The Villain's Counterattack

From Duke of Liao to King of Liao, the influence brought about by Yang Xuyan's change of identity is unprecedented.

After Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty faked his death and heroes all over the world vied to become kings and emperors, the Sui royal family publicly conferred a king for the first time, and the one who was conferred the title was a "royal branch", which made many knowledgeable people see the Emperor Guangwu in history who restored the Han Dynasty.

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang usurped the throne and established the Xin Dynasty. The Han Dynasty was nominally dead. Wang Mang's evil deeds caused chaos in the world. The royal family of the Liu clan rose up in resistance. Liu Xiu was one of them. He was the ninth-generation grandson of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, and from the lineage of Liu Fa, King Ding of Changsha, during the reign of Emperor Jing of Han. At that time, he was no longer a direct descendant and was very far from the throne.

If Wang Mang had not caused chaos and overthrown the Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu would have had no chance of ascending the throne, just like the current King of Liao Yang Xuyan. If Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty had not been betrayed by Yu Wenzhi, how could the Emperor of Sui, who had many descendants, give up the throne to someone else, even his own nephew, let alone a mere branch of the royal family.

However, the Sui Dynasty lost its power and many heroes in the world competed for it. If the royal family did not want to decline, it needed a strong figure like Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty to turn the tide and stabilize the world. From the outside world's perspective, there were only two people who could find such a figure: Yang Xuyan from Liaodong and Yang Xiu from Luoyang.

Each of them has his own strengths. Yang Xuyan is outstanding in ability and invincible. He also holds the military power to suppress Goguryeo and sweep across the grassland, making him famous.

King Yang Xiu of Shu was in the central government, in charge of all officials. He was also the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty. His status was much higher than that of Yang Xuyan, who was from the "royal branch".

However, both of them also have their own shortcomings. Yang Xuyan is in charge of the border army. Although he is a disciple of Pei Ju, a civil official, he bears the strong mark of military honors. Not only does he face the threat of foreign races at all times when he is in charge of the border, but he himself suppresses and restricts the wealthy families and favors the lower-class parasites. The wealthy families are not friendly to him, but they are helpless because he is too strong and no one can control him.

King Yang Xiu of Shu was of noble birth, courageous, majestic, and skilled in martial arts, making him a capable warrior. However, as the fourth son of Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, he had three older brothers, especially the two eldest, whom he could not handle. He tried to feign madness, but this backfired and he ended up being imprisoned.

Although Yang Xiu was born into a noble family and was capable, he was also feared by the anti-Wang Yijun army. Also, because he pretended to be stupid and kept a low profile, his reputation among the people was not good, which led to the fact that the common people did not approve of him.

Many people vaguely realized that after the death of the Sui emperor, the Sui royal family was preparing to introduce a new generation of Sui emperor. The candidate was between King Yang Xiu of Shu and Yang Xuyan of Liaodong. However, neither of them was in a hurry. Yang Xiu sat firmly in Luoyang to stabilize the situation, supported Wang Shichong in defeating Wagang Li Mi, and raided Tongguan to resist Li Tang in a vigorous manner, which showed that a good warrior has no glorious achievements.

But Yang Xuyan was different. He conquered Hebei, occupied Jiaodong, seized Mayi, and intimidated the grassland. In the end, he even conquered Silla and Baekje. He was a man of great military achievements. Recently, he expanded his territory by thousands of miles and occupied a large grassland. The Turkic army suffered heavy casualties and dared not fight against him.

Yang Xuyan was conferred the title of King of Liao, indicating that the Sui Dynasty royal family's recognition of him had gradually caught up with that of Yang Xiu, King of Shu. After all, they were both kings with the same title, and at first glance, there was no difference in who was better. Moreover, Yang Xiu, King of Shu, only had the title of king, as the Shu land did not belong to him now. However, Yang Xuyan was the King of Liao in true sense of the word. Not to mention the Liao land, even a large area around it belonged to him.

After obtaining the title of king, Yang Xuyan could better establish his government and his appeal instantly changed. The heroes of the world became more and more attracted to him, and even the small and medium-sized wealthy families who had been hesitant before flocked to him and no longer dared to hesitate.

For a time, Liaodong was overcrowded with people, but in a big forest there are all kinds of birds, and some friction and collision are inevitable. Many people came and went in a hurry, taking away many of the real situations in Liaodong.

