Liu Cheng had indeed taken no personal part in making contact with those Northern Migrants Daoists, but he believed Lu Song should be able to handle it.
For, as everyone had realized, the stakes in this affair were perfectly clear and easily explained. With strong outside support and official backing, the Northern Migrants Daoists who actually controlled the manor economy and the grassroots Daoist Congregation had no reason not to topple the South of the Yangtze Native Clans Daoists sucking their blood from above, then replace them as the true masters of the Way of the Celestial Masters south of the Yangtze.
Kill off the Native Clans Daoists, and everyone benefited.
However, while anyone could explain the reasoning clearly, the problem of mutual trust under such time pressure also had to be considered. At a moment like this, someone within their own ranks to speak for them and bring them together would be far more effective than an outsider delivering information and issuing commands.
With this in mind, Liu Cheng had approached Lu Song. And after learning that Lu Song's older clansman had formed a marriage alliance with Master Xu's family, he had not been angry at all; instead, he thought it even better. It showed that Lu Song's identity as a Northern Migrants Daoist carried weight, and that he could also pass messages and forge connections through Master Xu, someone even further inside.
And that was exactly how things developed.
Only two days later, the few men originally sent from the Kuaiji headquarters to negotiate on Master Du Ming's orders had completely wavered. Instinctively seeking to share responsibility and spread the risks, they immediately summoned five or six prominent Northern Migrants Masters from Wu Commandery, Wuxing, Danyang, Jinling, and elsewhere.
By the end of the ninth month, eleven Northern