Chapter 214: Proclaiming Emperor

At this time, Liu Xiu had also learned from prisoners taken at the Tang River battle that his betrothed was no longer in Wancheng — she had long since been sent to Chang'an as spoils of war, her fate unknown.

Liu Xiu was deeply anxious, but there was nothing he could do. Though they had won a great victory, marching on Chang'an was still far too early. For one thing, Wancheng loomed before them like an enormous boulder, blocking their path.

In the first month of the fourth year of Dihuang, the winter snow outside Wancheng had yet to fully melt. The camps of the Han troops and the Greenwood Army dotted the fields. Liu Xiu stood atop a watchtower, observing the situation within the city. He saw that its defenses were well managed and in perfect order, leaving the Greenwood forces — never skilled at siege warfare — unable to find a single gap. He could not help thinking of someone.

"If Grand Governor Zhen Fu were still here, how could this city be so solid and hard to take?"

The victory at Tang River had been won largely thanks to Zhen Fu, who burned the pontoon bridge and staked everything on a desperate battle — even Liu Bosheng, who had led the charge into the enemy camp at the very front, could not compare to that contribution. How he wished the opposing side had more men like Zhen Fu, and fewer diehards like Yan You and Cen Peng — men who could fight and were stubbornly, foolishly loyal. Those two worked in perfect concert, and as a result, the Greenwood and Han forces had besieged Wancheng for half a month without any success.

But aside from Wancheng, of the thirty-six counties in the vanguard commandery, over twenty had either surrendered or fallen. The captures were mainly the Greenwood Army's doing, but their troops ran wild with poor discipline, which deeply angered the powerful local families. The surrenders were mainly thanks to his elder brother Liu Bosheng — wherever he went, he only had to shout a few words and show his face, and many heroes and scholars would willingly open the city gates.

With various regions rising up in response one after another, the anti-Xin coalition in the vanguard commandery had doubled in strength and could now claim to be a "hundred-thousand-strong army." But that lasted only a few days — once the spring planting season arrived, their numbers instantly halved.

Though they captured cities and seized territory with ease, this also brought a problem: the various forces were a chaotic jumble, with no unified command and no one subordinate to another. Even within the Greenwood Army itself, there were numerous factions and conflicting orders, making squabbling and infighting all too easy.

"The Changes say: a flock of dragons without a head is inauspicious."

Liu Xiu felt that the Han troops, the powerful families, the Greenwood forces, and all the other factions — it was time to publicly choose a leader.

The Greenwood commanders had already accepted the prophetic saying that "the house of Han shall rise again." They could not take the top position themselves, so naturally they would have to choose someone from the local Liu clan. As for the candidate — of course it would be his elder brother, Liu Bosheng!

"Perhaps we should follow the example of Emperor Gaozu in his early days and take the title of Duke; or follow Chen Sheng and take the title of King." This was Liu Xiu's suggestion — he believed they must not rush to proclaim an emperor.

But this matter was not for the two brothers to decide. They had to get the nod from the various Greenwood commanders. The seven or eight thousand men who had risen with the brothers at Caiyang had suffered devastating losses after the defeat at Little Chang'an. Their in-laws — the Yin, Deng, Lai, and Fan families — had also been caught up in it, their family fortunes emptied. The Li clan of Wancheng, who had first raised the banner, had been slaughtered to the last man, with only the brothers Li Tong and Li Yi escaping alive.

In the battle of Tang River, though Liu Bosheng had fought bravely at the forefront, the Greenwood Army had done the bulk of the fighting. The local powers could no longer hold down the mighty dragon — let alone a multi-headed dragon with three heads: the Xin, Pinglin, and Xiajiang.

On this matter, Liu Xiu had already dropped hints to Wang Chang and Ma Wu, the two Greenwood commanders who were more favorably disposed toward his brother. With those two taking the lead, they should be able to win over the the Xin and Xiajiang troops. As for the Pinglin side, Liu Bosheng did not much care — he considered them a minor force with barely ten thousand soldiers, hardly worth mentioning.

Today, as Liu Xiu finished his camp inspection, someone came over from the Greenwood encampment to notify the brothers: "The Greenwood commanders invite Bosheng and Wenshu to the main camp by the Yu River for a council!"

Liu Xiu sensed something amiss and strongly urged Liu Bosheng: "Elder Brother, this is an important matter. It would be better to invite them to our camp for a banquet and discussion."

