A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

With the secret support of Emperor Ping of Han, Wang Kuang and Wang Feng of the Green Forest Army assembled a force of 5 men. Although they were not fully armed, they were all well-trained soldiers, many of whom were elite imperial guards recruited by Emperor Ping.

It is precisely because of these elite troops that this force is not a rabble.

Wang Kuang and Wang Feng also came from extraordinary backgrounds. They were both descendants of a military family. Their original surname was Li, and they were descendants of Li Guangli during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. They were a bloodline that Li Guangli had spared no effort to preserve.

After being found by Emperor Ping of Han, they were subjected to both kindness and coercion. In order to restore their ancestors' prestige and avenge their forefathers, they agreed to be at Emperor Ping's beck and call.

With these troops, taking advantage of the Han Dynasty's weakened military strength, Wang Kuang and Wang Feng, centered on the Green Forest Mountain, swept through the surrounding counties. In just one month, they captured Xinping County, Pinglin County, and Xiajiang County.

Fan Chong was not to be outdone. He led 3 troops and, relying on the pieces he had laid out in advance, occupied the capital of Taishan County, thus controlling the vital passage between Qingzhou, Xuzhou, and Yanzhou, and continuously attacking the surrounding counties.

Every time Fan Chong conquered a new place, he would distribute all the land to the local powerful clans in exchange for their support.

Powerful clans were also willing to support Fan Chong, contributing their accumulated wealth, provisions, and military strength to bolster his power.

Fan Chong was ordered to quickly raise an army of 10 men.

Nobody is a fool. Although the imperial court has taken back ownership of the land, the cultivation of the land still falls on their shoulders.

Most of the grain they grow ends up in their own pockets.

Fan Chong's words sound nice, but the truth is that all the land fell into the hands of Fan Chong and powerful clans. Their families were farming for Fan Chong and these powerful clans, and only a small portion was given to them as charity.

Therefore, this army was forcibly conscripted, and they were all ordinary people whose families were controlled by Fan Chong. They had no choice but to join the army to fight for Fan Chong, otherwise their families would be brutally murdered.

The military administrators were all sons of powerful clans, who firmly held power in the army to prevent these unruly commoners from secretly colluding to rebel.

Fan Chong even implemented an extremely harsh system of collective punishment in the army.

If one person makes a mistake, all his fellow villagers and their families will be punished.

Fan Chong knew that his actions would never be accepted by these people. In order to maintain his high-pressure tactics, he took up the butcher's knife and massacred those who violated the rules. He killed tens of thousands of people before he could subdue the people.

Among these tens of thousands of people were soldiers who had been forcibly conscripted, their fellow villagers, their family members, and the families of their fellow villagers.

The oppressive atmosphere made everyone afraid to disobey Fan Chong's orders, lest they implicate their families and fellow villagers.

In order to cut off the soldiers' escape route, Fan Chong ordered all the soldiers to cut their eyebrows and dye them red with blood.

In this way, if he were to be defeated, the imperial court could easily identify which soldiers were his and would naturally carry out a purge.

These soldiers have no choice but to stick to the same old routine.

This group later became known as the Red Eyebrow Bandits.

Wang Kuang and Wang Feng's army was known as the Green Forest Bandits.

The Red Eyebrows Bandits and the Green Forest Bandits became the two largest rebel groups in this rebellion.

The news quickly reached Chang'an, and Emperor Ping of Han was furious in the court.

It was extremely rare for him to unleash his anger on Wang Mang.

"Prime Minister, is this the peace and prosperity you spoke of? Is this the reform you implemented, which concentrates all power in your hands?"

"Is this the benefit of nationalizing all the land?"

"This is the consequence of your feudal system, which consigned the nation's entire power to foreign lands!"

"You must take responsibility for this!"

Wang Mang looked displeased. How dare these mere local powerful clans rebel?

Do they really think that with their troops deployed overseas, they're too weak to deal with them?

Their most elite imperial guards and border troops are still around!

"Reporting to Your Majesty and the General: Urgent report from Beimu Commandery! The Northern Xiongnu! The Northern Xiongnu have reappeared!"

Just then, an urgent message arrived from the north, indicating that the Northern Xiongnu, who had disappeared for over a hundred years, had resurfaced.

This was clearly the work of Emperor Ping of Han.

"Weren't the Northern Xiongnu wiped out long ago?"

"He's still alive!"

The court erupted in chaos. The Northern Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty had a blood feud. They were driven to the far north, where even grass couldn't grow, and they survived. Are the Northern Xiongnu descendants of cockroaches?

"Your Majesty, I request permission to fight. If you grant me 30,000 troops, I will surely bring back the head of the Xiongnu Chanyu."

The far north is a desolate and frozen wasteland. Even if the Northern Xiongnu survived, they could not recover and grow stronger. Therefore, these generals could tell that the Xiongnu must not have many people, so they naturally rushed to the front.

"Prime Minister!"

"Even the Northern Xiongnu have come out! What are they trying to do?!"

"What exactly do you want to turn this big man into to make you happy?!"

"Say something!"

Emperor Ping of Han roared.

Wang Mang was also somewhat speechless, after all, this was indeed something that happened after his reforms.

"Reform will inevitably involve bloodshed; what reform in this world is bloodless?"

"And then there are the Northern Xiongnu. They never show up earlier or later, only when our country is weak and we're in rebellion or dead. There are bad people in the Han Dynasty!"

"It must be those rebels who colluded with the Northern Xiongnu to tie down the Han's military forces in the northern frontier."

"The Xiongnu are nothing to worry about."

Wei An immediately saw that the young emperor wanted to seize power, but he still remembered what the previous Han emperors had done to the Wei family, and he didn't mind adding a little trouble.

A look of panic flashed across Emperor Ping's eyes. He hadn't expected the Wei family to help Wang Mang get away with it. Wasn't the Wei family supposed to never get involved in the power struggles between the royal family and court officials?

Wei An also knew that this violated the foundation of the Wei family, but fortunately he had a good reason, and he also had to thank Emperor Ping of Han for informing the Northern Xiongnu.

"Our ancestor, King Zhongwu, left behind a clan precept: the Northern Xiongnu must die, and those who collude with foreign tribes shall die!"

General Wei Bang stepped forward and carefully examined the urgent report from the north.

War is a matter of vital importance to the state; it is a matter of life and death, a road to survival or ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

"Your Majesty, the Northern Xiongnu have actually recovered a considerable amount of strength in that remote and desolate northern land, and have once again assembled an army of 20 to march south."

"I am willing to lead troops north and strike the Xiongnu fiercely with the northern border army."

"Domestic scoundrels."

Wei Bang glanced at the generals in the court, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly.

Because the Han Dynasty had enjoyed a long period of peace and no one dared to invade, a large number of generals were sent to foreign fiefdoms to expand the territory.

Those who remained in the court were mostly veterans, and their numbers were not large.

"Your Majesty can use the current Northern Army as the backbone, directly expand the army, and use the generals of the Northern Army as grassroots commanders to quickly build a large army that is enough to quell those rebels."