1
春，二月，大赦天下。
In spring, in the second month, a general amnesty was proclaimed throughout the realm.
2
民訛言黃龍墮死黃山宮中，百姓奔走往觀者有萬數。 莽惡之，捕繫，問語所從起，不能得。
A rumor spread among the people that a yellow dragon had fallen dead in Huangshan Palace; tens of thousands of commoners ran to see it. Wang Mang hated it, had people arrested and imprisoned, questioned whence the talk arose, and could not find out.
3
單于咸既和親，求其子登屍。 莽欲遣使送致，恐咸怨恨，害使者，乃收前言當誅侍子者故將軍陳欽，以他罪殺之。 莽選辯士濟南王咸為大使。 夏，五月，莽復遣和親侯歙與咸等送右廚唯姑夕王，因奉歸前所斬侍子登及諸貴人從者喪。 單于遣雲、當子男大且渠奢等至塞迎之。 咸到單于庭，陳莽威德，莽亦多遺單于金珍，因諭說改其號，號匈奴曰「恭奴」，單于曰「善於」，賜印綬，封骨都侯當為後安公，當子男奢為後安侯。 單于貪莽金幣，故曲聽之，然寇盜如故。
The Chanyu Xian, having made peace through marriage alliance, asked for the corpse of his son Deng. Wang Mang wished to send envoys to deliver the body, but feared Xian would resent it and harm the envoys; he therefore seized the former general Chen Qin, who earlier had said the hostage prince ought to be executed, and killed him on another charge. Wang Mang selected the eloquent Wang Xian, Prince of Jinan, as chief envoy. In summer, in the fifth month, Wang Mang again sent Heqin Marquis She with Xian and others to escort the King of Youchu Weigu Xi, and thereby return the remains of the hostage prince Deng previously executed and of the noble attendants who had followed him. The Chanyu sent Yun, Dang's son the younger lord Da Qiequ She, and others to the frontier to welcome them. When Xian reached the Chanyu's court he set forth Wang Mang's might and virtue; Wang Mang also sent the Chanyu many gold treasures and urged changing his titles—calling the Xiongnu "Gongnu" and the Chanyu "Shanyu"—granted seals and ribbons, enfeoffed Gudu Hou Dang as Duke Hou'an, and Dang's son the younger lord She as Marquis Hou'an. The Chanyu, greedy for Wang Mang's gold and coin, bent his ear to it, yet raiding and plunder continued as before.
4
莽意以為制定則天下自平，故銳思於地理，制禮，作樂，講合《六經》之說。 公卿旦入暮出，論議連年不決，不暇省獄訟冤結，民之急務。 縣宰缺者數年守兼，一切貪殘日甚。 中郎將、繡衣執法在郡國者，並乘權勢，傳相舉奏。 又十一公士分佈勸農桑，班時令，按諸章，冠蓋相望，交錯道路，召會吏民，逮捕證左，郡縣賦斂，遞相賕賂，白黑紛然，守闕告訴者多。 莽自見前顓權以得漢政，故務自攬眾事，有司受成苟免。 諸寶物名、帑藏、錢穀官皆宦者領之； 吏民上封事，宦官、左右開發，尚書不得知。 其畏備臣下如此。 又好變改制度，政令煩多，當奉行者，輒質問乃以從事，前後相乘，憒眊不渫。 莽常御燈火至明，猶不能勝。 尚書因是為奸，寢事，上書待報者連年不得去，拘繫郡縣者逢赦而後出，衛卒不交代者至三歲。 穀糴常貴，邊兵二十餘萬人，仰衣食縣官。 五原、代郡尤被其毒，起為盜賊，數千人為輩，轉入旁郡。 莽遣捕盜將軍孔仁將兵與郡縣合擊，歲餘乃定。
Wang Mang believed that once institutions were fixed the realm would of itself be tranquil; therefore he keenly applied thought to territorial divisions, fashioned ritual, composed music, and lectured to harmonize the doctrines of the Six Classics. Dukes and ministers entered at dawn and left at dusk; deliberations went on for years without decision, with no leisure to review prison cases and knotted grievances—the people's urgent affairs. Where magistrates were vacant, for years administrators held posts concurrently; everywhere greed and cruelty grew daily worse. Masters of the Palace Guard and embroidered-cloak law enforcers in the commanderies and kingdoms all rode their power, passing reports and impeaching one another. Again the eleven dukes' scholars were distributed to urge agriculture and sericulture, promulgate seasonal orders, and inspect the various regulations—carriages and canopies in sight of one another, crisscrossing the roads; they summoned officials and people, arrested witnesses, commanderies and counties levied taxes, bribes passed hand to hand, right and wrong tangled, and many waited at the palace gates to lodge complaints. Wang Mang himself saw that formerly he had monopolized power to seize Han government; therefore he strove to gather all affairs to himself, and responsible offices merely received completed work and sought to escape blame. all offices for precious objects, treasury stores, and cash and grain were led by eunuchs; when officials and people submitted sealed memorials, eunuchs and attendants opened them—the Masters of Writing could not know. His fear and guard against subordinates were to this degree. He also loved changing institutions; government orders were numerous and vexing; what ought to be carried out was first questioned before being implemented—layer upon layer, confusion and muddle without relief. Wang Mang often worked by lamp and flame until dawn and still could not master it. The Masters of Writing therefore committed treachery and neglected affairs; those who submitted memorials awaiting reply could not leave for years; those imprisoned in commanderies and counties came out only when an amnesty came; palace guards who did not hand over duty reached three years. Grain and provisions were constantly dear; more than two hundred thousand frontier troops looked to the county offices for food and clothing. Wuyuan and Dai commanderies especially suffered this poison; they rose as bandits, several thousand men forming bands, and shifted into neighboring commanderies. Wang Mang sent Bandit-Capturing General Kong Ren to lead troops and join commanderies and counties in striking them; after more than a year it was settled.
5
邯鄲以北大雨，水出，深者數丈，流殺數千人。
North of Handan heavy rain fell; water burst forth—in deep places several zhang—and the current killed several thousand people.
6
春，二月，乙酉，地震，大雨雪； 關東尤甚，深者一丈，竹柏或枯。 大司空王邑上書，以地震乞骸骨。 莽不許，曰：「夫地有動有震，震者有害，動者不害。 《春秋》記地震，《易‧系》坤動。 動靜辟翕，萬物生焉。」 其好自誣飾，皆此類也。
In spring, in the second month, on yiyou day there was an earthquake and heavy rain with snow; east of the passes it was especially severe—depth in places one zhang; bamboo and cypress in places withered. Grand Minister of Works Wang Yi submitted a memorial, citing the earthquake to request retirement. Wang Mang did not permit it and said, "The earth has movement and quaking; quaking is harmful, movement is not harmful. The Spring and Autumn Annals records earthquakes; the Yi, Xi commentary says Kun moves. Movement and stillness open and close; the ten thousand things are born thereby." His love of self-deception and ornament were all of this sort.
7
先是，莽以製作未定，上自公侯，下至小吏，皆不得俸祿。 夏，五月，莽下書曰：「予遭陽九之厄，百六之會，國用不足，民人騷動，自公卿以下，一月之祿十稯布二匹，或帛一匹。 予每念之，未嘗不戚焉。 今厄會已度，府帑雖未能充，略頗稍給。 其以六月朔庚寅始，賦吏祿皆如制度。」 四輔、公卿、大夫、士下至輿、僚，凡十五等。 僚祿一歲六十六斛，稍以差增。 上至四輔而為萬斛云。 莽又曰：「古者歲豐穰則充其禮，有災害則有所損，與百姓同憂喜也。 其用上計時通計，天下幸無災害者，太官膳羞備其品矣； 即有災害，以什率多少而損膳焉。 自十一公、六司、六卿以下，各分州郡、國邑保其災害，亦以十率多少而損其祿。 郎、從官、中都官吏食祿都內之委者，以太官膳羞備損而為節。 冀上下同心，勸進農業，安元元焉。」 莽之制度煩碎如此，課計不可理，吏終不得祿，各因官職為奸，受取賕賂以自共給焉。
Earlier, because Wang Mang's creations were not fixed, from dukes and marquises down to petty clerks, none received salary. In summer, in the fifth month, Wang Mang issued a document saying, "I have encountered the calamity of Yang Nine and the conjunction of One Hundred Six; state expenditure is insufficient and the people are in turmoil; from dukes and ministers down, one month's salary is ten pecks of grain and two bolts of cloth, or one bolt of silk. Whenever I think on it, I have never failed to grieve. Now the calamity and conjunction have passed; though the treasury cannot yet be filled, it is somewhat supplied in part. Let it begin from the new moon of the sixth month, gengyin day—grant officials' salaries all according to the regulations." The Four Assistants, dukes and ministers, grandees, and scholars down to carriage attendants and aides—fifteen grades in all. Aides' salary was sixty-six hu per year, increasing by slight steps of rank. Up to the Four Assistants it reached ten thousand hu, it is said. Wang Mang also said, "In antiquity when the year was rich and abundant they fulfilled their ritual; when there were disasters they made reductions—sharing worry and joy with the hundred surnames. When using the upward reckoning at the time of the general reckoning, if throughout the realm by good fortune there were no disasters, the Grand Provisioner's meals and delicacies would have their full assortment; if there were disasters, by the rate of one in ten, more or less, they would reduce the meals. From the eleven dukes, six directors, and six ministers down, each divided among provinces, commanderies, kingdoms, and districts to guarantee their disasters, likewise by the rate of ten, more or less, reducing their salaries. Gentlemen of the palace, attendant officials, and capital officials who ate salaries from the capital's stored provisions were to take the Grand Provisioner's full or reduced meals as their measure. He hoped that above and below would be of one heart, urging advance in agriculture, and settling the masses." Wang Mang's institutions were vexing and minute to this degree; the reckoning could not be managed; officials in the end did not receive salary—each according to his office committed treachery, accepting bribes to supply himself.
8
戊辰，長平館西岸崩，壅涇水不流，毀而北行。 群臣上壽，以為《河圖》所謂「以土填水」，匈奴滅亡之祥也。 莽乃遣并州牧宋弘、游擊都尉任萌等將兵擊匈奴，至邊上屯。
On wuchen day the west bank of Changping Lodge collapsed, damming the Jing River so it did not flow, broke through, and ran north. The host of ministers offered longevity congratulations, taking it as what the Hetu calls "using earth to fill water"—an omen of the Xiongnu's destruction and perishing. Wang Mang thereupon sent Bingzhou Governor Song Hong, Mobile Cavalry Commandant Ren Meng, and others to lead troops against the Xiongnu; they reached the frontier and encamped.
9
秋，七月，辛酉，霸城門災。
In autumn, in the seventh month, on xinyou day, Bacheng Gate burned.
10
戊子晦，日有食之。 大赦天下。
On the last day of the month, wuzi, there was a solar eclipse. A general amnesty was proclaimed throughout the realm.
