However, it is said that after Liu Xiu ascended the throne, Deng Yu went to Chang'an from the northeast, and the Red Mei Army went to Chang'an from the southeast. When Deng Yu hit Hedong, the Red Mei Army had already entered the city pass. Hedong is still far from Chang'an, but the Red Mei Army can enter Chang'an sooner or later. At this time, Chang'an was already "burning eyebrows", and it was very critical.

In 25 A.D. (the first three years of the change), the Red Eyebrow Army was led by Fan Chong and Xiao'an, and led by Xu Xuan, Xie Lu and Yang Yin. He sent an army to resist, and fought several defeats in succession, so anxious that he didn't know what to do. Zhang Wei and Wang Kuang were defeated by Deng Yu and had just fled back from Hedong. Zhang Wei discussed with Shen Tujian, Liao Zhan, Kui Huan and others, and said: "Red eyebrows are here, we can't stay here." I said that it is better to pack up Chang'an City, and return to Nanyang with your belongings to find a way out. If Nanyang can't stay, let's go back to the lake and be the king! They all agreed. So they went to see him and offered him this plan.

Doctor Kui Huan is a native of Chengji, and he followed his uncle to respond to the Nanyang Rebel Army very early. Because of Kui's fame and high means, everyone pushed him to be a general. He recruited more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, killed the local governors of the new dynasty, and soon took over Longxi, Wudu, Jincheng, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang. Emperor Liu Xuan sent an envoy to contact Kui Huan and asked him to go to Chang'an to help him manage the government. When Kui Huan arrived in Chang'an, he worshipped him as the right general at first, and later promoted him to the imperial historian. When he heard that Liu Xiu had ascended the throne in southern Hunan, he persuaded Changshi to cede power to Liu Xiu's uncle, Liu Liang, the "third elder of the country", saying that this was the most cost-effective way to get out. He didn't listen to him, and killed Shen Tujian, and sent troops to surround Kui Huan and Zhang Wei's house.

Kui Huan and his disciples broke out of the encirclement and fled to Tianshui's hometown. Zhang Wei had many soldiers and horses, and he defeated the beginning of the occupation of Chang'an. He fled to Xinfeng with his family and more than 100 followers, hiding in his father-in-law Zhao Meng. The father-in-law and son-in-law combined, suspected that it was Wang Kuang's ghost. If Zhang Wei didn't contact Wang Kuang, how could he dare to rebel? Zhao Meng came up with an idea for the change, and ordered Wang Kuang, Chen Mu, and Cheng Dan to go in to discuss important matters. As soon as Chen Mu and Cheng Dan entered, they killed Zhao Meng's warriors. When Wang Kuang heard the news that Chen Mu and Cheng Dan had been killed, he really went to Chang'an to join forces with Zhang Wei. Zhao Meng took over the troops of Chen Mu and Cheng Dan, and recalled Li Song from Jicheng. It took a month to defeat Zhang Wei and Wang Kuang, and then take the first emperor back to Chang'an. Zhang Wei and Wang Kuang fled, and the Lvlin rebel army was completely split and greatly weakened.

Fan Chong saw that the beginning was almost over, but he could not refute the statement of the aristocratic landlord that "people think of Han", Fang Wang's brother Fang Yang resented Emperor Gengshi for killing his brother, so he deliberately went to the Red Eyebrow camp to see Fan Chong and persuaded him to make a person surnamed Liu the emperor. Fan Chong agreed. But there are really a lot of people surnamed Liu in the army, some are far away, some are close to the house, and more than 70 are found at once, among which there is Liu Penzi who is said to have the closest bloodline. He was only fifteen years old, and Fan Chong decided to make him the Son of Heaven.

Liu Penzi's ancestor is Liu Fei's son Liu Zhang, who is a well-known hero! However, by the time Liu Penzi's generation arrived, their family had no power for a long time. When Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, Liu Penzi's father was also killed, and he and his brother and others were unfortunately involved in the rebellion, and were captured by the Red Mei Army, and had to settle down in the Red Mei Army. Liu Penzi also has no status in the army, he is very lucky to be able to save his life, before being elected as the emperor, he was only responsible for watching the cattle for Fan Chong's subordinate Liu Xiaqing in the army, and everyone called him the cowherd.

