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Text: Carry the lantern forward
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(Source: All content stated in this article is based on reliable sources, and is repeated at the end of the article)
In Chinese history, there have been many battles in which fewer won more, such as the Battle of Changping, the Battle of Guandu, etc., including the Battle of Kunyang.
According to historical records, in this war, Liu Xiu's army was weaker than Wang Mang's main army, so how did Liu Xiu defeat Wang Mang?
The cause of the matter
Since Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, established the Western Han Dynasty, it has been clearly stated in the system that non-Liu clans have to be called kings, which is also the "White Horse Alliance" between Liu Bang and his ministers.
It can be said that the establishment of this system allowed the imperial court to further control the power of the princes and gradually divide it.
But when Empress Lu was in power, this system was obviously destroyed, and instead the Lu family was rewarded on a large scale, which was the so-called foreign relatives.
This was a little dissatisfied with many ministers, so they secretly sharpened their forces, and under the leadership of Chen Ping and Zhou Bo, the power returned to the Liu clan.
However, the appointment of relatives was not eliminated, and because of the growing strength of the Liu clan, the emperor did not restrain it, which made the "Seven Kingdoms Rebellion" appear during the period of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty.
Although the war was quelled, and by the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the power of the princes began to decrease, but because of the appointment of a large number of relatives, another phenomenon arose, and the situation of the dictatorship of relatives appeared.
After Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Cheng, the situation became even more unstable, and during that period, the Wang family was unusually strong.
Because the Wang family has a strong foundation and is deeply loved by the emperor, there are many officials in the court, and the party members are all over the government and the opposition.
However, at that time, because the government was stable, there was no rebellion, and Wang Mang was born during this period.
Unexpectedly, Wang Mang was not very focused on being an official, so he was favored by the ministers of the DPRK and China.
It is worth mentioning that since Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, the Western Han Dynasty has entered a period of decline, and there has been a situation where the young lord ascended the throne.
One year ago, because of the death of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty and the absence of a son, there was no fixed candidate for the heir to the throne.
At this time, Empress Wang Zhengjun remembered Wang Mang, so she summoned him back to discuss the heir to the throne.
Subsequently, at Wang Mang's suggestion, the youngest son Liu Jian became the emperor, because there has been no suitable person for the big Sima, and after the ministers saw it, they thought that Wang Mang was modest and had a good character, and could take on this important responsibility.
After thinking about it, the queen also felt that it was very reasonable, so she gave Da Sima to Wang Mang, of course, this also caused dissatisfaction among many people, after all, there were many opponents.
After Wang Mang assisted the emperor to ascend to the throne, he secretly gathered forces to prepare for future development. In 6 AD, Wang Mang suppressed the rebels with his own strength, and also spread the virtues widely, so that the people began to trust him.
In the end, with the consent of Empress Wang Zhengjun, Wang Mang proclaimed himself the "false emperor", and it was not until 8 AD that Wang Mang began to proclaim himself emperor and establish a new dynasty.
I have to say that after Wang Mang established a new dynasty, no one was dissatisfied with the court, from the court to the people, which was the role of Wang Mang's virtue spread.
However, after Wang Mang ascended the throne, he began to carry out a large number of reforms in the country, and even changed the system of the previous dynasty for a time, which also made many people dissatisfied, including landlords and nobles.
You must know that at that time, the system of private ownership of Wang Tian and the Wujun Credit Law were implemented, and these two alone made the new dynasty face huge problems.
Things are developing
In terms of land, although Wang Mang's reforms safeguarded the interests of the common people under certain circumstances, they also intervened with the landlords.
The landlord was linked to the aristocracy, which changed the society, and the credit law was also called a loan, but because the more loans, the more they repaid, so that more and more people were usurious, leading to social instability.
All in all, after Wang Mang established a new dynasty, because he got rid of traditional ideas, people could not accept it, so there were many drawbacks.
At the same time, because of the continuous wars, the imperial court could not recuperate, coupled with the successive famines in various places, the increase in taxes and other situations, resulting in the people's livelihood.
In such a situation, there will certainly be an uprising, which is not only a phenomenon, but also a cause for dissatisfaction with the status quo.
So in 17 A.D., rebel armies appeared in various places, and Lu Mu was also the earliest, although as a rare female leader in history, but it did lay the groundwork for the uprising.
In the response of Lu Mu, people from all over the country looked forward to the wind and took refuge in the wind, and the number reached 10,000 in just one year.
