There were other places that experienced the same thing as the Cai Family. One group frowned and suspected that the invitation letter is fake. After all, Kuai Liang was unlikely to get a concubine. One group smiled with ridicule, wanting to see Kuai Liang screw up. The last group went with genuine blessings, thinking that Kuai Liang was finally ready to let go. They also brought gifts because they could not go empty handed with Kuai Liang’s status.
“Zirou is getting a concubine?” Kuai Yue who had also received an invitation letter voiced his doubts as he understood his little brother better than anyone else. The reason Kuai Yue and Kuai Liang argued was because of differing opinions. Kuai Liang wanted to help Liu Biao conquer the land while the Kuai Yue was more into self-preservation. Helping Liu Biao like a good and loyal strategist like Zhang Liang and Xiao He was good but not everyone who acted like that actually received a good ending. Besides that, it wouldn’t work because Liu Biao was extremely indecisive.
What’s more, Liu Biao only managed to capture Jingzhou single handedly because he understood how to control the nobles. He knew how to make these noble families fight against each other and he knew how to make one family more influential while depriving other families of their influence. The problem with this was that the nobles places more importance in their own families. There were too many factions. Although people said Jingzhou belonged to Liu Biao, it actually belonged to everyone. Liu Biao only actually controlled one third of it. It was just like a miniature version of Yuan Shao’s territory and Yuan Shao had lost. What chances are there for Jingzhou to win?
This is unlike the other groups that do have a chance to conquer the land like Cao Cao, Lu Bu and Sun Ce. For these people, their word is law. All the influential families that follow them were loyal and share the burden of their ruler. Cao Cao controlled his vassals, Sun Ce won approval by conquering Jiangdong with only three thousand troops and Liu Mang did not have any nobles to worry about as he rebuild Yangzhou from a desolate and uninhabited area.
Dynasties fall when the power of the nobles exceed imperial power. It would be alright if they could win but if they were to start the war and lose, Kuai Liang, and by extension the entire Kuai Family, would be at fault. Kuai Yue was not willing to make this gamble. This was why the two brothers argued, causing Kuai Liang to move out.
Kuai Liang’s wife then passed away not long after that. Even though Kuai Liang was old, there were still plenty of families who want to wed their daughters to him to benefit politically. Age didn’t matter. It was the same with Liu Biao and Cai Mao’s sister. It was also the same with Liu Bei and Sun Jian’s daughter. Unfortunately for these families, Kuai Liang refused to remarry. Kuai Yue was also not able to persuade him as the two brothers have not made up.
Now, it would seem as though Kuai Liang has received enlightenment and was finally willing to take a concubine. Kuai Yue did not know who the woman is. All that was written on the invitation letter was that a member of the Kuai Family is going to marry at a certain address.
“Did you find out from whose family this woman belong to?” Kuai Yue asked his housekeeper.
“No, I was not able to. The knight-errant that delivered the letter knew nothing!” The housekeeper replied.
“Hm.” Kuai Yue frowned. He would be able to change his tactics if he knew who the woman was. He would be able to find out who to greet and support.
“Forget it.” Kuai Yue said as he put the letter away. All would be revealed in time and it was good that Kuai Liang got himself a concubine. After all, the Kuai Family was not exactly thriving. It would be good for them to have more people.
“Where is the Young Master?” Kuai Yue asked. As he was about to go and attend his little brother’s wedding, he definitely needed to take his son along especially since Kuai Ran and Kuai Liang were close. Kuai Ran was the connection between the two brothers.
“The Young Master went to visit a friend and has not yet returned.” The housekeeper lied. He knew that Kuai Ran went to a brothel but if Kuai Yue were to be told the truth, Kuai Ran would end up too pitiful.
“He is not back yet?” Kuai Yue furrowed his brows in anger. Kuai Yue was someone who did not want to offend anyone as an official. However, he was strict with his son. After all, his son was the heir to the Kuai Family. Kuai Ran would be the one to inherit everything. At minimum, his son must be capable enough to not destroy the Kuai Family.