11
平蠻將軍馮茂擊句町，士卒疾疫死者什六七，賦斂民財什取五，益州虛耗而不克； 徵還，下獄死。 冬，更遣寧始將軍廉丹與庸部牧史熊，大發天水、隴西騎士，廣漢、巴、蜀、犍為吏民十萬人、轉輸者合二十萬人擊之。 始至，頗斬首數千； 其後軍糧前後不相及，士卒饑疫。 莽征丹、熊，丹、熊願益調度，必克乃還，復大賦斂。 就都大尹馮英不肯給，上言：「自西南夷反叛以來，積且十年，郡縣距擊不已。 續用馮茂，苟施一切之政，僰道以南，山險高深，茂多驅眾遠居，費以億計，吏士罹毒氣死者什七。 今丹、熊懼於自詭，期會調發諸郡兵穀，復訾民取其什四，空破梁州，功終不遂。 宜罷兵屯田，明設購賞。」 莽怒，免英官； 後頗覺寤，曰：「英亦未可厚非。」 復以英為長沙連率。 粵巂蠻夷任貴亦殺太守枚根，自立為邛谷王。
Pacify-the-Barbarians General Feng Mao attacked Juding; six or seven soldiers in ten died of plague; levies took five parts in ten of the people's wealth; Yizhou was drained empty and he could not overcome them; he was recalled, cast into prison, and died. In winter he again sent Pacify-Beginnings General Lian Dan and Yong Department Governor Shi Xiong, greatly mobilizing cavalrymen of Tianshui and Longxi and officials and people of Guanghan, Ba, Shu, and Jianwei—a hundred thousand men, with transport laborers totaling two hundred thousand—to attack them. At first on arrival they beheaded several thousand; afterward army grain before and behind did not connect; soldiers hungered and suffered plague. Wang Mang summoned Dan and Xiong; Dan and Xiong wished to increase allocations, vowing they would return only when they had overcome the enemy, and again levied heavily. Capital Metropolitan Governor Feng Ying refused to supply them and submitted a memorial: "Since the southwestern barbarians rebelled, it has piled up to nearly ten years; commanderies and counties resist and strike without cease. Continuing with Feng Mao, they hastily applied catch-all policies; south of Baidao the mountains were perilous, steep, and deep—Mao often drove the masses to dwell far away, costs reckoned in the hundreds of millions; of officials and soldiers who suffered miasma, seven in ten died. Now Dan and Xiong, fearing self-exposure, set deadlines to mobilize troops and grain from the commanderies, again assessed the people and took four parts in ten, hollowly breaking Liang province—the achievement in the end would not succeed. It is fitting to halt the troops and garrison fields, clearly setting rewards for capture." Wang Mang was angry and removed Ying from office; later he somewhat awakened and said, "Ying also cannot be greatly blamed." He again made Ying Colonel-Linkage of Changsha. The Yuexi barbarian Ren Gui also killed Administrator Mei Gen and set himself up as King of Qionggu.
12
翟義黨王孫慶捕得，莽使太醫、尚方與巧屠共刳剝之，量度五臧，以竹筵導其脈，知所終始，-{云}-可以治病。
Zhai Yi's partisan Wang Sunqing was captured; Wang Mang had the imperial physician, the imperial workshop, and skilled butchers jointly flay and disembowel him, measure the five viscera, guide his pulses with bamboo mats, know their beginning and end--{the cited text}- could be used to treat illness.
13
是歲，遣大使五威將王駿、西域都護李崇、戊己校尉郭欽出西域。 諸國皆郊迎，送兵穀。 駿欲襲擊之，焉耆詐降而聚兵自備，駿等將莎車、龜茲兵七千餘人分為數部，命郭欽及佐帥何封別將居後。 駿等入焉耆，焉耆伏兵要遮駿，及姑墨、封犁、危須國兵為反間，還共襲駿等，皆殺之。 欽、封後至焉耆，焉耆兵未還，欽襲擊，殺其老弱，從車師還入塞。 莽拜欽為填外將軍，封劋鬍子； 何封為集胡男。 李崇收餘士，還保龜茲。 及莽敗，崇沒，西域遂絕。
That year he sent Grand Envoy Five-Power General Wang Jun, Protector-General of the Western Regions Li Chong, and Colonel of the Garrison of the Wuji Guo Qin out to the Western Regions. All the states met them in the suburbs to welcome them and sent troops and grain. Jun wished to strike them; Yanqi feigned surrender while gathering troops to arm itself; Jun and others led more than seven thousand soldiers of Shache and Kucha, divided into several columns, ordering Guo Qin and assistant commander He Feng as separate generals to remain in the rear. When Jun and others entered Yanqi, Yanqi ambushed troops to intercept Jun; together with the troops of Gumo, Fengli, and Weixu states as a counter-stratagem, they turned back and jointly struck Jun and others—all were killed. Qin and Feng arrived later at Yanqi; Yanqi's troops had not yet returned; Qin struck suddenly, killed their old and weak, and returned through Jushi to enter the passes. Wang Mang invested Qin as General Who Fills Beyond and enfeoffed him as Marquis Who Slays the Barbarians; He Feng as Baron Who Gathers the Barbarians. Li Chong gathered the remaining soldiers and returned to hold Kucha. When Wang Mang was defeated, Chong perished, and the Western Regions were thereby cut off.
14
夏，六月，莽更授諸侯茅土於明堂，親設文石之平，陳菁茅四色之土，告於岱宗、泰社、后土、先祖、先妣以班授之。 莽好空言，慕古法，多封爵人，性實吝嗇，托以地理未定，故且先賦茅土，用慰喜封者。
In summer, in the sixth month, Wang Mang again granted feudatories' thatch and earth in the Bright Hall, personally set the level of patterned stone, displayed azure thatch and earth of four colors, and announced to Mount Dai, the Grand Altar of Earth, Queen Earth, former kings, and former queens to distribute and invest them. Wang Mang loved empty words, admired ancient methods, and enfeoffed many men, yet his nature was truly stingy; he pleaded that territorial divisions were not yet fixed, and therefore for the time being first granted thatch and earth to console those pleased by enfeoffment.
15
秋，八月，莽親之南郊，鑄作威鬥，以五石銅為之，若北斗，長二尺五寸，欲以厭勝眾兵。 既成，令司命負之，莽出在前，入在御旁。
In autumn, in the eighth month, Wang Mang personally went to the southern suburb, cast and made a Might Dipper of five-colored copper, like the Northern Dipper, two chi five cun long, wishing thereby to overcome and subdue the host of troops. When it was finished he ordered the Director of Destiny to bear it—Wang Mang went out with it before him, entered with it beside the carriage.
16
莽置羲和命士，以督五均、六筦。 郡有數人，皆用富賈為之，乘傳求利，交錯天下。 因與郡縣通姦，多張空簿，府藏不實，百姓愈病。 是歲，莽復下詔申明六筦，每一筦為設科條防禁，犯者罪至死。 奸吏猾民並侵，眾庶各不安生，又一切調上公以下諸有奴婢者，率一口出錢三千六百，天下愈愁。 納言馮常以六筦諫，莽大怒，免常官。
Wang Mang established Directors of Harmony and Mandate Scholars to oversee the Five Equilibrations and Six Monopolies. Each commandery had several men, all appointed from wealthy merchants; they rode relay posts seeking profit, crisscrossing the realm. They therefore connived with commanderies and counties, often inflating empty ledgers; treasury stores were not real, and the hundred surnames grew ever more afflicted. That year Wang Mang again issued an edict clarifying the Six Monopolies; for each monopoly he set statutes of prohibition—violators' crime reached death. Treacherous officials and cunning commoners encroached together; the multitude each could not settle their lives; again a catch-all levy on all below the upper dukes who had slaves and bondmaids—per mouth three thousand six hundred cash—the realm grew ever more bitter. Receiver of Words Feng Chang remonstrated regarding the Six Monopolies; Wang Mang was greatly angered and removed Chang from office.
17
法令煩苛，民搖手觸禁，不得耕桑，繇役煩劇，而枯旱、蝗蟲相因，獄訟不決。 吏用苛暴立威，旁緣莽禁，侵刻小民，富者不自保，貧者無以自存，於是並起為盜賊，依阻山澤，吏不能禽而覆蔽之，浸淫日廣。 臨淮瓜田儀等依阻會稽長州； 琅邪呂母聚黨數千人，殺海曲宰，入海中為盜，其眾浸多，至萬數。 荊州饑饉，民眾入野澤，掘鳧茈而食之，更相侵奪。 新市人王匡、王鳳為平理諍訟，遂推為渠帥，眾數百人。 於是諸亡命者南陽馬武、穎川王常、成丹等，皆往從之。 共攻離鄉聚，臧於綠林山中，數月間至七八千人。 又有南郡張霸、江夏羊牧等與王匡俱起，眾皆萬人。 莽遣使者即赦盜賊，還言：「盜賊解輒復合，問其故，皆曰：『愁法禁煩苛，不得舉手，力作所得，不足以給貢稅； 閉門自守，又坐鄰伍鑄錢挾銅，奸吏因以愁民。』 民窮，悉起為盜賊。」 莽大怒，免之。 其或順指言「民驕黠當誅」及言「時運適然，且滅不久」，莽說，輒遷官。
Laws and orders were numerous and harsh; the people, waving their hands, touched prohibitions and could not plow or tend silkworms; corvée labor was vexing and heavy, while drought and locusts followed one upon another, and prison cases were not decided. Officials used harsh violence to establish authority, clinging to Wang Mang's prohibitions to encroach upon and carve the lesser people; the rich could not preserve themselves, the poor had no means to preserve themselves—thereupon they together rose as bandits, relying on mountains and marshes; officials could not capture them and instead covered for them, and the plague spread daily wider. Guatian Yi of Linhuai and others relied on Changzhou in Kuaiji; the mother of the Lü clan of Langye gathered a faction of several thousand men, killed the magistrate of Haiqu, entered the sea to become bandits—her host gradually grew to ten thousand. Jing province suffered famine; the masses entered wilds and marshes, dug arrowhead tubers and ate them, and seized from one another. Wang Kuang and Wang Feng of Xinshi settled disputes and quarrels and were thereupon pushed forward as chieftains—the host numbered several hundred. Thereupon all the fugitives—Ma Wu of Nanyang, Wang Chang of Yingchuan, Cheng Dan, and others—all went to follow them. Together they attacked Lixiang hamlet, hid in the Green Forest mountains, and within several months reached seven or eight thousand. Again there were Zhang Ba of Nan commandery, Yang Mu of Jiangxia, and others who rose together with Wang Kuang—each host ten thousand men. Wang Mang sent envoys at once to amnesty the bandits; on returning they said, "The bandits disband and then reunite; when asked the reason, all said, 'We grieve that laws and prohibitions are vexing and harsh—we cannot lift a hand; what labor produces is not enough to supply tribute and tax; shut the door and keep to ourselves, yet again are implicated by the neighborhood watch for casting cash and carrying copper—treacherous officials thereby grieve the people.' The people are destitute—all rise as bandits." Wang Mang was furious and dismissed him. “Some who read his mood said the people were arrogant and cunning and ought to be executed, or that the times were simply against him and he would soon fall—Wang Mang was pleased and promptly promoted them.”
