When night came, the inner city that was supposed to be full of lights was dark. On the other hand, the outer city was crowded. Even though the notification came early in the morning, all the nobles still managed to gather at the outer city. Plenty do it as a show of respect to Kuai Liang. After all, Kuai Liang was the second largest figure in the Kuai Family and was also a high official. Of course, there are also those uninfluential nobles that simply wanted to suck up to the Kuai Family.
“There really is a lot of people.” Liu Mang said to Jia Xu as he looked at the front yard.
“Naturally! Jingzhou is the place with the most nobles!” Jia Xu replied. There used to be other places such as Zhili but the nobles and even the common people there were already killed by people like Dong Zhuo. Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao and the others were all dead. Only Jingzhou remained relatively peaceful throughout the rule of both Liu Biao and his predecessor Wang Rui. Liu Biao was simply chosen in the end because he was able to provide more benefits to the nobles. Wang Rui being killed by Sun Jian was another reason.
As there were plenty of nobles, naturally there would be a lot of people attending. Fortunately, Liu Mang spent several hundred gold to prepare the banquet. Otherwise, there would not be enough dishes.
“The more people the better.” Liu Mang did not care if they were nobles. He simply wanted there to be as many people as possible so that he could publicize that the Kuai Family supported Yangzhou.
Meanwhile, Pang Tong had similar thoughts. The more people there are, the more people he could persuade to join Liu Bei. All of these rich nobles were the reason Jingzhou was so prosperous. “Liu Biao did not deserve them.” He thought to himself as he looked at the nobles with greed. The amount of money and men they could supply easily totaled up to three hundred thousand soldiers. If Liu Biao had ambitions and knew how to exploit this, Cao Cao would not think of Liu Biao as a watchdog but a serious threat.
Pang Tong’s strategy to Liu Bei was for Lu Bu to be defeated before obtaining Jingzhou, splitting the land into three but Liu Bei was not able to defeat Lu Bu and even suffered a heavy loss instead. Fortunately, Pang Tong was able to help Liu Bei obtain Zhang Xiu’s foundation. Without it, Liu Bei would not even be able to defend himself.
“Liu Biao truly does not deserve Jingzhou.” Pang Tong thought to himself again. Liu Biao was old and a successor would soon appear. The Kuai Family and the Cai Family united for the sake being the successor. However, the Pang Family were also influential. It was still difficult to tell who would eventually take control of Jingzhou.
“Liu Mang Liu Hanyang. You will soon find out that everything you do only benefits Milord!”
___
“Han Cheng of the Han Family in Changsha gives his congrulations! He gives this Western Jade as a congratulatory gift!”
Some people were surprised from this. The gift itself was mediocre but Changsha itself was more than half a day’s journey away. Han Cheng would have needed to travel quickly without stopping for more than half a day to arrive at Jingzhou.
“Brother Han. Where did you come from?” Although the Han Family was not that influential, they still had some status in Changsha. There were some people that went forward to greet Han Cheng when they saw hikm at the Kuai Family’s residence.
“Please do not bring this up!” Han Cheng replied wearily. He wanted to just find a place to rest instead of talk about this.
“Will brother please pour me a drink?” Han Cheng asked a servant politely. He did not carry the arrogance of a heir at the Kuai Family’s residence. This was not because Han Cheng was humble but because the Kuai Family was that powerful.
“Please wait for a moment! I will bring it immediately!” The servant quickly nodded and poured a tea for Han Cheng. Han Cheng drank greedily. He was fortunate as he was already preparing to travel to Xiangyang for his own matters and already had everything prepared. He only needed to travel quickly after hearing about the wedding.
“Liu Song of the Liu Family from Maicheng presents a 1000-year old ginseng! He wishes the newly wed a long and happy life!” Maicheng was not as far but it was still far enough to show the sincerity of the Liu Family.
“Ge Xie of the Ge Family a hundred taels of gold!” This person did not bother with any antiques and gave plain cash.
“How shallow.” The scholars and the nobles with literary background commented. While it was a lot of money, the gift was comparatively more shallow compared to the previous two.
“Cheng Kang, a scholar from Xiangyang, presents Duanyan ink and a writing brush!” Cheng Kang named himself as a simple scholar from Xiangyang but he was actually quite reputable. Though, he was not as reputable as Pang Degong and Shui Jing, many people still cupped their fists towards him in respect.
Many more people continued to go up to curry favor from the Kuai Family while Liu Mang watched them. These nobles had influence but they could not control the situation. When the feasts started, they were all seated in the outer rooms.
“Cai Mao, Cai He and Cai Zhong of the Cai Family presenting East Pearl, silk, blood coral and hundreds of gold!” This was a lot but that was only polite for a families like these.
“Military Advisor Cai!” Chen Kang stepped forward to greet him. “Military Advisor Cai. Our master asked me to personally greet you and escort you to your seat.”
It was not rare that Kuai Liang did not come out personally. He was just that kind of person. On top of that, it was also possible that Kuai Liang was still busy with the wedding preparations.
“Military Advisor Cai!” The other people that gathered also greeted Cai Mao. As the Military Advisor, everybody there had to pay respects to him whether they want to or not. Even the scholars had to pay their respect.
Cai Mao did not respond to the others but spoke to the servant instead. “Haha. You must be Chen Kang!” Cai Mao was very good natured to Chen Kang. Normally, he could treat servants like Chen Kang with disdain. He even forgot the names of many insignificant nobles. However, he remembered Chen Kang. When Kuai Liang left the main residence, he only took his wife and Chen Kang with him.
“Brother Zirou have always been relying on you.” Cai Mao spoke as though he was talking to one of his own people. The Cai Family and the Kuai Family had always been allies so relationship were still possible. Although Cai Mao did not like Kuai Liang’s temperament, he could come to a compromise.
“I don’t dare receive this praise. This is something that I should be doing.” Chen Kang did not want to claim credit.
“Let’s go! Take me in!” Cai Mao said. It was not good to remain at the entrance for too long and Cai Mao could not be too cordial with the housekeeper.
“This way please.” Chen Kang replied as he spread his hand out.
When Cai Mao appeared, he attracted both Liu Mang and Pang Tong’s attention. However, the both of them still did not appear.
“Cai Mao has arrived!” This was within Pang Tong’s prediction. The relationship between both families were good so it would be even stranger if Cai Mao was absent. Now that Cai Mao is here, all the important figures would start to appear.
Just as expected, the next family that arrived was the Huang Family.
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