Of course, he meant Xie Xinghan.
There was no need for the Face-Changing King to dress up the favor with lecherous grins. Although little beauty Xie was of noble birth, she was actually among the less important people imprisoned by the Prince of Badong. Even Liu Zhao and Zong Rui had their identities as members of the Niyang Liu Clan and the Nanyang Zong Clan, two of Jing Territory's four great clans. Moreover, Liu Zhao was an education official, a position that was neither particularly important nor entirely insignificant.
Although the Chen Commandery Xie Clan was more exalted and powerful than the four great clans, it had no roots in Jingzhou. And while the Xie Family's power and influence naturally far surpassed those of an education official, its whip was too short to reach Jingzhou.
(To reiterate, clans in the medieval period were not like those often depicted in television dramas, where everyone sharing a surname belonged to a single faction. They were organized around individual families. A family was also called a "house," specifically referring to a particular branch recorded in the Clan Genealogy. For instance, when Madam Le spoke of the Music Family, she generally meant Le Zhan's particular family, rather than the entire Yuyang Le Clan. The same applies to the Xie Family here. For more on this, see the endnote to Chapter 159, "Great Debate."
However, families and surname clans should not be understood as completely separate either. Multiple families belonged to the same surname clan. While saying they shared every honor and disgrace would be an exaggeration, there was something of that relationship. When one or several families rose to prominence, the prestige of the entire surname clan also increased. Sharing a surname made social dealings and alliances easier than they were with outsiders. Families