Before ascending the throne, Liu Xiaqing asked Liu Penzi to change his clothes, but he didn't follow and cried and didn't leave. Liu Xiaqing had no choice but to let him go to see Fan Chong with his hair and bare feet. Liu Penzi saw that Fan Chong didn't dare to have sex anymore, so he put on the emperor's clothes and put on the emperor's crown. Fan Chong led the civil and military officials to meet him, and Liu Penzi didn't know how to deal with it. As soon as he retreated, he quickly changed into his original clothes and slipped outside to play with the other cowherds.

Fan Chongli Liu Penzi, he should be the prime minister. But he hadn't studied since he was a child, didn't know how to read, and couldn't calculate, so he made Xu Xuan, who could write and calculate, the prime minister, and the imperial historian himself.

The Red Eyebrow Army came to conquer Genshi in the name of Liu Penzi, the son of the Han Dynasty. It just so happened that the great generals of the first emperor, Zhang Wei, and the prince Wang Kuang were defeated by Zhao Meng and escaped from Chang'an. They surrendered to the Red Eyebrow Army and led the Red Eyebrow Army into the Eastern Capital Gate. He hurriedly sent Li Song and Zhao Meng to resist. Li Song was arrested by the Red Eyebrow Army; Zhao Meng also surrendered. Emperor Shi was so anxious that he had no other way, so he had to escape from the north gate with his wife and palace maids, and he himself rode his horse and ran fast, and the women fell behind and cried and shouted: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Why don't you come down to say goodbye to the capital? He hurriedly dismounted and bowed to Chang'an City a few times, touched the jade seal he was carrying, got up, jumped on the horse and ran away.

It was easy to escape to Gaoling and rest in the post house. At this time, a few more subordinates and soldiers came, and they breathed a sigh of relief. When he was running out of ideas, the Red Eyebrow Army sent a messenger to deliver a letter. The envoy conveyed an order to surrender to Changshi, and he could also be named the king of Changsha; Surrender was not allowed after twenty days. Emperor Gengshi had no choice but to follow the envoy back to Chang'an. He presented the jade seal to Liu Penzi shirtless. Liu Penzi listened to Fan Chong's words, and sure enough, he was named the king of Changsha and let him live in Chang'an.

The news of the Red Eyebrow Army's entry into Chang'an reached southern Shannan. Han Guangwu remembered that the first emperor was his master, and now he was very pitiful when he fell to this step, so he issued an edict to crown the first emperor as the king of Huaiyang; If anyone dares to murder the King of Huaiyang, they will be executed.

However, it was said that Zhu Kun had been besieged in Luoyang for several months, and Han Guangwu sent him to persuade him to surrender because Cen Peng had been in the same situation with Zhu Kun. Zhu Kun is in the city, and Cen Peng is under the city. Cen Peng's words were finished. Zhu Kun said: "When Da Situ (referring to Liu Yan) was killed, I still helped Li Yi; He also sent King Xiao to the Northern Expedition, and I stopped him again. I myself know that the sin is extremely evil, and I dare not see King Xiao again. ”

Cen Peng went back to report to Han Guangwu, and Han Guangwu said: "Those who do big things don't remember small mistakes." Zhu Kun is willing to come, and the official can be saved, let alone his life. I swear by the river that I will never break my word. Cen Peng told Zhu Kun these words again. Zhu Kun lowered a rope from the top of the city and said to Cen Peng: "If you really don't break your faith, you come up." So he took hold of the rope and went up. Seeing that he was so sincere, Zhu Kun agreed to surrender.

Zhu Kun asked Cen Peng to tie him up and go to see Han Guangwu. Han Guangwu personally untied him and comforted him. That night, he asked Cen Peng to send him back to Luoyang. The next day, Zhu Kun led Luoyang's army out and surrendered. Han Guangwu worshiped him as General Pingdi and was named the Marquis of Fugou. Then Han Guangwu entered Luoyang and took Luoyang as Kyoto.

