Why Liu Xiu Made Luoyang the Eastern Han Capital

After Liu Xiu became emperor, the next great problem was where the new dynasty could actually sit down and rule.

After Liu Xiu took the throne at Haocheng, he had an imperial title but not yet a proper capital. Chang'an and Luoyang, the two great Han cities, were both outside his control. The newborn Eastern Han had to carve out a place where a court could actually function.

Chang'an Fell into Disorder

When Liu Xiu became emperor, Liu Xuan, the Gengshi Emperor, was still in Chang'an. The palace was still a Han palace, and the regime still used its own reign year. But the government had rotted from within.

The Red Eyebrow army was advancing. The Gengshi regime had been raised by the Lulin forces, not the Red Eyebrows, and its commanders could not hold the Red Eyebrows back. As the enemy came closer, Gengshi generals such as Zhang Ang began thinking of retreat.

Their plan was ugly but revealing. They wanted to loot Chang'an, flee east to their home region of Nanyang, and if even Nanyang could not hold them, return to life as bandits.

But Liu Xuan stood in the way. He had become emperor and did not want to abandon Chang'an. So Zhang Ang and the others planned to seize him during the autumn rites at the ancestral temples and carry him away by force.

The plot leaked. Liu Xuan claimed illness and refused to go out, then summoned Zhang Ang and others into the palace, hoping to catch them together. But once they entered, he hesitated and did not give the order.

Zhang Ang saw something was wrong. He escaped the palace, gathered troops, and attacked back into it. Liu Xuan could not resist and fled to Zhao Meng at Xinfeng. Wang Kuang and other leading ministers were also suspected by the emperor and finally brought troops into Chang'an to join Zhang Ang.

Before the Red Eyebrows even entered the city, the Gengshi regime was already fighting itself.

The Red Eyebrows Made Their Own Emperor

When the Red Eyebrows reached Huayin, their leaders saw that they could not enter Chang'an forever as a loose army of refugees. To fight for the realm, they needed a name. To attack Liu Xuan, they also needed a Han banner.

They found Liu Penzi, a fifteen-year-old cowherd from the Liu clan, and made him emperor. His reign title was Jianshi.

The boy had no real power. Fan Chong and the other Red Eyebrow leaders dressed him in imperial robes and arranged offices around him, but he was mostly a flag for their claim to legitimacy.

Still, with that flag, the Red Eyebrows could march on Chang'an as something more than a rebel army.

Liu Xiu also needed a great city. Haocheng was only a temporary foothold, not a place for a lasting capital. Chang'an was too far away and already collapsing. Luoyang stood in the central plains and held enormous strategic importance, but it was still guarded by Zhu Wei, a general of the Gengshi regime.

In the seventh month of Jianwu year one, Liu Xiu sent an envoy with an imperial staff to appoint Deng Yu Grand Minister over the Masses and order him to attack Henan. Deng Yu crossed the Yellow River and won repeated victories. Local powerful families in Henan began submitting to Liu Xiu. In the eighth month, Liu Xiu reached Heyang and ordered Wu Han to besiege Luoyang.

Luoyang Was Still Held by Zhu Wei

Zhu Wei was not easy to remove. His army was strong, the city was solid, and for months he showed no sign of collapsing.

Meanwhile Chang'an grew worse. Li Song led troops back to protect Liu Xuan and Zhao Meng in an attack against Wang Kuang and Zhang Ang. The factions fought inside the city for more than a month. Wang Kuang was defeated, Liu Xuan returned to Chang'an, but he could only move into Changxin Palace.

The relief did not last. The Red Eyebrows soon reached Gaoling. Liu Xiu had previously sent Deng Yu to block them, but Deng Yu could not stop them. Wang Kuang and Zhang Ang later surrendered to the Red Eyebrows at Gaoling and joined the attack on Chang'an's eastern gate.

Li Song went out to fight and was captured. His younger brother, who held a gate command, simply opened the gate and let the Red Eyebrows enter.

In the ninth month of Jianwu year one, the Red Eyebrows entered Chang'an. The Gengshi regime was finished.

Liu Xuan panicked. He summoned Zhao Meng into the palace to discuss defense, but Zhao Meng did not arrive. Liu Xuan seized the imperial seal, mounted a horse alone, and fled north of the city.

Later Yan Ben invited him into a camp under the name of protection, but in reality held him at Gaoling. When news reached Heyang that Liu Xuan's fate was unknown, Liu Xiu issued an edict declaring him King of Huaiyang and warning that anyone who harmed him would be guilty of high treason.

The edict carried both personal feeling and political meaning. Liu Xuan had once been Liu Xiu's ruler, and both were members of the Liu clan. More importantly, Liu Xiu was telling the world that the Gengshi regime had ended, and Han legitimacy now rested with him.

Liu Xuan Handed Over the Seals

Liu Xuan, held at Gaoling, did not know Liu Xiu had named him King of Huaiyang. The Red Eyebrows searched Chang'an but could not find him. Then they issued an order: if the Gengshi Emperor surrendered, he would be made King of Changsha; if he waited beyond twenty days, surrender would no longer be accepted.

