How stupid!
Qiao Wei felt as though he had worried himself sick over the Wu Commandery gentry of Jiangdong.
But there was nothing he could do.
Everyone living in this world naturally bore labels of identity, and others used those identities to distinguish friend from foe.
For instance, the factions under the various feudal lords were now largely organized along regional lines.
Outsiders naturally would not be trusted.
Nor could they ever hope to enter the innermost circle.
After all, those families had been intermarrying for over a hundred years.
Take the Xiahou Clan's relationship with Cao Cao. Though they bore a different surname, they were military commanders of his own kin, and Xiahou Dun's standing was even higher than that of the Cao Clan. They were practically one family.
The Xun, Chen, Zhong, Guo, and other families of Yingchuan were intertwined like roots and branches, banding together under Cao Cao.
The four great families of Jingzhou-the Cai, Kuai, Huang, and Pang-breathed as one and stood together, reducing Liu Biao to a watchdog at the gate in his frustration.
The six clans of Jiangdong were no different.
Even the Luo Clan could not escape this convention. Without so many people supporting them, they could never have attained their present prominence.
The price of betraying one's origins and severing one's identity was unimaginable. Even destroying oneself outright could not accomplish it.
For even your ashes did not belong to you alone. Your origins and roots were engraved upon them.
This was what they meant by-
Man was born free, yet everywhere he was in chains!
The relationship between the Qiao Clan and the Luo Clan could give the Qiao Clan a way out.
But if he still wanted to realize his political ambitions, he had to preserve the six clans of