Foreign relatives mainly refer to the matriarchs and wives of the emperors, and although the monopoly of foreign relatives in history has often occurred, it has shown a strange feature, that is, the two Han Dynasties, Wei and Jin Dynasties were the most serious, but they rarely occurred after the Tang and Song Dynasties. The reason for this situation is closely related to the reasons for the monopoly of foreign relations. So, what is the fundamental reason for the monopoly of foreign relations?
In the way the family world is ruled, foreign relatives become a helper and at the same time pose a threat
The typical feature of ancient Chinese dynasties is the hereditary monarchy, which forms a unique way of ruling the family world, that is, the emperor treats the country as a private property, which is passed on from generation to generation. The most important thing about this hereditary monarchy is to establish the stability of the throne, and in order to do this, successive dynasties have made various attempts.
Although the clan can strengthen the power of the imperial family to a certain extent, the expansion of the power of the clan will often threaten the position of the emperor. For the sake of the stability of the imperial throne and the smooth inheritance of the imperial throne, powerful foreign relatives often became a major help to the emperor.
Throughout the two Han Dynasties, Wei and Jin Dynasties, the emperor often chose to marry the prince, often choosing the daughter of a rich family, and the fundamental reason was that foreign relatives could help the emperor stabilize the throne. Even if the emperor's wives and clans were of mediocre origin, the emperor would often help him secure the throne by adding titles and promoting foreign relatives.
However, foreign relatives are a double-edged sword, and when the imperial power is relatively strong, it can indeed help the emperor to stabilize the imperial throne, but once the imperial power is weak, the foreign relatives will often suppress the imperial power in turn. In addition, in order to consolidate power, the courtiers often choose to marry the royal family.
The main reason for this situation is that the emperor's mother and wife clan are often rich and powerful, and they have great power before becoming foreign relatives. This situation did not improve until the Sui and Tang dynasties carried out large-scale imperial examinations and the door valve system gradually withdrew from the historical stage.
The disadvantages of emperor Guangwu's strengthening of centralized power led to the simpler monopoly of foreign relations
Since the establishment of the Chancellor system, the struggle between the monarchy and the right to the emperor has always existed, and after the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu took various measures to strengthen the imperial power, the most important of which was the reform of the official system.
Although the Eastern Han Dynasty still retained the positions of "Three Dukes" (Situ, Taiwei, and Sikong), it was no longer in charge of specific affairs, and became more of an honorary official title, while the specific authority was gradually transferred to Shangshutai. The "Shangshu" was originally a subordinate organ of the Shaofu, and it was only when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up the "Inner Dynasty" as opposed to the outer court on the basis of the "Shangshu", thus serving as his assistant in charge of the imperial government, and gradually shifting the power of the outer court to the inner court.
After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu further expanded the authority of "Shangshu" and eventually formed Shangshutai. Although the official rank of Shangshutai is not high, for example, Shangshu Ling is only a thousand stones, while Shangshu's servants are only six hundred stones, but Shangshutai is a typical micro-weight, not only all kinds of things in the imperial court, and directly obey the emperor, and this configuration of "small officials and large powers" is undoubtedly more conducive to the emperor's mastery.
Although Liu Xiu's measures to strengthen imperial power played a certain role in the early days of the Eastern Han Dynasty, because there were too many small emperors in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shang Shutai was conducive to the emperor's control of this feature, but it became a convenience for foreign relatives and eunuchs to control Shang Shutai. This situation was not further improved until the official system was comprehensively reformed again, that is, the three provinces and six ministries system was fully implemented.
The establishment of the empress dowager's position and the long-term concept of filial piety
Although due to the disintegration of the noble clan and the division of power caused by the reform of the official system, the phenomenon of monopoly of foreign relatives after the Tang and Song dynasties rarely appeared, the phenomenon of the empress dowager's claim to control the government still appeared from time to time. The reason for this phenomenon stems from the empress's position as a concubine and the concept of ruling the country with filial piety.
Before the Han Dynasty, queens and empresses in the harem, in addition to their relatively detached status, did not have the corresponding status of concubines, until the Han Dynasty established the status of empresses, so that when the emperor was young, cowardly, faint or interrupted, the empress dowager could supervise and elect heirs as guardians, and even the pro-dynasty title system.
In addition, since Emperor Wen of Han established the concept of ruling the country with filial piety, the rule of the country with filial piety has almost run through the entire feudal history, and once the empress dowager is encountered, the emperor is often at a disadvantage under the influence of the traditional concept of "filial piety", which makes it easy for the empress dowager to override the imperial power. And the empress dowager often had to rely on foreign relatives to consolidate power, which gave foreign relatives the opportunity to rise.
In summary, the most important reason for the emergence of the monopoly of foreign relatives is that the imperial family chooses relatives to maintain the stability of imperial power, as well as the excessive concentration of power in the imperial court, and with the gradual disintegration of these two factors after the Tang and Song dynasties, although the Tang and Song dynasties have appeared many times, there has also been a phenomenon of the emperor and the empress dowager, but there are few foreign relatives monopoly.