18
春，正月，朔，北軍南門災。
In spring, on the first day of the first month, fire struck the southern gate of the Northern Army.
19
以大司馬司允費興為荊州牧； 見，問到部方略，興對曰：「荊、揚之民，率依阻山澤，以漁采為業。 間者國張六筦，稅山澤，妨奪民之利，連年久旱，百姓饑窮，故為盜賊。 興到部，欲令明曉告盜賊歸田裡，假貸犁牛、種食，闊其租賦，冀可以解釋安集。」 莽怒，免興官。
Fei Xing, Director of Fidelity under the Grand Marshal, was appointed Governor of Jingzhou; When he was received in audience and asked his plan for taking up the post, Xing replied: "The people of Jing and Yang mostly shelter in mountains and marshes and live by fishing and gathering. Recently the state imposed the six monopolies and taxed mountains and marshes, robbing the people's livelihood; after years of drought the common people were hungry and destitute, and so they turned to banditry. On reaching his post I intend to make clear to the bandits that they should return to their villages, lend them plows, oxen, and seed grain, and reduce their rents and levies, hoping thereby to pacify and settle them." Wang Mang was enraged and dismissed Xing from office.
20
天下吏以不得俸祿，並為奸利，郡尹、縣宰家累千金。 莽乃考始建國二年胡虜猾夏以來諸軍吏及緣邊吏大夫以上為奸利增產致富者，收其家所有財產五分之四以助邊急。 公府士馳傳天下，考覆貪饕，關吏告其將、奴婢告其主，冀以禁奸，而奸愈甚。
Because officials throughout the realm received no salaries, all turned to corrupt profit; commandery heads and county magistrates' families piled up thousands in gold. Wang Mang then investigated all army officers and frontier officials of grandee rank and above who had grown rich by corruption since the northern barbarians troubled the realm in Beginning Establishment year 2, and confiscated four-fifths of their household property to aid the border emergency. Government runners sped post-horses through the realm to investigate greed; gate officers denounced their superiors and slaves denounced their masters—hoping to stop corruption, yet it only grew worse.
21
莽孫功崇公宗坐自畫容貌，被服天子衣冠，刻三印，發覺，自殺。 宗姊妨為衛將軍王興夫人，坐祝詛姑，殺婢以絕口，與興皆自殺。
Wang Mang's grandson, Duke of Merit and Veneration Zong, was discovered to have painted his own portrait, worn the Son of Heaven's robes and cap, and carved three seals; he killed himself. Zong's elder sister Fang was wife of Guard General Wang Xing; charged with cursing her mother-in-law and killing a maid to silence her, she and Xing both killed themselves.
22
是歲，揚雄卒。 初，成帝之世，雄為郎，給事黃門，與莽及劉秀並列； 哀帝之初，又與董賢同官。 莽、賢為三公，權傾人主，所薦莫不拔擢，而雄三世不徙官。 及莽篡位，雄以耆老久次，轉為大夫。 恬於勢利，好古樂道，欲以文章成名於後世，乃作《大玄》以綜天、地、人之道； 又見諸子各以其智舛馳，大抵詆訾聖人，即為怪迂、析辯詭辭以撓世事，雖小辯，終破大道而惑眾，使溺於所聞而不自知其非也，故人時有問雄者，常用法應之，號曰《法言》。 用心於內，不求於外，於時人皆忽之； 唯劉秀及范逡敬焉，而桓譚以為絕倫，巨鹿侯芭師事焉。 大司空王邑、納言嚴尤聞雄死，謂桓譚曰：「子常稱揚雄書，豈能傳於後世乎？」 譚曰：「必傳，顧君與譚不及見也。 凡人賤近而貴遠，親見揚子雲祿位容貌不能動人，故輕其書。 昔老聃著虛無之言兩篇，薄仁義，非禮學，然後好之者尚以為過於《五經》，自漢文、景之君及司馬遷皆有是言。 今揚子之書文義至深，而論不詭於聖人，則必度越諸子矣！」
That year Yang Xiong died. Earlier, in Emperor Cheng's reign, Xiong served as a gentleman at the Yellow Gate, alongside Wang Mang and Liu Xin; at the beginning of Emperor Ai's reign he again held office together with Dong Xian. Wang Mang and Dong Xian became the Three Dukes and their power overwhelmed the throne; everyone they recommended was promoted, yet Xiong was not moved in office through three reigns. When Wang Mang usurped the throne, Xiong by seniority and long service was made a grandee. Indifferent to power and profit, devoted to antiquity and the Way, and wishing to win lasting fame through literature, he composed the Supreme Mystery to synthesize the ways of Heaven, Earth, and Man; He also saw the various masters each racing off with his own cleverness, mostly slandering the sages and producing eccentric sophistry to thwart public affairs—small disputations that in the end shattered the great Way and misled the people, drowning them in what they had heard without knowing their error; when people questioned him, he answered by method and called the work Exemplary Words. He turned his mind inward and sought nothing from the world; people of the time all neglected him; only Liu Xin and Fan Xun honored him; Huan Tan considered him without peer; and Marquis Ba of Julu became his student. Grand Minister of Works Wang Yi and Director of Speech Yan You, hearing that Xiong had died, said to Huan Tan: "You often praise Yang Xiong's writings—can they be handed down to later ages?" Tan said: "They certainly will be handed down—only that you and I will not live to see it. Ordinary people despise what is near and honor what is distant; having seen Yang Yun's modest salary, rank, and appearance fail to impress them, they slight his books. Formerly Laozi wrote two chapters of empty-nonbeing discourse, slighting benevolence and righteousness and rejecting ritual learning—yet admirers still held them superior to the Five Classics; from Emperors Wen and Jing of Han down to Sima Qian, many have said so. Now Master Yang's books are profound in meaning and in doctrine not perverse against the sages—they will certainly surpass the various masters!"
23
琅邪樊崇起兵於莒，眾百餘人，轉入太山。 群盜以崇勇猛，皆附之，一歲間至萬餘人。 崇同郡人逄安、東海人徐宣、謝祿、楊音各起兵，合數萬人，復引從崇。 共還攻莒，不能下，轉掠青、徐間。 又有東海刁子都，亦起兵鈔擊徐、兗。 莽遣使者發郡國兵擊之，不能克。
Fan Chong of Langye raised troops at Ju with a band of a little over a hundred men, then moved into Mount Tai. Bandits everywhere, seeing Chong's fierceness and courage, all joined him; within a year his force reached more than ten thousand. Pang An of Chong's commandery, and Xu Xuan, Xie Lu, and Yang Yin of Donghai each raised troops; together they mustered tens of thousands and again brought their followers to Chong. Together they returned to attack Ju but could not take it, and turned to plunder the Qing and Xu region. Diao Zidu of Donghai also raised troops to raid Xu and Yan. Wang Mang sent envoys to mobilize commandery and state troops against them but could not defeat them.
24
烏累單于死，弟左賢王輿立，為呼都而屍道皋若鞮單于。 輿既立，貪利賞賜，遣大且渠奢與伊墨居次雲女弟之子醯櫝王，俱奉獻至長安。 莽遣和親侯歙與奢等俱至制虜塞下，與雲及須卜當會； 因以兵迫脅雲、當，將至長安。 雲、當小男從塞下得脫，歸匈奴。 當至長安，莽拜為須卜單于，欲出大兵以輔立之，兵調度亦不合。 而匈奴愈怒，並入北邊為寇。
Chanyu Wulei died; his younger brother the Left Wise King Yu succeeded as Chanyu Huduershidao Gaoroudi. Once Yu had succeeded, greedy for rewards and gifts, he sent the Great Commander She and Xiyu King, a grandson of Yimojuci Yun, together to present tribute at Chang'an. Wang Mang sent Marquis of Peace and Kinship She together with She and the others to below the Restrain-Barbarians pass to meet Yun and Xubu Dang; and there used troops to coerce Yun and Dang, intending to bring them to Chang'an. Yun and Dang's young son escaped below the pass and returned to the Xiongnu. Dang reached Chang'an; Wang Mang invested him as Chanyu Xubu and wished to send a great army to install him, but troop mobilization also failed to come together. Meanwhile the Xiongnu grew angrier and together raided the northern border.
25
春，莽見盜賊多，乃令太史推三萬六千歲曆紀，六歲一改元，布天下。 下書自言己當如黃帝仙升天，欲以誑耀百姓，銷解盜賊。 眾皆笑之。
In spring, seeing bandits growing numerous, Wang Mang ordered the Grand Astrologer to calculate a calendar of thirty-six thousand years with a new era name every six years, and promulgated it through the realm. He issued a document saying he would ascend as an immortal like the Yellow Emperor, hoping thereby to dazzle the people and dissolve the bandits. Everyone laughed at him.
26
初獻《新樂》於明堂、太廟。
The New Music was presented for the first time at the Bright Hall and Grand Temple.