“Quickly send someone to call him home and tell him to join me at Kuai Liang’s place at night!” Kuai Yue waved his hand and ordered.
“Understood!” The housekeeper replied. He had actually already dispatched someone ahead of time. They went all the way to Manager Liu of the brothel who then told them that Kuai Ran had left the brothel with a man named Wang Shu, alongside six women. The housekeeper was worried because this was the wrong day to be muddle headed for having too much sex.
When the housekeeper was about to leave, Kuai Yue suddenly asked about Liu Mang. He did not know why but he suddenly thought of the King of Shu when he read the letter.
“The King of Shu? The King of Shu is spending his days normally such as by eating or practicing his swordplay.” The housekeeper replied. He had dispatched countless people to watch over the King of Shu. He did not make any proper reports to Kuai Yue thus far because Liu Mang seemed to be spending his days normally.
“He is so calm?” Kuai Yue was in disbelief. By right, Liu Mang should be in panic as he run all over the place trying to get provisions. Kuai Yue had also already prepared several excuse to refuse visits from Liu Mang. Yet, all of the excuses he planned were now useless.
“Yes.” The housekeeper nodded. He would not be careless with the tasks given to him by Kuai Yue. So, he prepared almost twenty people to monitor the King of Shu.
“Could Kuai Liang taking a wife have something to do with the King of Shu?” Kuai Yue had reached an answer very close to the truth but he eventually rejected this idea. This is because Liu Mang only came with a few bodyguards and Jia Xu. All of them were men. That meant that Kuai Liang was going to wed someone from Jingzhou, someone without any relations to Yangzhou.
“Could there be something else?” Kuai Yue continued to think but eventually gave up. Yangzhou’s business was none of his problems. This was a battle between Pang Tong and Liu Mang. It was also a battle between Liu Bei and Lu Bu. They were not related to the Kuai Family.
“Continue monitoring the King of Shu. When my son returns, have him take a bath and follow me!” Kuai Yue ordered. He then decided to take a short rest before the wedding feast. After all, he needed to be able to stay awake to drink wine.
“Understood” The housekeeper nodded.
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“Kuai Liang’s wedding banquet?” Pang Tong had also received an invitation letter. Liu Mang specially requested Kuai Liang to write one for Pang Tong so that Pang Tong can personally witness the Kuai Family joining his faction.1
Pang Tong was extremely uncomfortable with this as Kuai Liang belonged to Liu Mang’s faction. When he killed Liu Mang’s envoy in Jingzhou, Kuai Liang even suggested Pang Tong be executed as an apology to Liu Mang.
“Military advisor, should we not go?” One cautious subordinate asked. Going to the wedding reception of an enemy is just asking for trouble.
“Of course we are going. They already went through the trouble of inviting us so we should naturally prepare a response.” Pang Tong replied. As he had already received the invitation, he had no choice but to go or he would recognized as someone without etiquette.
“Oh right, is there any movements from the Fake King Liu Mang?” Pang Tong asked. Unlike Kuai Yue who just wanted to stay away, Pang Tong had Liu Mang observed so that he would know his enemy.
“In the past few days, the Fake King is being very calm! He spends his days leisurely!” The subordinate replied.
“Calm?” Pang Tong was stunned. He risked his life to make sure that Liu Biao would not send provisions to Yangzhou. Liu Mang should have been agitated yet he was indifferent.
Pang Tong then smiled in understanding. “I see, the Fake King Liu Mang is not moving because he is waiting for an opportunity. This wedding is that opportunity!” He had also investigated Kuai Liang before and understood that Kuai Liang would not have taken a concubine. Kuai Liang must have done it to give Liu Mang an opportunity. If Liu Mang wanted to find someone to help persuade Liu Biao, he needed to look for them one by one and whether they agree to meet him was another problem. On the other hand, if Kuai Liang were to take a concubine and invite others, everyone would attend. All Liu Mang needed to do was participate to get in contact with others.
“Military Advisor. What should we do?” The man asked. He and the others had monitored Liu Mang for the sole purpose of preventing Liu Mang from meeting others. Now that Liu Mang had the chance to meet plenty of people, their efforts had been wasted.
