Through the study of the imperial burial system after the Entry of the Qing Dynasty, it was found that if the empress died before the emperor, she would be buried with the emperor, and if she died after the emperor, a separate mausoleum would be built. In this case, the empress would generally be buried only once, however, there was an empress in the Qing Dynasty who was buried back and forth three times, and she was the Daoguang Emperor's original empress Xiao Mucheng.
Empress Xiaomucheng came from the most prominent descendant of the Qing Dynasty, the Niuhulu clan, and also belonged to the top of the famous Hongyi Gongfu, Hongyi Gong refers to one of the Later Jin Kai State Ministers, Yidu, this branch of the Niuhulu clan is extremely prominent in the history of the Qing Dynasty, successively produced Empress Xiaozhao, Empress Xiaosheng, Empress Xiaohe, Empress Xiaomu and Empress Xiaozhen five Empresses of the Qing Dynasty (Note: Empress Xiaoquan has the same surname as Niu Hulu, but not from the Yidu branch), in addition, the Yidu branch also produced like Emperor Taizong Yuanfei, Shengzu Wen Concubine, Gaozong Shunfei, The six concubines, such as Concubine Cheng, Emperor Renzong, And Concubine Xuanzong Xiang, can be said to be the giants in the harem of the Qing Dynasty.
Moreover, the Hongyi Mansion was divided into sixteen chambers (Note: Er also had sixteen sons), of which the most prominent was the sixteenth fang, and the Empress Xiaomucheng was from the Tuobilong lineage, who was the fourth granddaughter of the Shubilong.
In the first year of Jiaqing, after emperor Qianlong passed the throne to the Jiaqing Emperor, the Jiaqing Emperor immediately ordered a temporary eight-flags draft, the purpose of which was to give the emperor's second son Mianning the choice of Concubine Fujin, this time, the Jiaqing Emperor was wise and discerning, and he finally selected the granddaughter of the famous Qianlong Dynasty general Arigun, Niu Hulu, who later became Empress Xiaomucheng. It is speculated that in this marriage, the Qianlong Emperor of Taishang should have a great say, because Aligun was a very important general of the Qianlong Emperor, and the two families had been married many times, for example, the Qianlong Emperor pointed out Arigun's daughter to the seventeenth Brother Yongxuan as a concubine Fujin.
There are relatively few records about the life of Empress Xiaomucheng in the court of the Niuhulu clan, but from the situation of the children of Mianning (Daoguang Emperor), from the first year of Jiaqing to the birth of Yiwei, the eldest son of Mianning in the thirteenth year of Jiaqing, during this period, The Fujin and concubines of Mianning did not give birth to a child, which may show two points: First, Mianning paid more attention to birth, he put his main energy on the Niuhulu clan in the early stage, and rarely favored other women. Second, Niu Hulu was an extremely strict woman, which can be seen through her title of Empress Xiaomucheng.
At the beginning of the thirteenth year of Jiaqing, as a Mianning concubine Fujin, the 28-year-old Niu Hulu clan died of illness, when the Jiaqing Emperor ordered the Niu Hulu clan to be buried in the garden of Wang Zuo Village with a golden yellow seat cover. After the Daoguang Emperor succeeded to the throne, he posthumously honored the original Niu Hulu clan as Empress Xiaomu, and, after some controversy, the Daoguang Emperor decided to build his own mausoleum in Dongling, the Baohuayu Underground Palace.
In the seventh year of Daoguang, the Daoguang Emperor ordered empress Xiaomu to be buried from Wang Zuocunyuan to Baohuayu Underground Palace, however, unexpectedly, the next year, the Baohuayu Underground Palace saw water seepage, so the Daoguang Emperor abandoned the Baohuayu Mausoleum and changed it to Longquanyu in Xiling to build a mausoleum.
In the fifteenth year of Daoguang, the Longquanyu Mausoleum was basically completed, and the Daoguang Emperor ordered empress Xiaomu to be buried in the underground palace, which was the later Muling. As a result, Empress Xiaomu was buried three times before and after, and finally she could be buried in the ground, and she was the most frequently buried empress in the Qing Dynasty.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Qing Shilu, Secret History of the Imperial Tombs of the Great Qing Dynasty