The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 467: Master Murong Wants to Give Up His Kingdom to the Wang Family

The civil officials were of high integrity. When the Yan army entered the city, one civil official after another, along with the scholars, stepped forward to block their way forward.

He introduced himself and shouted loudly. Murong Fu froze him with one finger from ten meters away, and then waved his hand, and his soldiers arrested the man. Then his followers searched the documents in a carriage and loudly announced the illegal deeds committed by this man to everyone. He was a complete hypocrite, a parasite or thug of a wealthy family.

If there really is a fool with a clean background, the Great Yan Kingdom will not be able to produce evidence of his guilt, so they will just say: He is an unknown person, the Murong family has never paid attention to him, and he will be put in prison and dealt with after all the evidence is collected.

Are you crying out for justice?

Haha, the army is entering the city, and you are violating military law by blocking their way. Killing them on the spot is not excessive, not to mention the retrial in the future. The evidence of those people's guilt is solid, and they were beaten to the point of crying for their parents, but they were not executed on the spot. They will just be punished more severely in the future.

There were attackers hiding in the crowd, but Xiao Feng was extremely skilled in martial arts, and Murong Fu was the best in the world. Even if three or five top masters were dispatched, they might not be able to succeed. What's more, they were surrounded by so many guards, and the high ground on both sides had been secretly controlled by the Beggar Gang, so a large-scale surprise attack was impossible.

Before, they had no way to deal with the army outside the city, let alone the army entering the city and losing the protection of the city walls. The courage of the Song Dynasty officials plummeted, and Cao Yi, Zhuge Yi and others, accompanied by the four major ministers, went to the imperial guards camp to be incorporated into the Song army. Only Wang Erlang was left with Murong Fu.

This is actually also a kind of attitude. Compared with Murong Fu, the generals of the Song Dynasty are more accepting of Cao Yi, their own man.

Inside the palace, the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty presented the imperial seal with both hands. Murong Fu gave a slight gesture, and Wang Erlang stepped forward and took the imperial seal from the reluctant hands of the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty.

"Mr. Murong, do you want to give the throne to the Wang family?" The emperor seemed not very convinced. Seeing Murong Fu despising him so much, he couldn't help but retort him. Suddenly, the surroundings were silent. Many civil and military officials of the Song Dynasty were silent, fearing that Murong Fu would get angry and do something to them, and even more worried that the emperor of the Song Dynasty would be humiliated.

The civil officials still dreamed of being reused and sharing the throne with the emperor. It was just a change of emperors, and they could still hold high positions. They were experts at deceiving the emperor. However, the founding emperors were often violent, so it was better not to contradict them if possible.

"If it's just the Great Song Dynasty, what's wrong with giving it to my uncle?" Murong Fu squinted his eyes and said, "The Great Yan Kingdom aspires to conquer the world. This world is not the Central Plains, nor the Great Song Dynasty. What you frogs in the well see is of no importance. Even if it's given to my uncle, it's fine."

Everyone was shocked by this, but Wang Erlang showed no sign of fear or anxiety about professing his loyalty. Murong Fu snorted and continued, "The Great Yan State has occupied Goryeo, occupied the northern desert, and swallowed up the Liao State. Its territory is several times that of the Song State. In the future, the Song State, Western Xia, Tubo, Dali, and the South China Sea will also become part of the Great Yan State. The vast territory is difficult to govern. Although it cannot be considered as a feudal fiefdom, it is still necessary to confer a kingship to assist in governance."

"The King of the South Court, Xiao Feng, will guard the north in the future. His territory is not less than that of the Liao Kingdom, but it has more grasslands. The King of the North Court is initially planned to be the prince of Dali Zhennan. He will be in charge of the South China Sea in the future, and his territory will be several times that of Dali. The King of the East Court, Cao Yi, will be in charge of the Western Regions in the future, and half of the territories of Western Xia and Tubo will be under his jurisdiction. The King of the West Court is to be determined, and he will command Goryeo, Fuso and a number of islands. King Wen, Wang Erlang, guards the Central Plains, and Bianliang is his fief. What do you think, Your Majesty?" Murong Fu's words caused an uproar.

Immediately, a minister objected: "No, absolutely not! How can we divide the capital among our subjects?"

"Haha, who said that the capital of the Great Yan Kingdom is in Bianliang?" Murong Fu said disdainfully: "The Great Yan Kingdom is not comparable to the mere inch of land of the Song Kingdom, and Bianliang is not the center of the world. How can it be the capital of the Great Yan Kingdom? In the future, the Great Yan Kingdom should have five capitals. In the north, there is Shangjing of the former Liao Kingdom, in the west, there is Yinchuan of Western Xia, in the south, there are Hainan of Jiaozhi, and in the east, there are Taihu Lake of Suzhou. But the central part is not Bianliang, but Luoyang and Chang'an." Murong Fu waved his hand and ordered someone to bring a map of the territory. Under the colorful patterns, the Song Kingdom was only one foot in radius.

There is no harm without comparison. Compared with the current territory of the Great Yan Kingdom, the Song Kingdom is really not enough, but in terms of population and wealth, they are not afraid. However, that was the previous Great Yan Kingdom. Now the Great Yan Kingdom, which has swallowed up half of the Great Song Kingdom, has surpassed the Great Song Kingdom in all aspects. After all, their master is Murong Fu, who is as rich as a country.

When the civil and military officials saw the map and listened to Murong Fu's talk about the five capitals, their eyes lit up. With such a large territory and so many capitals, how many officials would be needed to manage them? With an official position, there would be no worries about not being able to make a fortune.