"That would be far too discourteous. Let us go for now." Liu Bosheng felt no sense of danger whatsoever. His prowess and valor in battle had been fully displayed at Tang River and in the subsequent campaigns against the various counties. He had persuaded over half the counties in the vanguard commandery to surrender. If the head of this dragonless flock was to be chosen according to the people's hopes, and had to bear the surname Liu — who else could it be but him?

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The two rode to the Greenwood encampment by the banks of the Yu River. It was an estate contributed by the Li clan of Wancheng for the Greenwood commanders to reside in. When they entered the main hall, they saw the commanders all present: Wang Feng and Ma Wu of the the Xin troops; Wang Kuang, Wang Chang, Zhu Wei, and Zhang Ang of the Xiajiang troops; and Liao Zhan and Chen Mu of the Pinglin troops.

Both sides were old acquaintances, but because Liu Bosheng was a strict man and deeply dissatisfied with the military discipline of several among them, there had been no shortage of clashes over the past half month. Though there were daily frictions, for now everyone was willing to put on a smiling face.

Liu Xiu looked toward Wang Chang and Ma Wu, but they only shook their heads at him in secret, making his heart sink — he felt today's business was going to fall through.

Sure enough, after a few rounds of drinks and pleasantries, the great Greenwood commander Wang Feng signaled Chen Mu, the leader of the Pingling troops, to rise and discuss the important matter of the day.

Chen Mu said with a smile: "Those who have risen against Wang Mang across the commanderies of Jingzhou now number over a hundred thousand. Yet the troops are many but lack unified command. We wish to follow the people's will and establish a man of the Liu clan to meet popular expectations, and so we have invited the gentlemen of Chongling to discuss this together."

Liu Bosheng's head lifted — the Chongling Liu clan, that would be none other than…

"Therefore, we have resolved to support an elder as Emperor. That man is… Liu Shenggong!"

The moment the words were spoken, both Liu Bosheng and his brother were stunned. A middle-aged man with a long beard, a thoroughly scholarly air, even more plain and unremarkable than Liu Xiu, was pushed forward by the Greenwood commanders. He gave the two an awkward smile.

That's right — me!

…

At today's banquet, there were two surprises.

The first was that the Greenwood commanders had actually bypassed Duke and King and wanted to directly proclaim someone Emperor!

The second — they had not chosen Liu Bosheng, whom everyone expected, but had instead picked Liu Xuan, who belonged to the same Chongling clan!

The leader of the Pinglin troops was a powerful figure from Sui County with some education. He spoke with eloquence: "I have consulted the Chongling genealogy. Shenggong's great-grandfather was the Marquis Dai of Chongling, the closest to the Chongling main line."

What kind of reasoning was that? If seniority was the criterion, why not just go find a direct-line descendant of the Marquis of Chongling to be Emperor and be done with it?

Clever as Liu Xiu was, his shock lasted only a brief moment. He quickly figured out the reason.

"Bosheng's prestige is high, and people flock to him. The Greenwood commanders fear that if he becomes the leader, our family's strength will recover too quickly, and in a few months he might simply swallow them up."

"Moreover, Bosheng is strict with his subordinates and maintains good military discipline. He is deeply displeased with several Greenwood commanders who routinely slaughter officials, and there have been clashes. They fear that if Bosheng becomes the leader, he will take revenge on them."

And so Liu Xuan, whose temperament was gentle and weak — the complete opposite of Liu Bosheng — became the top choice instead.

Liu Xuan was indeed, among the Chongling line, the one who had joined the Greenwood the earliest, and his relations with the various commanders were excellent.

Liu Xuan's mediocre talent and knowledge made him far easier to manipulate and control. Installing him as Emperor would in turn allow them to suppress the brothers.

The Greenwood Army did not need an emperor who could fight on horseback — they only needed a puppet emperor who would do whatever he was told!

The Greenwood Army had jointly settled on this strategy in advance, and only summoned the two to inform them, so as to present them with a fait accompli. Liu Xiu cursed inwardly, unsure whether to call them clever or foolish.

Faced with Liu Xuan, who had never possessed any renown or merit whatsoever, Liu Bosheng was naturally unwilling to bow before him. Furious rage surged in his heart, and he was about to slam the table and rise — when Liu Xiu, seated beside him, trod on the top of his foot.

