Among the Wu Commandery gentry clans, the most famous in later generations were the Wu Four Surnames: Gu, Lu, Zhu, and Zhang.
Yet at the end of the Han dynasty, the Wu Four Surnames could not be considered particularly eminent clans. Compared with the Chen Clan, Yuan Clan, Xun Clan, and Lady He of the Central Plains, they were far inferior.
Their rise began after Sun Quan took power, when he made extensive use of scions from the gentry clans in order to ease conflicts with them.
By the Eastern Jin, when the imperial court moved south, the four great families, as local natives, had become colossal powers.
But in this era, the Wu Four Surnames had yet to rise. They could only be counted as middling gentry clans. The truly great clans of Wu Commandery were the Sun Clan, Lady Wu's family, and the Xu Clan.
Though Sun Ce had been so active in suppressing the gentry clans, his own families by marriage were continually expanding their power.
For instance, the many descendants of the Sun Clan basically all possessed vast tracts of land and numerous estates. The Wu and Xu families were the same.
Thus, the family heads summoned by Qin Tian this time came from the four surnames and three great families, along with a number of smaller gentry clans.
Since Wu Jing, Sun Jing, and the other core figures had all been taken by Liu Bei to Shouchun, the Sun Clan was represented by Sun Ben, Lady Wu's family by Wu Fen, and the Xu Clan by Xu Kun.
There were also Gu Yong representing the Gu Clan; Lu Ji and Lu Yi representing the Lu Clan; Zhang Yun representing the Zhang Clan; and Zhu Shi representing the Zhu clan.
Everyone had gathered in the hall.