The great man will live forever

Chapter 238 The End of an Era
Zhou Gong was afraid of rumors, and Wang Mang remained courteous.Xiang Shi died in the first place, but who knows the authenticity of his life?

The impact of the Battle of Kunyang was so huge that it spread throughout the country within a few months.Uprisings everywhere were like a prairie fire, burning brightly.

The Han clan contributed a lot. In August of the 23rd year, Liu Wang raised troops to rebel in Runan (governing the north of Pingyu County in present-day Henan Province, with jurisdiction similar to present-day southeastern Henan and western Anhui). He was a member of the Liu Han clan. Before He was granted the title of Marquis Zhongwu. Seeing how prosperous Liu Xuan was, he naturally wanted to get a share of the pie. They were all descendants of Emperor Gaozu, so why could anyone else be the emperor?
Similarly, after hearing that Liu Xuan, the Gengshi Emperor, had established himself and Wang Mang's troops were defeated one after another, Kai Cui from Tianshui Chengji, his brother Wei Yi, Yang Guang from Shanggui (now Tianshui, Gansu), and Zhou Zong from Jixian (now Gangu, Gansu) planned to raise an army. , want to respond to Liu Xuan, prosper the Han Dynasty and destroy the Mang.

His nephew Kui Xiao stopped him and said, "Uncle, the soldiers are doing bad things to the country! What crime does the clan have?"

Wei Cui did not listen, but instead gathered thousands of people, captured Pingxiang (today's Tongwei, Gansu), and killed Dayin of Wang Mang's Zhenrong County (today's Zhipingxiang in Tianshui, Gansu).

Wei Cui, Yang Guang and others thought that in order to take action, they should appoint a general to unify everyone's thoughts. They all said that Wei Xiao was well-known and loved scriptures, so they jointly recommended Wei Xiao as the general.

Wei Xiao resigned, and finally had no choice but to say: "My father and all the wise men think highly of me, and I dare to obey my orders only if they use my opinion." Everyone agreed, and from then on, Wei Xiao became a separatist force.

This Kaixiao was not simple, he was very powerful. His courtesy name was Jimeng. He was from Tianshui Chengji (now Qin'an, Gansu Province). He was born into a wealthy family in Longyou. He was an official in the prefecture and county in his youth and was famous in Longshang for his knowledge of books and classics.

Wang Mang's national advisor Liu Xin heard about his name, so he recommended Kai Xiao as a scholar, which was an official of the imperial advisor. From then on, Kaixiao followed Liu Xin. Who is Liu Xin? Wang Mang's die-hard supporter, the new dynasty's imperial advisor. , an existence that is inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people.

Later, after Liu Xin rebelled and was executed, Wei Xiao returned to the countryside. If he could escape this liquidation, he was considered a capable person...

In order to protect Guanzhong, Wang Mang quickly issued an edict to transfer General Wang Yi back from Luoyang and changed his appointment to Da Sima. He also ordered Zhang Han to be promoted to Da Situ, Cui Fa to be Da Sikong, and Miao Tian to be the national preceptor.

In order to strengthen defense, control the Central Plains and maintain the situation, he hurriedly sent Grand Master Wang Kuang and General Aizhang to guard Luoyang.

Upon seeing this, the Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan felt that Xinmang's power had declined. He thought it was time to attack the Central Plains and capture Chang'an.

Liu Xuan decided to send Prince Kuang of Dingguo to lead his army north to capture Luoyang, and ordered Wang Chang to take charge of Nanyang.He also ordered Xiping General Shen Tujian and Prime Minister Sizhi Li Songzhi to take Wuguan.

The Han army gained a great reputation in the battle of Kunyang, which was enough to make the world's heroes famous.

When the Han army approached Wuguan City, Deng Ye and Yu Kuang, both natives of the city, raised troops in Nanxiang to respond to the Han army. They led an army to attack Wuguan Captain Zhu Meng, who was working for Wang Mang. Zhu Meng saw that he was being attacked from both sides, so he knew there was no chance. As the saying goes, A man who knows the current affairs is a hero, but he didn't take any notice and swaggered out of the city to surrender.

Deng Ye opened the city gate and welcomed the Han army into the city. Li Song led more than [-] people to Hu County, joined Deng Ye's army, crossed the Qinling Mountains and headed north, and jointly attacked the capital warehouse at the mouth of the Weihe River. They encountered the tenacity of the Xinmang defenders. Guarding, it was not taken down for a while.

Deng Ye decided to take a detour to the north, and ordered Hongnong to appoint Wang Xian as the captain. He led hundreds of people north of the Weishui River and entered the territory of Zuofengyi (today's Dali, Shaanxi).