Liu Bosheng looked at his younger brother. Liu Xiu was shaking his head slightly at him. The Greenwood had already prepared everything. If they openly fell out and clashed now, they would likely come off worse.

Even if they were to object, it would not do to say outright that this man was unworthy to be Emperor. But Liu Bosheng recalled the reasons Liu Xiu had earlier explained to him for "delaying the imperial title," and now he cupped his hands toward the assembly and spoke out.

"Generals of the Greenwood, in wishing to honorably establish a man of the Chongling Liu clan as Emperor, you truly show the deepest affection for our family! However, the Greenwood is not the only force rising against Wang Mang under Heaven today. The Red Eyebrows arose in Qing and Xu, rampaged through Yanzhou, and their troops number in the hundreds of thousands. They have crushed the Xin armies and their might shakes the realm."

"If the Red Eyebrows also harbor the intent to restore the Han and set up a Liu clan member as Emperor, then we would have two emperors, north and south, standing at once. I fear that before Wang Mang is destroyed, the imperial clansmen would attack one another. This would sow doubt across the realm and is no good strategy for annihilating the Xin."

"What is more, Wancheng is barely over a thousand li from Chang'an. To proclaim an emperor in haste would surely prompt Wang Mang to dispatch a great army against us — this is by no means a sound policy."

"In former times, the Exalted Emperor did not proclaim himself Emperor until after the battle of Gaixia, at Dingtao. Before that, he was titled King of Han."

"I agree that we should honor my elder clansman Shenggong as our sovereign, but it would be better to take the title of King for now. The title of King is sufficient to command the various generals. Once we have taken Wancheng, passed through the passes to destroy Wang Mang, and won over the Red Eyebrows — then proclaiming Emperor will not be too late."

These were Liu Xiu's original words, reasoned and well-founded, and now, spoken in Liu Bosheng's deep, resonant voice, they were quite persuasive.

The Greenwood was a three-headed dragon to begin with, never of one mind on any matter, and today was no different. Wang Chang and Ma Wu, who had been coerced by the others into going along, immediately voiced their support for Liu Bosheng's words.

Just as the tide seemed about to turn, the commander Zhu Wei of the Xiajiang troops suddenly rose to his feet, drew his sword, and struck the ground with its blade: "Hesitation spoils affairs! Today's decision admits no second opinion!"

The Greenwood commanders who supported the proposal drew their swords one after another and rose, placing them together: "Indeed! No matter whom the Red Eyebrows set up, we will honor only Shenggong as Emperor. This matter must be decided today!"

Even if it were one man, one vote, they would still win hands down. It seemed the matter could no longer be reversed.

They glared fiercely at everyone present: "Who supports this, and who opposes it? Speak clearly to our faces!"

Seeing Liu Bosheng growing even angrier, the veins bulging on his face, Liu Xiu abruptly rose from behind the table. With one hand he held back his elder brother's hand as it reached for his sword, while his face broke into a smile: "Gentlemen! On this matter, my brother and I have no doubts whatsoever. Our elder clansman Shenggong is a senior of the clan, virtuous and highly respected. He should be the Son of Heaven and restore the house of Han!"

…

Liu Yan had bottled up a bellyful of rage. The moment he returned to camp, he ordered his trusted men to prepare the troops.

"Muster the soldiers! Since the Greenwood shows no decency, let them not blame me for being unrighteous. Isn't this just a contest to see whose blade is sharper? Who has Liu Bosheng ever feared?"

Liu Xiu hastily knelt to the ground. "The Greenwood commanders mean to use private ambition to wreck the public cause, but Elder Brother, we must put the greater good first!"

"If we split apart and fight each other now, then forget any talk of restoring the Han — I fear that before the Xin army even arrives, we will have nearly wiped each other out in mutual slaughter."

"Yan You inside Wancheng would laugh so hard all his ailments would vanish, and Wang Mang in the capital would be overjoyed beyond measure. This would be grief for our own and delight for our foes!"

"So we just let this go?" Liu Bosheng still could not swallow it. He bared his chest and let his younger brother see the arrow wounds on it. "I planned this undertaking for ten years. I was first to raise the banner at Caiyang, I charged at the front in every battle, and my body has taken many wounds. I personally persuaded several counties to surrender. Among all the men of Chongling, if I claimed second in merit, no one would dare claim first."

