Background
By the end of the Xin Dynasty, peasants all over the country rebelled against Wang Mang for the years of his incompetent rule. Calls for the reestablishment of the Han Dynasty, which Wang Mang overthrew, were on the rise. Heeding these voices, the leaders of the rebellions supported Liu Xuan to be the emperor of the new Han Dynasty.
Xin Emperor Wang Mang decided that he must crush the newly constituted Han regime before it gained momentum, and sent his cousin Wang Yi and his prime minister Wang Xun, with what he considered to be an overwhelming force of several hundred thousand men, to attack the Han forces. The Han forces were split in two — one led by Wang Feng, Wang Chang, and Liu Xiu; while the other, the majority of which was led by Liu Yan. Wang Feng, Wang Chang, and Liu Xiu soon took the castles of Kunyang (昆陽), Dingling (定陵), and Yanxian (郾縣). Liu Xiu's forces had started attacking Yangguan (陽關), but after hearing of the arrival of the main Xin forces, he decided to retreat to Kunyang. The 9,000 rebels in Kunyang, vastly outnumbered by the Xin force, initially wanted to scatter and retreat to Jingzhou, but Liu Xiu opposed it. He advocated that they guard Kunyang securely, since a scattered army would be easy prey. Liu Xiu promised to gather all other available troops in surrounding areas and attack the Xin forces from the outside. After initially rejecting Liu Xiu's idea, the rebels eventually agreed.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Kunyang
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