27
更始將軍廉丹擊益州，不能克。 益州夷棟蠶、若豆等起兵殺郡守，越巂夷人大牟亦叛，殺略吏人。 莽召丹還，更遣大司馬護軍郭興、庸部牧李曄擊蠻夷若豆等、太傅羲叔士孫喜清潔江湖之盜賊。 而匈奴寇邊甚，莽乃大募天下丁男及死罪囚、吏民奴，名曰豬突、豨勇，以為銳卒。 一切稅天下吏民，訾三十取一，縑帛皆輸長安。 令公卿以下至郡縣黃綬皆保養軍馬，多少各以秩為差，吏盡復以與民。 又博募有奇技術可以攻匈奴者，將待以不次之位，言便宜者以萬數。 或言能度水不用舟楫，連馬接騎，濟百萬師。 或言不持斗糧，服食藥物，三軍不饑。 或言能飛，一日千里，可窺匈奴； 莽輒試之，取大鳥翮為兩翼，頭與身皆著毛，通引環紐，飛數百步墮。 莽知其不可用，苟欲獲其名，皆拜為理軍，賜以車馬，待發。 初，莽之欲誘迎須卜當也，大司馬嚴尤諫曰：「當在匈奴右部，兵不侵邊，單于動靜輒語中國，此方面之大助也。 於今迎當置長安槁街，一胡人耳，不如在匈奴有益。」 莽不聽。 既得當，欲遣尤與廉丹擊匈奴，皆賜姓征氏，號二征將軍，令誅單于輿而立當代之。 出車城西橫廄，未發。 尤素有智略，非莽攻伐四夷，數諫不從，及當出，廷議，尤固言：「匈奴可且以為後，先憂山東盜賊。」 莽大怒，策免尤。
General of Renewal Lian Dan attacked Yizhou but could not overcome it. The Yi Dongcan, Ruodou, and others of Yizhou raised troops and killed the commandery administrator; the Yi chieftain Damou of Yuexi also rebelled, killing and plundering officials and people. Wang Mang recalled Dan and instead sent Grand Marshal Protector of the Army Guo Xing and Governor of Yong Li Ye against the barbarians Ruodou and others, and Grand Tutor Xishu Scholar Sun Xi to clear bandits from the rivers and lakes. Meanwhile the Xiongnu raided the border severely; Wang Mang then recruited adult males throughout the realm, death-sentence convicts, and officials', commoners', and slaves—called Hog Rush and Boar Boldness—as crack troops. He levied a universal tax on officials and commoners, one part in thirty of assessed wealth, and all silk and cloth were sent to Chang'an. He ordered everyone from the upper dukes down to commandery and county holders of the yellow seal-cord to maintain army horses in amounts fixed by rank, and officials again passed the burden to the people. He also broadly recruited men with strange skills who could attack the Xiongnu, promising extraordinary rank; those offering expedients numbered in the tens of thousands. Some said they could cross water without boats or oars, linking horses and riders to ferry a million troops. Some said that without carrying a peck of grain, by taking drugs the three armies would not hunger. Some said they could fly a thousand li in a day and spy on the Xiongnu; Wang Mang promptly tested them: great birds' pinions were made into two wings, head and body were covered with feathers, and ring clasps were drawn through—they flew several hundred paces and fell. Wang Mang knew they were useless but wished merely to win their names; all were appointed army regulators, given chariots and horses, and held awaiting dispatch. Earlier, when Wang Mang wished to entice and welcome Xubu Dang, Grand Marshal Yan You remonstrated: "Dang is in the Xiongnu's right wing; his troops do not invade the border, and whenever the chanyu moves he reports it to China—this is a great aid on that frontier. To welcome Dang now and place him on Chang'an's withered street is only one barbarian—he is more useful left among the Xiongnu." Wang Mang did not listen. Having obtained Dang, he wished to send You with Lian Dan against the Xiongnu; both were granted the surname Zheng and titled the Two Zheng Generals, ordered to kill Chanyu Yu and install Dang in his place. They went out to the transverse stables west of the city gate but did not depart. You had long possessed strategy and opposed Wang Mang's campaigns against the four barbarians; he remonstrated several times without success, and when they were to set out, at court deliberation he firmly said: "The Xiongnu may be left for later; first worry over the bandits east of the mountains." Wang Mang was furious and dismissed You by written order.
28
大司空議曹史代郡范升奏記王邑曰：「升聞子以人不間於其父母為孝，臣以下不非其君上為忠。 今眾人咸稱朝聖，皆曰公明。 蓋明者無不見，聖者無不聞。 今天下之事，昭昭於日月，震震於雷霆，而朝雲不見，公雲不聞，則元元焉所呼天！ 公以為是而不言，則過小矣； 知而從令，則過大矣。 二者於公無可以免，宜乎天下歸怨於公矣。 朝以遠者不服為至念，升以近者不悅為重憂。 今動與時戾，事與道反，馳騖覆車之轍，踵循敗事之後，後出益可怪，晚發愈可懼耳。 方春歲首而動發遠役，藜藿不充，田荒不耕，穀價騰躍，斛至數千，吏民陷於湯火之中，非國家之民也。 如此，則胡、貊守闕，青、徐之寇在於帷帳矣。 升有一言，可以解天下倒縣，免元元之急； 不可書傳，願蒙引見，極陳所懷。」 邑不聽。
Review Clerk Fan Sheng of Dai commandery under the Grand Minister of Works submitted a note to Wang Yi saying: "Sheng has heard that a son is filial when he does not come between his parents, and a minister loyal when he does not speak ill of his ruler below. Now everyone calls the court sage and says my lord is perspicuous. The perspicuous see everything; the sage hears everything. Yet affairs under heaven today are bright as sun and moon and thunderous as thunder—while the court does not see and my lord does not hear; to whom then can the common people cry to Heaven! If my lord holds this right yet does not speak, the fault is small; if knowing yet following orders, the fault is great. Between these two my lord cannot escape either; it is fitting that all under heaven should turn resentment upon my lord. The court takes distant peoples' refusal to submit as its utmost concern; Sheng takes nearby people's discontent as his heavy worry. Now movement goes against the times and affairs run counter to the Way, galloping in overturned carts' tracks and treading failed undertakings' wake—the later the setting out, the stranger; the later the dispatch, the more fearful. Just at spring's year-start to dispatch distant campaigns—wild greens uneaten, fields waste and uncultivated, grain prices soaring to several thousand cash a hu, officials and people trapped in boiling water and fire—they are no longer the state's people. If so, the northern barbarians will guard the gate-towers while the raiders of Qing and Xu are already within the curtain. Sheng has one word that can release the realm hanging upside down and relieve the common people's urgency; it cannot be written and transmitted; he asks to be granted an audience to state fully what he harbors." Yi did not listen.
29
翼平連率田況奏郡縣訾民不實，莽復三十取一。 以況忠言憂國，進爵為伯，賜錢二百萬，眾庶皆詈之。 青、徐民多棄鄉里流亡，老弱死道路，壯者入賊中。
Coordinator of Yiping Tian Kuang memorialized that commanderies and counties had falsely assessed the people's wealth; Wang Mang again levied one part in thirty. Because Kuang's loyal words showed concern for the state, he was advanced to earl and given two million cash; the common people all cursed him. The people of Qing and Xu mostly abandoned their villages and fled; the old and weak died on the roads, the strong joined the bandits.
30
夙夜連率韓博上言：「有奇士，長丈，大十圍，來至臣府，曰欲奮擊胡虜，自謂巨毋霸，出於蓬萊東南五城西北昭如海瀕，軺車不能載，三馬不能勝。 即日以大車四馬，建虎旗，載霸詣闕。 霸臥則枕鼓，以鐵箸食，此皇天所以輔新室也。 願陛下作大甲、高車、賁育之衣，遣大將一人與虎賁百人迎之於道。 京師門戶不容者，開高大之，以示百蠻，鎮安天下。」 博意欲以風莽，莽聞，惡之，留霸在所新豐，更其姓曰巨母氏，謂因文母太后而霸王符也。 徵博，下獄，以非所宜言，棄市。
Coordinator of Suye Han Bo memorialized: "There is a strange man ten feet tall and ten arm-spans around the waist who came to my office saying he wished to strike the northern barbarians with might; he calls himself Mega-No-Overlord, from southeast of Penglai and northwest of Five Cities on the shore of Zhaoru Sea—a light carriage cannot carry him, three horses cannot bear him. That very day with a great cart and four horses and a tiger banner raised, he carried Overlord to the palace. Overlord used a drum as his pillow when he lay down and ate with iron chopsticks—this is how August Heaven aids the New House. I ask Your Majesty to make great armor, a tall carriage, and garments fit for Ben and Yu, and send one great general with a hundred tiger guards to welcome him on the road. If the capital's gates will not contain him, open them high and broad to show the hundred barbarians and pacify the realm." Bo intended to influence Wang Mang; Wang Mang heard, hated it, detained Overlord at Xinfeng, changed his surname to the Mega-Mother clan, saying that through Empress Dowager Wenmu he would obtain the token of kingship. Bo was summoned, imprisoned, and for speaking what was not fitting, executed in the market.
31
關東饑旱連年，刁子都等黨眾浸多，至六七萬。
East of the passes famine and drought continued year after year; Diao Zidu and his party gradually grew to sixty or seventy thousand.
32
春，正月，乙未，赦天下。 改元曰地皇，從三萬六千歲曆號也。
In spring, the first month, on the day yimao, an amnesty was proclaimed for the realm. The era name was changed to Earth Sovereign, following the thirty-six-thousand-year calendar's designation.
33
莽下書曰； 「方出軍行師，敢有趨讙犯法者輒論斬，毋須時！」 於是春、夏斬人都市，百姓震懼，道路以目。
Wang Mang issued a document saying: " As troops are about to march, whoever dares rush about shouting and violate the law shall at once be judged and beheaded—no need to wait for the season!" Thereupon in spring and summer executions filled the capital market; the people were shaken with fear, and on the roads they exchanged glances only with their eyes.
34
莽見四方盜賊多，復欲厭之，又下書曰：「予之皇初祖考黃帝定天下，將兵為上將軍，內設大將，外置大司馬五人，大將軍至士吏凡七十三萬八千九百人，士千三百五十萬人。 予受符命之文，稽前人，將條備焉。」 於是置前、後、左、右、中大司馬之位，賜諸州牧至縣宰皆有大將軍、偏、裨、校尉之號焉。 乘傳使者經歷郡國，日且十輩，倉無見穀以給； 傳車馬不能足，賦取道中車馬，取辦於民。
Seeing bandits numerous in the four directions, Wang Mang again wished to suppress them and issued another document: "My august first ancestor the Yellow Emperor settled the realm, led troops as supreme general, set great generals within and placed five grand marshals without—from great general to clerk-soldier seven hundred thirty-eight thousand nine hundred men in all, and thirteen million five hundred thousand soldiers. I have received the writings of talisman-mandate and examined former men—I shall set them forth and complete them." Thereupon he established the posts of front, rear, left, right, and center grand marshal, and granted governors down to county magistrates titles of great general, lieutenant general, assistant general, and colonel. Post-horse envoys passed through commanderies and states, nearly ten parties a day; granaries had no visible grain to supply them; relay chariots and horses could not suffice, and they levied road chariots and horses from the people.
35
秋，七月，大風毀王路堂。 莽下書曰：「乃壬午食甫時，有烈風雷雨發屋折木之變，予甚恐焉； 伏念一旬，迷乃解矣。 昔符命文立安為新遷王，臨國洛陽，為統義陽王，議者皆曰：『臨國洛陽為統，謂據土中為新室統也，宜為皇太子。』 自此後，臨久病，雖瘳不平。 臨有兄而稱太子，名不正。 惟即位以來，陰陽未和，穀稼鮮耗，蠻夷猾夏，寇賊奸宄，人民徵營，無所錯手足。 深惟厥咎，在名不正焉。 其立安為新遷王，臨為統義陽王。」
In autumn, the seventh month, a great wind destroyed the Hall of the King's Way. Wang Mang issued a document: "At the hour of eating in the fu period on the day renwu there came fierce wind, thunder rain, houses bursting, and trees breaking—I am greatly afraid; If you reflect on it for ten days, the delusion will then clear. Formerly mandate-omen texts established An as King of New Migration and King Who Unifies Yiyang and had Lin rule the state at Luoyang; debaters all said, "Lin ruling the state at Luoyang as Unifier means holding the central earth as the New House's succession—he ought to be crown prince." From this time Lin was chronically ill; though he recovered, he was never well. Lin had an elder brother yet was called crown prince—the title was improper. Since assuming the throne, yin and yang have not harmonized, grain harvests have been poor, barbarians harass the heartland, bandits and villains abound, and the people are harried with nowhere to turn. On deep reflection, the fault lies in the improper title. He ordered that An be established as King of New Migration and Lin as King Who Unifies Yiyang."