Han Guangwu was very uneasy to live in Luoyang. There are really many people who set themselves up as kings and emperors in various places, and there are even more people who occupy a small place and become soil emperors. Kui Huan has arrived in Tianshui, claiming to be the general of Xizhou, and the neighboring Haoqiang are all attached to him, and the scholars and doctors of Chang'an have also defected to him one after another. Gongsun Shu became the emperor in Shu, and the Red Eyebrow Army occupied Chang'an, which was a big threat, and now it was necessary to defeat Chang'an, I don't know why Deng Yu hadn't entered yet.

It turned out that Deng Yu marched from Hedong to the west, and the discipline of the army was relatively good. He forbade the soldiers to loot property and insult women, and the people along the road were very satisfied. The big families in Chang'an used to hide their food and belongings, but they were robbed a lot by the soldiers at the beginning. They were dissatisfied with the regime; Later, the red eyebrows entered Chang'an, and they did not rob, so they thought that the red eyebrows army was better than the green forest army; But it didn't take long for the Red Eyebrow Army to come out to grab food like the Green Forest Army. Therefore, they pinned their hopes on Deng Yu's army. Deng Yu's soldiers asked him to attack Chang'an quickly, but he took the army farther and farther. The soldiers asked him why, and Deng Yu said: "We have a lot of men and horses, but there is no supply, and it is difficult to transport grain later." The Red Eyebrow Army is huge. If we go to war with them at once, we will suffer. In fact, they also have more people and less food, and sooner or later there will be chaos, and when they can't sustain themselves, we will attack again. "Everybody thinks it's good.

Deng Yu went around the big bend from east to north, turned west to south, and arrived at Luyi. At this time, the people of Chang'an were really dissatisfied with the Red Eyebrow Army. They think that the new reckless, the beginning, and the red eyebrows are not as good as the other! At this time, some people sympathized with Liu Xuan and wanted to rescue him. Zhang Wei was worried that Liu Xuan would settle accounts with him after he came out, so he simply asked Xie Lu to trick him out of the city and strangle him.

When Liu Penzi heard that Liu Xuan was dead, he took off the jade seal from his neck one day, kowtowed to the ministers, and said: "You have made me a county official (referring to the emperor), but I can't prohibit robbery, and the people in all directions resent me, and I have no skills at all." Spare me! He sobbed and cried. At this time, Fan Chong took the lead in lying on the ground and kowtowed and said: "This is all because we are subordinates, and we have failed the emperor." In the future, we must change our ways and dare not be presumptuous anymore. ”

They helped Liu Penzi to his place and hung the jade seal on him as usual. Thinking that his ancestor Liu Zhang wanted to be the emperor or not, Liu Penzi didn't want to be the emperor, but he wanted him to be!

Then the generals returned to the battalions and gave orders that the soldiers should not go out again and disturb the people. The Chang'an area suddenly settled down.

But without food, how can the Red Eyebrow Army stay, and where can they go? Deng Yu's army was stationed in Luyi and choked the Red Mei Army's northward movement. Luoyang has built the capital and made it the base camp of Han Guangwu, choking the way for the Red Mei army to return to the east. Liu Jia, the king of Hanzhong, relied on his strong forces to divide Hanzhong and prevent the Red Mei Army from developing southward. The east, south, and north are all enemies, and the Red Eyebrow Army has only one way to survive to the west. In the first month of that year, Fan Chong went into exile with hundreds of thousands of troops to the west, and they did not intend to seize the city, but the most important thing was to get more food. When they entered Anding and Beidi, they learned that the grain and livestock in these two places had already been looted by Deng Yu's army.

There was no food in Anding and the Northland, so the Red Eyebrow army had to go further west. I didn't expect to run into a noisy army. The Red Eyebrow army was defeated, with many dead and wounded. Fan Chong had no choice but to avoid Tianshui and flee to the northwest. Who knew that the disaster would not be alone, they were catching a snowstorm in the Fansu Valley, and many people froze to death. Where else can they go into exile? As a last resort, they had no choice but to return to the east.