When Liu Xuan read the document, he wept. Liu Gong, an attendant and the elder brother of the Red Eyebrow puppet emperor Liu Penzi, agreed to go with him.

The former Gengshi Emperor came to Changxin Palace bare-shouldered in the posture of surrender, kneeling and holding up the imperial seal. On the throne sat the fifteen-year-old Liu Penzi. Around him stood the Red Eyebrow generals.

For Liu Xuan, the humiliation was worse than defeat.

Liu Penzi did not press him too hard. But Wang Kuang and Zhang Ang, who had already surrendered to the Red Eyebrows and hated Liu Xuan, rushed forward to drag him away and kill him. Liu Gong begged for him and even drew his sword as if to kill himself, forcing Fan Chong to spare Liu Xuan.

Fan Chong pardoned Liu Xuan for Liu Gong's sake and made him King of Changsha. Wang Kuang and Zhang Ang had to swallow their anger.

By then the Gengshi regime was completely gone. Yet Zhu Wei still held Luoyang. His ruler had surrendered, but he still would not open the gates.

Zhu Wei Surrendered

The siege of Luoyang dragged into the ninth month without result. Liu Xiu sent Chen Peng, an old subordinate of Zhu Wei, into the city with a letter urging surrender.

Zhu Wei hesitated. He told Chen Peng that he had taken part in the earlier killing of Liu Yan, Liu Xiu's elder brother. Later, when the Gengshi Emperor had sent Liu Xiu north, Zhu Wei had strongly opposed it. His guilt was too heavy, he said. He could not believe Liu Xiu would spare him.

Chen Peng returned and reported this. Liu Xiu answered that a man trying to accomplish great affairs should not cling to old resentment. If Zhu Wei surrendered, his office and rank would be preserved, and he would not be killed.

Chen Peng went back to Luoyang with the message. Zhu Wei lowered a rope from the city wall to test him. Chen Peng was ready to climb without hesitation. Only then did Zhu Wei believe Liu Xiu was sincere.

Zhu Wei bound himself, opened the city gates, and went with Chen Peng to Heyang to meet Liu Xiu.

Liu Xiu personally untied him, comforted him, and had Chen Peng escort him back to Luoyang that same night. The next day, Zhu Wei led all the officials and soldiers out of the city to surrender.

Luoyang finally belonged to Liu Xiu.

Luoyang Had to Be Stabilized First

When Liu Xiu entered Luoyang, he saw its great walls and splendid palaces and decided to make it his capital. The dynasty later became known as Eastern Han because Luoyang lay east of the old Western Han capital, Chang'an.

But taking Luoyang was only the first step. To turn it into a capital, Liu Xiu had to calm officials and commoners and restrain his own soldiers.

He ordered Du Shi to pacify the city's officials and people. Du Shi proclaimed discipline, but one of Liu Xiu's Xiao-family generals let his troops disturb the population. People were so afraid that they kept their doors shut even in daylight.

Du Shi went with the imperial order and repeated the military rules. The general agreed in words, then continued as before. Du Shi entered the camp himself, arrested the general, executed him, and reported the matter.

Liu Xiu judged that Du Shi had done the right thing and issued an edict praising him.

After this, the soldiers in Luoyang understood the new rule. The emperor was trying to sit the empire, not give old followers permission to loot. Anyone who harmed discipline and frightened the people could be punished, no matter whose man he was.

Proud troops began to restrain themselves. Scattered bandits withdrew. Luoyang slowly recovered order, and the shape of a new capital began to appear.

Guanzhong Was Still in Red Eyebrow Hands

After Liu Xiu settled in Luoyang, Deng Yu was still in the field preparing to move toward Chang'an.

But Chang'an was in Red Eyebrow hands. After entering the city, the Red Eyebrows found that the local elites of Guanzhong would not support them. Powerful families hid grain. Their army was huge, supplies tightened, and soldiers plundered. Chang'an quickly became a hungry, chaotic shell.

When people in the Three Capital Region heard that Deng Yu's army had strict discipline, they came to him with old and young family members in large numbers. Deng Yu's following was said to reach a million, and his reputation spread quickly through Guanzhong.

Many local armed groups urged him to attack Chang'an at once and destroy the Red Eyebrows. Deng Yu refused. He knew that although his numbers looked large, the number of real fighting troops was limited. Food was short in front, and transport from the rear had not been firmly built. The Red Eyebrows had just taken Chang'an and still had fighting spirit. It was not the right time for a direct assault.

He judged that the Red Eyebrows were a gathered refugee army with no ability to manage Guanzhong for long. Better to move north first, take Shang Commandery, Beidi, Anding, and other areas, and rest the army where supplies could be found.

So Deng Yu led his troops north. Camps, towns, and local strongholds along the way submitted. The result was that Guanzhong, held by the Red Eyebrows, was now pressed by Liu Xiu's power from both the east and the north.

At this moment, Liu Xiu had made Luoyang his capital, while the Red Eyebrows held Chang'an with Liu Penzi as emperor. Farther away, other real and false emperors still held separate territories. The new capital existed, but Eastern Han still had to survive the Red Eyebrow test before it could claim the old Han world.