Editing Northern Yan (section)

=== Reign of Gao Yun and Feng Ba ===
The founding year of the Northern Yan is up to debate; some historians consider Feng Ba as the first ruler of Northern Yan while others assert that it was Gao Yun. The reason is that Gao Yun was a member of the Later Yan imperial family as Murong Bao's adopted son, and so he should be considered the last ruler of Later Yan. On the other hand, he was ethnically Goguryeo and reverted back to his old family name shortly after ascending. Thus, Northern Yan's founding year can either be 407 or 409.

Gao Yun took the title of [[Heavenly King]]. The Later Yan was previously at war with Goguryeo, but Yun managed to establish friendly relations between them and Northern Yan. However, conflict with the Northern Wei also began as the Yan Inspector of [[Youzhou (ancient China)|You Province]], Murong Yi (慕容懿) defected to Wei. Worried by his lack of reputation, Yun attempted to protect himself by empowering his favourites, but in 409, two of them, Li Ban (離班) and Tao Ren (桃仁) assassinated him. Feng Ba's men then had the assassins killed, and the officials acclaimed him as the new Heavenly King.

The Northern Yan was relatively weak compared to Northern Wei, so Feng Ba formed good relations with the [[Eastern Jin dynasty|Eastern Jin]], [[Xia (Sixteen Kingdoms)|Hu Xia]], [[Rouran Khaganate|Rouran]], [[Khitan people|Khitan]] and [[Kumo Xi]]. He secured the support of his people by actively participating in politics, promoting agriculture and reducing tax burdens. However, he was also wary of handing out higher offices to his retainers, which led to a rebellion by his cousins in 410. On two occasions, Feng Ba had Wei envoys detained. In 416 and 418, Wei clashed with Yan, but due to pressure from stronger neighbours like the Hu Xia, they were unable to launch any substantial campaign throughout Feng Ba's reign. Northern Yan also continued Later Yan's dual administrative system between their [[Han Chinese]] and "[[Five Barbarians|Hu]]" subjects, as Feng Ba appointed his Crown Prince as the Grand Chanyu to supervise the tribes, along with introducing other offices to assist the Grand Chanyu.