Who knew that in September of that year, Chang'an City had been occupied by Deng Yu. The Red Eyebrow Army couldn't think of it, they rushed to break into the garden, and the people guarding the tomb fled to the core. The emperors, queens, and concubines of the Han Dynasty were buried there, and there were a lot of gold, silver, jewelry, and jade buried in the tomb. The Red Eyebrow Army then dug up the grave, and the coffin of the concubine was completely split, because the concubine used the jade box as the burial, and the corpse was immortal through the essence of the precious jade; Empress Lu's body was also pulled out of the coffin. The Red Eyebrows stripped her of her clothes, made her lie naked on the ground, and insulted her before leaving. This is also the viciousness of his life. Emperor Wen is still frugal and virtuous, and Mrs. Shen is not dressed on the ground, so she does not go to excavate with red eyebrows. In fact, bad people hate bad people too!

When Deng Yu heard that the Red Mei Army had dug up the grave, he immediately sent troops to attack. Unexpectedly, it was a defeat, and it was a miserable defeat, and even Chang'an City was taken away by the Red Mei Army. When they arrived at Yunyang, the Red Eyebrow Army then chased after them. Deng Yu lost the battle again and hurriedly retreated to Gaoling. He was afraid that there would not be enough food and grass in the army, so he had to ask Han Guangwu for help.

Han Guangwu knew that Deng Yu was not an expert in warfare, so he sent Feng Yi with a team of soldiers and horses to replace him. Han Guangwu personally sent Feng Yi to Henan, gave him a carriage and a sword, and instructed him: "The Chang'an area suffered from the military disasters of Wang Mang, Gengshi, and Red Mei, and the common people were extremely poor. The general went out on an expedition this time, and if the enemy was willing to surrender, as long as he sent their leader to Kyoto, the rest of the soldiers could let them go home. Conquest does not necessarily have to kill soldiers, the most important thing is to eliminate violence, peace, and calm people's hearts. Feng Yi listened to Han Guangwu's instructions and went west with the army and food.

Han Guangwu returned to Luoyang, and at this time received Deng Yu's recital. He said that Liu Jia, the king of Hanzhong, defeated the army of Chimei Xiao'an and wiped out more than 100,000 people; Yancen is now also subservient to the imperial court; If he and Liu Jia join forces, they will definitely be able to wipe out the red eyebrows. Han Guangwu had already sent Feng Yi to replace Deng Yu, so he issued an edict telling him to go back immediately. The edict also said: "Do not fight to the death with a defeated enemy." Red Eyebrows have no food, so they will definitely come to the east. I'm ready here. Come back quickly, and don't venture again. ”

Sure enough, as Han Guangwu expected, the Red Mei Army did not have enough food and was unwilling to stay in Chang'an. Chang'an has reached the point of starvation. A pound of gold can only be exchanged for five liters of beans. Fan Chong had no choice but to take the army to the east.

Feng Yi dragged the Red Eyebrow Army in Huayin. His method was to make the Red Eyebrows consume food and at the same time persuade them to surrender. Deng Yu lost a few battles, and wanted to make a contribution before returning to Luoyang. He didn't listen to Feng Yi's advice and attacked Chimei alone, but Fan Chong was defeated again and again, and in the end only twenty-four cavalry remained. He took these people and fled to Yiyang.

