Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 167: The Red Eyebrow Rebellion

In the fifth year of Yuanfeng, Wang Mang began to set up embroidered robe envoys and sent them to local areas to carry out large-scale rectification at the grassroots level in an attempt to restore order in Daxin.

He was still unwilling to give up the reform he had insisted on for many years. What a pity! It was already halfway through. Maybe he could grit his teeth and get through this difficult period!

"Alas... Your Majesty is really stubborn."

In the Zhen Mansion, Zhen Feng and his younger brother Zhen Han sat on the ground, drinking together and drowning their sorrows. In front of his brothers, he no longer hid anything.

Instead, he took advantage of the alcohol to pour out all the unhappiness in his heart.

In Zhen Feng's opinion, no matter how hard His Majesty tried, he could not change the failure of this retro reform. He had touched upon the interests of the powerful nobles, and he still wanted to remain safe and sound? How could it be possible!
The previous uprising was just a warning. The real strength of the wealthy families that can shake the country does not lie in the number of soldiers they have.

No matter how many there are, can they outnumber the hundreds of thousands of troops of the imperial court? Their training is also completely inferior.

"Brother, you can't say that. Even if you are the young master of the dynasty, you can't escape the impeachment of those embroidered robe envoys. You can't lose your future because of a momentary complaint."

Zhen Han reminded him that as the current emperor's Grand Tutor and the highest-ranking official, he certainly knew His Majesty's obsession.

It was too unrealistic to ask Wang Mang to give up. He would not just throw away something he had insisted on, something he had regarded as his spiritual sustenance for half his life. Discussing it with his close ministers was just a way to seek psychological comfort.

Zhen Han really didn't understand those emperors. You obviously have already made up your mind, so why are you asking us?
If your wishes are not followed, he will get angry, and you may even lose favor, or even be imprisoned or executed. In this case, just do what you want.

He summoned his ministers back with an eager look on his face, and told them that they could say whatever they wanted.

You'll be happy if I tell you that. He has always felt that Your Majesty has double standards and is a hypocrite in some ways.

Wang Mang often compared himself to Emperor Wen of Han, but in Zhen Han's heart, Emperor Xiaowen was countless levels stronger than his own majesty.

If it were Emperor Xiaowen, the Xu family would never have rebelled.

"Alas..." Zhen Feng also took a sip of wine, "My brother taught me that people get drunk and have sex without restraint, people get drunk and have sex without restraint."

"By the way, have these embroidered-robed messengers played any role?" The imperial court had issued the order to rectify the local areas for more than half a year, but according to reports from the public, it was still useless.

The people still eat, farm, sleep and curse the emperor every day.

"Don't mention it. Do you think the so-called Embroidered Robe Envoys are good people? They are even greedier!" Zhen Han was also drunk and showed a contemptuous expression.

Fortunately, Wang Mang trusted the Zhen brothers enough and did not plant spies, otherwise what they said today would be enough to make them suffer.

"As expected, that's how you put it." Zhen Feng was still very interested.

"Humph, it did have some effect in the first month, dismissing and executing a large number of corrupt officials, but it didn't last more than two months before they were immediately corrupted."

"As long as you hand over your money and treasures, they will turn a blind eye. They are really good at collecting money, but they haven't done much practical work."

Zhen Han took another sip of wine.

What’s even more outrageous is that he hasn’t mentioned that some embroidered robe envoys would even take money to deal with political enemies for others!
You can earn more this way.

It can be said that Wang Mang’s efforts not only failed to improve the situation, but made it worse.

The Xin Dynasty had lost the support of the grassroots powerful people, the imperial power did not reach the countryside, and the people sent there to rectify the administration of officials would also become corrupt.

It will be useless unless the reform is abolished and the support of the powerful landlords is regained.

In this era, if one wanted to maintain his position in power, the support of the landlords was essential. This was mainly due to the shortage of grassroots officials and the backwardness of communication and transportation equipment. The court often had to rely on local wealthy families to govern the townships.

They are the so-called three elders, and the village head and pavilion chief are actually held in turns by powerful people of different sizes.

"Alas... Remember that Luoyang has become unstable? A group of thieves have formed gangs, gained great power, and started to plot a rebellion!"

Zhen Feng expressed his concerns. Although it was only a matter of time before the whole country rebelled, the situation was imminent now.

Once that group of bandits raises the banner of rebellion, the local tyrants will surely respond one after another.

They just lack a leader.

"It is true." Zhen Han also knew, "They generally paint their eyebrows with cinnabar, call themselves the Red Eyebrow Army, and are always preparing for rebellion. This is known to all the locals."

