Shortly after the Battle of Kunyang, an earth-shattering event occurred in Chang'an. The national counselor Liu Xiu (Liu Xin) rebelled.
Liu Xin's rebellion was manifested because he coveted the throne and believed in the prophecy in "Chi Fu Fu". In fact, there were many other reasons besides this.
There were many meritorious officials who assisted Wang Mang in his ascension to the throne, among which Zhen Feng was the one who contributed more.
Zhen Feng and Liu Xin had a close personal relationship, and the relationship between the two was very good. However, Zhen Feng was a very strong man, and he was unwilling to compromise easily with Wang Mang in terms of political opinions, which aroused Wang Mang's murderous intention.
Later, in this political struggle between the emperor and his ministers, Zhen Feng was defeated and forced to commit suicide. Zhen Feng's death dealt a great blow to Liu Xin. He not only lost a close friend, but also made him feel that he was the companion of the emperor.
When accompanied by a tiger, there is a feeling of dead lips and cold teeth.
In addition, Liu Xin had two sons who died in political struggles and were directly related to Wang Mang. He also had a daughter Liu Min whom he loved very much.
Liu Min has been smart since she was a child, and has won the favor and inheritance of Liu Xin. Whether it is prophecy or astrology, Liu Min has profound attainments, and she can be called a female genius.
Later, Wang Mang proposed marriage and betrothed Liu Xin's daughter Liu Min to the crown prince Wang Lin. It seemed that this was a good thing. Being able to become a crown princess made many people jealous!
But not long after, Wang Lin was given poisoned wine by Wang Mang for the crime of treason. As the crown prince, Liu Min was naturally implicated and committed suicide.
Two sons, plus one favorite daughter, both died because of Wang Mang. Liu Xin's rebellion is actually not absurd, nor is it difficult to understand.
Also conspired with Liu Xin to rebel were General Wei Wang She and Grand Sima Dong Zhong.
Wang She and Dong Zhong were both highly respected ministers. The former was Wang Mang's cousin, and the latter, as the Grand Sima, was in charge of military power. Speaking of which, among the three of them, the mastermind Liu Xin, the national advisor, had the lowest status.
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In fact, Liu Xin chose a good time to rebel. In the Battle of Kunyang, Wang Yi and Wang Xun were defeated miserably. The army of more than 400,000 was defeated, and Wang Mang had very few usable soldiers left.
A time of emptiness.
Conspiracy of rebellion at this time can be described as taking advantage of the situation, just right.
The conspirators who conspired with Liu Xin were General Wei and Grand Sima. The Imperial Palace's imperial army was in the hands of Wang She, and the capital army in Chang'an was in the hands of Dong Zhong.
It can be said that the entire capital city's army is under the control of this small rebel group, and the plot should be a sure thing.
But the bad thing is that Liu Xin doesn't want to be sure, but wants to be sure.
At that time, Sun Ji, the eldest daughter-in-law, was also in charge of the troops in the capital.
Dazhui was an official position established by Wang Mang, which was equivalent to being a senior minister and a high-ranking minister. Liu Xin and Sun Ji had a very good relationship. They had close contact with each other on weekdays, and Sun Ji always followed Liu Xin's lead.
Before the rebellion, in order to be more confident, Liu Xin told Sun Ji about the rebellion and asked him to help him.
At that time, Sun Ji wholeheartedly agreed, but afterward, the more Sun Ji thought about it, the more frightened he became. This was rebellion. It would be fine if it succeeded, but what if it failed? Once it failed, his head would not be saved, and the whole family would suffer.
Just when Sun Ji was undecided about whether he should side with Liu Xin and follow him in the rebellion, someone took the initiative to find him, Xi Cheying.
Xi Cheying was a distinguished guest of the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion and was deeply favored by Liu Xin. Sun Ji had also met Xi Cheying several times in the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion, so he was naturally no stranger to her.
Sun Ji was very surprised that Xi Cheying took the initiative to come to him.
This time Xi Cheying came to him with only one purpose, to persuade him not to do stupid things. Instead of following Liu Xin in rebellion, he should report Liu Xin. Otherwise, the entire Sun family would be affected by him and be in ruins.
Even Liu Xin was full of praise for Xi Cheying's attainments in metaphysics. If she could say such a thing, it must not be without purpose.
Sun Ji, who was already a little hesitant, was so frightened that he broke out in white hair after hearing what Xi Cheying said, and then gave up the idea of conspiracy with Liu Xin.
Liu Xin wants to rebel, and Xi Cheying certainly doesn't want him to succeed. Once Liu Xin succeeds in his rebellion and becomes emperor, he will definitely regard Liu Xiu as a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh.
Furthermore, if Liu Xin is allowed to realize the prophecy in "Chi Fu Fu", what will his lord Liu Xiu do?
Sun Ji listened to Xi Cheying's advice, and then asked his wife's brother Chen Han to discuss it. Chen Han's opinions were consistent with Xi Cheying's, and he also believed that Sun Ji should not rebel because the risk was too great and the consequences would be too serious. Your Majesty's report is the right thing to do.
After listening to his wife's brother's persuasion, Sun Ji made up his mind. That night he quietly entered the palace and met with Wang Mang. He told Wang Mang everything about Liu Xin, Wang She, Dong Zhong and others' conspiracy to rebel. .
