vrcanaries Chapter 198 Proclaiming Emperor
Chapter 198 Proclaiming Emperor
Suddenly, Wan Chaozhong felt a chill on his neck and couldn't help but touch it with his hand!
With a swift stroke, the knife fell! These two are ruthless!
No wonder he's ranked so high among the Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai!
……
Back to the live broadcast room.
Judging from the way the two men were wielding their knives, Lin Ke was inexplicably reminded of the game Fruit Ninja.
Touching her neck, she continued, "After those two were gone, the bigwigs in Youzhou stopped listening to Liu Xuan and consciously focused on maximizing their profits."
"For example, Peng Chong labeled the mining and salt industries in the Yuyang area as belonging to the Peng family, implying that they had the right to manufacture and produce them!"
"However, the people who were killed were originally sent by Liu Xuan to take over other people's property. They ended up like this because they chose different sides. After the pacification of Youzhou, the cavalry of the ten counties began to move south."
"Liu Xiu will next deal with the uprising forces of Tongma. This force is not small, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and they are entrenched in Qinghe County, northeast of Handan."
"And in this area are two rivers—the Yellow River and the Fuyang River. But Liu Xiu calculated his own forces and realized that they were clearly insufficient to resist these hundreds of thousands of troops. So he used these two great rivers to trap them within them."
"Then they ordered their supply lines to be blocked again. Forced into a corner, the group began to fight like cornered beasts, constantly trying to break through the encirclement. Unfortunately, they ran into the Youzhou cavalry, and almost every time they were about to break through, they were blocked!"
A Ming Dynasty soldier: That bronze horse must be furious! It can't beat them! Hahahaha!
A spoiled young master from the Tang Dynasty: Wow, that's impressive! The Iron Cavalry of Youzhou!
A bystander from the Song Dynasty: How tragic! The bronze horse looks like this, hahaha!
A bystander from the Han Dynasty: Bronze Horse—what a pitiful rebel force!
……
"Damn it, Tongma is so annoying! We've charged so many times but still haven't been able to beat them. We can't even run away. In the end, we're trapped here. And damn it, there are two big rivers next to us, so they've cut off our food supply. It's so frustrating!"
"So, just one month later, the Bronze Horses tried to sneak away under the cover of night. Liu Xiu did not let this opportunity pass. He led his entire army in pursuit and defeated the main force of the Bronze Horses at Guantao. In the end, the Bronze Horses had no choice but to surrender because they could neither fight nor run away."
"Up to this point, Liu Xiu was powerful enough to be compared with other well-known forces. After all, he had taken over the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Bronze Horse Army and distributed them among his generals. At that time, the people of Guanzhong called Liu Xiu the Bronze Horse Emperor!"
"Even if Liu Xiu himself had some power, such as his own trusted generals, he was still supported by various powerful clans. So, in the end, it was those powerful clans that absorbed these hundreds of thousands of troops."
"He then pressed his advantage, incorporating the rebel armies of Daqiang, Youlai, and others into his own ranks, and finally quelled the various rebellions in Hebei. Subsequently, the governor of Hanoi surrendered, and Liu Xiu thus gained control of the two provinces of You and Ji and the Hanoi commandery. He then sent Feng Yi to attack Luoyang, which was guarded by Zhu Wei and others."
A bystander from the Song Dynasty commented: "If Liu Xiu's brother hadn't died, he might have been able to help him, since that man had decent military skills!"
A scion of a prominent family in the Ming Dynasty: Is it because of His Majesty's decree of grace that Liu Xiu's family has no power at all?
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu: ...I'm not taking the blame for this!
A spoiled young man from the Tang Dynasty: But it's truly remarkable that he was able to achieve unification.
……
"By this point, Liu Xiu's forces had increased several times over, the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai had all been assembled, the various rebellions in Hebei had been quelled, and news of victory had also come from Feng Yi's side."
"It can be said that Liu Xiu had enough capital to challenge Liu Xuan and others at this time, so many generals advised him to declare himself emperor, but Liu Xiu still said that it was not yet time. It was not until his close subordinate Geng Chun advised him that Liu Xiu listened to his advice."
"At this time, Liu Xiu's former classmates from Chang'an came to Liu Xiu's side and presented him with the 'Red Talisman'. The ministers used the sentence in it, 'Liu Xiu raises troops...' as a basis to once again urge Liu Xiu to declare himself emperor."
"So in June of 25 AD, Liu Xiu proclaimed himself emperor at Qianqiu Pavilion in Hao City, establishing the reign title Jianwu. In order to signify the restoration of the Han Dynasty, it was also called the Later Han. The name Eastern Han originated from the fact that Luoyang was located in the east after the late Tang and Five Dynasties period."
A scion of a prominent family in the Song Dynasty: Oh my god! I've finally become emperor! What's with all the fussing and refusing?!
A bystander from the Ming Dynasty: You're too kind, hahaha!
A spoiled young man from the Tang Dynasty: It should have been done a long time ago! Everyone else did nothing and yet they seized power!
……
"After Liu Xiu became emperor, he sent Wu Han to besiege Zhu Wei in Luoyang. Because Liu Xiu and Zhu Wei had a previous grudge, which was the kind of hatred that came from killing his brother, Zhu Wei refused to surrender for several months."
