Chapter 12: The Two Clans of Kuai and Cai

  Liu Biao stroked his beard, secretly praising him, 'This nephew of mine is not bad, with sharp eyesight and clear logic, analyzing the overall situation thoroughly, indeed having some insight.'

  He turned his head and asked the middle-aged man who had been silent beside him, "What's your opinion on this?"

  This silent middle-aged man was precisely Kuai Yue, the third most important person in Jingzhou and an important figure of the second noble family of Jingzhou, the Kuai clan, who had a great reputation when he was young.

  General-in-Chief He Jin had also long heard of his reputation and appointed him as the Eastern Cao, he once advised He Jin to exterminate all eunuchs, unfortunately He Jin did not listen, eventually brewing a disaster that led to killing and death.

  Kuai Yue followed Liu Biao, repeatedly establishing meritorious achievements, and was appointed as the Taishou of Zhangling and the Marquis of Fan Ting. He is currently serving as a staff officer under Liu Biao, participating in military decision-making, and is recognized as the third most important person in Jingzhou.

  At this time, he saw Liu Biao ask his own strategy, and couldn't help but take a deep look at Liu Xun. He smiled faintly: "Liu Xun is a hero in the world, and if the lord accepts him, it will show the lord's magnanimity. Since he has come to surrender to the lord, if we refuse him from afar, I'm afraid it will damage the lord's reputation. It's not worth it. I agree to accept him."

  "YOU!" Cai Mao glared fiercely at Kuai Yue, he had been protecting the interests of the Jingzhou aristocratic family with all his heart, but the other had stabbed him in the back.

  Liu Bei nodded and said resolutely: "Xuande is my brother. If he comes to me in trouble, how can I not accept him?"

  He then said to Sun Qian: "Since Xuande is already in Bixi, I will personally go to Bixi and welcome him to Jingzhou."

  Sun Qian was overjoyed, "The governor is indeed a wise and farsighted elder!"

  Liu Biao led his officials and thousands of troops to the north, arriving at the riverbank to welcome Emperor Uncle Liu Bei, with great fanfare, and everyone in Jingzhou knew about it.

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  To the east of the city, there is a large mansion covering nearly 100 acres, with pavilions, towers, artificial hills and ponds, various buildings are either majestic or exquisite, it's an extraordinary official residence, this is Cai Mao's official residence in Xiangyang City.

  Cai Man hurriedly walked to a small courtyard in the back garden, pushed open the gate and walked in. In the small courtyard, there was a pear tree that was several zhang high, with dense shade and branches filled with bright yellow fragrant pears.

  Behind the green leaf yellow pear trees, there are three rooms, with a main hall in the middle and one wing room on each side.

  The main hall's large gate was open, and in the corner stood a huge three-legged bronze incense burner with a cover on top. The eight trigrams diagram was carved into the air above it, and at this time, faint wisps of smoke were continuously wafting out from the carved-out places.

  An old man, about sixty years old, wearing a yellow Taoist robe and a bamboo crown, sat cross-legged with his back to the wall, seemingly unaware that Cai Mao had already entered the main hall.

  The old man was Cai Yun, Cai Miao's uncle and the previous head of the Cai family. He believed in Taoism and originally lived in the Cai family's old house outside the city. Due to the recent renovation of the Cai family's old house, he temporarily moved to Cai Miao's official residence to practice his faith.

  "I feel your footsteps are anxious, why is that?" Cai Xun asked calmly without turning his head.

  Cai Mao knelt down on both knees and kowtowed, "Uncle, Liu Bei has arrived in Jingzhou."

  "Liu Bei has arrived in Jingzhou, are you so nervous?"

  Cai Xun slowly turned around, his slender and dry figure, but a pair of eyes were exceptionally sharp, as if they could see through people's hearts. He gazed at Cai Man, saying slowly: "You are the master of the house, shouldering the prosperity of a family, I hope you can always be composed and have a plan in your heart."

  Cai Xun's tone was slow, but every word struck Cai Mai's heart heavily. Cai Mai couldn't help feeling a little ashamed and bitterly smiled: "Nephew knows his mistake."

  Cai Yun nodded in satisfaction with his nephew's attitude and asked, "Now that Liu Bei has arrived, do you think it will affect the interests of the Cai family?"

