The Five Great Fortified Manors stationed between the Yangtze and Huai Rivers-the Lulong Tian Clan, Qiao Commandery Dai Clan, Nanyang Cai Clan, Henei Guo Clan, and Julu Wei Clan-had all resisted the Hu-Jie regime of Later Zhao in the north thirty years earlier, before gradually migrating south to Jianghuai. After such aristocratic houses as the Boling Cui Clan, Hedong Pei Clan, Nanyang Du Clan, and Jingzhao Wei Clan submitted and pledged allegiance to the Xianbei for their families' interests, powerful commoner clans such as the Lulong Tian Clan hovered between Qin, Jin, and Yan. The armed displaced people they commanded had followed them for so long that they had essentially become the private soldiers of their fortified manors. These clan commanders wished to serve their country, yet feared that the Jin court would strip them of their troops and thereby harm their clans' interests-
To the Jin court, the displaced-people clan retinues led by these great commoner landowners possessed considerable military strength and could not be ignored, yet neither could they be employed with complete confidence. When Wang Dao held power, he sought to win over these great clan retinues by granting their commanders titles as commandery administrators, provincial governors, and generals according to their existing standing and troop strength, assigning them approximate territories and keeping them loosely bound beyond the Yangtze, without allowing them to cross south. When Zu Ti first led his followers south, he settled in Jingkou, but before he had firmly established himself, he was ordered to lead his men north again as governor of Yu Province and operate in Huaibei; Su Jun led his followers from Qingzhou by sea into the Yangtze and reached Guangling, but he too was soon ordered north to fight at Pengcheng. Moreover, the two strongest displaced-people clan retinues, the Fanyang