"There were about 4,000 people, which was not a large number, but Chen Sheng and Wu Guang only had 800 soldiers back then. Eventually, through continuous snowballing, they still had a million people and indirectly destroyed the Qin Dynasty."

Both of them were very worried because they found that this new dynasty seemed to be on its last legs, and as subjects of this dynasty, they could imagine what the future would be like.

Either he would be killed by the rebels and buried with Wang Mang, or the Han army would capture Chang'an and he would become a prisoner of Liu Xiang and Xu Hua!

How sad, and most importantly, they can't change! That's the really hard part.

"Stop saying such depressing things. Who can predict the future? Maybe your majesty's reforms can really change everything. Then it will be the next Shang Yang's reforms!"

"We, Daxin, will also take advantage of the situation to rise and gradually annex the divided Han."

Zhen Feng began to comfort himself. Although anyone with a discerning eye knew that there was no hope at all, Shang Yang had just encountered great resistance back then, and ordinary Qin people highly respected him.

It was also quite effective, but what about now?
.........

In the first year of the Dihuang reign, the Red Eyebrow Army hiding in the Luoyang area, led by their leader Zheng An, rose up in rebellion and swore an oath of blood alliance!

Soon they gained strong support from local powerful men, who provided them with food and money and helped the uprising greatly. With the help from both inside and outside, the rebel army was unstoppable.

He controlled most of Sili, grew his army to a size of 100,000 people, enthroned Liu Xu, Marquis of Chengyang, as emperor, and launched an uprising under the slogan of restoring the Han Dynasty.

This incident shocked the entire Chang'an court. Wang Mang was very angry. He knew that he would have to rebel sooner or later, but he didn't expect it to be so quick and smooth!
Those local tyrants either provided assistance or simply joined, as if everyone in the world had collectively betrayed Daxin!
After all, Wang Mang's reforms were like cutting off the source of the trouble for the powerful class!
"This group of unruly people are traitors and rebels! Everyone has the right to kill them!"

At the court meeting, Wang Mang shouted angrily, he didn't know why he was rebelling? He had obviously rectified the grassroots, and those embroidered robe envoys would regularly deal with a considerable number of "corrupt officials".

It was obvious that he was deceiving his superiors and subordinates again. He didn't know that the special official he was in charge of supervising all officials had been corrupted.

The impeached ministers were also the result of private factional struggles among officials, and they all wanted the emperor to deal with them.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. Your Majesty, please calm down." General Wang Yi said hurriedly. Now he is the real number two figure in the Xinmang Dynasty.

He holds core military power and is deeply trusted.

"Your Majesty, our top priority now is to quickly send people to quell the rebellion. Lian Dan has been defeated, and the rebel army has grown to a size of hundreds of thousands!"

"If this continues, I'm afraid we'll really be repeating the momentum of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang."

Zhen Han also hurriedly said that with the defeat of the generals dispatched by the court, the rebel army developed rapidly, and the border troops in Guanzhong must not be moved, otherwise Liu Xiang would definitely take advantage of the opportunity to invade! So they could only transfer the imperial guards in Chang'an.

"That's right." Wang Mang calmed down. "Wang Yi, I will give you 50,000 elite soldiers. Go and quell the rebellion. Be quick!"

He was also afraid that if Xu Hua got the news, he would take advantage of the situation! The Liangzhou Army, which had been silent for many years, also sent troops south, and the former strength of the Northwest Army was still fresh in their memory.

By then, Yanzhou, Nanyang and other places will also send troops together, and will be dragged down by internal and external troubles.

We can only quickly resolve the internal rebellion and then strengthen our defense.

"Your Majesty, I will do my best to fulfill my mission." Wang Yi did not refuse. There were generals who could go to the battle, but he was the only one that His Majesty could trust.

Now the Daxin regime is shaky and on the verge of collapse. If the Chimei rebels and the Han army in Yanzhou attack from the front and back, the defenders will inevitably be defeated. At that time, if the two sides join forces, Luoyang will be in danger.

At that time, the Han army in the northwest will be dispatched, and Nanyang will take this opportunity to retake Runan in one fell swoop.

Therefore, Wang Mang trusted no one except his cousin Wang Yi, who had made great contributions in the past.

What's more, in his mind, only Wang Yi had the ability and hope to wipe out the rebels in a short time! This matter could not be delayed.

.........

Nanyang, the palace of Duke Jing.

The news of the Sili Red Eyebrow Army uprising was passed on to Xu Hua. He received the information relatively slowly and only learned about it after the Red Eyebrow Army had grown in size.

But it’s not too late now, they can use this to achieve their goals!
"This day has finally arrived, although it's a little late." Xu Hua felt very excited because he knew that the opportunity to break the stalemate between Han and Xin had come!