Although this was not important in Wang Mang's eyes, after all, the number of people was huge, but what he didn't expect was that not only did he not send troops to recruit successfully, but instead inspired uprisings in various places.
After that, two forces gradually formed, one was the Red Eyebrow Army led by Fan Chong, and the other was the Green Forest Army led by Wang Kuang and others.
However, compared with the Green Forest Army, the Red Eyebrow Army is relatively large, and at this time, the imperial court will devote all its main forces to fighting the Red Eyebrow Army, and the Green Forest Army has also been well developed.
In 22 A.D., Liu Xiu and his brother Liu Xiu began to revolt separately, and after the two met in Chungling, they began to discuss the plan of capture.
Then, they looked at Wancheng, but Wancheng was the important place of the new dynasty, and Liu Xiu's rebel army was too small to take it at that time.
When Liu Xiu and others saw the huge momentum of the Green Forest Army, they went to take refuge, and finally defeated the New Dynasty Army many times in Liu Xiu and the Green Forest Army, and became famous for a while.
However, as the number of people increased, everyone realized the importance of the leader, so they made a choice between Liu Xuan and Liu Xuan.
In the end, Liu Xuan resigned and made Liu Xuan the emperor of the Green Forest Army, known as the first emperor in history.
Later, under the consultation of everyone, Emperor Gengshi finally formulated an offensive policy, allowing Liu Xiu and Liu Xiu to go north and south respectively, and finally converge in Luoyang.
At the same time, when Wang Mang learned the news, he was very angry, he thought that Liu Xuan said that the emperor did not take himself seriously at all, and then sent an army to conquer it.
End Result
Although the morale of the rebel army increased, it still had some palpitations after seeing the strength of the new Korean army, so the rebel army chose to retreat to Kunyang.
And here, Wang Mang's new army started a big war with the rebel army.
However, because of the long journey, the rebel army was already exhausted, so the morale began to slacken, and Liu Xiu began to send a message to persuade everyone to stick to Kunyang.
In his view, Kunyang is a strategic fortress, although it is difficult to hold on, but if it is not held, the consequences are unimaginable.
Once Kunyang fell, this opened a door for the new Korean army, plus the rebel army was already attacking Wancheng at that time, if you heard that Kunyang had fallen, it would definitely be defeated by the new Korean army.
If it really comes to that time, the time for the rebel army to be wiped out will not be far away, so Liu Xiu, who knows this truth well, tried his best to dissuade everyone from defending the city.
Sure enough, the new Korean army saw that Kunyang was heavily guarded, and many people proposed to attack Wancheng, if the Kuncheng Green Forest Army did not come to the rescue, Wancheng would fall, and on the contrary, Kunyang.
However, Wang Yi was worried that the court would blame him, so he did not carry it out, but chose a safe method and attacked Kunyang.
After Liu Xiu came to Yunyi and other places, he began to recruit troops and horses, the purpose was to support Kunyang, and he understood that if he did not go to support, Kunyang would definitely be occupied.
But Liu Xiu's idea made many people refuse, especially the local area, but Liu Xiu saw that the situation was critical, so he had to persuade and explain the pros and cons.
In this way, Liu Xiucai successfully recruited more than 1,000 people, and then supported Kunyang, in the face of Liu Xiu's 1,000 people, Wang Yi and others felt that it was not enough to be troubled, and also led 1,000 people to attack, but was defeated by Liu Xiu.
The defeat of the leader of the new dynasty army made the morale of the green forest army in Kunyang City victorious, and then Liu Xiu used suspicious tactics to confuse Wang Yi and others, which changed the shape of the new dynasty army.
Seeing this opportunity, Liu Xiu led his troops to attack and won the battle, so that the new Korean army had to flee.
The Battle of Kunyang greatly increased Liu Xiu's fame, which also led to a change in the contradictions between him and Emperor Genshi, which paved the way for the later confrontation.
In fact, the most critical reason for the defeat of the new Korean army was that it was too proud and lacked command.
Author's point of view
The Battle of Kunyang seemed to be a small-scale battle, but it took care of the development of the rebel army, and it was also the end of this battle that brought the new dynasty army to a collapse and laid the foundation for the overthrow of Wang Mang's new dynasty.
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Reference: Fan Guixia, Analysis of the Reasons for Kunyang's Victory and Defeat, 2001
Du Rongzhi, Liu Xiu in the Battle of Kunyang - Discussion with Comrade Sun Daren, 1982
Dongyun, Ringing the Death Knell of the Xinmang Dynasty - The Battle of Kunyang in Yexian County, 2011