It was not only Liu Xiu's astonishing victories that caused a stir, but also the exceedingly ambiguous banner he fought under.
Restore the Han Dynasty!
Was the Han Dynasty in such decline now?
The imperial house held secure Guanzhong and large numbers of elite troops. The rebel armies were at an absolute disadvantage, and the other force opposing the court was the Liu Clan Lords King.
What Han Dynasty was there to restore?
The meaning implicit in those words was clearly this: whether Wang Mang or the Lords King, I think none of them are up to the task. The Great Han's altars of state and All Under Heaven must look to me!
That a descendant of a distant branch of the imperial clan dared make such a declaration before All Under Heaven was itself something scarcely believable.
Liu Xiu pointed his sword toward Qi Land and fought across Hebei, Chen, and Xu. Whether facing troops under the Lords King or rebel armies, he won victory after victory.
During the Jingnan Campaign, the Feudal Lords East of the Passes had claimed they had no more than ten thousand people, a thousand households, and a hundred soldiers. That was not exactly wrong.
But having no more than a hundred strong, vigorous armored soldiers and having no more than a hundred ordinary militiamen were entirely different things.
Among those under Liu Xiu who had followed him all the way from Nanyang Commandery, as well as those who had followed him ever since he arrived East of the Passes, quite a few could lead troops in battle. Under the strategic plans Liu Xiu devised, they attacked and campaigned in all directions.
After battles great and small, and the continual destruction of the Lords King's armies, most importantly, he had used not merely force