Three years and seven months later.

Fanggu City, The capital of Great Yan.

Fanggu city had a strange shape. Most of the cities were square. From the high point of view, Fanggu City looked more like a huge bull head. Two of the walls were crescent moons that extended outward, like horn. The main city was larger in the back, and it was thinner in the front. Such a strange architectural style was unique in this world.

It was said that Fanggu City was the same as the other cities, square and regular. However, the second generation of the Great Yan"s emperors , King Yanwen, Mu Yun, who was almost

conquered the sixteen kingdoms of the North, personally design it. It had to be said that the style of construction that had abandoned the concept of beauty was indeed greatly improved for defense. The horns on both sides of the horn could increase the impact on the area of the attack. The two sections of the bull-horn walls could be cut off. Even if they did, there was no point.

As for the city"s narrow front and the width of the city, it was because the width of the back city was conducive to the deployment and expansion of the troops. As for the narrow front city, it was difficult to fully deploy the forces of the attackers.

Of course it"s all legends, ordinary people don"t understand war. Moreover, although Great Yan had a decades-long decline, she didn"t appear to be surrounded and besieged by anyone. Ten years ago, after the general Fang Zhiji had rebuilt Iron Flow, Yan army"s strength had greatly increased. Although they hadn"t been able to recover the prowess of Mu Yun"s time, they had no problem protecting the country.

Because there was a super overlord of the Great Xi in the south, all of the surrounding small countries didn"t dare to claim to be emperor.

The current King of Yan was the former Third Son of the king, Mu Changyan, who had returned four years earlier.

As for Aunt Ye, who had returned with Mu Changyan, had been trapped in prison for more than three years.

The Imperial City, Empyrean Terminus Palace, was built in the backtown of Fanggu City, only ten miles away from the northern city walls. Thirty kilometers to the north of the city wall was a branch of the Vast Berserker Mountain, which was called Yan Mountain. After rolling over Yan Mountain to the north, there was also the floating land of a large yan … The reason why it was called floating land was because it was controlled by the gra.s.sland nomads. Nominally, it belonged to the Great Yan, but the Great Yan did not have many troops stationed at it.

Yan Mountain was precipitous, and the nomads weren"t good at attacking cities. Therefore, with this natural chasm, the Great Yan didn"t care much about the nomadic people in the northern region.

The imperial palace.

Mu Changyan sat in a chair in a daze. In recent years, he had grown increasingly stupefied. The pile of papers on the table in front of him was already two feet high, but he didn"t want to look. All he could think about was the woman, the woman he could not even see in the cell.

Ye Yun!

Mu Changyan muttered to himself, ""I"m useless. I let you suffer after returning to the Great Yan. Be at ease, I will save you for a period of time by myself. ""

At this moment, the young eunuch, An Chengli, quickly ran in. ""Her Majesty is here.""

Mu Changyan"s face changed and he quickly stood up. He quickly walked to the door and waited. When the beautiful woman appeared, his waist bent even lower. ""Mother.""

Su Qingnuan, the empress dowager, was only thirty-nine years old, and if it hadn"t been for her own son"s illness, Mu Changyan would not been able to return to the throne. And the reason she chose Mu Changyan was because Su Qingnuan was very clear about Mu Changyan"s personality. He looked crazy, but he was cowardly. Besides, Mu Changyan didn"t have any opinions. He would often be influenced by others" opinions.

This kind of person was the most suitable for becoming a puppet.

It turned out that her eyesight was indeed formidable. The most courageous thing Mu Changyan had done in his life was to protect Ye Yun and went to the Illusionary City. When he returned, he lost all of her courage at the moment he saw Su Qingnuan.

""Stand up.""

Su Qingnuan"s warm voice was slightly hoa.r.s.e, not a pleasant gentle female voice. But it did not affect her beauty, it was a very cold, dignified, graceful beauty. She was originally a princess of Zhao, married to the King of Yan. After the death of the King, the power was always in her hands.

Su Qingnuan maintained a nice body. She wasn"t even forty, you couldn"t find any fat on her body. There were no wrinkles on her face, just the marks of age in the corners of her eyes.

She quickly walked into the East Warmouth Pavilion. The two maids behind her ran and followed behind her. When she turned, the two little ladies immediately knelt down to straighten the long clothes.

Empress Dowager Su sat down in her chair and glanced at the pile of pages on the table. Her face was even more unfriendly.

""You are the king of Great Yan, and you are the king of all living beings.""

Empress Dowager Su slapped her hand on the table with a loud slap. ""But look at your current appearance!""

Mu Changyan raised his head and didn"t say anything. He knew that he had lost the day he came back, been completely and utterly defeated. On the way back, he had designed ten thousand ways to protect his beloved. He even thought that if the empress dowager pressed him too hard, he would fight back, and he would truly resist. He would rather not have a throne than let Ye Yun suffer.

However, when he returned to Fanggu City, he knew that he had lost the moment he saw her eyes.

""What, not even an explanation?""

The Empress Dowager asked.

Mu Changyan lowered his head, ""It"s my fault, I will pay more attention in the future, and I will never dare to waste my government office. ""

""I know what you"re thinking,"" Empress Dowager Su said coldly, ""you wanted to kill me. But the thing you"re thinking of, unless I die, it"s impossible. I"ve already done everything to her. I didn"t kill her for me, only imprisoned her … If it wasn"t for the sake of the imperial family, for the sake of you, the King of Yan"s face, this woman has been dead a hundred times. ""

""That woman is not your woman. She is a woman of the former Crown Prince!""

Mu Changyan abruptly raised his head, ""I know that she loves my Brother in her heart. But …""

""No But!""

Empress Dowager Su stood up, and the female attendant behind her immediately began to crawl along.

