After the elimination of Wang Lang, Liu Xiu's main enemy was dozens of peasant armies of varying strength active in Hebei. These brothers who rose up were generally exclusive to Liu Xiu, an outsider, so Liu Xiu had to pick some of the hard persimmons and pinch them, kill them to set an example and convince people with virtue, and finally turn the sword into a plough to restore the people's livelihood, so as to have the strength to compete in the world.

Seeing that Liu Xiu was growing stronger and stronger in Hebei, the first emperor was extremely uneasy, so he sent an envoy to Hebei, named Liu Xiu the king of Xiao, and ordered him to hand over his troops and horses to return to Chang'an to receive the reward.

At this time, the protector Zhu You said to Liu Xiu: "Chang'an's politics is chaotic and the people are disappointed; Where the human heart belongs is the destiny of heaven. Please don't delay yourself. "Zhu You is a native of Wancheng, Nanyang, and Liu Yan and Liu Xiu are very good with him. When Liu Yan was the great Situ, he sent him as a protector. When Liu Xiu attacked Hebei, he also sent him as a protector, as if he was a family. When Liu Xiu heard his words, he didn't let him continue, so he said, "The assassin general, arrest the escort quickly!" But Liu Xiu's tone was not harsh, and the assassin general did not move.

The "Assassin General" is a native of Yingchuan, named Sai Zun, who likes to read since he was a child. His family was very rich, but he was very frugal, did not pay attention to food and clothing, and was very respectful to others. After Liu Xiu defeated Wang Xun and Wang Yi in Kunyang, he encountered the sacrifice when passing through Yingchuan. Because Liu Xiu was famous and liked his demeanor, he took him under his subordinates and asked him to manage the affairs of the laws and regulations in the barracks. A little man who was serving Liu Xiu broke the law, and the priest killed him. As the saying goes, it depends on the owner's face to beat a dog, even if Liu Xiu's Xiaolang violates the law, it should be done by Liu Xiu himself, at least he has to ask him for instructions. Sai Zun killed him on his own initiative, Liu Xiu naturally lost his temper and asked left and right to arrest Sai Zun. Someone stopped us and said, "You have been telling us to obey the law." Now that the priest obeys your command, how can he be punished? When Liu Xiu heard this, not only did he not punish him with the sacrifice, but also worshiped him as an "assassinated general".

There are more and more Han troops. Liu Xiu reorganized the ranks and let the soldiers voluntarily assign to the battalions as far as possible. The soldiers all said, "I would like to dial it to General Dashu's subordinates." Liu Xiu still doesn't know who the "Big Tree General" is.

It turned out that "General Big Tree" was the nickname of General Feng Yi. Feng Yi is humble and never talks about his strengths. In battle, he ran in the head; In peacetime, when marching or not being attacked by the enemy, he always lagged behind the battalions. When the soldiers were resting, they inevitably had to talk about their own battles. The generals will also talk about how they defeated the enemy. Sometimes, in order to compete for merit, he even blushes and has a thick neck. When the general Feng Yi heard that the soldiers were fighting for merit, he sneaked under the big tree and hid. Therefore, he was called "General Big Tree" in the army.

Geng Yi heard that Liu Xiu was going back, and he was so anxious that he had to keep Liu Xiu. He ran all the way to the place where Liu Xiu took a nap and said to him: "Although Wang Lang is eliminated, the world is still in chaos." He can't make a big deal at first, he has to fail, I don't think he can grow up. Liu Xiu sat up and said, "What did you say?" I should have beheaded you. Geng Yi said: "The king usually treats me like a son, so I dare to loyally plan for the king." Liu Xiu saw that there was no one else, so he smiled and said, "I'm joking with you." You say. ”

Geng Yi said: "The first monarch and ministers only know pleasure, but do not know how to deal with government affairs; The emperor's relatives all oppressed the people in Kyoto and ran rampant; The soldiers plundered property and robbed women in various places. In the past, people were thinking about Han, but now they miss Wang Mang again. In addition, there are dozens of people such as Bronze Horse, Red Eyebrow, Qingcalf, and Datong, and they can't deal with them at all. That's why I said he couldn't grow. Your king, you are the first to revolt in Nanyang and destroy the enemy's million-strong army in Kunyang. Now the world of Hebei is calmed and returned to the heart. As long as the king ascends to the heights and shouts, the world will respond. Why give the world to others? ”