The two led their troops to defeat Song Gang, a senior official in the right army, defeated the New Mang army, captured and killed Song Gang, and then sent their troops to Kehu County in the north. Li Song sent partial general Han Chen and others to attack westward.

After Han Chen left the Qinling Mountains, he defeated the troops of General Bo Shui, Dou Rong, in the Xinfeng area, and pursued them all the way to Changmen Palace.

Wang Xian led his troops northward and arrived at Pinyang. Wherever he passed, various places opened their doors to welcome the surrender.The prominent families in all counties in Guanzhong raised troops and claimed to be generals of the Han Dynasty, and led their troops to follow Wang Xian to attack the new army.

Then Li Song and Deng Ye led their troops to Huayin (today's Huayin, Shaanxi Province) and surrounded Chang'an on all sides.

Since the mainstream of the Han army entering Shaanxi was the Green Forest Army, its members were mainly bandits.They entered the prosperous Guanzhong area, and their bestiality flourished.The generals set out to loot, burn, kill, commit adultery, and commit all kinds of evil, causing mourning all over the land.

Since ancient times, people have been suffering; with death, people have been suffering!
In just one sentence, there are countless blood and tears. Human life is worthless in troubled times, and it is squeezed in prosperous times. There are no corpses in repairing bridges and roads, and gold belts are killed and set on fire.

Almost at the same time, Kaixiao, who was separatist in Tianshui, also sent troops into the western part of Guanzhong.When the generals of Green Forest heard the news, they all wanted to rush into Chang'an before Kai Xiao and stepped up their march to Chang'an.

The fake Wang Mang knows that he is now in a desperate situation, just like Xiang Yu who was besieged on all sides in Gaixia.He pretended that he did not want to be willing to die, but wanted to make a final struggle and a last-ditch effort. He followed the example of Qin II and issued an edict to pardon all the prisoners in the city and distribute weapons to them.

Wang Mang summoned them together, killed several pigs to collect their blood, and made a blood alliance with the prisoners in person. Wang Mang swore to everyone: "Anyone who refuses to marry will be recorded by the ghosts of the society!"

After the oath was taken, Gengshi General Shi Chen was ordered to lead the prisoners out of the city to attack the Han army.The funny thing is that as soon as this ragtag group crossed the Weihe River Bridge, the prisoners threw away their weapons, dispersed, and fled for their lives.

Shi Chen had no choice but to take the remaining troops back to the city.The green forest army outside the city was not idle. They dug up Wang Mang's ancestral grave, dug up the grave, and stole the treasure.

When the rebels had enough loot, they set fire to the Nine Temples, Mingtang, Piyong and other buildings next to the tomb, and even the coffins containing the dead were set on fire at the same time.Suddenly, flames shot into the sky and black smoke filled the air.The fire soaring into the sky could be clearly seen in Chang'an City.

The end of the Xinmang Dynasty is coming...

In Chang'an City, Wang Mang was imprisoned at this time. Of course, he was a substitute.

"Yi'er, why don't you escape with me." Wang Mang looked at Wang Yi and said hypocritically,

"No, Your Majesty, you must take care of yourself."

Wang Mang, or rather the black jade unicorn, left Chang'an through the secret passage that night and walked in the direction of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum. He looked back at Chang'an.

"This time of acting, I can feel the joy of the emperor, but changing the name is too troublesome. Chi Zhaoping, is it you? Just wait, I will avenge you for that knife."

A few days later, Youpi retreated from his body, revealing his young face. Fortunately, there was no one around, otherwise he would have been frightened to death.

Wang Yi now has nothing to do except sigh.At this time, Da Sikong Cui Fa came up with a funny idea for his imprisoned double.

"In ancient times, when the country was in trouble, we often cried to fight it off! For the current plan, Your Majesty should appeal to the heavens and use the hands of God to save everyone from suffering."

Wang Yi really has no intention of chanting the curse now. Let the dead horse be the living horse doctor!He forced the substitute to take the officials to the southern suburbs of Chang'an, and after just walking around for a while, he had the substitute sent back.

"Your Majesty is not feeling well, let me read it,"

He read out a long and carefully written speech, detailing the whole story of how Wang Mang was appointed according to Fu Rui. It was full of his admiration and respect for Wang Mang.

After the reading was finished, he held his hands and cried with all the officials. He knew that he was bound to die.

Immediately, he used Wang Mang's order to order the Confucian scholars in Taixue and the common people in the city to come and cry once every morning and evening!Give rice porridge to anyone who comes to cry!Those who cry sadly and touchingly will be awarded Langguan.