However, when Murong Fu announced the granting of the title of Viscount to the emperor, one civil official after another jumped out to loudly refute him, saying that the emperor of the Song Dynasty could only be a small Viscount. Wouldn't these people be demoted to the bottom of the mud?

Murong Fu's reasons were quite valid. He had previously been favored by the Song emperor and had been awarded the title of Viscount of the Song Dynasty. He was legitimately granted the title, and this title was hereditary, allowing him to hold official positions. If the emperor desired a higher title, that was fine, as long as he had demonstrated merit and met the required standards. His own talent and achievements had only earned him a Viscount. So, what kind of merit and level of improvement would the emperor require to earn a higher title?

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone fell silent. How could they not know Murong Fu's abilities back then? It was precisely because they knew it clearly that they kicked him out of the officialdom and sent him away with a nominal title.

Now that the situation has reversed, he is using the conditions of his former title to demand of others, which makes these scoundrels uncomfortable.

The current Great Yan Kingdom has given them an illusion that it is easy to be crowned a king, but it is extremely difficult to be granted the titles of duke, marquis, or earl.

Haven't you seen Wang Erlang, a teacher, being crowned King Wen? And Xiao Feng, a beggar leader and a common soldier, being crowned King of the Southern Courtyard because of his close relationship with Murong Fu? And what about Duan Yu, the Prince of Zhennan in Dali? Those in the know know that he's Murong Fu's brother-in-law, and with that connection, he's also a king. In their eyes, Cao Yi is just a rising star. It's incredible to think that he could be crowned a king just because he followed Murong Fu early and married his adopted sister.

Moreover, these kings are not just empty titles, but real people who hold great power and guard a certain area. How can they not be envious, jealous and hateful?

Afterwards, when it came to rewarding people for their merits, Cao Yi was not promoted to king overnight, but became a marquis like Zhuge Yi. The head of the Cao family was only a viscount, on par with the official family, which made everyone see the preciousness of the titles in the Great Yan Kingdom.

The surrendered civil officials continued to make their presence felt, ascending the throne and proclaiming themselves emperors, bestowing titles on their ministers, granting amnesty to the entire country, and some even proposed exempting taxes. Even more extreme, some even suggested building a large-scale palace for the Great Yan Kingdom. However, Murong Fu suppressed them all and suggested that they start learning from childhood and become officials after they had mastered the basic skills.

Now the capital of the Great Yan State has not been decided, so how can one talk about ascending the throne and enthroning his ministers? As for the general amnesty, it is nonsense. In Murong Fu's words, there is nothing wrong with thoroughly investigating the prisons in the world, but a general amnesty is unnecessary. Criminals should be punished, and the whole world should celebrate. Dangerous people should not be allowed to regain their freedom and harm the people. Instead, more dangerous people should be sent to jail.

In troubled times, severe punishments are needed. Instead of granting amnesty to the people, Murong Fu took strong measures and sent many lawless people from wealthy families to jail. No one who dared to cause trouble would be spared. Those who spoke out were also required to prove themselves, otherwise they would face a full investigation by the Great Yan State, and their final end would most likely be miserable.

Your nobleness and your sense of entitlement do not mean that you are not breaking the law. It’s just that no one has taken it seriously before, or dared not do anything to you. The emerging Great Yan Kingdom is obviously not among them.

The Yan army's sweep ultimately halted at the Yangtze River. It wasn't that they couldn't cross the river, but rather that there was no need to rush. The Southern Song dynasty was eventually established, though not in Lin'an, further south. Gusu and Taihu Lake had become the capital of the Yan state. How could they dare approach so closely? They'd have wanted to flee to the horizon, though the distance from the Yangtze River made it difficult to recapture lost territory.

Xiao Feng led his army to Xiangyang, while Cao Yi and Zhuge Yi led their troops into Sichuan and Shu. The Duan clan of Dali received news of the fall of Bianliang and the subsequent loss of half of the Song Dynasty's territory, and a silence fell over the upper echelons. Intelligence clearly indicated that the Great Yan Kingdom was determined to capture the Dali Kingdom, but the reward was also substantial. Because the head of the Murong family, the future emperor of the Great Yan Kingdom, had married the princess of the Dali Kingdom, the Yan Kingdom intended to enthrone the future ruler of the Dali Kingdom as a king, ruling a territory even larger than the Dali Kingdom itself.

Although they may have to give up the Dali Kingdom's foundation in the end, it is really hard to judge whether it is good or bad at the moment. However, the general trend is beyond their control. Even if they are unwilling, they may not be able to stop it. The conditions obtained by the Dali Kingdom are thousands of times better than those of the Western Xia and Tubo. The Great Yan Kingdom has never given them any better promises.

Having Cao Yi in charge of the Western Regions has already made it clear that he will not treat the Xixia and Tubo royal families too kindly.

Three months later, Sichuan surrendered to the Great Yan. Cao Yi was appointed Governor-General of Sichuan, and Murong Fu personally led a large army westward. The entire northern territory of the Great Song Dynasty fell, but the small Southern Song Dynasty, now freed from the two major enemies of Tubo and Xixia, only had to face the oppression of the Great Yan. Upon learning that his father, a mere viscount, was able to parade around with a group of experts, the newly appointed young emperor immediately sent tribute to the Great Yan in exchange for a brief peace.

Except for those who were brought to justice for their heinous crimes, the wealth and personal freedom of the captured members of the Song Dynasty royal family were not restricted. They were even able to travel freely between the Southern Song Dynasty and Dayan because of their special status.