Liu Xiu didn't speak. General Huya Choshi also came in. He said: "Hebei is close to the border, and strong men can fight, so it turned out to be a place to send elite soldiers. As long as the king can obey the will of the people, who would dare not listen to the command? Liu Xiu said: "Don't talk nonsense. But he went out again and said to the messenger of the beginning: "Although Wang Lang has been destroyed, Hebei has not yet been calm, and I cannot leave for a while." ”

I had to resign. Since then, Liu Xiu has stayed in Hebei. He worshipped Geng Yi as a general and sent him and Wu Han to the north to recruit soldiers and horses from various counties. Several of the county guards resisted the order, and Geng Yi and Wu Han killed them. When the two generals came back with the northern army, Liu Xiu's troops were stronger. He personally led the army to defeat another peasant rebel army, Tongma, and hundreds of thousands of people surrendered. Liu Xiu named several leaders who submitted to him as liehous. From here, they all obeyed Liu Xiu and were willing to listen to his command, so that people in the Guanxi area called Liu Xiu "Bronze Horse Emperor". Then Liu Xiu wanted to attack Yan and Zhao again.

The north has not yet been pacified, but the Red Eyebrow army in the east is getting stronger and stronger. Most of the Red Eyebrow soldiers were simple peasants. Although they won the battle, they did not want to divide the territory, and their leader Fan Chong had no intention of becoming emperor at all. As long as you overthrow the brutal regime and survive the famine, you can go home and work in peace. Therefore, after they occupied Puyang and Yingchuan, as soon as they heard that Liu Xuan had become emperor and restored the Han Dynasty, they did not move. When he moved the capital from Wancheng to Luoyang, he sent an envoy to call the red eyebrows to return to Shun. Fan Chong came to Luoyang with more than 20 leaders and envoys. The first emperor was perfunctory and made them princes, but there was only an empty name without a fief, and he did not supply the food and salary of the 200,000 Red Mei army. Fan Chong and the leaders were so disappointed that they all fled when they found an opportunity.

In February 24, Fan Chong led an army of 200,000 to the west to attack Chang'an. They successfully entered the Hangu Pass. After Liu Xiu got the report, he sent Deng Yu to fight Fan Chong. However, the generals Zhu Kun and Li Yi are still in Luoyang, and they can fight to Hanoi at any time. Liu Xiu worshiped Kou Sui as the Taishou of Hanoi, and worshiped the general Feng Yi as the general of Mengjin, commanding the soldiers and horses on the river to guard against Luoyang. After he finished arranging it like this, he worshiped Deng Yu as the former general, gave him 30,000 soldiers and horses to attack the Guannei, and led the army to attack Yan and Zhao.

Hanoi Taishou Kou ordered the counties to train their troops, especially archery. He made more than 1 million arrows out of bamboo, raised 2,000 horses, and collected 4 million grains as military rations, which were transported to the front in an endless stream. Meng Jin's general Feng Yi was alone at this time, and he was no longer hiding under the big tree. Sure enough, Zhu Kun and Li Yi, who were guarding Luoyang, heard that King Xiao was going north, so they took the opportunity to attack Hanoi.

Feng Yi expected that Zhu Kun and Li Yi would definitely attack, so he wrote a letter to Li Yi, which was slightly cloudy:

Ignorance of the mirror so the shape, the past so know the present. Chyvino goes to Yin and enters Zhou; Xiang Bo rebelled against Chu and returned to Han; Zhou Bo welcomed the king and deposed the young emperor; Huo Guangzun's filial piety and the abolition of Changyi, they are afraid of heaven and know their fate, see the charm of survival, and see the abolition of Xingxing, so they can succeed in a while, and they will be in eternity! Gou ordered Chang'an to help postpone the years, but I am afraid that the relatives are far away and not too close, how can the public live in a corner in peace? Now Chang'an is chaotic and bare eyebrows in the suburbs, the princes and princes are difficult to separate, and the Quartet is divided and different surnames rise, so King Xiao trekked through the frost and snow to run Hebei. Honesty can realize success or failure to determine the plan, and the ancients turned disasters into blessings, at this time! If you wait for the fierce general to drive the strict soldiers to besiege the city, although there is regret, there is no way to do it!

Li Yi got the book, hesitated for a long time, and secretly thought about the past, Ben and Liu Xiu's brothers fell in love, and later Liu Xuan said that Emperor Zhu Kun was powerful, so he fell on Zhu Kun's side, and helped him kill Liu Xiu's brother Liu Yan. That's why he didn't dare to defect to Liu Xiu because of this, but he didn't want to help Zhu Kun anymore. Now Liu Xuanyong is weak and inadequate, and the red-eyed Fan Chong and others have parted ways to enter the customs, and the western soldiers have lost Chang'an in a row, and they can't survive for a long time. had to be vague and replied, and handed it over to the envoy to bring it back.

