In 25 A.D., in June, the Red Eyebrow Army arrived in Huayin (Huayin City, Shaanxi Province), accompanied by a wizard from Qidi (Shandong Province), who often organized activities such as dancing the Great God to worship Liu Zhang, King of Chengyang Jing. One day, the dancing god danced again lively, and then like a ghost possessed, shouting, King Jing is angry, if you want to be the son of heaven, why be a thief!
This caused a wave of ridicule. But strange to say, everyone who laughed at the wizard was sick, and the whole army was shocked by this.
So, someone persuaded Fan Chong, the leader of the red eyebrows, and others to say, now that you have a million people, general, you have entered Chang'an in the west, but you don't even have a honorific title, and you have always been regarded as a thief, how can this last long? Now, it is better to find a Liu clan relative to be the Son of Heaven, and then drive the world in the name of the Son of Heaven, who dares to disagree!
Fan Chong and others thought it was reasonable, and the dancers of the gods also jumped more and more happily, and the army arrived in Zheng County (Huaxian County, Shaanxi Province), and Fan Chong and others discussed to set up a Liu disciple as the emperor.
I think that at the beginning, when the red eyebrows were just emerging, they once passed through Shixian County (Yanzhou City, Shandong Province), arrested the three sons of the late Hou Liu Meng, and followed the troops. The brothers are Liu Gong, Liu Mao, and Liu Penzi, and the eldest Liu Gong is more literate and has studied "Shangshu". In 23 AD, Liu Xuan was proclaimed the Emperor of the Han Dynasty and surrendered to Chimei. Fan Chong felt that he had found an organization, so he took twenty or thirty people to Luoyang to return to Shun. Emperor Liu Xuan of the Xuanhan Dynasty gave these cadres the title of marquis, including Liu Gong, who was restored to his father's title of marquis and served as a servant (court attendant). Liu Xuan gave Fan Chong and others a marquis but did not give a fief, Fan Chong was angry, and ran back to Chimei with people to continue the revolution, however, Liu Gong did not follow, but stayed in Xuanhan ** to serve Liu Xuan. The two younger brothers, Liu Mao and Liu Penzi, have been following the red eyebrows, and are under the jurisdiction of a low-ranking officer, Liu Xiaqing, who is responsible for herding cattle.
Herding cattle baby Liu Penzi].
This time, the red eyebrows planned to establish the emperor, so they looked for the descendants of Liu Zhang, the king of Jing, in the army, and found more than seventy at once, up and down, left and right, only Liu Mao, Liu Penzi and the former Xi'an Marquis Liu Xiao were the closest. Which one is better? Someone came up with the idea to draw lots. Everyone thinks it's good, a total, some people say that the ancient Son of Heaven personally led the troops, called the general, so they found three pieces of wooden tablets, one of which was written with the words "General", and the other two were blank, and then put the three pieces of wooden tablets into a bamboo tube. An altar was built in the northern suburbs of Zheng County to worship Liu Zhang. After the sacrifice, a grand event was organizedDraw lots to choose the emperorThe ceremony was attended not only by all the generals, but also by the three elders (village education officers) and practitioners (staff officers). Liu Penzi and the other three were brought to the stage and stood up, and lots were drawn according to their age. Liu Penzi was the youngest, and he drew the last lot, and the two brothers drew blank lots, so the sign with "General" written on it went to Liu Penzi. The emperor was elected, and the generals all kowtowed to Liu Penzi, and the scene was enthusiastic. Liu Penzi, a cowherd baby, was just fifteen years old, with loose hair, bare feet, and tattered clothes. The second brother Liu Mao said to him, hurry up and put away the wooden slips! I don't know what Liu Penzi heard about it, anyway, he put the wooden tablet in his mouth and bit it for a while, and then threw it away.
Liu Penzi became the emperor, divided the hundred officials, named Xu Xuan as the prime minister, Fan Chong as the imperial historian, Xiao An as the left Sima, Xie Lu as the right Sima (that is, the one who accepted Liu Xuan's surrender, see the humble article "Xuanhan Emperor Liu Xuan: Relying on the Green Forest Army General Zhang Wei to be the emperor, and was killed by the Red Mei Army General Zhang Wei"), and the rest were all appointed as secretaries and generals.