"Yet that Liu Xuan has done nothing — never even set foot on a battlefield — and now he becomes Emperor. Never mind that I refuse to accept it; not one of the Nanyang heroes accepts it in his heart!"

This was an insult to him. And now that Liu Xuan had been proclaimed Emperor today, they would still have to kowtow and prostrate themselves before him — one humiliation piled on another. How could a true man endure it?

Liu Xiu hugged his brother's leg and urged with all his might, "Let your younger brother analyze the present situation for you, Elder Brother."

That was how Xiu'er was — usually a man of few words, but at critical moments his mind was exceptionally clear. "At the end of Qin, the High Emperor was first to enter the Pass and destroy Qin, and should have reigned as king over the Qin lands. Yet Xiang Yu broke the covenant, presided over the enfeoffments, and privately granted Guanzhong to his favored surrendered generals. Now the Greenwood commanders are just like Xiang Ji. And Liu Shenggong — setting up Shenggong is just like Xiang's clan setting up Xiong Xin as Righteous Emperor. In name it is restoring the Han, in truth it is scheming for private gain. Liu Shenggong is nothing but a tool they use to issue orders and to check Elder Brother and the powerful houses of Nanyang."

"The High Emperor's enemy was never the Righteous Emperor, but Xiang Ji. Yet even with Xiang Yu, there was brotherly cooperation before they entered the Pass, and they only gradually fell out after the task of destroying Qin was complete."

"Elder Brother should now emulate the High Founder. The dragon and serpent lie dormant to preserve themselves. Better to agree to this for now — outwardly honor Shenggong, but in truth keep winning the hearts of the men of worth, forge marriage alliances with the various Nanyang houses, take Wancheng, swell the army's strength, and make entering the Pass and destroying Wang Mang the urgent priority."

"Once we enter Chang'an, cut off Wang Mang's head, and return the Great Han to its old capital, who the foremost champion in destroying Wang Mang truly is — will the people of the realm still fail to see it clearly? By then the Greenwood men will surely grow arrogant and unrestrained, and it will be hard for them to avoid doing harm to Shenggong, just as Xiang Ji murdered the Righteous Emperor…"

Liu Xiu had already spoken with extreme bluntness — let us learn from our old ancestor, swallow this grievance for now, and fall out later. He raised his head and looked at his elder brother.

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"The High Emperor rose from common cloth, took up a three-foot sword, and won the realm in eight years. Did he rely on an imperial title?"

"It was the other way around — precisely because the High Emperor swept the realm clean and delivered the common people from their misery, he thereby became the Emperor whom all hearts acclaimed!"

"This is the road to restoring the Han that your younger brother hopes Elder Brother will walk!"

……

Although the Greenwood men had carried the matter off cleanly and decisively, they were after all a bunch of bandits and had not studied ritual sufficiently. Even with the help of various local scholars from Nanyang, the ceremony for Liu Xuan's accession looked slipshod no matter how one viewed it.

The time was the first day of the second month; the place chosen was a sandbar in the Yu River. The platform was a rammed-earth altar of packed dirt. They first sacrificed to Heaven and Earth, then made offerings to Liu Bang, and then smeared the drums and banners with blood — all the banners were red, so at least it had the look of a Han affair.

Liu Xuan, wearing hastily made imperial crown and robes, was pushed up onto the platform by the Greenwood chieftains.

He was by nature mediocre and cowardly. Although they had rehearsed many times, when he came before the platform today and saw the tens of thousands of people around him, he was still extremely nervous. For a moment he was so ashamed he broke into a sweat; he raised his hands but could not speak. The words he had memorized all night could not squeeze out a single sentence, drawing secret snickers from the Nanyang heroes nearby. "He's far, far beneath Liu Bosheng. This is probably a 'tight-lipped Emperor.'"

It was not until the Greenwood commanders below helped Liu Xuan cover the blunder by shouting, "The Emperor has spoken most excellently!" —

and then everyone cheered in unison — that they skipped over many steps in this slapdash fashion and fast-forwarded straight to the general amnesty and the change of reign title.

The era name they settled on was "Gengshi" — not as a tribute to the great anti-Xin champion General of Renewal Lian Dan, but because this had originally been a popular phrase much favored at the end of Han and under the Xin.

