In the first year of Jianwu (25 years), the first emperor Liu Xuan was defeated and died. In November, Liu Yong proclaimed himself the Son of Heaven.
In April 26 (the second year of Jianwu), Liu Xiu ordered the Huya general Gai Yan as the main general, with Ma Du Wei Ma Wu, Riding Du Wei Liu Long, Escort Du Wei Ma Cheng, and Partial General Wang Ba as his deputy generals, leading tens of thousands of troops to conquer Liu Yong in Juyang, and Su Mao also led the old troops to participate in this military operation.
However, Su Mao was despised by Gai Yan in the army, so he raised an army to rebel, killed The Taishou Pan Jian of Huaiyang, occupied Guangle City (and several other cities, and sent emissaries to Liu Yong, the King of Liang. Liu Yong was overjoyed, and immediately sent people to appoint Su Mao as the Grand Sima and crown him the Prince of Huaiyang, and the two sides formed an alliance to resist Liu Xiu.
Gai Yan really did not take Su Mao seriously, and despite Su Mao's rebellion, wanted to take Liu Yong directly, and Gai Yan's army first captured Xiangyi (襄邑, in present-day Sui County, Henan), and then Maxiang County (麻乡县, in modern Yanshan, Jiangsu), so he besieged Liu Yong at Suiyang (present-day Shangqiunan, Henan). After a few months, the wheat of the fields was harvested and the night was taken by ladder into the city. Frightened, Liu Yong led his troops to escape from the East Gate, and Gai Yan pursued liu Yongjun. Liu Yong abandoned his army and fled to Benchen (谯谯, in modern Bo County, Anhui), Gaiyan attacked xue county, killing his Lu commandery Taishou, while Pengcheng, Fuyang, Zhuqiu, and Xiao county all surrendered. He also attacked Liu Yongpei Commandery (劉永沛郡, in modern Huaibei, Anhui) taishou (太守). Liu Yongbu rescued Liu Yong with more than 30,000 people, including Su Mao, Lingjiang, and Zhou Jian, and attacked Gaiyan together, and Gaiyan fought with them in Peixi and destroyed his army. Liu Yongjun was in turmoil, and most of the people drowned in the water. Liu Yong abandoned the city and went to Huling, and Su Mao ran to Guangle. Gai Yan pacified Pei, Chu, Linhuai and other places, and Gai Yan built the Gaozu Temple in Pei County, and set up Shifu, Zhu Zai, and Musician to preside over the temple. (Pei County was the land of Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, and Liu Xiu praised Gaiyan when he found out.) )
In April of the third year of Jianwu (27), the Suiyang people expelled the Han army and raised the city to welcome Liu Yong's return. Liu Xiu urgently ordered Wu Han and Gai Yan and other combined forces to surround Suiyang. Yong led the troops to hold out for a hundred days, and later because the Han army took all the wheat from the field and cut off the grain in the city, they were forced to break through to Ben county (present-day Yongcheng Town, Shangqiu City, Henan Province), and Gai Yan led the generals to pursue them closely, Liu Yong's weight was taken away by the Han army, and Liu Yong's general Qingwu killed Liu Yong, surrendered to the Han army, and was given the title of Marquis. After Liu Yong's death, his brother Liu Fangju surrendered. Su Mao and Zhou Jian fled to Chuihui (present-day Mengcheng County, Anhui Province) and jointly established Liu Yong's son Liu Lu (劉纡) as the Prince of Liang and continued to oppose Liu Xiu.
Another big thing happened in the Nanyang area, the Deng clan was a powerful family in Xinye, And Deng Feng's uncle Deng Chen was Liu Xiu's second brother-in-law, and it was this family member who rebelled.
In August of 26 AD (the second year of Jianwu), Dong Xiang, a native of Nanyang County, gathered a crowd to rebel, captured Liu Biao, the Taishou of Nanyang County, and rebelled against the city. Xu Handan, a native of Fuyang County, also raised an army at Xingju. Liu Xiu urgently ordered Sima Wu Han to be the main general, the Yanghua general Jian Wei and the right general Wan Xiu to lead the main force of the Han army of more than 100,000 to turn around and go south to help Nanyang put down the rebellion. Although Wu Han won successive military victories and successively recaptured Wancheng, Neyang, Lixian, Rangcheng, Xinye and other places, he connived with his subordinates to plunder the villagers, causing the people's resentment to boil. As a result, he forced the rebel general Deng Feng.
At that time, the general Deng Feng happened to be on leave from Luoyang to return to Xinye to visit his relatives. Seeing the atrocities of the Wu Han army, he was furious, led the villagers to revolt, defeated the Wu Han army, and won all the weight, and tun the old base area of Huaiyang. Because all the supplies, grain and grass were looted by Deng Feng, Wu Han was forced to lead his troops to retreat south, and Wan Xiu also died of illness at this time, leaving only Jian Hao to defend Wancheng. Jian Yi led the people to eat weeds in Wancheng.
In November 26 (the second year of Jianwu), in order to quell the rebellion in Nanyang, Liu Xiu sent the general Cen Peng to lead Zhu You, Jia Fu, Geng Yi, and the Hanzhong general Wang Chang, the Wuwei general Guo Shou, the Yue general Liu Hong, and the partial generals Liu Jia and Geng Zhi to attack Deng Feng, Dong Zhi, and Xu Handan.
Deng Feng heard the news and personally led more than 10,000 people to come to the rescue. Deng Feng and Dong Xun's subordinates were all elite soldiers of Nanyang County, and they were brave and fierce. In particular, Deng Feng's subordinates were all soldiers in a hundred battles on the battlefield, and they were unstoppable. In this battle, the Han army was defeated, and the Jianyi general Zhu You was captured. Because Zhu You and Deng Feng and his uncle Deng Chen had known each other since an early age, Deng Feng did not harm Zhu You, but treated him like a guest.
At this time, Jianju was still guarding Wancheng in the middle of Wancheng, and Deng Yujun encountered the Chimei army, Gai Yan was begging Liu Yong, Cen Peng could not help Jianyi, and the letter of distress that Jianjue began became a suicide note, and in March of 27 AD (the third year of Jianwu), Liu Xiu personally led the main Han army to the south to conquer Deng Feng. Deng Feng knew that Liu Xiu had retreated to Xiaochang'an Ju. Liu Xiu led the armies in pursuit. In April, Deng Feng knew that the situation was irreparable and decided to surrender, so he asked Zhu You to come out, then took off his shirt, and escorted him to Liu Xiu's camp with him naked.
Liu Xiu pitied him as a nephew of his brother-in-law, and had the merit of protecting Yin Lihua's family, and his rebellion was also caused by the plundering of Wu Han's troops, and wanted to pardon him. Cen Peng and Geng Yi thought that they should warn other foolish people on this matter, so they advised: "Deng Feng rebelled against the enemy and let the Han army fight outside for more than a year, and the rebellion caused heavy losses to the Han army, and Deng Feng wounded Jia Fu, captured Zhu You, and damaged the prestige of the Han army, And His Majesty personally came to fight, and he did not surrender immediately until he was unable to fight again, and if he did not kill him, he could not publicize the determination to punish the rebellion." So Liu Xiu had no choice but to order Deng Feng to be killed.
The reason why Deng Feng rebelled was because the forces under Liu Xiu were unbalanced, and seeing Su Mao and Deng Feng's rebellion just taught Liu Xiu a lesson, liu Xiu's Hebei forces looked down on the Nanyang forces, so many things would happen.