Shangguan Family
The Shangguan Family is a great clan that migrated to Fuzhou and Jianzhou in the late Tang and put down roots there.
The Shangguan Family grew rich through maritime trade. The Family Head, also called the "Chief Branch Leader", was deeply loved by the commoners, and a song even went: "Where there's Shangguan, no corrupt official; ships come home and a hundred families rejoice."
Every year they spend no small amount of Silver Taels to smooth over relations with the Imperial Court, and they are exceedingly close with the Fujian Branch of the Songshan Sect as well, donating a great fortune to the temple each year to make offerings to the Buddha and buy themselves Reputation.
Only the White Shark Gang truly cannot be won over. They constantly make deliberate trouble and wreck maritime trade, and no matter how many gifts are sent, they are doused in pig blood and sent back.
The Shangguan family art is the "Wave-Riding Formula", comprehended on the sea. Before it can overcome the foe, it first destroys the ground the opponent stands on, leaving them like an iron chain across the river, unable to advance or retreat; after that, great waves come surging and pressing in, driving them into a dead end.
The current Family Head, Shangguan Sun, is steady and reserved, gradually withdrawing from the Jianghu. He has Sealed the heirloom "Golden-Backed Dragon King Blade", and for nearly ten years has not taken up arms against anyone.
Cang Gang
The Cang Gang has the Shangguan Family backing it, a secret everyone knows without saying, and even the Surging Wave Blade Technique evolved from the blade art passed down in the Shangguan family.
Many of the gang's members were recruited through Shangguan Ying's efforts. In their eyes she stands higher than the Gang Leader, and for her sake they would go through fire and water, following her north and south simply to earn money and settle their families.
Snow Mountain Sect
Shangguan Sun and the Sect Leader of the Snow Mountain Sect were once close friends, and before Xiahou Lan was born, the two had agreed to betroth their unborn children.
Yet when the Snow Mountain Sect came under attack by the Kongtong Sect and sought help from the Shangguan Family, the Family Head pleaded the great distance and coldly stood by, letting the Snow Mountain Sect be wiped out.
The Nangong Engagement
Nangong Shen and Shangguan Ying had been betrothed since childhood. The Jianghu praised them as a talented man and a beautiful woman, a match of equal standing. Yet the two were unsuited to each other, and in the end could not walk the road together.
After the Jiangling incident, Nangong Shen got the courtesan Yue Ping with child. Fearing that if the scandal came out, Shangguan Ying's temperament would lead her to do something regrettable, he used the excuse that she had once been abducted by Liu E to call off the engagement.
Plotting Against the Tang Clan
After the affair of the Tang Clan storming the execution ground, the Imperial Court came to deeply fear them, and used the Shangguan hand to meddle in Wulin affairs. Even as the head of one of the two great families, Shangguan Sun dared not oppose the Tang Clan head-on. He spent no small effort weakening the Tang Clan by roundabout means, and was one of the reasons the Tang Clan's debts piled up like a mountain.
Seeing Tang Zhongling gravely ill, he colluded with Shi Ming and Tang Shouhong to stir up internal strife in the Tang Clan, and at the Fengyu Mountain Assembly he let Shi Ming fling mud freely. Had the Imperial Court not been unwilling to startle the snake in the Wulin, they might have struck the Tang Clan dead even sooner.
Tang Weiyuan's merchant group was part of the scheme as well. Every proprietor in the group was arranged through Shangguan Ying's persuasion, all to keep him far from the Jianghu.
Golden-Backed Dragon King Blade
The Shangguan family heirloom. Together with Tan Badao's Broken Mountain Slash, the Guangzhou exile's Dream-Cutting Blade, and the 's Ghost Lotus King Blade, it is known as one of the Four Famous Blades of the Jianghu.
Legend says that when this blade leaves its sheath, it is like a golden-backed Flood Dragon sporting in the vast sea, rolling boats and ships and swallowing them in terrifying waves, the most vicious thing of all! Even Xiahou Lan's Iron Bone Umbrella cannot take it head-on; she used the Snow Mountain Sect's "Trembling Plum Branch", yet still could not shake off its clinging force, and it was hacked to tatters, too ruined even to be folded away.
On the day of his retirement, Shangguan Sun prayed to his ancestors over the blade and buried it in the Shangguan main courtyard to suppress evil. After the Fengyu Mountain Assembly it was dug up again, to be used on the day they attacked the Tang Clan.
Substitute Voucher
Not implemented: mentioned in Chat with Shangguan Ying.
Secret Manuals
Notes
- Introduction on Bird Bear's Facebook: Link
- There are many branch families of the Shangguan, but only the main family may bear the Shangguan surname, and the family business passes down a single line.
- Though they hold office under the Imperial Court, they do not much worry about the fires of war. When things look bad they will sail for Japan to keep out of harm, and they maintain ties with the Hojo Family. After the engagement with the was broken off, Shangguan Sun planned to marry Shangguan Ying into the Hojo Family.