....that despite Wu ti's clear role in favorising Confucianism as the main school of thoughts, it was under his reign that the other school, Legalism, reached a pic in terms of political influence on the affairs of state.

There were two political "groups" opposing each other at the time: the Modernists, who, generally speaking, were of Legalist frame of mind, and the Reformists, whose opinions were clearly Confucean.

The Modernists were in favor of an expansionist policy, while the Reformists saw no interest in conquests and trade of luxury products. The energy spent to secure the first "Silk Road" is clearly a victory for the Modernists.

This is the most obvious sign of their power over politics at the time, but it was also true of the developments regarding the economy and the application of the law, as well as the development of the capital city of Chang'an as well, where many estblishments dedicated to leisures grew, something totally against the confucean ideals of morality!

Such a contradiction maybe could be explained by the fact that the Emperor himself usually held more of a "formal" power and that his main influence was in the religious domain.