Editing Southern Yan (section)

=== Reign of Murong De ===
At Huatai, Murong De took the title of Prince of Yan, thus splitting the Yan into two. Historiographers distinguish Murong De's state with the other Yan states as the Southern Yan. De nearly captured and killed Murong Bao when the latter came to Huatai, unaware that his uncle had declared independence, but Bao managed to escape back north.

In 399, disorder broke out in Southern Yan when Fu Guang (苻廣), a remnant of the Fu clan of Former Qin, rebelled in an attempt to restore his state. Murong De campaigned against and defeated him, but while he was away, a traitor opened the gates of Huatai to Northern Wei forces, leaving Murong De stranded without any territory. He decided to attack [[Qingzhou (ancient China)|Qing Province]] of the [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Eastern Jin dynasty]], which corresponds to modern central and eastern [[Shandong]]. He took the province with ease, establishing the city of Guanggu (廣固, in modern [[Qingzhou]], Shandong) as his new capital. In 400, he elevated his title to Emperor of Yan and changed his name to Murong Beide.

For the rest of Murong Beide's reign, Southern Yan was peaceful and prosperous to live in. As Yan had a much smaller population compared to the neighbouring Wei and Jin, Beide enacted policies to encourage manpower movement such as corvee exemptions while also rectifying the household registry. At the time, Jin was in turmoil due to [[Huan Xuan|Huan Xuan's]] rebellion, and Southern Yan welcomed a number of Jin exiles into their territory. Murong De also planned to take advantage of the situation in Jin by launching an invasion, but became ill and died in 405.