Nine Ministers
The emperor's sisters and daughters were made either senior princesses, who shared the same rank as kings, or princesses, who shared the same rank as full marquesses; a princess's fief was typically the size of a county. The husband of a princess was ranked as a marquess. The daughters of kings were also princesses, but their fiefs were typically the smaller size of county districts, and could not be inherited by sons. Unlike the fiefs of kings and marquesses, the staffs of the princesses' fiefs answered directly to one of the Nine Ministers: the Minister of the Imperial Clan.