There are rumors outside that Liaodong is suppressing wealthy families, and most of the wealthy families also think so. This is probably because Liaodong implements nationalization of land, and farmland and minerals are not allowed to be bought and sold at will, and are restricted by the court. In addition, taxes and laws are relatively equal, without distinction between high and low, which makes many wealthy families uncomfortable.

What makes them even more uncomfortable is that the recommendation system is greatly restricted. Recommendations are allowed, but the recommended persons need to be assessed and only the capable ones will be promoted. This is a great harm to the incompetent people of noble birth. On the other hand, what is most lacking in marrying into a wealthy family are talented men who are ambitious but lack the skills and only eat for free. They are good at reciting poems, composing couplets, eating, drinking and having fun, but practical matters are really not their forte.

There is no shortage of truly capable people in wealthy families, but except for a few who hold high positions, the rest are side branches and are not valued at the bottom. What they value is bloodline rather than ability. Of course, they prefer capable people with strong bloodline.

When these children from wealthy families competed fairly with the peasants from the bottom of Liaodong who had climbed up through study and training, they suddenly found that they had no advantage, and were often even crushed in practical matters, which made them very uncomfortable.

After Yang Xuyan was crowned King of Liao, he immediately issued a call for talented individuals, publicly recruiting them for official positions. He also personally led his army south, conquering the entire Qi and Lu regions and decisively defeating Li Zitong. This expansion of his empire resulted in a vast number of vacancies that needed to be filled, but the vast majority of the so-called talented individuals who came forward were unqualified, leaving them with nothing but blanks when faced with each exam question.

What should the children of the noble families say when they return home, having come with full confidence and returning disappointed? They can't just say that they are incompetent and can't pass the test, so all the fault lies with Liaodong. It was wrong for the Liao King not to open a backdoor for them. It was wrong for the Liao King to only consider ability instead of background. The Liao King shouldn't have failed to take care of them, this is the biggest mistake.

The world is so big that there is always no shortage of talents. A talented person is also a talent. Soon the examination questions for recruiting talents in Liaodong were leaked. Li Tang, Dou Jiande, Wang Shichong, Xiao Xing, and even grassland forces such as the Turks and Bohai received more than one copy.

After seeing these things, Li Yuan immediately copied several copies to assess the people around him. He was shocked to find that there were many talkers around him, but these people were highly valued by him.

As expected, the Crown Prince and the Prince of Qin were the most outstanding among his sons, but they also had their disagreements. As for the important officials around Li Yuan, the Crown Prince's view was that since he was in the government, the overall situation should be the most important, and there was no need to go into too much detail about specific matters. However, the Prince of Qin Li Shimin believed that being ignorant of practical matters would be detrimental to one's actual job, and if this continued at all levels, it would definitely cause great harm.

Kou Zhong was a pragmatic person. He used these things directly and even sent people to Liaodong to visit and learn. He himself would not go. Although Yang Xuyan was his brother-in-law, he was still his competitor. He did not dare to seek excitement again and again.

After Yang Xuyan conquered Qi and Lu and defeated Li Zitong, his army turned and headed straight for Luoyang. The forces of the world waited anxiously for the result, but this result was not what they wanted.

Wang Shichong went out thirty miles to meet him. The two sides met and had a happy gathering. Wang Shichong frequently asked about his niece Dong Shuni's condition, and his words often seemed to indicate that he wanted her to give birth.

King Yang Xiu of Shu came out to greet him ten miles away with an orderly and high-standard ceremonial guard. After meeting him, he did not call him by his official title but kept calling him nephew. This made Princess Ruyi Yang Ruyi, who was not far away, very dissatisfied. She cried out that the emperor's uncle was partial to her and was not close to her.

Yang Xiu: My little niece, considering what your father did to me, your uncle, do you think I should be close to you?

Yang Xuyan first stayed in the Western Garden for three days, and then entered Luoyang three days later. Wang Shichong presented him with the seal of the city defender, and Yang Xuyan accepted it without hesitation. He also appointed Song Jingang as the city defender of Luoyang. For a time, the whole world was in an uproar, and the heroes were silent.

The King of Liao has taken over Luoyang, the situation is set!