36
莽又下書曰：「寶黃廝赤。 其令郎從官皆衣絳。」
Wang Mang again issued a document, saying, "Treasure is yellow and minions are red. Let all attendant officials wear crimson."
37
望氣為數者多言有土功象； 九月，甲申，莽起九廟於長安城南，黃帝廟方四十丈，高十七丈，餘廟半之，制度甚盛。 博徵天下工匠及吏民以義入錢穀助作者，駱驛道路； 窮極百工之巧； 功費數百餘萬，卒徒死者萬數。
Qi-readers and fate-calculators mostly said there was an omen of earth-works; In the ninth month, on jiashen, Wang Mang built nine temples south of Chang'an; the Yellow Emperor's temple was forty zhang square and seventeen zhang high, the rest half that size—the scale was magnificent. He broadly summoned craftsmen from across the realm and officials and commoners who contributed money and grain in the name of righteousness to aid the work, and couriers crowded the roads; exhausting every craft's ingenuity; the project cost several million, and conscript laborers who died numbered in the tens of thousands.
38
是月，大雨，六十餘日。
That month there was heavy rain for more than sixty days.
39
巨鹿男子馬適求等謀舉燕、趙兵以誅莽。 大司空士王丹發覺，以聞。 莽遣三公大夫逮治黨與，連及郡國豪傑數千人，皆誅死。 封丹為輔國侯。
Ma Shiqiu of Julu and others plotted to raise Yan and Zhao troops to kill Wang Mang. Clerk Wang Dan of the Grand Minister of Works discovered the plot and reported it. Wang Mang sent the Three Ducal Ministers and grandees to arrest and try accomplices, implicating several thousand powerful men across the commanderies and kingdoms—all were executed. Wang Dan was enfeoffed as Marquis Who Assists the State.
40
莽以私鑄錢死及非沮寶貨投四裔，犯法者多，不可勝行； 乃更輕其法，私鑄作泉布者與妻子沒入為官奴婢，吏及比伍知而不舉告，與同罪； 非沮寶貨，民罰作一歲，吏免官。
Wang Mang had decreed death for private coining and exile to the four borderlands for opposing the new currency; offenders were too many to punish; he then lightened the law: private coiners and makers of token cloth, with wives and children, were confiscated as government slaves; officials and mutual-responsibility neighbors who knew and failed to report shared the crime; for opposing the treasure goods, commoners were sentenced to one year of labor and officials were dismissed.
41
太傅平晏死，以予虞唐尊為太傅。 尊曰：「國虛民貧，咎在奢泰。」 乃身短衣小褒，乘牝馬、柴車、藉稿，以瓦器飲食，又以歷遺公卿。 出，見男女不異路者，尊自下車，以象刑赭幡污染其衣。 莽聞而說之，下詔申敕公卿：「思與厥齊。」 封尊為平化侯。
Grand Tutor Ping Yan died, and Tang Zun of Yu Yu was appointed Grand Tutor. Zun said, "The state is empty and the people poor—the fault lies in extravagance." Thereupon he personally wore short clothes and a small robe, rode a mare in a firewood cart on straw matting, ate and drank from earthenware vessels, and sent calendars as gifts to the dukes and ministers. When he went out and saw men and women not keeping to separate paths, Zun himself descended from his carriage and stained their clothing with the symbolic-punishment cinnabar banner. Wang Mang heard and was pleased; he issued an edict admonishing the dukes and ministers, "Strive to match him." Zun was enfeoffed as Marquis of Pacification and Transformation.
42
汝南郅惲明天文歷數，以為漢必再受命，上書說莽曰：「上天垂戒，欲悟陛下，令就臣位。 取之以天，還之以天，可謂知命矣！」 莽大怒，繫惲詔獄，逾冬，會赦得出。
Zhi Yun of Runan, skilled in astronomy and calendrics, believed the Han must receive the mandate again and memorialized to persuade Wang Mang, "Heaven sends warning, wishing to awaken Your Majesty to resume the minister's position. Taking it from Heaven, returning it to Heaven—this may be called knowing fate!" Wang Mang was greatly angered and imprisoned Zhi Yun in the imperial prison; after winter passed, he was released in a general amnesty.
43
春，正月，莽妻死，謚曰孝睦皇后。 初，莽妻以莽數殺其子，涕泣失明； 莽令太子臨居中養焉。 莽妻旁侍者原碧，莽幸之，臨亦通焉，恐事洩，謀共殺莽。 臨妻愔，國師公女，能為星，語臨宮中且有白衣會。 臨喜，以為所謀且成； 後貶為統義陽王，出在外第，愈憂恐。 會莽妻病困，臨予書曰：「上於子孫至嚴，前長孫、中孫年俱三十而死。 今臣臨復適三十，誠恐一旦不保中室，則不知死命所在！」 莽候妻疾，見其書，大怒，疑臨有惡意，不令得會喪。 既葬，收原碧等考問，具服奸、謀殺狀。 莽欲秘之，使殺案事使者司命從事，埋獄中，家不知所在。 賜臨藥，臨不肯飲，自刺死。 又詔國師公：「臨本不知星，事從愔起。」 愔亦自殺。
In spring, the first month, Wang Mang's wife died and was given the posthumous title Empress Xiaomu. Earlier Wang Mang's wife, because he repeatedly killed their sons, wept until she went blind; Wang Mang ordered Crown Prince Lin to dwell in the central palace and care for her. Yuan Bi, an attendant beside Wang Mang's wife, was favored by Wang Mang, and Lin also had relations with her; fearing exposure, they plotted together to kill him. Lin's wife Yin, daughter of the Director of the State, practiced star-divination and told Lin there would soon be a gathering in white within the palace. Lin rejoiced, thinking their plot would soon succeed; later demoted to King Who Unifies Yiyang and lodged in an outer residence, he grew ever more anxious and afraid. When Wang Mang's wife was gravely ill, Lin sent a letter saying, "Your Majesty is extremely strict with sons and grandsons; formerly the eldest and middle grandsons both died at exactly thirty. Now your subject Lin has again just reached thirty—I truly fear that if I cannot keep the central palace safe for a day, I will not know where death awaits!" Wang Mang was attending his wife's illness, saw the letter, was greatly angered, suspected Lin of evil intent, and did not allow him to attend the mourning. After the burial, he seized Yuan Bi and the others for interrogation; they fully confessed adultery and the plot to kill him. Wang Mang wished to keep it secret; he had the investigating envoy, an attendant of the Director of Fate, killed and buried in the prison, and the family did not know where he was. He gave Lin poison; Lin refused to drink it and stabbed himself to death. He also issued an edict to the Director of the State, "Lin originally did not understand stars—the affair arose from Yin." Yin also killed herself.
44
是月，新遷王安病死。 初，莽為侯就國時，幸侍者增秩、懷能，生子興、匡，皆留新都國，以其不明故也。 及安死，莽乃以王車遣使者迎興、匡，封興為功修公，匡為功建公。
That month King of New Migration An died of illness. Earlier, when Wang Mang as marquis went to his fief, he favored attendants Zeng Zhi and Huai Neng, who bore sons Xing and Kuang; both were left in Xindu because they were deemed dull. When An died, Wang Mang sent envoys with the royal carriage to welcome Xing and Kuang; Xing was enfeoffed as Duke of Meritorious Cultivation and Kuang as Duke of Meritorious Establishment.
45
卜者王況謂魏成大尹李焉曰：「漢家當復興，李氏為輔。」 因為焉作讖書，合十餘萬言。 事發，莽皆殺之。
The diviner Wang Kuang told Wei Commandery's grand administrator Li Yan, "The House of Han is to be restored, and the Li clan will assist." He thereupon composed prophetic books for Li Yan, totaling more than a hundred thousand words. When the affair was exposed, Wang Mang executed them all.
46
莽遣太師羲仲景尚、更始將軍護軍王黨將兵擊青、徐賊，國師和仲曹放助郭興擊句町，皆不能克。 軍師放縱，百姓重困。
Wang Mang sent Grand Preceptor Jing Shang of Yi Zhong and Gengshi General Wang Dang with troops against the bandits of Qing and Xu, and Director of the State Cao Fang aided Guo Xing against Gouding—all failed to prevail. The army commanders were indulgent and lax, and the common people were again in distress.
47
莽又轉天下穀帛詣西河、五原、朔方、漁陽，每一郡以百萬數，欲以擊匈奴。 須卜當病死，莽以庶女妻其子後安公奢，所以尊寵之甚厚，終為欲出兵立之者。 會莽敗，雲、奢亦死。
Wang Mang again transported grain and cloth from across the realm to Xihe, Wuyuan, Shuofang, and Yuyang, each commandery receiving sums in the millions, intending to attack the Xiongnu. Xubu Dang died of illness; Wang Mang married a lesser daughter to his son Posterior Lord of Peace She, thereby honoring him very richly, ultimately because he wished to raise troops and establish him. When Wang Mang fell, Yun and She also died.
48
秋，隕霜殺菽，關東大饑，蝗。
In autumn, falling frost killed the beans; east of the passes there was great famine and locusts.
49
莽既輕私鑄錢之法，犯者愈眾，及伍人相坐，沒入為官奴婢。 其男子檻車，女子步，以鐵瑣琅當其頸，傳詣長安鐘官以十萬數。 到者易其夫婦。 愁苦死者什六七。
Since Wang Mang had lightened the law on private coining, offenders grew ever more numerous, and mutual-responsibility groups were implicated and confiscated as government slaves. The men were sent in caged carts, the women on foot, iron chains and manacles on their necks, conveyed to Chang'an's Bell Office in numbers reaching a hundred thousand. On arrival their husbands and wives were exchanged. From grief and hardship six or seven in ten died.
50
上谷儲夏自請說瓜田儀降之。 儀未出而死，莽求其屍葬之，為起塚、祠室，謚曰瓜寧殤男。
Chu Xia of Shanggu volunteered to persuade Guo Tian Yi to surrender. Yi died before he could go out; Wang Mang sought his corpse to bury it, raised a mound and shrine for him, and gave the posthumous title Lord Guaning, the Boy Who Died Young.
51
閏月，丙辰，大赦。
In the intercalary month, on bingchen, a general amnesty was proclaimed.
52
郎陽成修獻符命，言繼立民母； 又曰：「黃帝以百二十女致神仙。」 莽於是遣中散大夫、謁者各四十五人，分行天下，博采鄉里所高有淑女者上名。
Gentleman Yangcheng Xiu presented a mandate-omen, saying to continue the establishment one should take the people's mother; it also said, "The Yellow Emperor attained immortality through a hundred twenty daughters." Wang Mang thereupon sent forty-five palace scribes and forty-five ushers each, traveling separately through the realm to gather from villages women of lofty virtue and fair character and submit their names.
53
莽惡漢高廟神靈，遣虎賁武士入高廟，拔劍四面提擊，斧壞戶牖，桃湯、赭鞭鞭灑屋壁，令輕車校尉居其中。
Wang Mang hated the spirit of Emperor Gaozu's temple; he sent tiger-corps warriors into the High Temple to draw swords and strike on all four sides, broke doors and windows with axes, sprinkled peach broth and cinnabar whip on the walls, and ordered the colonel of light chariots to dwell within.