The world's people devoutly believed in the Confucian theory of the Three Cycles: the sun reaches its limit in the sequence, the moon reaches its limit in the reckoning, the stars circle back in the heavens, the numbers near their end, and the year is about to begin anew.

Just like the year, a dynasty too has its end, and when an age draws near its close, a new one naturally comes to replace it — thus a radiant renewal, a new beginning with all under Heaven!

And so Liu Xuan became the "Gengshi Emperor."

Liu Bosheng watched this scene from afar. The contempt in his heart remained, but after Liu Xiu had reasoned with him once, he had come to terms with it somewhat.

His younger brother was right: he who bears the realm's filth is called the lord of the altars of soil and grain; he who bears the realm's calamities is the king of all under Heaven!

Liu Xuan might have donned the robes and crown of an Emperor, but did he have the capacity and the fortune to be one? Just wait and see!

After Liu Xuan proclaimed himself Emperor, he also bestowed offices on the many meritorious ministers. The Chongling clan head and clan uncle Liu Liang was made State Elder; the Greenwood chieftains Wang Kuang was made Stabilizing-the-State Upper Duke, and Wang Feng was made Achieving-the-State Upper Duke.

Zhu Wei, who had pushed hardest to make him Emperor, was made Grand Marshal; Liu Bosheng was made Grand Chancellor; the Pinglin chieftain Chen Mu was made Grand Minister of Works — and thus the Three Supports and Three Dukes were assembled. They were, after all, proper imperial clansmen who knew what Han institutions and Han robes and caps were, so their restoration had a plausible look and would not pick titles at random the way Lu Fang did.

Wang Chang, Ma Wu, Zhang Ang, Liao Zhan, and others were made the Nine Ministers respectively. All discarded Xin titles and used Han names.

When it came to Liu Xiu's turn, although his achievements were not great, because he had talked Liu Bosheng down, he was still enfeoffed as "Bearer of the Gilded Mace"!

This had once been Liu Xiu's dream: in office, to become Bearer of the Gilded Mace; in marriage, to wed Yin Lihua!

Now the Gilded Mace was his — but what of Yin Lihua?

Liu Xiu felt not the slightest joy in his heart. Perhaps it was because the other dream was drifting further and further away from him. What should have been double the happiness was now joy and sorrow canceling each other out.

Or perhaps it was because…

Liu Xiu raised his head, looked past his elder brother's shoulder toward Liu Xuan on the platform, whose every gesture was pure awkwardness, and toward the crimson Han banners fluttering above his head. Yet his heart held not a ripple of emotion — utterly unlike the day they raised troops at Chongling, when he had been so stirred that hot tears filled his eyes.

Perhaps it was because… this Han was absolutely not the one they had envisioned and planned for, but a wild one, an impure one.

The Great Han must be restored — but who in the end would be the one to restore it was still unknown!

……

By the middle of the second month of the fourth year of Dihuang, Wancheng was still under siege, the "million-man army" was still being hastily conscripted and press-ganged, and the situation east of the passes had not improved in the slightest just because Diwu Lun had won a battle by the Yellow River.

But the secret report that the "Han dynasty" had been restored in the south had already reached the Shoucheng Hall. Wang Mang's expression in that moment was as though he had seen a dead man come back to life suddenly standing before him.

How could Wang Mang forget? Over ten years ago, that two-hundred-year-old man named "Han," long beset by accumulated ills, riddled with disease, barely clinging to his last breath, had finally been smothered by Wang Mang's own hand — his mouth covered, his final gasp stifled, and with that he was gone.

Wang Mang had personally dressed him in mourning clothes, sealed the coffin with final judgment, buried him in the earth, and stamped down a few times with his foot.

Yet the ghost of the Han dynasty still lived — in people's memories, in the words passed from mouth to mouth, wandering the Nine Provinces for over ten years, haunting Wang Mang like a nightmare. And now it had actually found a new body to possess and declared itself resurrected!

"A monkey in a cap! Traitors! How dare they!"

As the murderer, Wang Mang was inwardly terrified, but his words dripped with the utmost contempt. "The Han house's allotted span is exhausted — how can it rise again? This is nothing but ignorant clansmen and unworthy descendants deceiving the age and stealing a name."

Wang Mang secretly steeled his resolve and bolstered his own courage. "Heaven has begotten virtue in me! I buried the Han dynasty once — I can bury it a second time!"

……

PS: Tomorrow's update at 13:00.