Soon after its inauguration, Wang's regime was destabilized by several natural disasters, including the Yellow River changing course, which resulted in massive floods. Plagues of locusts further worsened the situation, and widespread famines broke out. The Xin dynasty's economic policies failed to solve the ensuing crisis, and Wang Mang quickly lost the support which he had had among the peasantry as the latter struggled for survival. The desperate peasants in the eastern parts of the empire soon turned to banditry. The bandit groups grew in strength, and numbered tens of thousands of members by the 20s. The most powerful factions along the Yellow River reorganized into rebel armies, known as the Red Eyebrows. The insurgents allied with discontented nobles and descendants of the former imperial clan, resulting in large-scale civil war by 19 AD. Wang Mang was forced to shift troops from other areas to deal with the Red Eyebrows, whereupon the Protectorate of the Western Regions was overrun by the Xiongnu. Smaller rebellions broke out in other parts of China. The "Troops from the Lower Yangtze" operated along this river, while two insurgent bands in Hubei were recruited by Han loyalists. Led by Liu Bosheng, they became known as the Lulin.