[2] He was also known by his courtesy name Shenggong and as the King or Prince of Huaiyang, a posthumous title bestowed upon him by Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han.

Gengshi was a descendant of Emperor Jing of early Western Han dynasty, via the lineage of Liu Mai, Prince Ding of Changsha.

His third cousin, Liu Yan, was a prominent general in the rebellions against the reign of Wang Mang in the short-lived Xin dynasty.

They found Liu Xuan, then another local rebel leader who was claiming the title of General Gengshi (更始將軍) at the time and was considered a weak personality, and requested that he be made emperor.

[3] The first major incident involving infighting in the Gengshi Emperor's regime happened shortly after the Battle of Kunyang which would lead to the demise of Wang Mang and the Xin dynasty.

Wang's body was cut into pieces, and his head was delivered to the provisional Han capital Wancheng, to be hung on the city wall.

For a brief period, nearly the entire empire showed at least nominal submission, even including the powerful Chimei general Fan Chong (樊崇), who moved to Luoyang following promises of titles and honours.

In response, the Gengshi Emperor sent out his generals to try to calm the local governors and populace; these included Liu Xiu, who was sent to pacify the region north of the Yellow River.

After some difficulties, however, Liu Xiu was able to unify the northern commanderies still loyal to the Gengshi Emperor and besiege Handan in 24 AD, killing Wang Lang.

So to give them a purpose for remaining together, their leaders decided to announce that they were attacking the imperial capital Chang'an and, divided the troops into two armies and then headed west.

Liu Xiu, while he had a fairly strong force at his disposal, chose to stand by and wait for the Chimei to destroy the Gengshi Emperor.

Liu Xiu used the Henei region (modern northern Henan, north of the Yellow River) as his base of operations because of its strategic location.

Two co-conspirators, Fang Wang (方望), the former strategist for the local warlord Wei Xiao (隗囂), and Gong Lin (弓林) led a force of several thousand men, which kidnapped Liu Ying and then occupied Linjing (臨涇, in modern Qingyang, Gansu).

Feeling trapped, a number of the emperor's generals conspired to kidnap him and flee back to their home region of Nanyang (in modern Henan).

They found three descendants of Liu Zhang, Prince of Chengyang, who had been very popular with the people of his principality (from where many Chimei soldiers came) and who was worshipped as a god after his death.

They were eventually made prisoners by one of the Gengshi Emperor's generals, Yan Ben (嚴本), who, planned to hold them as bargaining chips.

[3] In the winter of 25 AD, after being held by Yan Ben for a few months, the Gengshi Emperor realised that his situation was futile and requested Liu Gong to negotiate surrender terms.

It was only Liu Gong's final intercession (in which he threatened to commit suicide at the execution site) that allowed the Gengshi Emperor to be spared and he was created the Prince of Changsha.

Zhang Ang and his allies, afraid of what might happen if the emperor returned to power, persuaded Xie Lu to strangle him.