  Cai Mao hesitated for a moment before saying, "Liu Bei is a heroic figure, his arrival will inevitably disrupt the existing power structure. Once the existing structure is broken, the Cai family's interests will inevitably be damaged."

  "Is this what you're worried about?"

  Cai Xun's eyes were still sharp, as if he had seen through Cai Mao's thoughts. Cai Mao secretly sighed in his heart, unable to hide the secrets within him from his uncle.

  "My nephew is mainly worried that Liu Bei's arrival will trigger Cao Cao to march south to Jingzhou, and once Cao Cao occupies Jingzhou, the power of our Cai family will inevitably be pushed to the edge."

  This is Cai Mao's real concern, although he is a pro-Cao faction, but he does not want the Cao army to go south to Jingzhou, otherwise the interests of the Cai family will be greatly damaged. Not to mention that the capital invested by the Cai family in Liu Biao will become a bubble, more importantly, Liu Biao dominates Jingzhou, and the Cai family is the first family under Liu Biao's rule. However, if Cao Cao dominates Jingzhou, the Cai family may not even be able to get close to the edge under Cao Cao's rule. This is the reason why it is better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of an ox.

  Cai Xun was silent for a moment before slowly saying, "The north is not yet pacified, and Cao Cao will not be able to march south for the time being. As long as the Cai family can maintain its position as the number one clan in Jingzhou, even if Cao Cao does march south, he will still make use of us. Therefore, our top priority at present is to consolidate the Cai family's position in Jing and Xiang. The best way to do this is through marriage alliances. I recall you mentioning earlier this year that you wanted to arrange a marriage between Shaoyou and Liu Biao; what progress has been made on this front?"

  Cai Shao Yu was Cai Mao's only daughter, Cai Shao Yu, who was only fourteen years old and was waiting for marriage in the boudoir. Although there were many suitors, Cai Mao had his own ideas and wanted to form an alliance with Liu Bei through marriage.

  Cai Man sighed, "I've mentioned this to Er Mei before. She said that both Qi Gongzi and Cong Gongzi have the intention of marrying Shao Yu, but Jing Sheng's attitude is ambiguous. Ten days ago, I personally brought up this matter with Jing Sheng again."

  "What did he say?"

  "Jing Sheng's intention is for his nephew to marry Shaoyu."

  "Nephew?"

  Cai Xun furrowed his brow, "Liu Ke or Liu Hu?"

  "It's neither of them, but rather Liu Bei's younger brother Liu Bing's son, named Liu Xuan. He came with Sun Qian, Liu Bei's envoy, today and I've met him."

  "It's actually called Liu Xuan, it seems that Liu Bei really likes this nephew!"

  Cai Xun sneered and asked again: "Now that you've met this person today, what do you think of him?"

  Cai Man shook his head, "This person is still a young man, about 15 or 16 years old, without any elegant demeanor, with a strong and fierce aura all over him. If he didn't have some insight, I would have thought he was a Yellow Turban soldier in disguise. Second Uncle, I don't like this person, and I absolutely won't marry Shaoyue to him."

  Cai Xun nodded, "Marrying Liu Biao's nephew would be meaningless. Only by marrying Liu Biao's son can we control the future of Jingzhou. Liu Biao is already fifty years old and his days are numbered. Do you understand what I mean?"

  "I understand what Second Uncle means."

  "Pause for a moment, Cai Xun said lightly: 'De Yi, as the head of your family and an important minister of Jingzhou, every move you make has an impact. You need to pay attention to maintaining your reputation. Many things can be done by your clansmen, you don't have to take the lead yourself, understand?'"

  "Nephew obediently follows Second Uncle's teachings!"

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  At the same time that Cai Mao was consulting with his uncle Cai Zhong about a strategy, in another Kuai family mansion, Kuai Yue was also discussing with his brother Kuai Liang the matter of Liu Bei entering Jingzhou.

  The ancestral home of the Kuai family was in Zhonglu County, Xiangyang Commandery, but their sphere of influence lay in Nanjun Commandery. This is related to the fact that members of the Kuai family had long served as high-ranking officials in Nanjun Commandery, which is why there is a saying in Jingzhou: "Northern Cai and Southern Kuai".

  Kuai Liang was as talented in literature and strategy as his brother Kuai Yue, and made great contributions to Liu Biao's pacification of Jing Province. He served as the chief clerk, but due to poor health, he had been idle at home for three years, recuperating from illness. He arrived in Xiangyang City only yesterday from Zhongluo.