After Wang Mang heard this, he was far more surprised than angry. You must know that the three people Sun Ji reported had an unusual relationship with him. Liu Xin and Dong Zhong were both his close advisors, and Wang She was his cousin. Can the three of them rebel?
However, Sun Ji Neng's categorical report on the three of them could not be without purpose, and he did not have the courage.
That night, Wang Mang did nothing. The next day, after the morning court, Wang Mang sent people to recruit Liu Xin, Wang She, and Dong Zhong into the palace, and questioned them face to face whether they had committed any rebellion.
When Liu Xin, Wang She, and Dong Zhong met in the palace, they realized that the rebellion might have been exposed. When Wang Mang asked about it, the three of them did not quibble, and frankly admitted that they were indeed planning to rebel. .
Dong Zhong, as the Grand Sima, and Wang She, as the General of the Guard, both had a large number of trusted subordinates. Even in the palace, they were not too afraid of Wang Mang.
Now that they had broken up in front of each other and had nothing to hide, Dong Zhong and Wang She ordered their subordinates to kill Wang Mang on the spot.
But what they never expected was that Wang Mang had already prepared and secretly laid a heavy ambush in the palace.
The rebels led by Dong Zhong and Wang She were surrounded by heavy troops arranged by Wang Mang. In the end, Dong Zhong died in the battle, while Liu Xin and Wang She were captured alive.
Wang Mang was not bad. Thinking of their friendship for so many years, he left the whole body of the two of them and let them commit suicide. Liu Xin and Wang She both chose to commit suicide when they knew that there was no way to survive.
After the death of the three masterminds of the rebellion, Wang Mang ordered a thorough investigation of the case.
The case of Liu Xin's rebellion was widely implicated, and a considerable number of them were middle- and high-ranking generals in the army. These generals who often had contacts with Liu Xin, Wang She, and Dong Zhong ended up not having a good end for any of them. He was executed by Wang Mang.
You must know that there were not many talented generals in the Xinmang court. A number of them died in the battle of Kunyang, and this time they were implicated in Liu Xin's rebellion, and another number died.
After these two incidents, there were basically no decent generals under Wang Mang.
If the Battle of Kunyang cut off one of Wang Mang's legs, then the Liu Xin conspiracy cut off Wang Mang's other leg. Together, these two incidents completely cut off Wang Mang's foundation.
Liu Xin's rebellion case, on the surface, does not seem to be complicated. It is just an ordinary rebellion case. However, because the people involved are all important officials of the Xinmang court, the nature of the case becomes very serious.
But no one noticed that there was always an invisible driving force behind this rebellion.
It was Xi Cheying who encouraged Liu Xin to rebel in the Imperial Prefect's mansion, and it was Xi Cheying who later persuaded Sun Ji to inform Sun Ji.
It can be said that from Liu Xin's decision to rebel, to the leak of the incident, to being forced to commit suicide, this series of events was almost all caused by Xi Cheying.
She did not directly participate in Liu Xin's rebellion, but she successfully pushed Liu Xin step by step into the abyss of destruction.
For a long time, Liu Xin secretly assassinated Liu Xiu again and again, but Liu Xiu was helpless with Liu Xin. But who would have thought that what Liu Xiu couldn't handle was accomplished by Xi Cheying.
Not only did she help Liu Xiu successfully get rid of Liu Xin, his henchman, but she also greatly weakened the Xinmang court and pushed the entire Xinmang court to the brink of destruction.
Under the continuous blows, Wang Mang's nerves became more and more abnormal. Wang Mang's queen had died of illness for a long time, and he had never established another palace, but at this time, he suddenly established a Queen Shi.
Queen Shi's name was Shi Luo, and she was the daughter of Shi Zhan, the Marquis of Peace. Shi Luo was only sixteen years old, while Wang Mang was already in his sixties, nearly seventy years old. Speaking of which, given his advanced age, he could be Shi Luo's grandfather.
Wang Mang has always been a very stingy person, but this time he spent a lot of money to marry Empress Shi. The scale of the marriage is unprecedented in history.
It is estimated that Wang Mang also wanted to take this opportunity to demonstrate his national power and show the world the strength of the imperial court.
Don't think that just because the imperial court lost the battle in Kunyang, you think that the imperial court is in doom. In fact, the imperial court has plenty of money and can continue to recruit troops and eliminate the rebels in various places one by one.
This unprecedentedly grand wedding not only failed to win the trust and favor of the people in the world for Wang Mang, but instead made the world hate him even more.
Even those who are loyal to Wang Mang can't stand it. In the face of a national crisis, there is still such extravagance and waste. If you were willing to spend all this money on the army, why would there be any conflict between the capital army and the local county army? contradiction?
How could hundreds of thousands of local county troops be so ineffective in the Battle of Kunyang that the imperial army was completely defeated?!
At this period, Wang Mang's thinking was no longer understandable by normal people.
After Liu Xin's death, the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion was sealed off, and Xi Cheying disappeared. No one knew where she had gone, or even whether she was still alive.
The actual situation is that Xi Cheying changed his appearance, changed his name and surname, went to Duling near Chang'an, and successfully entered Shi Luo's mansion, and became a maid for Shi Luo, who was about to get married.
Xi Cheying wants to sneak into the palace through Shi Luo and lurk next to Wang Mang. Firstly, this way she can get more information. Secondly, if necessary, she can take action against Wang Mang at any time.