54
是歲，南郡秦豐聚眾且萬人； 平原女子遲昭平亦聚數千人在河阻中。 莽召問群臣禽賊方略，皆曰：「此天囚行屍，命在漏刻。」 故左將軍公孫祿徵來與議，祿曰：「太史令宗宣，典星曆，候氣變，以凶為吉，亂天文，誤朝廷； 太傅平化侯尊，飾虛偽以偷名位，賊夫人之子； 國師嘉信公秀，顛倒《五經》，毀師法，令學士疑惑； 明學男張邯、地理侯孫陽，造井田，使民棄土業； 羲和魯匡，設六筦以窮工商； 說符侯崔發，阿諛取容，令下情不上通。 宜誅此數子以慰天下！」 又言：「匈奴不可攻，當與和親。 臣恐新室憂不在匈奴，而在封域之中也。」 莽怒，使虎賁扶祿出，然頗采其言，左遷魯匡為五原卒正，以百姓怨誹故也。 六筦非匡所獨造，莽厭眾意而出之。
That year Qin Feng of Nan commandery gathered a force of nearly ten thousand; and Chi Zhaoping, a woman of Pingyuan, also gathered several thousand people in the river barrier lands. Wang Mang summoned the ministers to ask their strategy for capturing the bandits; all said, "These are Heaven's prisoners, walking corpses—their fate hangs on the clepsydra's drip." The former Left General Gongsun Lu was summoned to join the deliberation; Lu said, "Grand Astrologer Zong Xuan, who controls stars and calendars and watches qi changes, takes the ominous for auspicious, confuses Heaven's patterns, and misleads the court; Grand Tutor Marquis of Pacification and Transformation Zun adorns falsehood to steal rank—a thief among gentlemen's sons; Director of the State Duke of Assured Faith Xiu inverts the Five Classics, destroys the masters' methods, and leaves scholars in doubt; Illustrious Learning Fellow Zhang Han and Marquis of Geography Sun Yang invented the well-field system and made the people abandon their land occupations; Director of Harmonization Lu Kuang established the six monopolies to ruin merchants and artisans; Marquis Who Explains Omens Cui Fa fawns for favor, so that grievances below do not reach above. These men ought to be executed to comfort the realm!" He also said, "The Xiongnu cannot be attacked—one ought to seek peace by marriage. Your subject fears the New House's worry lies not with the Xiongnu but within the realm itself." Wang Mang was angry and had the tiger-corps escort Lu out, yet he largely adopted his words, demoting Lu Kuang to company commander of Wuyuan because the people murmured against him. The six monopolies were not Kuang's creation alone; Wang Mang, weary of popular sentiment, removed him.
55
初，四方皆以饑寒窮愁起為盜賊，稍稍群聚，常思歲熟得歸鄉里，眾雖萬數，不敢略有城邑，轉掠求食，日闋而已。 諸長吏牧守皆自亂鬥中兵而死，賊非敢欲殺之也，而莽終不諭其故。
Initially people everywhere rose as bandits from hunger, cold, poverty, and distress; they gradually gathered in groups, always thinking that when the harvest came they could return home—though their numbers reached tens of thousands, they dared not seize cities, but turned to plundering for food and dwindled day by day. Various chief officials, governors, and protectors all died in the chaos of fighting among their own troops—the bandits did not dare wish to kill them—but Wang Mang to the end did not understand why.
56
是歲，荊州牧發奔命二萬人討綠林賊。 賊帥王匡等相率迎擊於雲杜，大破牧軍，殺數千人，盡獲輜重。 牧欲北歸，賊馬武等復遮擊之，鉤牧車屏泥，刺殺其驂乘，然終不敢殺牧。 賊遂攻拔竟陵，轉擊雲杜、安陸，多略婦女，還入綠林中，至有五萬餘口，州郡不能制。
That year the governor of Jing dispatched twenty thousand emergency troops against the Green Forest bandits. The bandit chiefs Wang Kuang and others met them at Yundu, routed the governor's army, killed several thousand, and seized all baggage and supplies. The governor wished to return north; Ma Wu and other bandits intercepted him again, hooked the mudguard of his carriage, stabbed and killed his outriders, yet in the end did not dare kill the governor. The bandits then took Jingling, turned to strike Yundu and Anlu, seized many women, and returned to the Green Forest until they numbered more than fifty thousand—the commanderies and province could not control them.
57
又，大司馬士按章豫州，為賊所獲，賊送付縣。 士還，上書具言狀。 莽大怒，下獄，以為誣罔，因下書責七公曰：「夫吏者，理也。 宣德明恩，以牧養民，仁之道也。 抑強督奸，捕誅盜賊，義之節也。 今則不然。 盜發不輒得，至成群黨遮略乘傳宰士。 士得脫者又妄自言：『我責數賊：「何故為是？」 賊曰：「以貧窮故耳。」 賊護出我。』 今俗人議者率多若此。 惟貧困饑寒犯法為非，大者群盜，小者偷穴，不過二科； 今乃結謀連黨以千百數，是逆亂之大者，豈饑寒之謂邪！ 七公其嚴敕卿大夫、卒正、連率、庶尹，謹牧養善民，急捕殄盜賊！ 有不同心並力疾惡黠賊，而妄曰饑寒所為，輒捕繫，請其罪！」 於是群下愈恐，莫敢言賊情者，州郡又不得擅發兵，賊由是遂不制。
Moreover a clerk of the Grand Marshal investigating documents in Yu Province was captured by bandits, who sent him to the county magistrate. The clerk returned and memorialized, fully reporting what had happened. Wang Mang was greatly angered, imprisoned him as a deceiver, and issued a document reproaching the Seven Ducal Ministers, "Officers exist to govern. Spreading virtue and clarifying grace to shepherd and nurture the people is the Way of humaneness. Suppressing the strong and overseeing the crafty, capturing and executing bandits, is the integrity of righteousness. Now it is not so. When bandits arise they are not promptly captured; they form gangs that intercept and plunder relay-carriage officials. Clerks who escaped again falsely claimed, "I reproached the bandits: 'Why do you do this?" The bandits said, "Because of poverty." The bandits protected me and let me go." Now vulgar commentators mostly speak like this. Only poverty and hunger drive men to crime—great bands or petty theft, no more than two sorts; now they plot in factions of thousands—this is outright rebellion, not mere hunger and cold! Let the seven dukes strictly order every provincial chief to protect the good and exterminate bandits at once! Whoever shrinks from hunting bandits yet blames hunger and cold shall be seized and charged!" Officials grew terrified, none dared report bandit conditions, and commanderies could not raise troops on their own—bandits ran unchecked.
58
唯翼平連率田況素果敢，發民年十八以上四萬餘人，授以庫兵，與刻石為約。 樊崇等聞之，不敢入界。 況自劾奏，莽讓況：「未賜虎符而擅發兵，此弄兵也，厥罪乏興。 以況自詭必禽滅賊，故且勿治。」 後況自請出界擊賊，所向皆破。 莽以璽書令況領青、徐二州牧事，況上言：「盜賊始發，其原甚微，部吏、伍人所能禽也。 咎在長吏不為意，縣欺其郡，郡欺朝廷，實百言十，實千言百。 朝廷忽略，不輒督責，遂至延蔓連州，乃遣將帥，多使者，傳相監趣。 郡縣力事上官，應塞詰對，共酒食，具資用，以救斷斬，不暇復憂盜賊、治官事。 將帥又不能躬率吏士，戰則為賊所破，吏氣浸傷，徒費百姓。 前幸蒙赦令，賊欲解散，或反遮擊，恐入山谷，轉相告語。 故郡縣降賊皆更驚駭，恐見詐滅，因饑饉易動，旬日之間更十餘萬人，此盜賊所以多之故也。 今洛陽以東，米石二千，竊見詔書欲遣太師、更始將軍。 二人爪牙重臣，多從人眾，道上空竭，少則無以威示遠方。 宜急選牧、尹以下，明其賞罰，收合離鄉； 小國無城郭者，徙其老弱置大城中，積臧穀食，並力固守。 賊來攻城，則不能下； 所過無食，勢不得群聚。 如此，招之必降，擊之則滅。 今空復多出將帥，郡縣苦之，反甚於賊。 宜盡徵還乘傳諸使者以休息郡縣。 委任臣況以二州盜賊，必平定之。」 莽畏惡況，陰為發代，遣使者賜況璽書。 使者至，見況，因令代監其兵，遣況西詣長安，拜為師尉大夫。 況去，齊地遂敗。
Only Yiping link-rate Tian Kuang was bold by nature; he raised more than forty thousand men over eighteen, armed them from the arsenal, and carved their covenant in stone. Fan Chong and his men heard of it and did not dare cross his border. Kuang impeached himself; Wang Mang reproached him: "You raised troops without tiger tallies—this is playing with arms—a crime that normally merits death. Because you vow to capture and destroy the bandits, we shall for the moment not punish you." Later Kuang asked to campaign beyond his border; wherever he went he broke the enemy. Wang Mang ordered Kuang by sealed edict to oversee Qing and Xu provinces; Kuang memorialized: "When bandits first arise the trouble is slight—district clerks and five-man squads can catch them. The fault lies with chief officials who ignore it—counties deceive commanderies, commanderies deceive the court—a hundred truths become ten, a thousand become a hundred. The court overlooked it and did not promptly supervise; the plague spread across provinces—then generals were sent, many envoys relaying supervision and urging. Commanderies and counties strained to serve superiors, answer interrogations, share wine and food, and supply executions—no time left to worry over bandits or govern affairs. Generals could not lead in person; in battle they were routed, official morale sank, and the people were wasted for nothing. Earlier an amnesty had let bandits wish to disperse, but some were intercepted and struck; fearing traps in the hills, they warned one another. So surrendered counties were terrified anew, fearing treacherous slaughter; famine stirred them, and within ten days more than a hundred thousand joined—this is why bandits multiplied. East of Luoyang grain is two thousand cash per shi; I see the edict wishes to send the Grand Tutor and the General Who Initiates the New. Both are trusted heavy ministers; with many followers the roads are emptied, yet with few there is no awe to show the distant regions. Urgently choose governors and supervisors, clarify rewards and punishments, and gather those scattered from their villages; where small settlements lack walls, move the old and weak into great cities, store grain, and combine strength to hold firm. when bandits come to attack cities they cannot take them; where they pass there is no food, and they cannot mass together. Thus summoned they will surely surrender; struck they will be destroyed. Now to send out more generals in vain will afflict the commanderies worse than the bandits. Recall all relay envoys and let the commanderies rest. Entrust me with the bandits of these two provinces—I will surely pacify them." Wang Mang feared and hated Kuang, secretly arranged a replacement, and sent an envoy with a sealed edict. The envoy arrived, saw Kuang, had another supervise his troops, sent Kuang west to Chang'an, and appointed him Grandee for Master of Guards. When Kuang left, Qi territory promptly collapsed.
