liu xiu would be instrumental in the key victory that sealed wang mang's fate. wang, aware that gengshi emperor was becoming a major threat, sent his cousin wang yi (王邑) and his prime minister wang xun (王尋) with what he considered to be overwhelming force, some 430,000 men, intending to crush the newly constituted han regime. the han forces were at this point in two groups—one led by wang feng (王鳳), wang chang (王常), and liu xiu, which, in response to the arrival of the xin forces, withdrew to the small town of kunyang (昆陽, in modern ye county, henan) and one led by liu yan, which was still besieging wancheng. the rebels in kunyang initially wanted to scatter, but liu xiu opposed it; rather, he advocated that they guard kunyang securely, while he would gather all other available troops in surrounding areas and attack the xin forces from the outside. after initially rejecting liu xiu's idea, the kunyang rebels eventually agreed.