Feng Yi received Li Yi's reply and knew that he would not go against him. He took more than 10,000 elite soldiers to the north to conquer the two cities of Tianjing Pass and Shangdang.

Feng Yi sent someone to send Li Yi's reply to Liu Xiu, Liu Xiu felt that Li Yi couldn't be gullible, so he deliberately leaked the news that Li Yi wrote to Feng Yi, and added fuel and vinegar. After Zhu Kun got the news, he was afraid that Li Yi would rebel, so he sent someone to kill him. Liu Xiu has a plan to kill people with a knife, and he also takes revenge on his brother for this.

said that at this time, there were two more emperors, one was a child and the other was a grandson. After the child was deposed by Wang Mang, he was renamed Ding'an Gong, and he has been locked up since then, and has no contact with the outside world. Wang Mang married his granddaughter to him, Wang Yu's daughter. And Wang Mang was punished, the child was free, and he has been living in Chang'an, he is the out-and-out crown prince of the Liu family, and the Pingling people hope to take him to Linjing, and force Dai to make him the emperor, and he became the prime minister. The first emperor Liu Xuan sent his troops to conquer Li Song. Fang Wang's strength was not enough, and the whole army was wiped out after a battle. Ruziying became a puppet emperor for a month, but he was killed, and Fang Wang also died in the chaos.

This one emperor is finished, and the other emperor is Gongsun Shu of Chengdu. He is a native of Fufeng Maoling, very capable and famous. When Liu Yan and Liu Xiu rebelled in Nanyang, Gongsun Shu recruited soldiers and horses in Chengdu to respond to the Han army.

Gongsun Shu raised troops under the banner of the Han army, but he did not give him a title at the beginning, nor did he treat him as his subordinate. In 24 A.D., Gongsun Shu sent troops to attack Gongsun Shu, and Gongsun Shu ordered his brother Gongsun Hui to send troops against the enemy, and Gongsun Hui defeated the army and fled. From this time on, Gongsun Shu's prestige became even greater. He set himself up as the king of Shu. The local people and the neighboring tribes all joined him. His subordinates also hoped to climb the dragon and persuade him to take the throne. There was a subordinate named Li Xiong who also said many reasons and asked him to become the emperor quickly. Gongsun Shu established himself as the Son of Heaven, worshiped Li Xiong as the Great Situ, his brother Gongsun Guang as the Great Sima, and Gongsun Hui as the Great Sikong. The heroes and strongmen in Guanzhong all came to attach themselves to Gongsun Shu. Gongsun Shu had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and sufficient food and grass, so he built a palace in Nanzheng and became an emperor upright.

Gongsun Shu became the emperor, and his power became bigger and bigger, and Liu Xiu and his group were anxious. They went again and demanded that he take the throne. Liu Xiu asked Feng Yi about the movement of the Quartet. Feng Yi said: "Several important ministers at the beginning of the change have run away, and he must fail." There is no master in the world, and people are panicking. The upper part is the community, and the lower part is the people, and the king should listen to everyone's opinions. Liu Xiu said: "I dreamed of the red dragon going to the sky last night, and after waking up, I still felt palpitations, and I am afraid that the emperor's position is not easy to live in!" When Feng Yi heard this, he hurriedly went down to the table and said, "The destiny of heaven is spiritual, what doubts are there?" If you wake up with palpitations, this is a sign that the king has always been cautious, and it is not enough to rely on. ”

In June 25 AD, Liu Xiu approved the public opinion to choose a day to accept the court. On this day, the sun rises in the east, Liu Xiu wears the emperor's crown, wears a dragon robe, rides the law, and is flocked to the southern suburbs by the generals to worship the sky, and the official reads the congratulatory speech:

Wang Mang usurped the throne, Xiufa was angry and raised soldiers, broke the king to find Wang Yi in Kunyang, punished Wang Lang and copper horses in Hebei, pacified the world, and the sea was graced, the heart of heaven and earth, and the Yuan Yuan returned. The emperor's destiny cannot be kept. Do you dare to show disrespect? If you are like an emperor, you can only inherit your life.

Liu Xiu was the later Han Guangwu. He was thirty-one years old. Han Guangwu worshiped Deng Yu as a great situ and regarded him as Zhang Liang. Deng Yu was only twenty-four years old.