Chapter 427 The Dust Settles (End of Text)

That's a good idea.

Duke Ping would probably be willing to be reunited with his wife and daughter after his death. He could not escape death anyway, and even being thrown into a mass grave after death would be the least of his worries.

Being burned to ashes and reunited with his wife and daughter is the best ending for him.

This is also acceptable to Yan Xingchuan and the people of Northern Yan. After all, the ending of Duke Ping was that he was burned to ashes, right?

"That's what we'll do." Yan Xingchuan's expression eased slightly.

Cui Jing is still smart.

I hope that brat can be born with a brain like his uncle, so that he can make others run around in circles in the future.

Yan Xingchuan wrote a letter to Duke Ping and had someone deliver it into the city and hand it to Duke Ping. On the morning of the next day, the gates of the imperial city were wide open, and Duke Ping had indeed surrendered.

Since he was going to die anyway, he couldn't refuse the opportunity to reunite with his wife and daughter after death, even if he was burned to ashes.

As for life and death, he no longer cared when his wife and beloved daughter passed away. The only thing he wanted was to see his grandson, but he didn't come back and didn't want to meet or recognize him. He had implicated him and could only give up with regret.

The gates of the imperial city were thrown wide open, and the soldiers threw down their weapons and surrendered. From then on, the Great Zhou Dynasty, which had been in chaos for twenty years, became a thing of the past.

The mountains and rivers change, and the sun and moon change again.

Duke Ping and his son, as well as the old emperor who was imprisoned by Jiang Shao, all became prisoners.

All the noble families of the old dynasty were invited to return to their homes and then investigated one by one.

Seeing that Northern Yan had captured the imperial city, and looking at Northern Yan's powerful generals and soldiers, he felt a sense of sympathy for a moment, and finally, in order to protect himself, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and surrender.

Yan Xingchuan killed all the members of the Ji royal family and the Jiang clan to comfort the souls of his family members in heaven. After settling accounts with the officials and aristocratic families of the old dynasty, he ordered General Cheng and Shangguan Tong to bring the former kings to the imperial city.

When everyone gathered, he established the new dynasty of Yan, enfeoffed meritorious officials, and appointed officials.

Leading the way are five dukes.

General Shen, who made great contributions to the cause of Northern Yan, was made Duke of Ming.

Shangguan Tong, who worked hard for the cause of Northern Yan and offered advice, was the Duke of Zhenguo.

The great general Qin who guarded the border and protected the mountains and rivers for Northern Yan was named Duke of Weiguo.

General Cheng, who guarded the city of Beiyan for Beiyan and went south to pacify the kings in the southwest, was named Duke Dingguo.

He made suggestions for Northern Yan and helped pacify Cui Jing, and was made Duke of Renguo.

During this period, Shangguan Tong made the greatest contribution and deserved the title. Although Shen Sui made mistakes, he was the most fierce fighter and made the greatest contribution to Northern Yan's fight for the world, and he deserved the title.

General Qin guarded the country's gateway and resisted foreign enemies, allowing Northern Yan to have no worries. His contribution was enormous and he should not be left behind.

Compared with Shen Sui and General Qin, General Cheng was slightly inferior, but he had previously guarded Northern Yan and later, together with Shangguan Tong, pacified the kings of the southwest. His contributions were also very great, so he could be considered worthy.

Finally, there is Cui Jing. Cui offered Pingzhou, which gave Northern Yan a foothold to move south. He also helped Northern Yan pacify Yuanzhou, Xiangzhou, and Yunzhou, seize Chongshan Pass, capture Laizhou by strategy, pacify Xiling, and later attack Zhou all the way to the imperial city. He completely replaced Shangguan Tong's position, made suggestions, and coordinated the rear, and his contribution was indispensable.

He got the title of Duke through his own ability.

In this life, Cui Jingyuan contributed more and made more contributions than in his previous life, so his achievements were naturally higher. It was a pity for Cui Yi, who only made contributions during the later attack on Zhou Dynasty and did not have the opportunity to be granted a title of nobility like in his previous life. He was only granted the title of a fourth-rank general.

Chen Mo is still the Marquis of Pingyang, Wu Tu is too good at fighting, and is the Earl of Loyalty and Bravery...

Next, he appointed officials and divided them into twelve guards and sixteen armies.

The Twelve Guards first included the Emperor's Yanyun Guard, then the Jinwu Guard, the Yulin Guard, the Xiaoqi Guard, the Weiwu Guard, and the Huben Guard. Each guard was divided into left and right, for a total of twelve guards.

After the fiefs were distributed according to merit, all the civil and military officials were delighted with what they had received. However, it was strange that Yan Xingchuan was still the King of Northern Yan and had proclaimed himself the Regent, but he had yet to ascend the throne.

All the officials submitted memorials again and again, and the Imperial Observatory had already selected several auspicious dates. When asked, they would always say, "I'm thinking about it." Some officials even took out their dragon robes, waiting to say, "The weather is getting cold, please put on more clothes, my lord."

Perhaps because he was tired of it, one day, their master suddenly handed over the affairs of the court to Shangguan Tong, Cui Jing and others, and then left the imperial city with the Yanyun Guard.

It was three months later when I came back.

The civil and military officials were still immersed in the joy of their lord's return and were preparing to make another report at the morning court. After all, the country could not survive for a day, and if this continued, people would be in panic, which would be really bad.

They never thought that their master would come to the morning court with a child in his arms.

The child was only four years old, small and fair-skinned, a bit like Cui Jing and a bit like Yan Xingchuan. At first glance, all the civil and military officials looked back and forth between the two men's faces, as if they had seen something terrifying.

The little cub hugged his father's neck, his eyes scanning the surroundings, surprised and curious.

"Dad, what are we doing here? There are so many people here!"

Yan Xingchuan put the child down, pointed at the dragon throne above, and asked him, "What do you think of this chair?"

The little cub looked at it carefully, then nodded: "It looks good."

Yan Xingchuan's face was gentle, and he asked him again: "Do you like it?"

The little cub nodded vigorously: "It looks good."

Yan Xingchuan said again: "How about Daddy competing with you?"

"What competition?"

"If you can walk up and sit on it, you win."

All civil and military officials: "......"

The little boy was very excited after hearing this and nodded repeatedly. After the father and son had a friendly "discussion", the little boy ran towards the steps of the dragon throne.

Before all the civil and military officials had time to find out when their master had a son, they almost fainted from fright when they saw this scene.

"My Lord, no, you can't—"

Before anyone could say anything, Yan Xingchuan glanced over and was frightened again. He had to swallow the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

The little kid who is over four years old is already nimble and has begun his enlightenment.

However, no matter how smart he was and how well he studied, he had never seen a dragon throne before. He didn't know that he couldn't sit on it, so he just thought it was a joke between him and his father.

After he sat down, he was about to tell his father that he had won, but when he turned around, he saw that the whole room was silent, and everyone was staring at him with wide eyes.

At this moment, his father suddenly coughed and said, "Hurry up and salute."

Everyone knelt on the ground.

The little cub froze for a moment. Somehow, he had a very bad premonition in his heart, thinking that he was finished.

However, his premonition was indeed correct, because from today on, he would live a hard life, getting up earlier than the chickens, sleeping later than the dogs, and working harder than the cows.

At this moment, his father seemed to be laughing happily, coaxing him: "A'Du, I want to say something, everyone please stand up."

Yanyundu: “…”

Although I'm not a good kid, you're really a dog, you know that!

In the years that followed, whenever Yan Yundu thought of this day, he would have the urge to kill his father...