"But Liu Xiu was a kind and honest man, so he sent someone to tell Zhu Wei that if he surrendered, he would not be punished and his title would be preserved. After Zhu Wei surrendered, Liu Xiu indeed honored his promise and appointed him as General Pingdi."
"However, Liu Xuan and his men, who were still living a life of debauchery in Chang'an, would never have imagined that their enemies were attacking Chang'an with a burning rage. This group of people was the Red Eyebrow Army that Liu Lin wanted to dig up the Yellow River to drown them."
Red Eyebrow Army: Just you wait! We swear to avenge our past grievances!
"The Red Eyebrows have amassed a total of 300,000 troops. They first launched a surprise attack on Nanyang, the hometown of Xuan Han, and then split into two groups to advance towards Chang'an simultaneously."
"This group also established a regime, enthroning the young emperor Liu Penzi and establishing the Jian Shi regime. Gengshi expressed his dissatisfaction and repeatedly sent generals to attack them, but he was defeated each time. He then surrendered and was granted the title of King of Changsha, but was eventually strangled by the Red Eyebrows."
A Song Dynasty official said: "Who told them to look down on the Red Eyebrows back then! They didn't even take it seriously when others came to sue for peace!"
A farming expert from the Tang Dynasty: Liu Xiu was quite kind! He didn't break his promises casually.
A Ming Dynasty soldier: Is it really that easy for someone surnamed Liu to be used as a puppet?!
……
In another timeline, Liu Che, who was constantly reviewing memorials, sighed deeply. Hearing this, he knew that Liu Xiu's unification of China was not far off.
However, his Western Han Dynasty eventually perished, although it was continued by the Later Han Dynasty, but the significance was different.
But! Doesn't Liu Xiu have too many allies around him?!
He admitted he was a little envious!
……
Upon hearing of the battle between the Green Forest and Red Eyebrow armies, Liu Xiu also dispatched Deng Yu westward into Guanzhong, intending to play the role of the fisherman in the conflict between the two.
"At that time, there was a great famine in the Three Auxiliary Regions, people ate each other, and the cities were empty. So the Red Eyebrow Army was about to run out of food in Chang'an and had no choice but to withdraw from Chang'an to Longyou to replenish their supplies."
"But unexpectedly, we encountered Kui Xiao, who had occupied Longyou, and were defeated by him. At that time, a snowstorm struck, and most of the soldiers froze to death. This was undoubtedly a double blow to the Red Eyebrows. We could only defeat Deng Yu's army stationed in Chang'an first before entering Chang'an."
"Before we go on to talk about what happened next, let's focus on introducing this Wei Xiao. He came from a powerful family in Longyou and was from Tianshui. At a young age, he was famous in Longyou for his knowledge of books and classics and was recommended by Liu Xin to be his subordinate official."
"However, after Liu Xin betrayed Wang Mang, Wei Xiao returned to his hometown of Tianshui. His fate was actually quite similar to Liu Xiu's."
"After Wei Xiao returned to his hometown, his uncle Wei Cui was generous and chivalrous, and was supported by the people. Hearing that Liu Xuan and others had declared themselves kings and had defeated Wang Mang's army, he was also eager to try his luck."
"So in 23 AD, his brother Wei Yi and uncle Wei Cui told Wei Xiao that they wanted to rebel, and eventually joined forces with Yang Guanghe and Zhou Zong from Shanggui to start a rebellion."
An old farmer from the Song Dynasty: What?! Are the powerful clans supposed to distribute resources equally?! How come everyone has enough?!
A scholar-official from the Han Dynasty: We all have such unreliable brothers!
A scion of a prominent family in the Ming Dynasty: In chaotic times! It's all part of the game. Let's fight for the throne!
……
"But Wei Xiao said that he was not that kind of person. How serious is the crime of rebellion? Wouldn't it easily bring disaster to the clan?!"
“But Kui Xiao’s uncle wouldn’t listen. Like Liu Yan, he said he wanted to do what he thought was right, and that this era was meant for rebellion. So Kui Cui gathered several thousand men, captured Pingxiang, and killed the officials Wang Mang was stationed there.”
"Not long after, Wei Xiao was elected Supreme General by his brother and uncle, though I won't go into the extent of his actual power."
"The main reason they did this was because Wei Xiao had become famous for his knowledge of classics and literature, and they wanted to use him as a person to take risks, or rather, to drag him down with them."
"Kui Xiao himself was well aware of their thoughts, so he said: 'I am grateful to all of you uncles and elders for thinking so highly of me, but whether I can be the supreme general depends on whether you can all listen to me!'"
"These people agreed readily at the time, but whether they actually listened was another matter. However, in July of 23 AD, Wei Xiao established a separatist force, and thus everyone's goal was achieved."
A bystander in the Song Dynasty commented: "Those who are pushed into power like this are usually not in actual control!"
A spoiled young man from the Tang Dynasty: We're both older brothers, but Liu Yan's older brother is much better than this one!
A farming prodigy in the Ming Dynasty: A master at tricking his younger brother!
……