59
春，正月，九廟成，納神主。 莽謁見，大駕乘六馬，以五采毛為龍文衣，著角，長三尺。 又造華蓋九重，高八丈一尺，載以四輪車。 挽者皆呼「登仙」，莽出，令在前。 百官竊言：「此似輀車，非仙物也。」
In spring, the first month, the nine temples were completed and the spirit tablets installed. Wang Mang paid homage in the grand chariot drawn by six horses, wearing dragon-pattern robes of five-colored fur and horns three feet long. He also made a nine-tiered flowery canopy eight zhang one chi high, carried on a four-wheeled cart. Those who pulled it all cried "Ascend to immortals"; when Wang Mang went out he had it go before. The officials whispered: "This resembles a funeral hearse, not an immortal's conveyance."
60
二月，樊崇等殺景尚。
In the second month Fan Chong and others killed Jing Shang.
61
關東人相食。
East of the Pass people ate one another.
62
夏，四月，遣太師王匡、更始將軍廉丹東討眾賊。 初，樊崇等眾既浸盛，乃相與為約：「殺人者死，傷人者償創。」 其中最尊號三老，次從事，次卒史。 及聞太師、更始將討之，恐其眾與莽兵亂，乃皆朱其眉以相識別，由是號曰赤眉。 匡、丹合將銳士十餘萬人，所過放縱。 東方為之語曰：「寧逢赤眉，不逢太師！ 太師尚可，更始殺我！」 卒如田況之言。 莽又多遣大夫、謁者分教民煮草木為酪，酪不可食，重為煩費。
In summer, the fourth month, he sent Grand Tutor Wang Kuang and General Who Initiates the New Lian Dan east against the mass bandits. At first, as Fan Chong's host swelled, they made a covenant: "Killers die; wounders pay for wounds." Among them the most honored was styled village elder, next attendant, next clerk. When they heard the Grand Tutor and General Who Initiates the New would campaign against them, fearing their masses would mix with Wang Mang's troops, they all reddened their brows for recognition—from this they were called the Red Eyebrows. Kuang and Dan together led more than a hundred thousand crack troops and ran wild wherever they passed. The east made a saying: "Better meet the Red Eyebrows than the Grand Tutor! The Grand Tutor is still tolerable—the General Who Initiates the New kills me!" In the end it matched Tian Kuang's words exactly. Wang Mang again sent many grandees and petitioners to teach the people to boil plants into a cheeselike paste—it could not be eaten and doubled the vexation and expense.
63
綠林賊遇疾疫，死者且半，乃各分散引去。 王常、成丹西入南郡，號「下江兵」； 王匡、王鳳、馬武及其支黨朱鮪、張卬等北入南陽，號「新市兵」。 皆自稱將軍。 莽遣司命大將軍孫仁部豫州，納言大將軍嚴尤、秩宗大將軍陳茂擊荊州，各從吏士百餘人，乘傳到部募士。 尤謂茂曰：「遣將不與兵符，必先請而後動，是猶紲韓盧而責之獲也。」
The Greenwood bandits met plague; nearly half died, and they each scattered and withdrew. “Wang Chang and Cheng Dan went west into Nan commandery and styled themselves the Lower Yangtze Army;” “Wang Kuang, Wang Feng, Ma Wu, and their factions Zhu Wei, Zhang Ang, and others went north into Nanyang and styled themselves the New Market Army.” All styled themselves generals. Wang Mang sent Fate-Master Grand General Sun Ren to station in Yu Province and Present-Words Grand General Yan You and Rank-and-Rites Grand General Chen Mao to strike Jing Province—each with more than a hundred followers, riding relays to their posts to enlist troops. You said to Mao, "To send a general without military tallies, requiring permission before action, is like tying up a Korean hound and charging it to catch game."
64
蝗從東方來，飛蔽天。
Locusts came from the east, flying until they covered the sky.
65
流民入關者數十萬人，乃置養贍官稟食之，使者監領，與小吏共盜其稟，饑死者什七八。 先是，莽使中黃門王業領長安市買，賤取於民，民甚患之。 業以省費為功，賜爵附城。 莽聞城中饑饉，以問業。 業曰：「皆流民也。」 乃市所賣粱飯、肉羹，持入示莽曰：「居民食咸如此。」 莽信之。
Hundreds of thousands of wanderers entered the passes; he set up relief officials to distribute grain, but envoys and petty clerks stole the rations together—seven or eight in ten starved to death. Earlier Wang Mang had palace eunuch Wang Ye oversee Chang'an market purchases, buying cheap from the people, who greatly resented it. Ye took saving expense as merit and was granted the rank Attached-to-the-Wall. Wang Mang heard of famine in the city and asked Ye. Ye said, "All are wanderers." He then bought grain rice and meat broth from the market, brought them in to show Wang Mang, and said, "Residents eat all like this." Wang Mang believed him.
66
秋，七月，新市賊王匡等進攻隨； 平林人陳牧、廖湛復聚眾千餘人，號「平林兵」，以應之。
In autumn, the seventh month, New Market bandits Wang Kuang and others advanced to attack Sui; “Pinglin men Chen Mu and Liao Zhan again gathered more than a thousand men, styled the Pinglin Army, to respond.”
67
莽詔書讓廉丹曰：「倉廩盡矣，府庫空矣，可以怒矣，可以戰矣！ 將軍受國重任，不捐身於中野，無以報恩塞責！」 丹惶恐，夜，召其掾馮衍，以書示之。 衍因說丹曰：「張良以五世相韓，椎秦始皇博浪之中。 將軍之先，為漢信臣； 新室之興，英俊不附。 今海內潰亂，人懷漢德，甚於詩人思召公也； 人所歌舞，天必從之。 方今為將軍計，莫若屯據大郡，鎮撫吏士，砥厲其節，納雄桀之士，詢忠智之謀，興社稷之利，除萬人之害，則福祿流於無窮，功烈著於不滅。 何與軍覆於中原，身膏於草野，功敗名喪，恥及先祖哉！」 丹不聽。 衍，左將軍奉世曾孫也。
Wang Mang's edict reproached Lian Dan: "Granaries are exhausted and treasuries empty—you may rage, you may fight! General, you bear the state's heavy charge—if you do not give your body on the central plain, you cannot repay favor or discharge your duty!" Dan was terrified; at night he summoned his aide Feng Yan and showed him the document. Yan thereupon persuaded Dan: "Zhang Liang, with five generations as Han chancellors, struck Qin Shi Huang at Bolang— your forebears were Han's trusted ministers; when the New House rose, heroes did not attach. Now the realm collapses in chaos; people cherish Han's virtue more than poets missed Duke Shao; what men sing in chorus Heaven surely follows. For your plan now, nothing better than encamping in a great commandery, pacifying clerks and soldiers, whetting their integrity, taking in heroic talents, seeking loyal and wise counsel, advancing the state's benefit, and removing the people's harm—then blessings flow without end and merit stands unperishing. Why join an army destroyed in the central plain, body greasing the wild grass, merit failed and name ruined, shame reaching your forefathers!" Dan would not listen. Yan was the great-grandson of Left General Feng Shi.
68
冬，無鹽索盧恢等舉兵反城附賊，廉丹、王匡攻拔之，斬首萬餘級。 莽遣中郎將奉璽書勞丹、匡，進爵為公； 封吏士有功者十餘人。 赤眉別校董憲等眾數萬人在梁郡，王匡欲進擊之。 廉丹以為新拔城罷勞，當且休士養威。 匡不聽，引兵獨進，丹隨之。 合戰成昌，兵敗，匡走。 丹使吏持其印、□、節付匡曰：「小兒可走，吾不可！」 遂止，戰死。 校尉汝雲、王隆等二十餘人別鬥，聞之，皆曰：「廉公已死，吾誰為生！」 馳奔賊，皆戰死。 國將哀章自請願平山東，莽遣章馳東與太師匡並力。 又遣大將軍陽浚守敖倉； 司徒王尋將十餘萬屯洛陽，鎮南宮； 大司馬董忠養士習射中軍北壘。 大司空王邑兼三公之職。
In winter Suolu Hui of Wuyan and others raised troops, rebelled cities, and joined the bandits; Lian Dan and Wang Kuang attacked and took them, beheading more than ten thousand. Wang Mang sent a palace gentleman with a sealed edict to comfort Dan and Kuang and advanced their rank to duke; and enfeoffed more than ten meritorious clerks and soldiers. Red Eyebrow branch colonel Dong Xian and others—a host of tens of thousands in Liang commandery—Wang Kuang wished to advance and strike them. Lian Dan thought that having newly taken cities the troops were weary and should rest and nurture their awe. Kuang would not listen, led troops forward alone, and Dan followed. They joined battle at Chengchang; the army was defeated and Kuang fled. Dan ordered a clerk to hand Kuang his seal, [lacuna], and credential and said, "The boy may run—I cannot!" He then halted and died in battle. Colonels Ru Yun, Wang Long, and more than twenty fought separately; hearing it, all said, "Lord Lian is dead—for whom would I live!" They galloped at the bandits and all died fighting. State General Ai Zhang volunteered to pacify Shandong; Wang Mang sent Zhang galloping east to join Grand Tutor Kuang. He also sent Grand General Yang Jun to guard Aocang; Minister of the Masses Wang Xun led more than a hundred thousand to encamp at Luoyang and garrison the Southern Palace; Grand Marshal Dong Zhong trained soldiers in archery at the central army's northern rampart. Grand Minister of Works Wang Yi held all three top offices' duties.
69
初，長沙定王發生舂陵節侯買，買生戴侯熊渠，熊渠生考侯仁。 仁以南方卑濕，徙封南陽之白水鄉，與宗族往家焉。 仁卒，子敞嗣； 值莽篡位，國除。 節侯少子外為鬱林太守，外生巨鹿都尉回，回生南頓令欽。 欽娶湖陽樊重女，生三男：縯，仲，秀，兄弟早孤，養於叔父良。 縯性剛毅，慷慨有大節，自莽篡漢，常憤憤，懷復社稷之慮，不事家人居業，傾身破產，交結天下雄俊。 秀隆准日角，性勤稼穡。 縯常非笑之，比於高祖兄仲。 秀姊元為新野鄧晨妻，秀嘗與晨俱過穰人蔡少公，少公頗學圖讖，言「劉秀當為天子」。 或曰：「是國師公劉秀乎？」 秀戲曰：「何用知非僕邪？」 坐者皆大笑，晨心獨喜。
At first Changsha's Stabilizing King Fa begat Chungling's Marquis of Integrity Mai; Mai begat Marquis Who Bears the Headdress Xiong Qu; Xiong Qu begat Marquis for Examination Ren. Ren, because the south was low and damp, was moved to enfeoffment at Nanyang's Baishui township and went with the clan to settle there. Ren died and his son Chang succeeded; when Wang Mang usurped the throne the state was abolished. The Marquis of Integrity's younger son Wai was governor of Yulin; Wai begat Julu commandery commandant Hui; Hui begat Nandun magistrate Qin. Qin married Huyang Fan Chong's daughter and bore three sons: Yan, Zhong, and Xiu; the brothers were orphaned early and raised by their uncle Liang. Yan was firm and resolute, generous with great integrity; since Wang Mang usurped Han he was constantly indignant, harbored thoughts of restoring the altars and state, neglected family business, poured out his estate, and befriended heroes under Heaven. Xiu had a high nose and sun-corner forehead and was by nature diligent at farming. Yan often derided him, comparing him to the Founder's elder brother Zhong. Xiu's elder sister Yuan was wife of Xinye's Deng Chen; Xiu once passed with Chen by Rang man Cai Shaogong, who had studied prognostic charts and said, "Liu Xiu will become Son of Heaven." Someone said, "Is that State Mentor Duke Liu Xiu?" Liu Xiu jested, "What makes you so sure it is not this humble one?" Those seated all laughed heartily; only Deng Chen was secretly pleased.
