in autumn 24, liu xiu, still ostensibly an official under gengshi emperor, successfully pacified some of the larger agrarian rebel groups and merged them into his own forces. he also started replacing officials loyal to gengshi emperor with those loyal to himself. he consolidated his power north of the yellow river and, as he predicted that the powerful chimei would destroy gengshi emperor's government for him, he waited by for that to happen, not intervening on either side as that conflict was developing. he put kou xun in charge of the henei (modern northern henan, north of the yellow river) region and made it the base for food and manpower supplies, while commissioning deng with an expedition force to the modern shaanxi region, waiting for the confrontation between gengshi emperor and chimei. in early 25, deng, on his way west, seized the modern shanxi region and put it under liu xiu's control, before crossing the yellow river into modern shaanxi.