How Feng Ba became King of North Yan

 

 

The king of North Yan, Yun, became king after he assassinated his

stepfather, Mu Rong Xi. He had no virtue. He occupied the highest

position and ruled with strong arms. He was always afraid that he would

be over thrown by the other nobles with virtue. So he kept strong men as

his guards. Li Ban and Tao Ren were his close companies. They took

charge of the defense and security of the palace. The king bestowed upon

them many gifts, worth thousands of ounces of gold. They lived as king too.

Alas, Ban and Ren were not contented. They were very greedy and wanted

to be kings themselves.

One day. King Yun went to the eastern hall of the palace. Ben and Ren

knew about it. They had been plotting to murder the king and seize power.

They hid swords in their garments, holding report scrolls and entered the

eastern hall, pretending that they had something to report to the king. Ben

pulled out his sword and attacked the king from the front while Ren attacked

from the side. The king used a small table to defend himself. But, soon, he

was killed by Ren.

Feng Ba came into the palace when he heard the commotion. He wanted to

find out what was happening. When he reached Gate Hong Guang, the

subordinate generals. Zhang Tai and Li Sang, told him about the situation

and asked him to give orders to restore order in the palace. Once given, the

generals attacked Li Ban and Tao Ren and killed them.

Then all the army officers present proposed Feng Ba to be their leader. Feng

Ba wanted hi younger brother, Su Fu, who was Lord of Fan Yang, to be

crowned king/ But Su Fu declined. Feng came from Liao Xi, Chang Le District

in Xian Province. In October  that year, Feng Ba was crowned as king of the

North Yan Nation and was known as Tai Zu. He decreed that Chang Li as

the new capital and the name of North Yan to be continued without any changes.

The new reign was known as Tai Ping. (AD 409 – 436 )