70
宛人李守，好星曆、讖記，為莽宗卿師。 嘗謂其子通曰：「劉氏當興，李氏為輔。」 及新市、平林兵起，南陽騷動，通從弟軼謂通曰：「今四方擾亂，漢當復興。 南陽宗室，獨劉伯升兄弟泛愛容眾，可與謀大事。」 通笑曰：「吾意也！」 會秀賣穀於宛，通遣軼往迎秀，與相見，因具言讖文事，與相約結，定謀議。 通欲以立秋材官都試騎士日，劫前隊大夫甄阜及屬正梁丘賜，因以號令大眾，傳軼與秀歸舂陵舉兵以相應。
Li Shou of Wan, fond of astronomy and omen texts, was instructor to Wang Mang's clan princes. He once told his son Tong, "The Liu house shall rise; the Li house shall assist." When the Xinshi and Pinglin forces rose and Nanyang was in turmoil, Tong's cousin Yi said to Tong, "The four quarters are in turmoil—Han ought to be restored. Among Nanyang's imperial clansmen, only Bo Sheng Liu Yan and his brothers are broadly loving and accommodate the masses—they can be consulted on a great affair." Tong laughed and said, "That is my thought too!" It happened that Liu Xiu was selling grain at Wan; Tong sent Yi to welcome him, and when they met he fully explained the omen-text matters, pledged alliance with him, and fixed their plans. Tong intended on the day of Beginning of Autumn when the commandery reviewed its material-officer cavalry to seize Front Column Grandee Zhen Fu and Subordinate Rectifier Liangqiu Ci, thereby to command the masses; he sent Yi and Liu Xiu back to Chunling to raise troops in response.
71
於是縯召諸豪桀計議曰：「王莽暴虐，百姓分崩。 今枯旱連年，兵革並起，此亦天亡之時，復高祖之業，定萬世之秋也！」 眾皆然之。 於是分遣親客於諸縣起兵，縯自發舂陵子弟。 諸家子弟恐懼，皆亡匿，曰； 「伯升殺我！」 及見秀絳衣大冠，皆驚曰：「謹厚者亦復為之！」 乃稍自安。 凡得子弟七八千人，部署賓客，自稱「柱天都部」。 秀時年二十八。 李通未發，事覺，亡走； 父守及家屬坐死者六十四人。 縯使族人嘉招說新市、平林兵，與其帥王鳳、陳牧西擊長聚； 進屠唐子鄉，又殺湖陽尉。 軍中分財物不均，眾恚恨，欲反攻諸劉。 秀斂宗人所得物，悉以與之，眾乃悅。 進拔棘陽，李軼、鄧晨皆將賓客來會。
Thereupon Liu Yan summoned the local heroes to deliberate, saying, "Wang Mang is brutal and tyrannical; the people are splitting apart. Drought has continued for years and arms flare up everywhere—this is Heaven's time to destroy him; restore Gaozu's enterprise and secure the realm for ten thousand generations!" The crowd all assented. Thereupon they separately dispatched kin and retainers to raise troops in the various counties; Liu Yan himself raised the Chunling clansmen. The clansmen of the various families were afraid and all fled and hid, saying, "Bo Sheng will kill me!" When they saw Liu Xiu in crimson robes and great cap, they all marveled, "Even the careful and honest one is doing it too!" Then they gradually calmed themselves. In all they mustered seven or eight thousand clansmen, deployed their retainers, and styled themselves "Pillar of Heaven Capital Division." Liu Xiu was then twenty-eight years old. Li Tong had not yet set out when the affair was discovered; he fled; his father Shou and household dependents—sixty-four were condemned and died. Liu Yan sent his clansman Jia to recruit the Xinshi and Pinglin forces; with their commanders Wang Feng and Chen Mu they attacked west toward Changju; they advanced, slaughtered Tangzi township, and again killed the Huayang commandant. In the army the division of spoils was unequal; the troops resented it and wished to turn and attack the various Lius. Liu Xiu gathered what the clan members had obtained and gave it all to them; the troops then were pleased. They advanced and took Jiyang; Li Yi and Deng Chen both led retainers to join the assembly.
72
嚴尤、陳茂破下江兵。 成丹、王常、張卬等收散卒入蔞谿，略鐘、龍間，眾復振。 引軍與荊州牧戰於上唐，大破之。
Yan You and Chen Mao defeated the Xiajiang forces. Cheng Dan, Wang Chang, Zhang Yang, and others gathered scattered troops, entered Louxi, raided between Zhong and Long, and their forces revived. They led the army against the Regional Governor of Jingzhou at Shangtang and routed him.
73
十一月，有星孛於張。
In the eleventh month a broom star appeared in the Zhang asterism.
74
劉縯欲進攻宛，至小長安聚，與甄阜、梁丘賜戰。 時天密霧，漢軍大敗。 秀單馬走，遇女弟伯姬，與共騎而奔。 前行，復見姊元，趣令上馬，元以手揮曰：「行矣，不能相救，無為兩沒也！」 會追兵至，元及三女皆死，縯弟仲及宗從死者數十人。 縯復收會兵眾，還保棘陽。 阜、賜乘勝留輜重於藍鄉，引精兵十萬南度潢淳，臨沘水，阻兩川間為營，絕後橋，示無還心。 新市、平林見漢兵數敗，阜、賜軍大至，各欲解去，縯甚患之。 會下江兵五千餘人至宜秋，褲縯即與秀及李通俱造其壁曰：「願見下江一賢將，議大事。」 眾推王常。 縯見常，說以合從之利，常大悟曰：「王莽殘虐，百姓思漢。 今劉氏復興，即真主也； 誠思出身為用，輔成大功。」 縯曰：「如事成，豈敢獨饗之哉！」 遂與常深相結而去。 常還，具為餘將成丹、張卬言之。 丹、卬負其眾曰：「大丈夫既起，當各自為主，何故受人制乎！」 常乃徐曉說其將帥曰：「王莽苛酷，積失百姓之心，民之謳吟思漢，非一日也，故使吾屬因此得起。 夫民所怨者，天所去也； 民所思者，天所與也。 舉大事，必當下順民心，上合天意，功乃可成。 若負強恃勇，觸情恣欲，雖得天下，必復失之。 以秦、項之勢，尚至夷覆，況今布衣相聚草澤，以此行之，滅亡之道也。 今南陽諸劉舉宗起兵，觀其來議者，皆有深計大慮，王公之才，與之併合，必成大功，此天所以祐吾屬也！」 下江諸將雖屈強少識，然素敬常，乃皆謝曰：「無王將軍，吾屬幾陷於不義！」 即引兵與漢軍及新市、平林合。 於是諸部齊心同力，銳氣益壯。 縯大饗軍士，設盟約，休卒三日，分為六部。 十二月，晦，潛師夜起，襲取藍鄉，盡獲其輜重。
Liu Yan wished to advance and attack Wan; reaching the muster at Xiaochang'an, he fought Zhen Fu and Liangqiu Ci. The sky was thick with fog; the Han army was routed. Liu Xiu fled alone on horseback, met his younger sister Bo Ji, and together they rode and fled. Going forward he again saw his elder sister Yuan, urged her to mount, and Yuan waved her hand and said, "Go—I cannot be saved; do not let us both perish!" Pursuing troops arrived; Yuan and three daughters all died; Liu Yan's younger brother Zhong and clansmen followers who died numbered several tens. Liu Yan again gathered his forces and returned to hold Jiyang. Fu and Ci, riding their victory, left baggage at Lanxiang, led a hundred thousand crack troops south across Huangchun, came to the Yi River, camped between the two streams, cut the rear bridge, and showed they had no mind to return. The Xinshi and Pinglin, seeing the Han army repeatedly defeated and Fu and Ci's army arrive in force, each wished to disband and leave; Liu Yan was deeply troubled. It happened that more than five thousand Xiajiang troops reached Yiqiu; Liu Yan at once went with Liu Xiu and Li Tong to their rampart and said, "We wish to see one worthy general of the Xiajiang and discuss a great affair." The troops pushed forward Wang Chang. Liu Yan saw Chang and argued the profit of alliance; Chang greatly awakened and said, "Wang Mang is cruel and savage; the people long for Han. Now the Liu house revives—they are the true lord; I truly wish to exert myself in their service and assist in completing a great achievement." Liu Yan said, "If the affair succeeds, how would I dare enjoy it alone!" Thereupon he and Chang formed a deep bond and left. Chang returned and fully explained it to the other generals Cheng Dan and Zhang Yang. Dan and Yang, relying on their troops, said, "A great man having risen ought each to be his own master—why accept another's control!" Chang then slowly explained and persuaded his commanders, saying, "Wang Mang is harsh and cruel and has long lost the people's hearts; the people's songs and sighs longing for Han are not of a single day—therefore it made our sort rise on this account. What the people resent, Heaven casts off; what the people desire, Heaven gives. To raise a great affair one must below accord with the people's hearts and above unite with Heaven's intent—only then can achievement be completed. If one relies on strength and presumes on courage, indulges feeling and desire—even obtaining all under Heaven, one will surely lose it again. With the power of Qin and Xiang Yu they still reached extinction—how much more now plain-clothed men gathering in the marshes; acting by this is the path of destruction. Now the various Lius of Nanyang have raised their clans in arms; observing those who came to deliberate—they all have deep plans and great foresight, the talent of kings and dukes. Joining with them will surely complete a great achievement—this is how Heaven blesses our sort!" The Xiajiang generals, though stubbornly strong and short on insight, yet had always respected Chang; they all then apologized, "Without General Wang, our sort would nearly have fallen into unrighteousness!" Immediately they led troops and united with the Han army and the Xinshi and Pinglin. Thereupon the various divisions united in purpose and their keen spirit grew daily bolder. Liu Yan greatly feasted the soldiers, set an oath alliance, rested the troops three days, and divided them into six divisions. In the twelfth month, on the last day of the month, they secretly arose the army at night, raided and took Lanxiang, and completely obtained their baggage train.