This time the Red Eyebrow uprising was quite large, having grown to a size of 100,000 people, although they supported Liu Xu as emperor.

But this is not a problem, we can talk about it. The most important thing is that we have a common enemy and a common goal! Overthrow Wang Mang's regime and restore the Liu family's country.

After Wang Mang's chaos in the country, the people still felt that the Liu family was better, which was equivalent to taking the blame for the Han Dynasty.

This caused all the accumulated problems in the country to explode, and Xiang Han was originally at a critical point.

However, with the negative example of the Xinmang Dynasty, domestic conflicts were eased and powerful forces chose to give up their interests.

Xu Hua plans to send someone to negotiate with Zheng An, so that they can form an alliance and fight together!
Moreover, I believe that it is not just one Red Eyebrow Army that is dissatisfied with the Xin Mang Dynasty. With a leader, others will also rise up one after another.

"Brother, what should we do next?" Xu Zhong was also very excited, but he was still willing to listen to his elder brother.

He has always been like this, making decisions on small matters on his own and discussing big matters with others.

Although in reality it is the elder brother who makes the decision.

"It is my idea to unite with the Red Eyebrow Army. Although it will lead to a situation where the tail is too big to be cut off, we have no choice."

Xu Hua said calmly that joining forces with others would cause the rebel forces to expand again and become a separatist regime!
But at least this is much easier to deal with than a relatively unified regime. He can even imagine the chaotic situation after the demise of the Xinmang Dynasty.

After all, these local governors and generals hold real power. If there is no war, will they just hand it over? How is that possible? If the court wants to take back power, it can only rely on blood!

"Well... I agree, but have you ever thought about the future, or what kind of bonus we should offer to the Red Eyebrow Army?"

"Those people are not easy to deal with. They may not ask for too much, but it is not difficult for them to occupy Sili. What is this? Separatist forces. Emperor Gaodi did enfeoff a large number of kings with different surnames."

"But that was a helpless move, and they were all removed later."

This is what Xu Zhong was mainly worried about. After all, the Red Eyebrow Army was not on his side, and Zheng An was still a smart man.

Moreover, the emperor they established was Liu Xu! On their side was Liu Xiang. There was no room for two tigers in one mountain. And the most important point was that this was Liu's private matter.

The Xu family does not interfere in such matters.

"There's no other way. As long as the conditions are not too excessive, we can consider it. It's not easy to ask them to work for nothing. We have to give in." Xu Hua still wanted to compromise temporarily.

It would be bad to break up with the rebel forces within the Xinmang Dynasty. This is the best outcome, since the lands have not been obtained yet.

You lose nothing by writing a bad check.

Zheng An is a smart man, so Xu Hua planned to negotiate with him because he knew that he would not be able to take over much territory on his own and might even be wiped out by the Chang'an court.

Although uprisings were brewing in other places, everything was unknown and cooperation with the Han court was the only option.

.........

The envoy to the Han court soon arrived in Sili and successfully established contact with Zheng An.

The spies from Luoyang had already negotiated with him before, and the rebel commander showed great interest in the alliance.

He even expressed that he could persuade Liu Xu to abdicate, and the Red Eyebrow Army also submitted to the Nanyang court.

"Hahaha... Your Excellency has come from afar, I'm sorry for not welcoming you in person."

Zheng An personally stood up to greet him with a smile on his face. He cared a lot about this negotiation and believed that cooperating with the Han people was a very good choice.

After all, the banner they raised was to respect the Han Dynasty, and the orthodox Han Dynasty was in Nanyang.

With the Xu family, a century-old noble family, as a guarantee, Liu Xiang was also a prince and had once been a popular candidate for the crown prince. It was legitimate for him to succeed to the throne and become emperor. On the contrary, his own case was rather far-fetched.

"I am honored to meet you, General." The envoy bowed respectfully.

"Please stand up quickly and take a seat." Zheng An helped him up.

"Thank you, General." The Han envoy did not act pretentiously. This was a common practice among ancient envoys, playing hard to get.

Make the other person angry and then arouse his interest, then resolve the situation with your eloquence.

"General, I came here not for our dynasty, but to save you." The Han envoy said with a smile.

"Save me? How can you say that?" Zheng An asked in surprise. This trick has not been overused yet and everyone is quite fond of it.

"Now the new emperor Wang Mang has sent General Wang Yi to lead an army of 100,000 to go on a mighty expedition. Do you think you can resist?" The Han envoy threw out what the other party was most concerned about.

As expected, Zheng An did not refute, "Your Excellency is right. I am very worried about the Xinmang army."

(End of this chapter)