Liu Penzi, a cowherding baby, became the emperor, but he was still under the control of Liu Xiaqing, a low-level officer, and went to worship Liu Xiaqing every morning and evening according to the old habit. Liu Penzi felt that it was not interesting to be an emperor, and always wanted to go outside to play with other shepherd boys, so that Liu Xiaqing often threatened to beat him before he could control it. Fan Chong and others also stopped coming to greet them.
In September, Red Mei entered Chang'an, and in October, Emperor Liu Xuan of the Xuanhan Dynasty surrendered.
Liu Penzi stayed in Changle Palace, and the officials and people in Sanfu saw that there was another emperor, so they had to express it. As a result, the leaders of the counties and camps all sent envoys to pay tribute to the new boss (Sanfu, that is, the Great Chang'an, including Jingzhao [the capital Chang'an City], Feng Yi on the left [North Chang'an City], and Fufeng on the right [West Chang'an City]. At that time, in order to protect themselves, the people of Sanfu gathered to live in camps and build camps), but they didn't expect that before they were sent to the palace, the tribute was robbed by the red-eyed soldiers. The red-eyed warriors felt that Chang'an was really a good place, and they went out to rob when they had nothing to do. The officials and people in the Sanfu area saw that the path of the red eyebrows was not right, and they couldn't count on it, so everyone continued to stick to the camp.
This can illustrate a problem, although the red eyebrows occupied Chang'an, they did not have a good connection with the original bureaucratic system and local institutions in Chang'an.On the day of the Lap Festival (the two Han Dynasty, it is an important festival to sacrifice all the gods in the sky on the "Lap Day"), the Red Eyebrow Army held a grand banquet, and before the wine began to drink, the ministers began to fight, and the soldiers climbed over the wall to enter the palace, slashed the palace door, grabbed the wine and meat, and killed each other. It was not until Wei Wei (the commander of the imperial city security) Zhuge Di (read as the title or late) led his army into the palace and killed more than 100 people that the riot was quelled. Liu Penzi was so frightened that he was almost confused, crying day and night, and the attendants on the left and right took pity on the emperor.
Liu Penzi's eldest brother Liu Gong saw that the Red Mei Army had no military discipline and no rules, and pondered that the Red Mei regime would end sooner or later, so he secretly asked Liu Penzi to hand over the jade seal ribbon and taught him to practice the words of resigning from the throne.
In 26 AD, on New Year's Day, Liu Penzi Conference ministers, in the main hall, Liu Gong first said, you jointly support my brother as the emperor, deep kindness, but after nearly a year on the throne, the world is becoming more and more chaotic day by day, my brother is obviously not the emperor's material, I implore everyone to allow him to abdicate, just be a common man, as for the emperor, please also choose another meritocracy!
When Fan Chong and the others saw Liu Gong speak like this, they apologized and said, "It's all our fault."
Liu Gong insisted on asking for permission to abdicate.
Someone spoke,Is it your responsibility to establish the emperor?
When Liu Gong heard this, his words were not good, and he got up and left. Liu Penzi jumped off the throne, untied the jade seal ribbon and put it on the ground, kowtowed to the ministers, and said while crying, although the emperor is now established, everyone's style is still a bandit style, and the behavior is still a bandit, which makes the Quartet resentful, all because you made me the emperor wrong, please let me go, please let me go, please ask a wise person to be the emperor! If you have to kill me to pay for it, I'm just going to die!
After finishing speaking, Liu Penzi continued to cry.
Fan Chong and hundreds of people in the court meeting also sighed after listening to Liu Penzi's words, so everyone left the seat and kowtowed to Liu Penzi, saying that the emperor is still up to you, and we won't rob anymore in the future!
Then someone picked up Liu Penzi, pressed it on the throne, and hung the jade ribbon on him. Liu Penzi is so sad, he howls and cries, but the wool is useless, this emperor can't push it out!
After the court meeting, the generals left the palace and closed the camp gates to prevent the soldiers from going out to disturb the people. When the people of Sanfu heard about this, they praised the emperor for his wisdom, and everyone returned to Chang'an, and the market resumed its bustle.
The funny thing is that just after more than 20 days, the Red Eyebrow Army began to rob everywhere again, and the people of Sanfu laughed angrily, you are leading the snake back to the hole!