Emperor Guangwu of Han: Encyclopedia II - Emperor Guangwu of Han - As official under Emperor Gengshi

Emperor Guangwu of Han - As official under Emperor Gengshi

Emperor Guangwu of Han - The ascension of Emperor Gengshi

Main article: Emperor Gengshi of Han

By this point, many other rebel leaders had become jealous of Liu Yan's capabilities, and while a good number of their men admired Liu Yan and wanted him to become the emperor of a newly declared Han Dynasty, they had other ideas. They found another local rebel leader, Liu Xuan, a third cousin of Liu Yan, who was claiming the title of General Gengshi (更始將軍) at the time and who was considered a weak personality, and requested that he be made emperor. Liu Yan initially opposed this move and instead suggested that Liu Xuan carry the title "Prince of Han" first (echoing the founder of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gao). The other rebel leaders refused, and in early 23, Liu Xuan was proclaimed emperor. Liu Yan became prime minister. Liu Xiu, along with many other rebel leaders, carried the title "general".

Emperor Guangwu of Han - The Battle of Kunyang

Liu Xiu would be instrumental in the key victory that sealed Wang Mang's fate. Wang, aware that Emperor Gengshi was becoming a major threat, sent his cousin Wang Yi (王邑) and his prime minister Wang Xun (王尋) with what he considered to be overwhelming force, some 430,000 men, intending to crush the newly constituted Han regime. The Han forces were at this point in two groups -- one led by Wang Feng (王鳳), Wang Chang (王常), and Liu Xiu, which, in response to the arrival of the Xin forces, withdrew to the small town of Kunyang (昆陽, in modern Pingdingshan, Henan) and one led by Liu Yan, which was still sieging Wancheng. The rebels in Kunyang initially wanted to scatter, but Liu Xiu opposed it; rather, he advocated that they guard Kunyang securely, while he would gather all other available troops in surrounding areas and attack the Xin forces from the outside. After initially rejecting Liu Xiu's idea, the Kunyang rebels eventually agreed.

Liu Xiu carried out his action, and when he returned to Kunyang, he began harassing the sieging Xin forces from the outside. Wang Yi and Wang Xun, annoyed, led 10,000 men to attack Liu Xiu and ordered the rest of their troops not to move from their siege locations. Once they engaged in battle, however, after minor losses, the other units were hesitant to assist them, and Liu Xiu killed Wang Xun in battle. Once that happened, the Han forces inside Kunyang burst out of the city and attacked the other Xin units, and the much larger Xin forces suffered a total collapse. The soldiers largely deserted and went home, unable to be gathered again. Wang Yi had to withdraw with only several thousand men back to Luoyang. This was a major blow to Xin, psychologically; after this point on, there would be no hope for it.

Emperor Guangwu of Han - Liu Yan's death and Liu Xiu's bare survival

The very first major incident of infighting in Emperor Gengshi's regime would happen in this time, though. Emperor Gengshi was fearful of Liu Yan's capabilities and keenly aware that many of Liu Yan's followers were angry that he was not made emperor. One, Liu Ji (劉稷), was particularly critical of Emperor Gengshi. Emperor Gengshi arrested Liu Ji and wanted to execute him, but Liu Yan tried to intercede. Emperor Gengshi, encouraged by Li Yi (who had by that point turned against Liu Yan) and Zhu Wei (朱鮪), took this opportunity to execute Liu Yan as well.

At this time, Liu Xiu was fighting on the frontlines. When he heard about his brother's death, he quickly left his army and went back to the temporary capital Wancheng to beg forgiveness. When Liu Yan's followers greeted him, he only thanked them but did not speak of his feelings, but rather blamed himself and did not mention of his achievements at Kunyang. He did not dare to mourn his brother. Emperor Gengshi, ashamed of what he had done, spared Liu Xiu and created him the Marquess of Wuxin.

