Xiao Baoyue sat properly, her hands lightly folded over the hem of her robes, her slender fingers like tender willow shoots in spring; her expression was respectful and gentle, like moonlight on an autumn night.
She was waiting for Wang Yang to explain the calamity of the Partisan Prohibitions.
Wang Yang ate some fruit and drank some wine, his gaze wandering idly around the room. He leisurely loosened his limbs and stretched for a while before finally speaking:
"The Zhou Dynasty enfeoffed its realm, with high ministers at court and feudal lords beyond; Qin abolished the feudal lords and placed the entire realm under the Son of Heaven.
Han succeeded Qin and restored some of the older institutions, drawing on three major groups-the imperial clan, imperial in-laws, and meritorious officials-to assist in governing the state. The Son of Heaven's power was divided as well, and was no longer what it had been under Qin.
After Emperor Jing, the imperial clan's influence declined by the day; the descendants of meritorious officials could not preserve their positions either. Only the imperial in-laws rose with each new emperor's accession, generation after generation without interruption.
When Emperor Wu gathered power into his own hands, he divided the court into an inner and an outer court, with the chancellor leading the outer court and the imperial in-laws leading the inner.
Because the imperial in-laws were the Son of Heaven's personal relatives, more trustworthy than the imperial clan, and their influence shifted with each new emperor, they were granted the title of General-in-Chief to assist the Son of Heaven and counterbalance the outer court.
At its root, this happened because the Son of Heaven wished to gather power into his own hands and therefore relied on his in-laws.
Emperor Guangwu united the realm and kept all