As we all know, the Han Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu's seizure of the world was inseparable from the time and place, and even more inseparable from the people, and his team was mainly the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai, who followed Liu Xiu's southern conquest of the northern war and made meritorious achievements. Later, Liu Xiu's son Liu Zhuang, the Emperor of Hanming, remembered the great deeds of his father's meritorious generals, and the Yuntai Pavilion of the Southern Palace of Luoyang ordered people to paint portraits of twenty-eight generals for worship. The sources of the Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai are very wide and mixed, including large families and grass-roots officials, and even some are good men in the green forest who have fallen into the grass. Below, this article mainly takes stock of the "composition" of the Yuntai Twenty-Eight, which was the pillar of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The first category of people: the Han Dynasty patriarch and Liu Xiu's relatives and friends. Representatives: Liu Long, Liu Zhi (doubtful, uncertain whether it is the identity of the clan). When Liu Xiu and his eldest brother Liu Xiu raised an army at Lingling in Nanyang County, Liu Fa, the King of Changsha, basically participated in a clan of sons and relatives and friends of Liu Xiu, and this army was historically known as the "Lingling Army". In the early days of Liu Xiu's brothers' rebellion, these Nanyang clan disciples played a great role, the Lingling army was completely different from other rebel armies, they carried the banner of restoring the Han room, the goal was clear, and the anti-Wang Mang attitude was the most firm, such as a person named Liu Zhi in the clan room, who stayed in Zhiyang for him, and the local government captured his mother, wife and children to threaten him, but he still did not compromise, resulting in the killing of the whole family. Although the Lingling Army had strong cohesion and strategic goals, its strength was generally not too strong in the Nanyang area. Therefore, it will be merged with the Green Forest Army later. After the merger, it was renamed the Han Army, which greatly increased its strength and fought many victorious battles. However, due to the weakness of the Lingling Army, among those who recommended the Clan to serve as emperor, the Green Forest Army chose Liu Xuan, who joined the Green Forest Army in the early days, instead of Liu Xuan, who had made great achievements in battle and had strong leadership, and Liu Xuan and the generals of the Green Forest Army were still suspicious and wary of Liu Xuan at every turn, including the sons of the Clan who had followed Liu Xiu's brothers to raise an army, and also chose to side with Liu Xuan when they saw that their brothers had lost power. Later, Liu Xiu was killed, and Liu Xiu was even more isolated and cautious. Later, he found an opportunity to go to Hebei Town to fu and surrender, and only then did he get out of the control of Liu Xuan's Green Forest Army.
Liu Long
Among them, there was a descendant of nanyang who resolutely went to Hebei to defect to Liu Xiu. He was Liu Long, the only two of the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai. He had a tragic life experience, and there are few people in history who have been "destroyed twice". He was a poor boy at an early age. In the last year of the Western Han Dynasty, his father Liu Li participated in another rebellion by Liu Chong, who rebelled against Wang Mang, and after the failure, the whole family was implicated and killed, except for Liu Long, who was less than seven years old, who survived alone, which was his first time "exterminated". When Liu Long grew up, he became a staunch "anti-Wang Mang" element, and he joined the Green Forest Army and placed his wife and children in Luoyang. Later, Liu Xiu developed in Hebei and ran to Hebei to follow Liu Xiu. Liu Xuan's general Li Yi could not tolerate Liu Long's "rebellion" and brutally killed Liu Long's wife and children in Luoyang. Liu Long suffered the pain of "extinguishing the door" for the second time. After that, he packed up his mood and firmly followed Liu Xiu to fight the world. First he was sent to pacify Jianghuai, and then he accompanied Cen Peng on his expedition to Shu, and both made military achievements. Later, due to the rebellion in the Vietnamese region, he and Ma Yuan went out to pacify southern Xinjiang. Liu Long, this sad man, lost everything, and eventually followed Liu Xiu to restore the Han Room and form his own family, and the home country was rebuilt.
Of course, later Liu Xiu won the world and also entertained the clans, especially many of the clans in Nanyang were given the title of Marquis, among which Liu Liang, who took care of his childhood widowed father Liu Xiu at that time, made the King of Zhao, and the previously mentioned Liu Zhi and the clan Liu Ci and others also made hou, including Liu Penzi, who was supported by the Chimei army as emperor.
Deng Yu
The second type of people: nanyang warriors and officials. The members are: Deng Yu, Cen Peng, Zhu You, Ma Cheng, Chen Jun. The warriors and officials of Nanyang were the backbone of the early uprising of the Liu Xiu brothers. Liu Xiu's power in Nanyang when he started came from two aspects:
First, the local government is strong. The local magnates in Nanyang had to mention the Deng family (Liu Xiu's brother-in-law Deng Chen's family) and the Yin family (Liu Xiu's brother-in-law Yin Zhi family), which later married a lot with the Eastern Han royal family and had a very close relationship, which was closely related to their early desperate followers, of which the representative figure was Deng Yu. Deng Yu was a famous prodigy in the Nanyang area, he rarely went to Chang'an to study, and was a classmate of Liu Xiu, who was more than ten years older. Deng Yu believed that Liu Xiu was a dragon among men, and when Liu Xiu went to Hebei, he chased after Liu Xiu and said a classic saying to Liu Xiu: "May the name Gong Wei De be added to the four seas, and Yu will follow its size, and the name of the gong will be known as the bamboo ear." Although Deng Yu's battle achievements are not too outstanding, he belongs to the strategic talent, he helped Liu Xiu formulate a strategy to seize the world when he was in Hebei, which can be summarized as: based on Hebei, recruit heroes, please the people's hearts, and build a great cause of gaozu! Moreover, Deng Yu was also good at excavating and recommending talents, and Wu Han, Jia Fu, Kou Ke and others recommended by him were all reused by Liu Xiu and played a key role. Therefore, although Deng Yu's battle achievements were not too outstanding, he could rank first among the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai.
Cen Peng
The second is the local good officials. The representative figure is Cen Peng. Cen Peng himself was also a native of Nanyang, and he was the governor of Zhiyang County at that time. At that time, the Han army after the merger of the Lingling Army and the Green Forest Army attacked the city in Nanyang, basically did not encounter much obstacles, but in Wancheng encountered stubborn resistance from Cen Peng, the governor of Zhiyang County at that time, until they were cut off from grain before surrendering, when Liu Xiu's eldest brother Liu Xiu tried to keep Cen Peng, after Liu Xiu's death, Cen Peng had been under Liu Xuan. However, he had always been grateful to Liu Xiu, and later defected to Liu Xiu's younger brother Liu Xiu, was reused, was enfeoffed as a general of the Southern Army, persuaded to surrender the Luoyang defender Zhu Kun, so that Liu Xiu could successfully take Luoyang, then pacified Jingzhou and other places, and later accompanied Liu Xiu to attack The Kui of Longdi, and as the main general of the southern front, he entered Shu to attack Gongsun Shu, but before he could succeed, he was stabbed to death by Gongsun Shu's assassins sent by Gongsun Shu on the outskirts of Chengdu. If it were not for this accident, with Cen Peng's military achievements, he would not only rank sixth among the twenty-eight generals.
Geng Yi
The third category: the family clans and officials in Hebei. The members are: Geng Yi, Wu Han, Kou Ke, Jing Dan, Wang Liang, Gai Yan, Geng Chun, Jian Yi, Pi Tong, Ren Guang, Wan Wei, Li Zhong. Hebei is Liu Xiu's real first base area of his own, and it is also the place where his career takes off, so his team comes from Hebei the most. The soldiers and bureaucrats in Hebei were the most important forces liu Xiu relied on in the world. This core Hebei force mainly comes from several aspects:
The first is the strength of Yuyang and Shanggu counties. These personnel were Geng Yi, Wu Han, Kou Ke, Jing Dan, Wang Liang, and Gai Yan. Among them, we will focus on Geng Yi, Wu Han, and Kou Ke. Geng Ti was the son of Shanggu Taishou, who was very young at the time, and he was going to study in Chang'an, but later hebei changed, and Wang Lang pretended to be the son of Emperor Hancheng, and quickly occupied most of the central and southern parts of Hebei. Geng Yi could not go to Chang'an, but when he heard that Liu Xiu was near Hebei, he went to see him, and when he saw it, he asked to return to Shanggu to organize the dispatch of troops. At that time, since these two places were the front line against the northern nomads, the cavalry of these two counties was the best in the world. Liu Xiu smiled and said, "Little Cao Nai has a big idea!" (You little boy is ambitious!) ）。 It is also said that Geng Yi was the "master of the Northern Province", and later, Liu Xiu and his party prepared to go to Shanggu, but he and Geng Yi were separated. Geng Yi himself returned to Shanggu alone to persuade his father and unite with Yuyang Commandery (Shanggu led by Geng Yi, Kou Kai, and Jing Dan, and Yuyang led by Wu Han, Wang Liang, and Gai Yan) to support Liu Xiu, and Liu Xiu's situation immediately improved and his strength was greatly enhanced. Later, Geng Yi accompanied Liu Xiu to pacify Hebei, Qilu, Longyou and other places, and achieved great military achievements.
Wu Han
Wu Han was also originally from Nanyang, but he committed an accident in Nanyang, ran to Yuyang County in the north to sell horses for a living, and met many Haojie in the land of Yan zhao. At that time, he persuaded Yuyang Taishou Peng to submit to Liu Xiu. After joining forces with Geng Yi, Kou Ke, and Jing Dan to reinforce Liu Xiu, he marched south to the north, and successively achieved great military achievements in Hebei and Henan, and later accompanied Liu Xiu's western expedition to Longdi. His greatest achievement was to cut down Shu, he and Cen Peng from the southern line of Jingzhou into Shu, the progress was very smooth, but then Cen Peng and the lord of the northern line of the future She was assassinated, Wu Han alone led the army and Gongsun Shu launched many major battles, he himself was in danger several times, once fell into the water, fortunately pulling the horse's tail to survive, and finally difficult to pacify the Shu land. Therefore, later, among the twenty-eight generals in Yuntai, Wu Hangao ranked second.
After Kou Ke had excellent ability to govern the localities, and after Liu Xiu gained a firm foothold in Hebei, Deng Yu recommended Kou Ke to serve as the Taishou of Hanoi, and he effectively stabilized Liu Xiu's rear, and was later praised by Liu Xiu as "My Xiao He". Later, he served as the Taishou of Yingchuan, with outstanding political achievements, and when Kou Ke left office, the people requested to borrow Kou Ke to stay for another year, which is the allusion of "borrowing Kou Ke".
Ren Guang
The second is the forces in Hebei that are still loyal to the Han Dynasty. Representative figures: Ren Guang, Wan Zhen, Li Zhong, Pi Tong. In the period after Wang Lang became emperor in Hebei, Liu Xiu had a very difficult life, most of the central and southern Hebei regions were submitted to Wang Lang, Liu Xiu and his party were chased by Wang Lang and fled everywhere, there was no place to live, hunger and cold, precarious, was the most embarrassing day in Liu Xiu's life. However, Liu Xiu and them were in a desperate situation, and in the process of escape, they learned that there was another place in southern Hebei that had not surrendered to Wang Lang, and they could go to defect, that is, Xindu Hehecheng (today's Xingtai area), when the shoumen of Xindu were Taishou Renguang, Li Zhong, and Xindu Lingwan appointed by the first regime, and Hecheng Taishou was Pi Tong, who refused Wang Lang's surrender and defended the isolated city alone. After Liu Xiu had the stronghold of Xindu, he began to counterattack Wang Lang, first recruiting Ben Ming soldiers, and then by marrying Guo Shengtong, he was supported by Liu Yang (Guo Shengtong's uncle), who was an important and supportive 100,000 troops in Hebei at that time, plus the cavalry support of the Shanggu and Yuyang counties of Geng Yi and Wu Han, thus weakening Wang Lang's strength and completing the counterattack, and finally eliminating all the armed forces in Hebei
Jia Fu
The fourth category: the good guys of the Green Forest Army. Representative figures: Jia Fu, ZangGong, Ma Wu. At that time, the Yulin Army and the Green Forest Army of the Liu Clan clan in Nanyang merged into the Han Army, and the Green Forest Army was basically born to follow Liu Xuan, who was proclaimed emperor at that time, and had many precautions against Liu Xiu's brothers. Later, due to the plot of the Green Forest Army to kill Liu Xiu's eldest brother Liu Xiu, the relationship with Liu Xiu became more tense. Despite this, there were still some Green Forest generals who were very sober-minded, and they felt that the more radical regime established by the Green Forest Army was seriously corrupt and had no prospects, so they chose to join Liu Xiu's camp. Mention the good man of the green forest who joined Liu Xiu's camp and have to mention Jia Fu, whose life story is legendary. He was originally a reader, studied Shangshu quite a bit, and worked as a grassroots county official in Wang Mang's new dynasty. Although Jia Fu was a scholar, he was very brave, and when he was a county official, he was once ordered to go to the Hedong region to transport salt, encountered thieves, and many officials who went with him abandoned salt and fled, only Jia Fu completed the task. Later, he saw no hope in the new dynasty, and even the civil servants did not do it, fell into the grass, and joined the Green Forest Army. Later, after the Green Forest Army captured Guanzhong, Jia Fu became a subordinate of Liu Jia of the Han Dynasty. At that time, Jia Fu had already seen that the Green Forest Army could not take over the world, so he advised Liu Jia to stand on his own, but Liu Jia was a stable person, and he did not want to betray Liu Xuan, so he recommended Jia Fu to Liu Xiu's side. Liu Xiu admired Jia Fu very much, and forcefully arranged for him to be the general of the broken, after pacifying Hebei, he and Wu Han, Cen Peng, Wang Liang and other generals led an army to attack luoyang, the important Kwantung town of the Green Forest Army, and later fought with the Chimei Army in Henan, successive battles and victories, and in Yiyang and with Liu Xiu's division, successfully forced the surrender of the Chimei Army. At that time, the strongest rebel army in the world was disbanded, and Liu Xiu's seizure of the world was basically a foregone conclusion. Because of Jia Fu's outstanding merits, he was worshipped as a left general, and later ranked third in the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai.
Feng Yi
The fifth category: cast because of admiration for Liu Xiu. The members are: Feng Yi, Ji Zun, Cho Chi, Wang Ba, Du Mao, fu jun. Representative figures: Feng Yi, Wang Ba. When Liu Xiu was a soldier, first, because of his status as a clan, he was an excellent business card under the social trend of people's minds at that time, and second, because he had the appearance of a master, the history books said that he was: "Seven feet and three inches long, beautiful hair, big mouth, different from the crowd." And he has a broad personality, a clear-sighted person, and his ability to turn the tide at key times, such as the Battle of Kunyang with less victory and more, breaking ten times more than his own enemy, so at that time many people of insight were very optimistic about him, and at different times there were people who went to him, and many of them became the backbone of his team, and Liu Xiu did not abandon him. Here we have to say feng yi and Wang Ba. Feng Yi was arrested by Liu Xiu during an outing tour when he was an official in Nanyang, and he had a good feeling for Liu Xiu at that time. He said to Liu Xiu: "There is an old mother in the city, and I am willing to return to the five cities and repay the virtue with merit." Liu Xiu actually believed it. Later, Feng Yi really fulfilled his promise and has been following Liu Xiu. Especially in the most difficult time in Hebei, Feng Yi has always accompanied him around, giving him warmth every time liu xiu feels desperate. Once, Liu Xiu and his party came to Rao Yang's Wuxuan Pavilion late at night, they were cold and hungry, and it was Feng Yi who cooked bean porridge to relieve Liu Xiu of their difficulties. The next day, Liu Xiu said to everyone: "Yesterday I got Gongsun bean porridge, and I was hungry and cold. "Their team has regained confidence. Another time, they arrived in Nangong County, just when the weather was very bad, windy and rainy, they were sheltering from the rain on the side of the road, and Feng Yi was like a trick this time, he brought wheat, he cooked wheat rice for everyone to eat, and defused another crisis. Feng Yi also had strong military talent, and after Liu Xiu's team stabilized in Hebei, he later served as a general of Zhenxi, leading his army west into Guanzhong, repelling the Chimei army in Guanzhong, and pacifying Guanzhong. Later, Feng Yi participated in the conquest of Long Right. Feng Yi has many stories, the most popular is that he is not proud of his achievements, every time Liu Xiu's generals finish a victorious battle, get together to brag and fight for merit, Feng Yi will walk away alone and sit quietly under the big tree, so everyone calls him "General of the Big Tree". Feng Yi is also the protagonist of the famous idiom "cut through thorns and thorns" and "lost east, harvested mulberry", and this time I will not expand on it.
King
Next, let me talk about Wang Ba. Wang Ba, who turned out to be a prison guard, went to liu xiu when he passed through Yingchuan, and he excitedly said to Liu Xiu, "The general Xingyi soldiers, stealing from himself, coveting Weide, willing to fill the army." Liu Xiu also replied very crisply: "Dream of a sage, a successful karma, there are two!" In this way, he took a group of disciples to follow Liu Xiu to Hebei, and in the difficult years in Hebei, Wang Ba's disciples who had taken Liu Xiu to go away, only he himself stayed, at that time Liu Xiu was very moved, and said to Wang Ba: "Yingchuan has passed away from me, and the son is left alone." endeavor! Swift Wind Knows Grass. "Once, in the cold winter, they were chased by Wang Lang's army not far in front of the Yutuo River, and the people who went to investigate the situation of the river came back and said that the current was very fast, and there was no boat, and they could not cross the river. At that time, everyone was very scared, and Liu Xiu asked Wang Ba to look at it again. Wang Baxin understood that in order to inspire people, he came back after reading it and lied that the river was frozen and could pass. The crowd passed, and fortunately, the river was actually frozen, and Liu Xiu greatly praised Wang Ba, but Wang Ba said: "This Ming Gong is of virtue, the spirit of the gods, although the King of Wu should be a white fish, there is nothing to add to this." (Referring to Liu Xiu as a man of destiny.) After the pacification of Hebei, Wang Ba, Gai Yan, Ma Wu, Ma Cheng, Liu Long and others conquered the Kwantung and pacified Juyang and Rongyang. Later, Wang Ba went to Shanggu and was responsible for the northern border defense line, mainly defending against the invasion of nomadic peoples such as Xiongnu and Wuhuan, he guarded the frontier for more than twenty years, he changed with the times, the policy was flexible, and the northern border changed from war to peace and from chaos to chaos.
Overall, although the Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai have many factions and complex compositions, due to Liu Xiu's personality charm, everyone seeks common ground while reserving differences, has the same goal, works together, and has always gotten along very well, although there have been some small frictions, but in Liu Xiu's center mediation has been smoothly resolved. Of course, Yuntai Twenty-Eight does not fully include all the best founding heroes, and some avoid being suspected of entering because they are foreign relatives, such as Ma Yuan, Dou Rong, etc., but Yuntai Twenty-Eight will represent Liu Xiu's core team. As the representatives of an excellent team, they are like the eleven heroes of the Qilin Pavilion and the twenty-four heroes of the Ling Yan Pavilion, and they will forever be recorded in history!