reed root in the yard or fishing in the pond.Those who starved to death continued to be buried in the palace on the spot.Later, the new emperor Liu Penzi broke in by accident, and the court ladies kowtowed to Liu Penzi and shouted for hunger. Liu Penzi hit the yellow gate to deliver rice, and everyone fought.Later, Liu Penzi ran away with the Red Eyebrow Army, the maids ran out of food and starved to death, and none of them left the palace.

Liu Xuan escaped from Chang'an again in September of this year.Liu Xiu, who was far away in Hebei, had proclaimed himself emperor for more than three months. When he heard about this, he specially issued an edict to make Liu Xuan the king of Huaiyang.Those who sent Liu Xuanping to Hebei were granted the title of Marquis. Frankly speaking, Liu Xiu's edict was just to buy people's hearts, but it was meaningless to Liu Xuan himself.If Liu Xiu really wanted to save Liu Xuan with sincerity, he could have ordered Deng Yu to speed up his march to Chang'an, but the fact is that Liu Xiu did not take any substantive action except for the empty letter of the imperial edict.

It's the most hateful thing to pay lip service without actually delivering it!