People in the city saw the benefits and came to the market one after another.In one day, more than 5000 people were awarded the title of Langguan!

Chang'an City seemed to turn into a huge mourning hall in an instant, and the cries shook the world.It is both real and illusory, making people dumbfounded.

This farce was a farce directed by Wang Yi himself, and it was also an elegy sung for himself. He wanted the people in the city to cry for him, and he achieved his goal.

However, Wang Yi still wanted to make a final struggle. In the name of Wang Mang, he selected nine generals from the army, including Shi Xiong, Wang Kuang, Guo Qin, Chen Hui, and Cheng Zhong, all of whom were named "General Tiger". They were ordered to lead tens of thousands of elite troops from the Northern Army to the east to attack the Han army.

However, Wang Yi was not at ease with them. He was always worried that these people would rebel, so he sent all the soldiers' families to the palace as hostages.

At this time, Xinmang still had more than 60 kilograms of gold left in his treasury, and there were countless other properties.

However, Wang Yi only gave each of the "nine tigers" [-] yuan.The generals did not expect Wang Yi to be such an "iron rooster", and they were all discouraged and had no fighting spirit.Just because everyone in the family was held hostage by Wang Yi, they had to brace themselves and follow Wang Yi's baton.

These nine tigers left Chang'an and did not dare to fight. When they arrived at the pre-selected Huayin Huixi, they relied on the key passes to defend.

Deng Ye and Yu Kuang led more than [-] Han troops from the south of Nu Township to Zaojie and Zuogu (now in Tongguan County, Shaanxi Province) and defeated one of them.

Yu Kuang led thousands of crossbowmen to attack behind the "Nine Tigers" and defeated the "Nine Tigers".Among the nine tigers, six tigers were defeated.Two of the tigers, Shi Xiong and Wang Kuang, fled back to Chang'an and asked Wang Mang to die. Wang Yi sent someone in Wang Mang's name to ask: "Where are the dead? I only heard that two living people have returned!"

Shi and Wang knew that the emperor was not going to let them go, so they had no choice but to commit suicide with their swords.

The remaining four tigers did not dare to return to Chang'an and fled without a trace.The remaining three tigers—Guo Qin, Chen Hui, and Cheng Zhong—gathered up the remaining defeated generals and retreated to the fortress north of Guanju in Huayin County, Hongnong County—the Capital Warehouse at the mouth of the Weihe River.

On September [-], the Green Forest Han Army launched a general attack on Chang'an and finally broke through the outer city of Chang'an.After the city was broken, Han troops poured into Xuanping Gate like a tide.

The green forest general Zhang Han took the lead in leading his headquarters to break in. Countless people were killed by the rebels and fell in a pool of blood. Corpses were everywhere. It was too horrible to see.

In an instant, Chang'an City turned into a human slaughterhouse and hell!
Xinmang generals Wang Yi, Wang Lin, Wang Xun, Chu Yun and others retreated to the palace and led their respective troops to fight at the watchtower in front of the north gate of the palace.

The two sides engaged in fierce street fighting. For a whole day of bloody fighting, countless government offices and wealthy mansions in Chang'an City were reduced to ashes in the raging fire.

At dawn the next day, Chang'an villain Zhu Di and Zhang Yu were worried that their homes would also be robbed, so they simply joined the Green Forest Army.

Because they were familiar with the terrain, the two set fire to the studio door northwest of Weiyang Palace.Suddenly thick smoke billowed and flames shot into the sky.

Then they used big axes to open the small door of Jingfa Hall and led the crowd into the palace.He shouted: "Why don't you come out and surrender if you rebel against Wang Mang!" The fire gradually spread to all parts of the palace, gradually approaching the Yeting of the harem and approaching the Chengming Hall.

At this moment, the flames inside and outside the palace were soaring into the sky, and thick smoke was billowing, turning into a sea of ​​fire.

Under the protection of the guards, the substitute Wang Mang hurriedly hid in the front hall of the Xuanshi to avoid the fire.Strangely enough, wherever he ran, the fire followed him.

At the critical moment, the substitute Wang Mang did not forget to put on his full red and black military uniform, wrapped himself tightly, holding a dagger said to be handed down from the era of Emperor Yu in his hand, and holding his amulet "Mighty Fighter" in his arms ".

The substitute Wang Mang followed the officials to the front hall of the Xuanshi and spent the night in the front hall of the Xuanshi. He started gesticulating and was very excited.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?"

"Your Majesty, are you talking?"

But no one knew what he meant. At this time, he was already speechless because he was poisoned by Wang Yi and became mute. Everyone just thought that he was frightened and could not speak for a while.