Around this time, Liu Xiu married his childhood sweetheart, the famed beauty Yin Lihua (陰麗華). (According to Hou Han Shu, while much younger, when Liu Xiu was visiting the capital Chang'an, he became impressed with the mayor of the capital (zhijinwu, 執金吾) and, already impressed by Yin's beauty, he made the remarks: "If I were to be an official, I want to be zhijinwu; if I were to marry, I want to marry Yin Lihua". He eventually was able to accomplish both of these things -- and more.)

Emperor Guangwu of Han - Role in reorganization of Emperor Gengshi's regime and dispatch to northern China

Soon, Wang Mang's Xin Dynasty and its capital Chang'an fell to Emperor Gengshi's forces, and Emperor Gengshi was acknowledged by virtually the entire empire as the emperor of the restored Han Dynasty. Emperor Gengshi initially planned to set his capital at Luoyang, and he made Liu Xiu governor of the capital region. Liu Xiu was commissioned to repair the palaces and governmental offices at Luoyang. Of all of the major Han restoration officials, Liu Xiu alone quickly showed his talent for organization, and his agency quickly resembled a past Han governmental agency at its best.

Emperor Gengshi's regime was only able to obtain nominal submission from many regions of the empire, and one of the trouble region was the region north of the Yellow River. He considered dispatching a general to try to pacify the region, and his cousin Liu Ci (劉賜), who had succeeded Liu Yan as prime minister, endorsed Liu Xiu for that task. Liu Yan's political enemies, including Li and Zhu, opposed, but after Liu Ci repeatedly endorsed Liu Xiu, Emperor Gengshi relented and, in autumn 23, he sent Liu Xiu to the region north of the Yellow River.

Liu Xiu was initially met with great gladness by the people north of the Yellow River. It was around this time that his later prime minister, Deng Yu (鄧禹), joined him; other later important figures who joined him around this time included Feng Yi (馮異) and Geng Chun (耿純). Deng, seeing that Emperor Gengshi lacked abilities to rule, persuaded Liu Xiu to keep his sights broad and consider eventual independence.

Liu Xiu would soon have a major problem on his hand, however, in winter 23, as he faced a pretender for the Han throne. A fortuneteller in Handan named Wang Lang (王郎) claimed to be actually named Liu Ziyu (劉子輿) and a son of Emperor Cheng. He claimed that his mother was a singer in Emperor Cheng's service, and that Empress Zhao Feiyan had tried to kill him after his birth, but that a substitute child was killed indeed. After he spread these rumors around the people, the people of Handan began to believe that he was a genuine son of Emperor Cheng, and the commanderies north of the Yellow River quickly pledged allegiance to him as emperor. In spring 24, Liu Xiu was forced to withdraw to the northern city of Jicheng (薊城, in modern Beijing). Soon, though, he faced rebellions right near him, and several times was nearly killed by rebels who pledged allegiance to Wang. He reached two commanderies in modern central Hebei that were still loyal to Emperor Gengshi -- Xindu (信都, roughly modern Hengshui, Hebei) and Herong (和戎, roughly part of modern Shijiajuang, Hebei). He mobilized their forces and won some major battles against Wang's generals.

Meanwhile, a follower of Liu Xiu, Geng Yan (耿弇), the son of the governor of Shanggu Commandery (上谷, roughly modern Zhangjiakou, Hebei), had fled back to his father's commandery, and persuaded both his father Geng Kuang (耿況) and the governor of the neighboring Yuyang Commandery (漁陽, roughly modern Beijing), Peng Chong (彭寵), to support Liu Xiu. Geng Yan and Peng's deputy, Wu Han (吳漢), led the two commanderies' cavalry and infantry forces south to join Liu Xiu. The combined forces gave Liu Xiu enough strength to make a direct assault against Handan, trapping and killing Wang Lang.

After Wang's death, Emperor Gengshi created Liu Xiu the Prince of Xiao and summoned him back to the capital (then moved to Chang'an). Liu Xiu, persuaded by Geng Yan that he should be ready to set out his own course, because the people were badly shaken by Emperor Gengshi and his officials' misrule, declined and claimed that the region still needed to be pacified.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "As official under Emperor Gengshi", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki