In the second year of the first year (24 AD), Liu Xiu sent Feng Yi to garrison Mengjin, and asked Deng Yuxi to enter Guanzhong, sit and watch the situation in Guanzhong, and once he had the opportunity, he would march into Guanzhong. At this time, the situation in Guanzhong was complicated, the more initial regime was defeated and crumbling under Liu Xiu, and the Chimei army supported 300,000 troops, although ostensibly defecting to the more original regime, it was dissatisfied with the reward and always wanted to move. At this time, there was a great drought in Guanzhong, no harvest of grains, and a great famine in Guanzhong.
Deng Yu
For Deng Yu, his chance to move westward was after the initial regime and the Chimei army fought. However, the Guanzhong Famine used the sudden change in the situation in Guanzhong, and if Deng Yu went west, he would also face food problems.
The Later Han Dynasty Book of Liu Penzi:"Shi Sanfu was starving, people were cannibalizing, the city was empty, and the white bones were hidden in the wilderness."
In the first year of Jianwu (25 AD), the Chimei army finally confronted the sword soldiers of the Gengshi regime, and in September attacked Chang'an, and the Gengshi regime collapsed. However, chang'an had no food, and the Chimei army moved west to find a way out, attacking the kui huan of the army. Deng Yu took the opportunity to march into Chang'an, but unexpectedly the Chimei army returned from the attack and fought with Deng Yu at Chang'an, defeated Deng Yu, and reoccupied Chang'an. Deng Yu, who had lost Chang'an, was anxious to atone for his sins and took the initiative to attack the Chimei army, but the result was a complete defeat, but thanks to Feng Yi's support, he escaped the disaster.
There are two main reasons why Deng Yu failed to advance west:
1. Hesitate when marching into Chang'an. When the Chimei army left Chang'an, Deng Yu was always worried that the Chimei army would go and return, so he waited and watched the situation, did not seize the opportunity to quickly occupy Chang'an, but only entered Chang'an for more than a month. After entering Chang'an, Deng Yu was busy with sacrifices and neglected military affairs. The consequence of these was that Deng Yu did not have enough time and energy to strengthen Chang'an's defensive capabilities and do a good job in pacifying the people and preparing for war.
2. Deng Yu mishandled Liu Jia's surrender. Liu Jia, who had been divided into Han, originally wanted to surrender to Liu Xiu, but because of the rudeness of his subordinate Li Bao, deng Yu was furious and killed Li Bao, resulting in the bankruptcy of Liu Jia's surrender. In the process of fighting the Chimei Army, if Liu Jia can get help, victory or defeat is still unknown.
3. Deng Yu misjudged the strength of the Chimei Army. At first, Deng Yu was still jealous of the strength of the Chimei Army, after all, the Chimei Army had eliminated the Changshi regime, so Deng Yu was hesitant to enter Chang'an. When the Chimei army's westward advance was defeated by Kui Huan, Deng Yu began to misestimate the strength of the Chimei army, believing that the chimei army's sharpness had been lost, and it was not enough to worry. The Chimei Army originated in the Shandong region, from a small few hundred people to hundreds of thousands of troops, and its strength is quite strong. Although it was temporarily defeated at the hands of Kui Huan, the Red Brow Army did not suffer much loss, and its combat strength was still there, which should not be underestimated.
When Deng Yu defeated and retired to Chang'an, Liu Xiu knew that he should replace the leading position in the attack on Guanzhong affairs. There was no food in Guanzhong, and the Chimei army fled in all directions in Guanzhong, which allowed Liu Xiu to see a perfect opportunity and develop a strategy to defeat the Chimei army at the lowest cost, that is, to trap the Chimei army. The Chimei army had no grain and grass, the westward advance failed, and the east was Liu Xiu's territory, and the Chimei army did not think that it could easily break through, only to go south. Liu Xiu sent Geng Yiyang (present-day western Yiyang) and Hou Jin (侯進) to Tun Xin'an (present-day eastern Yiyang) to block the way for the Chimei army to move south. That is to say, the Chimei Army has been blocked in Guanzhong, and Liu Xiu intends to catch turtles in the urn.
At this time, what Liu Xiu was waiting for was an opportunity, when the Chimei Army was tired, the morale was greatly drained, and it was when Liu Xiu sent troops to annihilate the Chimei Army. Fighters are fleeting, and seizing an opportunity means victory. Those who can seize the opportunity must have several conditions: 1. have a certain prestige; 2. have strong military ability and the ability to lead a party's war; 3. Calm and cautious personality, patience, and unique vision.
Liu Xiu
Under Liu Xiu's hands, the first condition should be the first 7 of the later Yuntai Twenty-Eight Generals: Deng Yu, Wu Han, Jia Fu, Geng Yi, Kou Ke, Cen Peng, and Feng Yi; deng Yu, who had already failed, and 6 more. Among them, those who meet the second condition are: Wu Han, Jia Fu, Geng Yi, Cen Peng, and Feng Yi. Although Kou Ke's military ability was good, he was partial to civilian positions and mainly played a strategic role on the battlefield.
Among the remaining 5 people, the only people who can meet the third condition are probably Cen Peng and Feng Yi. Wu Han, Jia Fu and Geng Yi have some similar personalities, they are all irritable and irritable, good at fighting on the battlefield, and can be described as heroic and invincible. In terms of military strategy, these three people did not hesitate to give way. However, when it comes to doing things calmly and with great patience, these 3 people are not as good as Cen Peng and Feng Yi. If these 3 people were allowed to preside over guanzhong affairs, they would definitely be eager to fight the Red Brow Army. Although with the ability of these 3 people, they can also defeat the Chimei Army, which is already at the end of the strong crossbow, but the Han army will definitely lose a lot, which is not what Liu Xiu hopes to see.
Therefore, liu xiu's most suitable persons to preside over guanzhong affairs were Cen Peng and Feng Yi. Cen Peng was liu xiu's defection to Liu Xiu when he attacked Luoyang, and although the time was short, he won Liu Xiu's trust. At that time, in the Nanyang area, Liu Xiu sent Wu Han to lead an army to quell the rebellion, but Wu Han slaughtered the Area around Xinye in Nanyang, causing another of Liu Xiu's generals, Deng Feng, to rebel and defeat Wu Han for a time. In August of 26 AD (the second year of Jianwu), Liu Xiu sent Cen Peng to Nanyang to quell Deng Feng's rebellion. At this time, Deng Yu's army defeated Chang'an and was planning to regroup and engage the Chimei army again. Cen Peng was already in charge of Nanyang military affairs, so naturally it was impossible to preside over Guanzhong affairs anymore.
Feng Yi spent the first year of Jianwu's reign in the Central Plains via Luoyang, and after occupying Luoyang, assisted Liu Xiu in dealing with post-war affairs in the Central Plains, including moving the capital to Luoyang. When Deng Yu's army defeated Chang'an, Feng Yi's affairs were almost handled, and Liu Xiucai asked Feng Yi to reinforce the Guanzhong region, I am afraid that at that time, Liu Xiu was already dissatisfied with Deng Yu's failure, and hoped that Feng Yi would replace Deng Yu and preside over Guanzhong affairs.
In November of the second year of Jianwu (26 AD), when Deng Yu was again defeated by the Chimei army, Liu Xiu took advantage of the situation to let Feng Yi replace Deng Yu and made Feng Yi the general of Zhengxi. What Feng Yi needed to do was to wait for the Red Brow Army to really run out of food and then fight a decisive battle with the Red Brow Army, which would test Feng Yi's vision and patience.
When Feng Yi first entered Guanzhong, Deng Yu had asked him to jointly attack the Chimei Army. Feng Yi once suggested: "We should use the strategy of slowing down the army to spread grace and righteousness, and use this to tempt the enemy army." Unfortunately, at that time, Deng Yu did not agree with this point of view, but insisted on sending troops, and finally lost the army. After Feng Yi replaced Deng Yu, he revived Enyi, and he united with the local warrior clans in Guanzhong, collected grain and grass, fortified the walls and cleared the wilderness, and cut off the grain supply around Chang'an, so that the Chimei army could not get supplies in Guanzhong. At the same time, Feng Yi extended his kindness to the ordinary soldiers of the Chimei Army in order to shake the hearts and minds of the Chimei Army, which had great results.
Book of the Later Han Dynasty: "The difference and the thief rejected each other and for dozens of days, although they were repeatedly awarded the heroic generals, the rest of the people were still many, but they could be lured by a little grace and faith, and it was difficult for the pawns to use soldiers to break through." The Shangjin made the generals tun yi chi to its east, and attacked its west, and took it in one fell swoop, and this was also a plan. ”
Feng Yi
In the era of war and chaos, thieves are everywhere, and the forces of division are like forests. Although Feng Yi did not take the initiative to attack the Chimei Army, he pointed the spearhead at the thieves in the Guanzhong area. Everywhere Feng Yi's army went, it was full of prestige and the people's will, and many thieves surrendered to Feng Yi, using Feng Yi's military strength to soar. In December of the second year of Jianwu (26 AD), Feng Yi led his army to fight the Chimei army in Huayin for more than 60 days, and the ordinary soldiers of the Chimei army voluntarily surrendered to Feng Yi, and the number reached more than 5,000.
In February of the third year of Jianwu (27 AD), Feng Yi believed that the time had come, so he took the initiative to fight with the Chimei army. Feng Yi asked some of the soldiers to pretend to be the people of the Chimei Army, ambushed on both sides of the road, and engaged the Chimei Army with a small number of troops, pretending to be invincible. The Chimei army lacked supplies and hoped to quickly defeat Feng Yi in order to plunder, but it fell into Feng Yi's plan. Feng Yi's ambushed surprise troops suddenly appeared, and the Chimei army panicked, fled eastward without being defeated, and was surrounded by a large army led by Liu Xiuqin, and the entire Chimei army surrendered. This is the famous Battle of Kundi in history, and the sensational Chimei Uprising has come to an end.
Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua
It is no exaggeration to say that Liu Xiu was able to eliminate the Chimei Army and pacify the Guanzhong region because he used Feng Yi correctly. In the process of pacifying the world, Liu Xiu used this group of excellent generals under his command to be invincible. After skimming strategic places such as Zhongyuan, Guanzhong, and Jingxiang, Liu Xiu used strategic commanders such as Feng Yi and Cen Peng to preside over one side's affairs; to pacify Shandong, Henan, and other areas where rebel forces were abundant, Liu Xiu asked Jia Fu, Geng Ti, Wu Han, and others to pacify them by iron-blooded means. After Cen Peng attacked Western Shu and was assassinated, Liu Xiu used Wu Han to attack Western Shu forcefully and slaughtered Chengdu, which was often intended to deter revenge.