“Haha. I will make sure Liu Mang cannot meet anyone!” Pang Tong laughed coldly. He would have lost if Kuai Liang did not invite him but since he was already invited, he would not let Liu Mang succeed. He then picked up the letter and commanded. “Kuai Liang’s banquet is in the evening. Dispatch the men and make sure Liu Mang cannot attend!”
“Military Advisor. Do you want us to kill the Fake King? We are already being monitored ever since we killed his envoy. It would be hard to carry weapons now!” Pang Tong’s subordinate replied. Pang Tong had planned to make Liu Biao and Liu Mang go to war against each other by killing Liu Mang’s envoy. However, he miscalculated as Liu Biao acted differently. While Liu Biao did not execute Pang Tong, Liu Biao became wary. If Pang Tong were to move the soldiers, Liu Biao may become enraged and just give the provisions to Liu Mang as retaliation.
“You fool! Do you need soldiers to obstruct people?” Pang Tong rebuked his men immediately.
Both Liu Mang and Pang Tong’s group could not use weapons especially in public. However, Pang Tong had the upper hand as Liu Mang was the foreigner. The native Pang Family had so much influence they could easily gather hundreds of men that would be able ensure that Liu Mang cannot reach Kuai Liang’s residence. Liu Mang would be destined to fail and the banquet would end up a failure. This was killing two birds with one stone.
“What a genius!” Pang Tong’s subordinates cheered as they realized that Pang Tong was right.
“Go! I need to prepare myself!” Pang Tong waved to his subordinates. Liu Mang planned all this for an opportunity but this was also an opportunity for Pang Tong to meet with those in the neutral faction like Kuai Yue as when he tried to visit Kuai Yue in the past, he had always been refused with many different excuses such as being busy.
How could Kuai Yue be busy when he was not at the front lines? On top of that, the front lines is currently being handled by his friend and enemy Zhuge Liang. Pang Tong knew his friend well. If Zhuge Liang was there, Jingzhou would definitely experience thirty years of peace at worst. In other words, Kuai Yue’s excuses were made because he refused to see Pang Tong. Now, Kuai Yue would have no choice but to meet Pang Tong. Pang Tong believed that Kuai Yue would definitely attend the wedding even though Kuai Yue and Kuai Liang were in an argument because they were brothers. There were also other nobles that Pang Tong could meet for his own benefit.
“Help me prepare a huge gift!” Pang Tong ordered. He would go with a gift so huge that would emotionally move the Kuai Family. At that time, Kuai Yue would feel embarrassed to reject said gift.
“A huge gift? Military Advisor. Is this alright?” Pang Tong’s men brought two East Pearls. These East Pearls were beautiful and was worth hundreds in gold. These initially fell into the hands of Zhang Ji when Luoyang was destroyed. When Zhang Ji died, it went to Zhang Xiu and later, Liu Bei.
“It is not enough!” Pang Tong shook his head. Although it was worth a lot of money, it is not enough for a family like that Kuai Family. The men tried a few other gifts only to be rejected by Pang Tong.
Eventually, one of them asked, “What about that box of gold Milord gave us?”
“We cannot touch that! Milord gave us that to buy provisions!” Another man replied. These was the wealth taken from Zhang Xiu along with the five thousand gold Liu Bei brought from Yuzhou.
“No! We will use that!” Pang Tong said after he was reminded about it.
“But how would we buy provisions without it?”
“It is already impossible for us to buy provisions!” Pang Tong had already made this task impossible just so that Liu Biao would not sell provisions to Yangzhou. It was a stratagem that caused both sides to suffer. As a result, the box of gold was now useless. Also, he had already settled the issue with provisions using all the connections of the Pang Family.
If the box of gold can be used to earn the friendship of the Kuai Family, it would be worth it. After all, the nobles owned Jingzhou as much as Liu Biao.
“Let us do it this way! Men! Take out one thousand gold from this box and wrap up the rest as a gift!” Pang Tong ordered. The box of gold would be to earn the Kuai Family’s friendship. The remaining one thousand gold would be to earn the friendship of the other small nobles.