She walked in front of Mu Zhangyan, and she was only a foot away from his face. She stared straight into Mu Zhangyan"s eyes and said word by word, ""I"ve said that as long as I live, you will never be able to marry that woman. Because of her, the former Crown Prince had been crippled and died in an accident. I can"t let her destroy my other son. She had seduced the Crown Prince so much that the Crown Prince was presumptuous in front of the late king. Now, she was so fascinated by you … I warned you, if you continue to waste like this, I will kill her first. ""

No!

With a splash, Mu Changyan knelt on the ground and said, ""Mother, I am wrong. I will definitely listen to the teachings from you.""

""Great King.""Her tone softened as she leaned over to help Mu Changyan up. ""You are the hope of Great Yan, and I am too high in my expectations to be strict. Thinking back to how Grand Yan was stationed in the north, almost all of them united, what a magnificent sight that was. The dead enemies of the Ghost Country, Korea, and the Kingdom of Eternal Submission all submitted. Even my mother kingdom"s Great Zhao sent people to show their respect for her. Don"t you want to recreate the glory of the Great Yan?

Mu Changyan lowered her head. ""I will definitely try my best.""

""I think you"re tired today,"" she said.

Empress Dowager Su softened her tone even more. ""Let An Chengli send all these pet.i.tions to my palace. I will help the King to read them. But I can"t help the king to share everything.""

Mu Changyan kept his head down, not daring to look at her eyes. ""I know.""

Empress Dowager Su looked around. ""I heard that Fang Zhiji has been training again recently?""

Mu Changyan replied, ""Yes, there is constant friction between the southeast border with You Country. The general said that he would move to the southeast with the Iron Flowing Fire to intimidate the You Country. Iron Flowing Fire had not experienced a major battle since it was rebuilt. Although it was brave, it lacked experience in battle. So, the general"s meaning is to train in the battle. ""

Empress Dowager Su nodded. ""In terms of weapons, don"t question Fang Zhiji"s methods. Give him the Iron Flowing Fire, and you can put it down. However, he did everything he wanted to do. He would go south with his status as a general, and he would throw the Iron Flowing Fire into the city. The king couldn"t go personally to train, and he couldn"t even handle the affairs of the military. So, I wonder if I should restore the dual general system? ""

Mu Changyan"s expression suddenly changed. He had expected this day, but he hadn"t expected it to be this sudden.

""I … I think that if there are two generals in the imperial court, they will hinder each other …""

Before he could finish, Empress Dowager Su waved her hand. ""You worry too much. How can a king view the situation before you. Especially military matters, when breaking the law, they were cut off from the rest. If the two generals were to compare and oversee each other, it would also be beneficial for our Yan"s defense and development. Chongming Marquis Su Zong read military books and is a humble person, and loyal to Yan. I think he"s useful … mention it to the hall later and let the civil and military officials see if it"s feasible. Iron Flowing Fire was still handed over to Fang Zhiji. The other military affairs were all given to Su Zong. If it works, it"s settled. ""

Empress Dowager Su turned around and left, take away all the pet.i.tions.

Mu Changyan stood there blankly, looking miserable.

""What does this king... mean?""

he muttered.

The young eunuch knelt on the ground and looked at the king with a pained expression on his face, ""Great king, the Autumn Harvest Ceremony is about to come … the selection for the five years. Now, in the imperial court, the civil servant was led by prime minister Su Mo. The army had General Fang Zhiji, but the empress dowager had probably forced General Fang to leave the capital. If Su Zong serves as the general, the Great Yan is all in the hands of empress dowager"s family. ""

""Empress dowager"s family came from Zhao. The State of Zhao seems friendly towards our Yan. However, this action is clearly to destroy Yan. Great King... Last time I mentioned it. You couldn"t just endure it. The old officials were persons of the empress dowager, and the key personnel also belong to empress dowager. If a king wants to succeed, he needs to accept young talents. No matter what, you have to go to the Autumn Harvest Ceremony. Recruiting some young talents and slowly cultivating loyalty, waiting for the right moment … ""

His words didn"t go on, because they didn"t need to say much.

Mu Changyan smiled bitterly, ""It"s easy to talk … but I won"t give up on this. You"re right, I can pretend to be lazy and go sightseeing in the capital. I"ll find some young talents that are usable early. ""

An Chengli said, ""The king"s plan is good, I will make arrangements. All the young geniuses from all over the world have almost gone to the capital. The king simply gave the government affairs to the empress dowager. She felt that the king was useless and could relax a little.""

Mu Changyan said, ""Alright then, let"s go out of the palace. This place is also very uncomfortable to the point of being stuffy.""

An Chengli served Mu Zhangyan and changed into ordinary clothes. He left the palace with a dozen imperial guards.

The streets were full of people. Many youths that were dressed in fresh clothes appeared in the street, arriving from all over the country to partic.i.p.ate in the autumn harvest ceremony. The ceremony was held once in in five years, in order to recruit a good person to the imperial government. This was the only chance to change fate for the majority of children from the Humble Cla.s.s.

Mu Changyan didn"t ride on horse as well. He walked along, and his mood improved a lot after leaving the palace.

The inn in the city was almost full, and there were no vacancies, and everywhere the hopeful young people were visible.

""My Yan, a lot of talent.""

Mu Changyan was in a good mood. He couldn"t help but feel a bit fl.u.s.tered. ""No need to worry about the Great Yan"s revival.""

Just as he said that, a group of carriages arrived in front of them. A string of thirty or so carriages appeared and looked extremely imposing. At least a few hundred men in black were walking with them. Although they didn"t say a word, they still exuded a vigorous spirit.

""Who are these man?""

Mu Changyan asked and An Chengli immediately sent someone to find out.

However, before anyone could walk out, they could clearly see the three words of the flags on the carriages.

Heavenly inspiration Sect