Feng Yi surrounded the Red Eyebrow soldiers at the bottom of the mountain. Feng Yi agreed with the Red Eyebrow Army on the day and place of the battle, and it must be compared up and down. Seeing that Feng Yi's army was not numerous, Red Mei came to attack. Feng Yi also went out in a big way, and fought a fierce battle with the red eyebrows, the two were evenly matched, the blades were handed over, and the shouts shook the sky. It's easy to kill the sun, and it's still reluctant. At this time, Feng Yi made a move of the red flag, and suddenly a group of men and horses stirred into the Red Eyebrow army formation, and their clothes were the same as those of Red Eyebrow. The Red Eyebrow Army mistakenly thought it was his own henchmen, and hurriedly greeted, who knew that the head was slammed, and the neck blood was blurred. The Red Eyebrow Army was suddenly in chaos. It turned out that Feng Yi saw that the red eyebrows were prosperous, so he ordered his sergeant to change his red eyebrows to clothes, and used the red flag as a sign next to the road at night, telling him to make trouble with the thief army. The Red Eyebrow Army can't tell who is the enemy and who is their own. I am afraid of hurting my own people, but I can't help but parry. When he was in distress, the soldiers pretending to be the Red Eyebrow Army shouted, "Surrender! Surrender! We surrender! "When the real red eyebrow army saw that someone had surrendered, they also fell into ambush and all of them returned to sincerity.

In January 27 AD, Emperor Guangwu personally led the six armies to intercept Chimei. The red-eyed army saw that the front of the god collar was shining with the sun and the flag covering the sky, and the emperor of the Han Dynasty was embraced in the middle, and the yellow house was majestic on all sides. Fan Chong, Xiao An and others killed people without blinking, but now they are at a loss and don't know what to do. At the current meeting, there is only one way to beg for surrender, and Liu Gong is sent to hold a letter to ask for surrender.

Liu Gong saw Han Guangwu and said: "Basin led thousands of people to surrender to Your Majesty, dare to ask Your Majesty how to deal with it?" Han Guangwu said: "Just wait until he doesn't die." As soon as Liu Gong went back and said, Liu Penzi brought more than 30 leaders, including Prime Minister Xu Xuan, Imperial Historian Fan Chong, and Dasi Nong Yang Yin, to see Han Guangwu barebacked. Liu Penzi presented the jade seal. The red-eyed soldiers all piled up their armor and weapons outside the west gate of Yiyang. The armor and weapons of more than 100,000 soldiers were piled up as high as the nearby Bears Ears Mountain.

Han Guangwu instructed the county cooks to hurry up and cook to give more than 100,000 Chimei soldiers a big meal. The next day, Han Guangwu said to Fan Chong: "Do you regret your surrender?" If you regret that I will fight with you again, I will not force you to surrender. Fan Chong kowtowed and said: "We can return to the emperor today, just like a baby seeing a loving mother, only joy and no regrets." ”

Han Guangwu took Fan Chong and them to Luoyang, gave them fields and houses, and let them live with his wife. At that time, Han Guangwu's uncle Liu Liang had already been named the king of Zhao, so he let Liu Penzi be the langzhong of the king of Zhao, Yang Yin was named the marquis of Guannei, and Xu Xuan, Xie Lu and Liu Gong also had official positions. Liu Gong avenged the change and killed Xie Lu, and he had someone tied up and put him in prison. Han Guangwu had previously ordered that "all officials and people who plotted to kill the king of Huaiyang should be executed", so Liu Gong was released.

Fan Chong and Xiao An were the main leaders of the Red Mei Army, and although Han Guangwu did not speak, the ministers felt that it was not appropriate to keep them. Soon after, they were killed on charges of treason.

After the Red Eyebrow Army was extinguished, there was no unified leadership in Guanzhong. Many powerful occupy their own territory, claiming to be generals and attacking each other. There are more than a dozen leaders in this area of Guanzhong alone. Among them, the most powerful is Yancen. He gave orders in Guanzhong and appointed officials, as if he had become the overlord of Guanzhong.

Feng Yi, the general of the big tree, became the general of the expedition to the west at this time. His strategy for conquering the west was to use both pacification and encirclement and suppression, and sometimes more pacification and less encirclement and suppression. This method is very top-notch, and after "appeasing", he actually subdued a lot of Yancen's subordinates. Then concentrate forces and suddenly attack Yancen. Yan Cen lost battles one after another, so he had to leave Guanzhong and flee to Shu, where he joined Gongsun Shu, who worshipped him as the Great Sima. According to Han Guangwu's instructions, Feng Yi only sent a few leaders in Guanzhong to Luoyang, and the others were sent home. Guan Zhong finally gave Feng Yiping down.