Tears flowed from the face of the substitute Wang Mang. He knew that he was dead, and all the officials also cried.

In the early morning of the next day, the Green Forest Army gradually approached, and the officials hurriedly supported Wang Mang and fled in a hurry, hiding from the front hall to the stage.Jiantai is the observatory responsible for time and calendar in the imperial court.

At this time, there were more than 1000 ministers following him, and Grand Sima Wang Yi also arrived with a few remaining generals.

It turned out that Wang Yi and the others, with their remaining soldiers and horses, fought fiercely with the Green Forest Army all night last night, and were defeated miserably because they were outnumbered.In the end, the whole city was captured by the Green Forest Army. Wang Yi's soldiers and horses were killed and wounded, and there was nowhere to escape.

In order to survive, he led the remaining troops into the palace and retreated to Jiantai. He had to die with Wang Mang and watch Wang Mang die.

As soon as he entered the palace, he saw his own son and attendant Wang Mu preparing to change his clothes and run away.Wang Yi stepped forward and scolded his son, and strictly ordered him to protect Wang Mang with him.

Wang Yi and Wang Mu's father and son together guarded Wang Mang and resisted desperately.

The Green Forest Army realized that Wang Mang seemed to be approaching the stage, so they surrounded him heavily.Jiantai is the tallest building in the palace. Wang Yi, Wang Mu, Chu Yun, Wang Xun and others fired their crossbows downwards.

Suddenly, flying arrows were like rain. , the Green Forest Army was unable to attack for a while.

Finally, the crossbows were fired, and the soldiers of the Green Forest Army surged onto the stage like a tide.The Green Forest Army attacked the high platform, and the two sides started a hand-to-hand fight.

Chu Yun, Wang Xun and others died in the battle. Seeing that the situation was over, Wang Yi took Wang Mang and his few remaining followers, Miao, Tang Zun, and Wang Sheng, to hide in the inner room of Jiantai.

"Your Majesty, let us Huangquan be kings and ministers again."

Wang Yi shouted, then killed his substitute Wang Mang, and then committed suicide.

"Your Majesty." Xin Mang ministers Miao Tian, ​​Tang Zun, Wang Sheng and others were grieved. Several people also committed suicide, but some people did not dare to commit suicide. They just wanted to take Wang Mang's body to receive the reward so that they could survive. The soldiers of the Green Forest Army entered the inner room and without any explanation, killed all those who wanted to surrender.

Everyone wanted to make meritorious deeds and competed with each other. Businessman Du Wu got angry and stabbed Wang Mang's body, saying, "I'll kill Wang Mang!"

"Fart, I killed you."

Someone also stabbed him, everyone stabbed me, and Wang Mang was no longer human.

The captain of the school, the guest from Donghai, chopped off Wang Mang's head.

"Mine, mine."

Everyone was busy dismembering Wang Mang's body, and dozens of people were competing to kill him.The guest took Wang Mang's head and presented it to General Wang Xian.

At this point, Wang Mang is considered dead. She was 68 years old when she died. Of course, it is probably impossible to tell. We can only rely on the torn clothes and decorations to say that she is Wang Mang.

On September [-], generals Zhao Meng, Shen Tujian, Li Song, and Deng Ye also arrived one after another. They were jealous of Wang Xian's contribution to breaking Chang'an and killed Wang Xian on the pretext.

Then Shen Tujian and others sent Wang Mang's head to Wancheng on flying cavalry.

When the nest is overturned, how can there be any eggs?After Wang Mang was killed, the family that had enjoyed prosperity and wealth for 50 years could not escape the fate of heaven!
All the Wang family's children in Chang'an were slaughtered. Only Wang Pan, the son of Ping'ahou Wang Tan (Wang Mang's uncle), realized that the situation was not good a few months ago and escaped with his family in advance. The Wang family retains a bloodline.

Then there is Wang Hong, the prefect of the county. This guy is smart by nature, full of strategy, and has integrity. He is an outlier in the Wang Mang family.

After Wang Mang usurped the throne, he was extremely afraid of Wang Hong and made Wang Hong the prefect of Dongjun.

Wang Hong was worried about being executed, so he brought poison with him and was ready to commit suicide at any time in order to have a whole body.For some reason, Wang Mang never took action, and Wang Hong lived in fear for sixteen or seven years.

After Wang Mang was overthrown, Gengshi led the Han army to conquer Chang'an.Only Wang Hong was a blessing in disguise, saving the lives of more than [-] households in Dongjun and surrendering to Emperor Gengshi Liu Xuan.

(End of this chapter)