The Gengshi Emperor 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 Gaozu). The other rebel leaders refused, and in early AD 23, Liu Xuan was proclaimed emperor. Liu Yan became prime minister. Liu Xiu, along with many other rebel leaders, carried the title "general".
The Battle of Kunyang Liu Xiu would be instrumental in the key victory that sealed Wang Mang's fate. Wang, aware that Gengshi Emperor 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
Ye County,
Henan) and one led by Liu Yan, which was still besieging 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.
Liu Yan's death and Liu Xiu's survival The very first major incident of infighting in Gengshi Emperor's regime would happen in this time, though. The Gengshi Emperor was fearful of Liu Yan's capabilities and was 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 Gengshi Emperor. The Gengshi Emperor arrested Liu Ji and wanted to execute him, but Liu Yan tried to intercede. The Gengshi Emperor, 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. The Gengshi Emperor, ashamed of what he had done, spared Liu Xiu and created him the Marquess of Wuxin (武信侯). Around this time, Liu Xiu married his childhood sweetheart, the famed beauty
Yin Lihua. (According to
Hou Han Shu, when Liu Xiu was younger, he visited the capital
Chang'an; he became impressed with the mayor of the capital (
zhijinyu, 執金吾) and, also impressed by Yin's beauty, he made the remarks: "If I were to be an official, I want to be
zhijinyu; if I were to marry, I want to marry Yin Lihua". He eventually was able to accomplish both of these things and more.)
Role in reorganization of Gengshi Emperor's regime and dispatch to northern China First days under the new emperor bronze
chariot and cavalry figurines excavated from a tomb Soon, Wang Mang's Xin dynasty and its capital
Chang'an fell to the Gengshi Emperor's forces, and Gengshi Emperor was acknowledged by virtually the entire empire as the emperor of the restored Han dynasty. He 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 officials following the restoration, Liu Xiu alone quickly showed his talent for organization, and his agency quickly grew to resemble its pre-Wang Mang counterpart. In any case, Gengshi Emperor's regime was only able to obtain nominal submission from many regions of the empire, and one of the troublesome regions was north of the
Yellow River. The Emperor 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, the Gengshi Emperor relented and, in autumn of AD 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
Deng Yu joined him (later to be his prime minister); other later important figures who joined him around this time included
Feng Yi and Geng Chun (耿純). Deng, seeing that the Gengshi Emperor lacked the ability to rule, persuaded Liu Xiu to keep his sights broad and consider eventual independence.
Northern expedition (25 AD-220 AD) mural showing a procession of
chariots and cavalry, from the Dahuting Tomb of
Zhengzhou,
Henan province, China 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
fortune teller in
Handan named
Wang Lang 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 instead. After he spread these rumors among 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 the spring of AD 24, Liu Xiu was forced to withdraw to the northern city of
Jicheng (modern
Beijing). Not long after, he faced rebellions in his immediate vicinity, and was nearly killed by rebels who pledged allegiance to Wang. He reached two commanderies in modern central Hebei that were still loyal to Gengshi Emperor—
Xindu (信都, roughly modern
Hengshui,
Hebei), whose governor was Ren Guang (任光), and Herong, (和戎, roughly part of modern
Shijiazhuang,
Hebei), whose governor was Pi Tong (邳彤). Ren's deputy Li Chong (李忠), Wan Xiu (萬脩) and Liu Zhi (劉植), who was powerful clan in the region, also joined him. Additionally, he began to make Liu Zhi persuade Liu Yang (劉楊) the Prince of Zhending, who held 100,000 troops, to join him. He entered into a political marriage with
Guo Shengtong, the niece of Liu Yang, and combined his forces. He mobilized their forces and won some major battles against Wang's generals. Meanwhile, a follower of Liu Xiu,
Geng Yan, 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, being supported by Gen Kuang's deputy Kou Xun (寇恂) and Jing Dan (景丹), and Peng's deputy,
Wu Han, 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, Gengshi Emperor made 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 Gengshi Emperor and his officials' misrule, declined and claimed that the region still needed to be pacified. ==Independence from the Gengshi Emperor==