There is an old saying, "The emperor takes turns to do it, and tomorrow he will come to my house".
At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the Han family did not decline, but Wang Mang took the opportunity to seize the throne, and Chinese history entered the new dynasty period, but both at that time and later generations generally believed that this was a thief and a minister.
After Wang Mang, who was unjustifiably proclaimed emperor and initiated several rounds of reforms, the people's hearts were lost, and the local tyrants and poor peasants rose up one after another for their own interests, and the surging armed uprisings such as the Green Forest Army and the Red Mei Army soon made a mess in the world, and the people of the world blamed Wang Mang for the decay and chaos, so most of them hoped to restore the Han dynasty.
In the wave of the restoration of the Han dynasty by the Liu royal family, three regimes in the name of the "Han Dynasty" appeared in the land of China: the regime of the first emperor established by Liu Xuan supported by the Green Forest Army, the Guangwu regime established by Liu Xiu, and the Liu Penzi regime established by the Red Mei Army.
Of course, in the end, it was the lucky Liu Xiu who established the Guangwu regime, that is, the Eastern Han Dynasty, which finally gained a foothold in Luoyang and extended the Han Dynasty for nearly 200 years.
Liu Penzi is a direct descendant of Liu Fei, the eldest son of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty. When he was in his grandfather's generation, he was named Shihou, and his father later inherited the throne, but Wang Mang was killed after usurping the throne.
Liu Penzi has two elder brothers, Liu Gong and Liu Mao, and after his father was killed, the three brothers relied on each other and lived an ordinary life. But then an incident broke their original state of life.
In the last years of the New Dynasty, there were three main rebel forces in the country, the Green Forest Army, the Red Mei Army and Liu Xiu's Army. At that time, when the Red Eyebrow Army passed through Liu Penzi's hometown county, they arrested all three Liu Penzi brothers to the barracks.
Because the eldest Liu Gong read some books when he was a child, he was still a cultural person, so after the Red Mei Army surrendered to the first emperor Liu Xuan, Liu Gong became an official in Chang'an. And Liu Penzi and Liu Mao, who had little knowledge, stayed in the Red Mei military camp to herd cattle.
The Red Eyebrow Army led by Fan Chong developed rapidly, and its strength completely surpassed Liu Xuan in a few years. Liu Xuan, who was the emperor in Chang'an, hurriedly proposed to relinquish the throne in order to save his life, and Fan Chong was of course very happy, so he discussed with other generals of the Red Mei Army about re-establishing the descendants of the Han royal family as emperors.
At that time, there were more than 70 emperor candidates in front of Fan Chong and others, and the generals discussed and discussed but did not come up with a feasible implementation plan.
He put only one bamboo stick in the 70 bamboo tubes, and the other bamboo tubes were empty, and let the more than 70 candidates choose the bamboo tubes in order of age, and whoever chooses the bamboo sticks in the bamboo tube will become the emperor.
At that time, Liu Penzi was only 15 years old and was the youngest, so he finally chose the bamboo tube, or everything was fate, the bamboo tube taken by the previous candidates was empty, only the bamboo tube left to the end had bamboo sticks, just like that, this humble cowherd baby Liu Penzi became the emperor and was the emperor for the founding of the world.
Although he is the emperor, he is actually just a puppet of Fan Chong. Liu Penzi was on the throne of the emperor for only two years, and was destroyed by the rapidly rising Liu Xiu, Liu Xiu himself was a generous and benevolent person, he read that Liu Penzi was the same clan, and did not embarrass Liu Penzi, and also gave Liu Penzi a small official position.
After Liu Penzi became a puppet emperor, he had no right to ask about anything, and his brother Liu Gong was a very knowledgeable person, he knew that his younger brother was not a matter of emperor, especially when he saw that the Red Mei Army was rapidly corrupted after entering Chang'an City, and had become a public nuisance to the government and the people, so he persuaded him to resign from this mission as soon as possible in order to protect himself.
Therefore, at a gathering of the generals of the Red Mei Army, Liu Gong said to the generals on behalf of the emperor's younger brother: "Our brother is very grateful to be made emperor by you, but for more than a year, he will not do anything, only afraid that it will be harmful to the country in the future, so he is willing to abdicate from now on and go home to be a common man!" ”
Liu Penzi also cooperated with the removal of the jade seal and kowtowed to everyone, saying that he was just an ignorant child, and he was willing to give up the throne and go home to farm and herd cattle.
Of course, Fan Chong and other generals resolutely disagreed, and forcibly helped Liu Penzi to sit on the throne, and forced him to re-tie the jade seal, Liu Penzi cried loudly and refused It was useless.
But at this time, Liu Xiu, the Guangwu Emperor who was the emperor in Hebei, had gradually grown up, and he had the state of being the co-ruler of the world, and he could not tolerate the establishment of the world regime and his own courtesy.
After two years of tug-of-war, in the first month of 27 AD, Emperor Guangwu sent Feng Yi as the general of the expedition to the west, and completely defeated the main force of the Red Mei Army in Yiyang, Henan Province, the Red Mei Army fell into the heavy encirclement of Liu Xiu's army, and sent people to beg Liu Xiu to surrender under extreme hunger, Fan Chong and others sent envoys to test what Liu Xiu would do with them, Liu Xiu replied: "You will not die." ”
The next day, Liu Xiu displayed soldiers and horses by the Luoshui to accept the surrender of the other party, and he deliberately asked Liu Penzi: "Do you think you should be executed?" Liu Penzi showed rare calmness and wit at this time, and replied very well: "The minister should have been put to death for his crimes, but fortunately, the emperor has mercy and forgiveness." ”
The implication is that you have made a promise not to kill the soldiers of the Red Eyebrow Army, but don't believe it.
Of course, Liu Xiu heard this, and said with a smile: "You kid is still a little cunning, it seems that you haven't embarrassed our Liu clan." ”
Liu Xiu is a kind person, he really didn't kill Liu Penzi, not only gave him a rich reward, but also made him a small Lang Zhongguan in his uncle Zhao King Liu Liang's mansion, according to the "Later Han Shu Liu Penzi Biography" records: "The emperor took pity on the basin, and the reward was very generous, thinking that Zhao Wang Langzhong."
After falling ill and blind, Xingyang was given official land, thinking that he was a rampant and making his taxes for life. Later, Liu Penzi was blind due to illness, and Liu Xiu ordered to use Xingyang's official land tax to support Liu Penzi for life, so that he could live a peaceful and stable life.