  Kuai Liang is the master of the Kuai family, not only talented in literature but also having extraordinary abilities, especially good at divining horses and recognizing celestial phenomena. Recently, he observed the night sky and found that the main star of the Southern Palace was dim and without light, with a guest star entering the Southern Palace, shining brightly. This means that a new master of Jing Xiang has appeared, so he hurriedly came to find his brother Kuai Yue.

  Just then Liu Bei arrived, and Kuai Liang thought that the guest star was indeed Liu Bei, while the host star was dim and without light, which also meant that Liu Biao's days would not be long.

  Kuai Yue walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, gazing at the rooftop in contemplative silence. Kuai Liang saw that his brother was deep in thought and asked somewhat curiously: "Do you think there's someone else?"

  Kuai Yue shook his head and said in a low voice, "If the star chart is correct, this guest star should be referring to Liu Bei, there's no doubt about that. But for some reason, I keep thinking of another person, perhaps it's because he left a deep impression on me today."

  "Who is it?"

  Kuai Yue smiled wryly, "Just a young man, Liu Bei's nephew Liu Xuan, arrived in Xiangyang today, with extraordinary insight, analyzing the benefits very thoroughly, it can be seen that Liu Bei is quite appreciative of him, but he's only 15 or 16 years old, shouldn't be him."

  "Oh? How did this young man analyze it?" Kuai Liang suddenly became somewhat interested in Liu Xuan.

  Kuai Yue then told his elder brother about the debate he had with the guests in the hall today, Kuai Liang couldn't help but burst out laughing. "It's really impressive for a young man to have such profound insight, did Liu Bei teach him beforehand?"

  "No!"

  Kuai Yue shook his head, "I observed the expressions of everyone from the side today. Sun Qian was also surprised by the young man's words, it definitely wasn't pre-arranged."

  At this point, Kuai Yue sighed again, "Brother, this young man is extraordinary in his words and has a broader vision than others. Liu Jing Sheng's several nephews are not as good as him, I wonder if..."

  Kuai Liang obviously did not agree with his brother's speculation, that guest star could only be Liu Bei, and would not be some nephew of Liu Biao. He interrupted Kuai Yue's speculation and said lightly: "We can only congratulate Liu Jing Sheng on getting a good talent, who will be able to guard one side of Jingzhou in the future."

  The two men were silent for a moment, then Kuai Liang smiled and said: "Why did you agree to accept Liu Bei into Jingzhou today? I remember that a few days ago you wrote me a letter saying that Liu Bei might be defeated in Runan and come to Jingzhou to surrender to Jing Sheng. You should do your best to persuade Jing Sheng not to accept him, but why have you changed your mind now?"

  Kuai Yue sighed, "Because until yesterday I just realized that Jing Shengliang was sincere and kind-hearted. All I can say is that Liu Bei's arrival is exactly what he had in mind."

  "Why is this?" Kuai Liang asked in puzzlement.

  "If Cao Cao were to lead his army south to Jingzhou and lay siege to the city, we would be caught off guard. In such a situation, we would need a buffer force stationed in Nanyang. This was also one of the reasons why Jing Sheng accepted Zhang Yang's occupation of Nanyang that year - he wanted to use Zhang Yang as a shield between Jingzhou and Cao Cao. But two years ago, Zhang Yang was defeated, and now Cao's army is eyeing Jingzhou, our shield has disappeared. What do you think Jing Sheng hopes for most at this time?"

  "He wants to set up a new barrier?" Kuolong understood his brother's meaning and burst out laughing.

  The two brothers looked at each other, and the rest of the words were already understood without being said.

  At this time, Liu Biao urgently needed a new buffer force to resist Cao Cao's southern invasion, and Liu Bei happened to come to Jingzhou at this time, which just met Liu Biao's needs.

  If Cao Cao goes south, will he attack Liu Bei first or Liu Biao?

  Although Liu Bei could not withstand the attack of Cao Cao's army, he at least played a warning role as a barrier and was able to gain time for Jingzhou to deploy troops.

  Cai Mao had some insight, but he was no match for Liu Biao's deep and far-sighted plans. As soon as Liu Bei appeared, Liu Biao immediately thought of using him as a buffer.