The Crimson Eyebrows
With the opening of the Christian era a usurper came to the Chinese
throne. In the year 1 B.C. the emperor Gaiti died, and Wang Mang, a
powerful official, joined with the mother of the dead emperor to seize
the power of the state. The friends and officials of Gaiti were ruined
and disgraced, and in the year 1 A.D. a boy of nine years was raised to
the throne as nominal emperor, under whose shadow Wang Mang ruled
suprem
by robbing the graves of former monarchs of the jewels and other
valuables buried with them. This, from the Chinese point of view, was a
frightful sacrilege, yet the people seem to have quietly submitted to
the violation of the imperial tombs.
Five years passed away, and the emperor reached the age of sixteen. He
might grow troublesome in a year or two more. Wang Mang decided that he
had lived long enough. The poisoned cup, which seems to have been always
ready in the Chinese palace, was handed to the boy by the usurper
himself. Drinking it unsuspiciously, the unfortunate youth was soon
lying on the floor in the agonies of death, while the murderer woke the
palace halls with his cries of counterfeit grief, loudly bewailing the
young emperor's sad fate, and denouncing heaven for having sent this
sudden and fatal illness upon the royal youth.
To keep up appearances, another child was placed upon the throne. A
conspiracy against the usurper was now formed by the great men of the
state, but Wang Mang speedily crushed plot and plotters, rid himself of
the new boy emperor in the same arbitrary fashion as before, and,
throwing off the mask he had thus far worn, had himself proclaimed
emperor of the realm. It was the Han dynasty he had in this arbitrary
fashion brought to an end. He called his dynasty by the name of Sin.
But the usurper soon learned the truth of the saying, "uneasy lies the
head that wears a crown." The Tartars of the desert defied his
authority, broke their long truce, and raided the rich provinces of the
north, which had enjoyed thirty years of peace and prosperity. In this
juncture Wang Mang showed that he was better fitted to give poison to
boys than to meet his foes in the field. The Tartars committed their
ravages with impunity, and other enemies were quickly in arms.
Rebellions broke out in the east and the south, and soon, wherever the
usurper turned, he saw foes in the field or lukewarm friends at home.
The war that followed continued for twelve years, the armies of
rebellion, led by princes of the Han line of emperors, drawing their net
closer and closer around him, until at length he was shut up within his
capital city, with an army of foes around its walls. The defence was
weak, and the victors soon made their way through the gates, appearing
quickly at the palace doors. The usurper had reached the end of his
troubled reign, but at this fatal juncture had not the courage to take
his own life. The victorious soldiers rushed in while he was hesitating
in mortal fear, and with a stroke put an end to his reign and his
existence. His body was hacked into bleeding fragments, which were cast
about the streets of the city, to be trampled underfoot by the rejoicing
throng.
It is not, however, the story of Wang Mang's career that we have set out
to tell, but that of one of his foes, the leader of a band of rebels,
Fanchong by name. This partisan leader had shown himself a man of
striking military ability, bringing his troops under strict discipline,
and defeating all his foes. Soldiers flocked to his ranks, his band
became an army, and in the crisis of the struggle he took a step that
made him famous in Chinese history. He ordered his soldiers to paint
their eyebrows red, as a sign that they were ready to fight to the last
drop of their blood. Then he issued the following proclamation to the
people: "If you meet the 'Crimson Eyebrows,' join yourselves to them; it
is the sure road to safety. You can fight the usurper's troops without
danger; but if you wish for death you may join Wang Mang's army."
The end of the war was not the end of the "Crimson Eyebrows." Fanchong
was ambitious, and a large number of his followers continued under his
flag. They had aided greatly in putting a Han emperor on the throne, but
they now became his most formidable foes, changing from patriots into
brigands, and keeping that part of the empire which they haunted in a
state of the liveliest alarm.
Against this thorn in the side of the realm the new emperor sent his
ablest commander, and a fierce campaign ensued, in which the brigand
band stubbornly fought for life and license. In the end they suffered a
crushing defeat, and for the time sank out of sight, but only to rise
again at a later date.
The general who had defeated them, an able prince of the Han family,
followed up his victory by seizing the throne itself and deposing the
weak emperor. The latter fled to the retreat of the remnant of the
brigand band, and begged their aid to restore him to the throne, but
Fanchong, who had no idea of placing a greater than himself at the head
of his band, escaped from the awkward position by putting his guest to
death.
Soon after the "Crimson Eyebrows" were in the field again, not as
supporters of an imperial refugee, but as open enemies of the public
peace, each man fighting for his own hand. While the new ruler was
making himself strong at Loyang, the new capital, Fanchong and his
brigands seized Changnan, Wang Mang's old capital, and pillaged it
mercilessly. Making it their head-quarters, they lived on the
inhabitants of the city and the surrounding district, holding on until
the rapid approach of the army of the emperor admonished them that it
was time to seek a safer place of retreat.
The army of the brigand chief grew until it was believed to exceed two
hundred thousand men, while their excesses were so great that they were
everywhere regarded as public enemies, hated and execrated by the
people at large. But the career of the "Crimson Eyebrows" was near its
end. The emperor sent against them an army smaller than their own, but
under the command of Fongy, one of the most skilful generals of the age.
His lack of numbers was atoned for by skill in manoeuvres, the
brigands were beaten in numerous skirmishes, and at length Fongy risked
a general engagement, which ended in a brilliant victory. During the
crisis of the battle he brought up a reserve of prisoners whom he had
captured in the previous battles and had won over to himself. These,
wearing still the crimson sign of the brigands, mingled unobserved among
their former comrades, and at a given signal suddenly made a fierce
attack upon them. This treacherous assault produced a panic, and
Fanchong's army was soon flying in disorder and dismay.
Terms were now offered to the brigand chief, which he accepted, and his
army disbanded, with the exception of some fragments, which soon
gathered again into a powerful force. This Fongy attacked and completely
dispersed, and the long and striking career of the "Crimson Eyebrows"
came to an end.
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