Why did ancient emperors prefer to use relatives instead of relatives? Are relatives better than relatives?

The roles of clan members, relatives, nobles, and eunuchs have almost run through the entire ancient feudal dynasty. There is only one reason why these people appear, and that is for the emperor to check and balance.

For example, in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperors in the late Eastern Han Dynasty were basically young and ascended the throne. Therefore, the power of their relatives was very large. In order to resist this huge power of their relatives, the emperor chose to support eunuchs or nobles to fight against it.

The same is true for the confrontation between clan relatives and foreign relatives.

Relatives refer to the emperor’s mother or wife’s family. In today’s terms, they are the woman’s family, while clan relatives are just the opposite, they are the man’s family.

Such a difference may not make much difference in modern times, but in ancient times the difference was huge. After all, in ancient times, men were respected.

As the emperor's brothers and uncles, it means that they are of royal blood, which also means that they have the opportunity to sit on the throne of the emperor.

Therefore, no matter which dynasty, the emperor always prevents and guards against clan relatives. A kinder emperor might just spy on you, but a cruel emperor might just go on a killing spree.

The situation is different for relatives.

The influence of relatives is on the side of the woman. There are two situations here:

One is the influence of the relatives on the side of the emperor’s mother, typically such as Empress Lu; the other is the influence of the emperor’s mother. A typical example of the influence of relatives on the wife's side is Wei Zifu.

Let’s talk about the forces on the side of the emperor’s mother and queen first. Since it has been mentioned here that this is the force on the side of the emperor's mother, then naturally this lineage is completely on the side of the emperor.

Because the Queen Mother’s own son is already the emperor, there is no need to do anything extra. As for the power of this lineage, the emperor was very confident in using it. Of course, there will be exceptions, such as Empress Lu, Wu Zetian, etc. However, this is a minority after all.

As for the influence of the Queen's relatives, they are actually more dangerous. Their level of danger is no less than that of the clan, or even more so.

Because often the relatives of the queen will try their best to fight for the crown prince's position for the queen's princes. It would be good if there is a biological child, but even if there is no biological child, the queen can adopt a son of the clan.

For example, the queen in "Nirvana in Fire".

Therefore, to a certain extent, the threat of this kind of influence from relatives is no less than that of clan disciples.

However, under normal circumstances, the queen's relatives would not do anything extraordinary, because the eldest son inheritance system was still very powerful in ancient times.

Finally, let’s talk about clans. Clan relatives are also divided into two categories: one is those with power, such as being granted kingship and fiefdom, and the other is powerless, those who can only enjoy glory and wealth.

The ones with power who made relatively big noises in history basically belong to the early Western Han Dynasty, the early Western Jin Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty. They are respectively the Rebellion of the Seven Kings, the Rebellion of the Eight Kings and the Battle of Jingnan.

These three examples are basically that the royal family members rebelled in the name of the Qing emperor, but only Zhu Di succeeded.

From these three examples, we can actually see the threat they pose to the emperor. It is not unreasonable for the emperor to guard against them.

As for the second type of clan, there is no threat. Because they are actually just idle princes kept in captivity by the imperial court. They can live a good life, but they have no real power, and the emperor is happy to see this situation.

To sum up, whether it is relatives or clan relatives, they may pose a threat to the emperor. Who the emperor relies on and who he fears depends on the actual situation.