Curing All Disobedience

"Ridiculous, arrogant, ignorant, absurd! Who does Liu Bei think he is!? What is he, anyway? Nothing but a peddler who wove mats and sold shoes! Does he think putting on the hat of an Imperial Clan Member makes it enough? We don't acknowledge him as an Imperial Clan Member, so he's a fake! What gives him the right to challenge us?"

A shrill voice rang out across the courtyard, dripping with an air of superiority, yet its words brewed venom and jealousy as deep as the sea. "A bunch of petty thieves who suddenly popped up out of nowhere! Who do they think they are? Our ancestors have been rooted in Qingzhou for centuries. This land belongs to us! We are the rulers of Qingzhou. Do they really think they can challenge us just because they've been in Qingzhou for a mere two years?"

"Well said!" Another family head who had returned from Xuzhou as a refugee rose and declared, "They have no idea how powerful we are. In Qingzhou, as long as we say the word, we can make them unable to take a single step. They have no idea what it means to reject us. We must teach him a lesson, rally the great clans of the other provinces, and completely tear off Liu Bei's hypocritical mask!"

This speech had thoroughly swept these men up, sending them into fantasies of unleashing their power and having all of Qingzhou rise against Liu Bei. With the people on their side, they imagined that, just as when they had secretly supported the Yellow Turban Rebellion, they could easily smash apart the shackles the Han Dynasty had placed over them.

It was just that these idiots didn't understand. They had possessed that kind of power back then because they controlled the land