Liu Bei, who was greeting guests outside the door, was taken aback when he saw Peckney dressed in a formal suit and with a big smile on his face.

He never expected that the de facto ruler of the Egyptian province would also come uninvited.

Fortunately, Liu Bei quickly regained his composure and went to greet him with a look of flattery.

"Welcome, Governor! Please come inside!"

Seeing Liu Bei's respectful demeanor, Peckney walked inside while politely smiling and saying, "Haha~ I've come uninvited, I hope I haven't caused you any trouble?"

"Governor, what are you saying? It is my honor that you can come to my wedding. How could it be a trouble?" Liu Bei replied with a smile.

Upon entering the mansion, Peckney immediately spotted the nobles and a group of burly Chinese merchants in the front hall.

"Haha~, looks like there are quite a few familiar faces today."

Although he said this, Peckney was also shocked by Liu Bei's influence.

It's important to understand that, even for Pekni, the de facto ruler of the Egyptian province, gathering these people together was no easy task.

Today, all these people have come to congratulate Liu Bei, which shows just how great the value of this younger brother of the emperor is.

"Greetings, Your Excellency!"

"How is Governor Pecney doing these days?"

Upon entering the front hall, everyone present stepped forward to greet Peckney, including Mi Zhu, who also rose and cupped his hands in greeting.

"Haha, very good! I'm here today only for the wedding of my younger brother Liu, so please don't stand on ceremony!"

Pecney smiled and returned the greetings to everyone, and then, guided by Liu Bei, he sat down next to Mi Zhu in front of the main seat.

After sitting down, Peckney turned to look at Mi Zhu beside him and said with a smile, "Manager Mi, it's been a while since you came to have tea with me. What have you been busy with lately?"

"To be honest, Governor, since the Chu envoy has occupied the southern territories of Parthia, there is an urgent need for a large amount of grain to maintain stability. I have been busy with this matter recently..."

The matter in Parthia is no longer a secret, and Mi Zhu has no intention of hiding it.

"Sigh~, the situation in Parthia has been stabilized, but you've driven up the price of grain here. Grain that used to sell for five copper coins a pound is now selling for twenty!"

Many people are already quite resentful!

Peckney sighed, a hint of reproach creeping into his words.

Because Han Chinese merchants and Roman merchants were constantly purchasing grain from all directions, the governor's office had to buy grain at high prices to maintain the army's needs.

Currently, the Governor's Office is facing financial difficulties, largely due to excessively high food prices.

Mi Zhu said helplessly, "The governor is right, but grain is a necessity. The main reason for its high price is that the lords in the countryside are hoarding it and trying to sell it at a high price. There's nothing we can do about it!"

Peckney nodded: "I know about this too. Those guys definitely need to be punished properly!"

Peckney also deeply resented those rural lords who controlled the grain.

But there's no way to deal with it right now. Although those lords all live in the countryside, each of them keeps a private army and a large number of slaves. Moreover, those lords are all in cahoots, and if one of them is moved, the whole situation will be affected. If we want to move against them, it will definitely not be possible without a sufficient army.

With only two legions under his command, it was clearly impossible for him to wipe out all the lords within the Egyptian province in one fell swoop.

However, in order to expand the legion's size, in addition to the consent of Augustus and the Senate, a large amount of money was also needed.

The former is easier to handle, as the governor has plenty of pretexts to expand the size of the legion. The most crucial issue is the problem of money and provisions.

Although Egypt was the wealthiest province in the entire Roman Empire and the region with the most grain production, most of the money and grain were in the hands of nobles and rural lords, while the governor's office only controlled a small portion.

After deducting the annual taxes payable to the city of Rome, the remaining funds, along with donations from the nobles, were barely enough to cover the expenses of the two legions.

With food prices so high, the already limited military budget is becoming even more difficult to sustain.

Without money, we can't fight those lords; if we can't fight those lords, the army will become increasingly difficult to maintain.

Thinking of all this, Peckney couldn't help but sigh bitterly.

Seeing Peckney's appearance, Mi Zhu immediately said, "If the Governor intends to punish those guys, I will definitely give my full support!"

"Oh?" Pecney's expression shifted, then he looked at Mi Zhu with interest: "With Manager Mi's support, this would be perfect. I wonder..."

"Ah, today is Brother Xuande's wedding day. As for the rest of the matters, how about we invite Brother Xuande to discuss them in detail another day?"

Mi Zhu also brought up the topic at the right time, and emphasized Liu Bei's status in his words.

"Manager Mi is right. We'll invite Brother Liu to come another day so we can discuss this in more detail!"

Pecney nodded in agreement with Mi Zhu and turned his gaze to Liu Bei.

By this time, all the guests had arrived, and the wedding officially began.

According to the customs of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei and Elena first bowed to Heaven and Earth, then bowed towards the direction of the Han Dynasty, and finally the couple bowed to each other, which concluded the entire process.

Afterwards, everyone took their seats and began to savor the delicacies from the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bei, on the other hand, became the undisputed protagonist, constantly moving between tables and drinking and chatting with the guests.

His dashing and unrestrained personality, along with the aristocratic air he exuded, further deepened the goodwill of everyone present towards Liu Bei.

Besides the guests inside the mansion, Liu Bei also went out of the mansion gate and toasted the people at the banquet outside the mansion, which once again won cheers and applause.

The wedding banquet lasted until late at night before the guests and hosts parted ways, having enjoyed themselves to the fullest.

Besides the guests attending the wedding banquet, as many as 50,000 ordinary people participated in the banquet alone.

The scale of Liu Bei's wedding was unprecedented, successfully making his name memorable to everyone.

Three days after the wedding, Elena, in the name of Liu Bei's wife, sent invitations to a group of noblewomen, inviting them to a party exclusively for women. Peckney's two daughters were naturally among those invited.

In response, Peckney not only agreed to let her daughters attend the dinner, but also repeatedly urged them to take the opportunity to get on good terms with Elina.

So, the two sisters, Pekoa and Pekovi, changed into their gorgeous gowns and headed towards Liu Bei's residence.