Establishing commanderies.
The interests involved were immense. This was not merely an ordinary, centrally appointed Two-Thousand-Shi Commandery Governor's post, but at least one High-ranking Marquis's state!
Much had already been said about how desirable the Han Court's High-ranking Marquis titles were. Provided one did not court death by rebelling, they could guarantee a family at least a century of supreme wealth and glory. Compared with an ordinary appointed office, this truly was a golden rice bowl.
As Great Han's system of rotating feudal appointments developed from its rough beginnings toward maturity, its accompanying system of enfeoffing marquises gradually acquired established rules. Adapted from the Zhou State's Upper Minister system, it created a division of governance between commanderies or kings and marquises, both in commanderies directly under the court and in the kingdoms of the Lords King: three marquises in an upper commandery or kingdom, two in a middle one, and one in a lower one.
Although the emperor had said nothing about enfeoffing High-ranking Marquises, wherever there was a commandery, there had to be a feudal state. This was an iron law of politics at present. Unless the emperor was willing to brave universal condemnation to break that iron law, he certainly would not do something that brought him no benefit whatsoever.
The moment the imperial decree was issued, everyone in the hall knew the realm would no longer be peaceful. The question of whether to establish commanderies alone would provoke enormous debate. Not everyone possessed such boldness and vision.
Gongsun Hong brought the decree to the Chancellor's Office. The Chancellor wielded enormous power: imperial decrees needed his seal before they could be dispatched to the commanderies and kingdoms. If he disagreed, he could even reject the emperor's decree outright. Generally, however, a Chancellor who did so was not far