In our eyes, the emperor's three palaces, six courtyards, seventy concubines, harem beauties should be countless. But in fact, not all emperors had many concubines. For example, in the history of the Qing Dynasty, there was an emperor with 16 concubines, which was an emperor with fewer concubines in the history of the Qing Dynasty, and before the emperor died, only one concubine was left.
This emperor is the Jiaqing Emperor, and for the Jiaqing Emperor, posterity does not have a high evaluation, believing that this emperor does not have much talent, even if Shoucheng did not do his best. The Jiaqing Emperor also had a puzzling place, that is, the scarcity of concubines. This has also become a mystery of the history of the Qing Dynasty.
Jiaqing harem
Jiaqing was Qianlong's hand-picked heir, and even when he was crown prince, marrying his wife was also handled by Qianlong. As crown prince, he married the Hitara clan, the daughter of the head of internal affairs and Erjing' erjing. After passing the draft, he entered the palace and gave it to Jiaqing as his wife.
In the second year of the Qianlong Emperor's secret establishment of the crown prince, Qianlong ordered that the Xi Tara clan be made a concubine Fujin, when Jiaqing was only 15 years old, and under the edict of his father, his wife was made a wife. This is also the tradition of the Qing Dynasty, even if you marry the emperor, but there is no emperor's order, whether it is a concubine or a concubine, it is up to the emperor to decide.
However, before the Jiaqing Emperor could succeed to the throne, the Hitara clan died of illness in the forty-seventh year of Qianlong. However, he left Jiaqing with a son and two daughters. His son was Mianning, the Daoguang Emperor who later succeeded to the throne.
Shortly after the death of the Hitara clan, Jiaqing succeeded to the throne, and he made the Hitara clan empress dowager. Qianlong was still too emperor, so Jiaqing once again faced the problem of post-election. According to Qianlong's request, Jiaqing also crowned a noble concubine as empress, which was Niu Hulu, the daughter of Libu Shangshu Gongala. The Niu Hulu clan entered the palace through a draft as early as when Jiaqing did not succeed to the throne, and Jiaqing was only named a noble concubine shortly after succeeding to the throne.
Jiaqing, the empress of the Niuhulu clan, was longer than the first empress, and she did not die until the twentieth year of Daoguang, at the age of 74. The Niu Prayer Lu clan had two sons, the third prince Mian Kai and the fourth prince Mian Yan. Niu Hulu was a kind-hearted woman, and even though she bore jiaqing two sons, she treated mianning, the prince born to the former empress, very well. And later Mianning succeeded to the throne, thanks to the help of the Niuhulu clan.
In addition to the above two empresses, the Jiaqing Emperor also had a noble concubine, who was also called Niu Hulu. She was elected to the palace after Jiaqing succeeded to the throne, which is a concubine in history, and he Jiaqing had a son Mianyu.
In addition to the two concubines, there were more than ten concubines in the Jiaqing harem, but there are few records.
Why rare?
From the history of the Qing Dynasty, even if tongzhi, Guangxu, and Puyi, who could not have children, had many concubines, why did the Jiaqing Emperor only have 3 concubines? As for the reasons for the lack of concubines of the Jiaqing Emperor, later scholars in the study of this historical material believe that the Jiaqing Emperor was not beautiful and his health was not good, so the concubines were missing.
However, this statement contradicts the historical data, the reason why the Jiaqing Emperor lacked concubines was not because of his health, and the Jiaqing Emperor was very healthy. Instead, after Jiaqing succeeded to the throne, he wanted to set an example for the courtiers and the imperial family, not to marry many women, and to focus on the development of the Qing Dynasty.
During the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor, although the Qing Dynasty was still called prosperous, it was full of dangers, including uprisings in various places and official corruption. How to reverse the decline of the Qing Dynasty, although Jiaqing has no ability, but still has to do it. Therefore, in punishing corruption, Jiaqing cut the expenses of the imperial court, reduced large-scale activities, and even canceled the matter of Qianlong's lower Jiangnan.
It is said that the Jiaqing Emperor set an example for his ministers, and even patched his imperial robes. Of course, it also costs money to marry concubines, so reducing the number of concubines is also the reason why Jiaqing set an example.
However, it was normal for the emperor to marry multiple concubines, and the number of concubines of the Jiaqing Emperor was still small overall. There is also an explanation that the Jiaqing Empress Dowager is less because she was heartbroken by the affairs of the Qing Dynasty, and the affairs are busy, so that he has no time to think about it.
There is also a folk saying that the Jiaqing Emperor has a physical problem, does not like women, and likes eunuchs. But this is only a legend, and there is no historical data to prove it. The wild history is not credible.
Who is your favorite?
Of the three concubines of the Jiaqing Emperor, which one was his favorite? Judging from the historical records, the Jiaqing Emperor did not see which empress or concubine he liked. And the first emperor, Xi Tara, was the Qianlong Emperor who advocated the establishment of Consort Fujin, and Did Jiaqing like it? After the death of Hitara's illness, her son Mianning was deeply liked by Jiaqing. Moreover, in an assassination encountered by Jiaqing, Mianning was able to stand up and protect Jiaqing, which also made Jiaqing plan to pass the throne to Mianning in his heart.
And the second Niu Hulu clan, she and the Jiaqing Emperor for the longest time. According to historical records, the Niuhulu clan knew the Jiaqing Emperor best, and some of the major events encountered by the Jiaqing Emperor during his reign were experienced by the Niuhulu clan. The Jiaqing Emperor was assassinated twice, and the Niu Hulu clan also experienced it, and in the most dangerous times, the Niu Hulu clan was able to decisively defend itself.
However, of the two sons born to the Niuhulu clan, the third of whom, Miankai, was initially very popular with Jiaqing and was treated similarly to Mianning. It can also be seen that Jiaqing wants to focus on cultivating two sons to see who can succeed him. But after Jiaqing was assassinated, Mianning stepped forward, while Miankai was overwhelmed with fear. Since then, Jiaqing has been dissatisfied with Miankai and belittled him at every turn. Even Jiaqing reprimanded the third son on the grounds that he did not use merit in reading.
But the first time Jiaqing was assassinated was in 1803 (the eighth year of Jiaqing), when Mianning was 24 years old and an adult. And Miankai is only 9 years old, how dare such a young age stand up to protect Jiaqing?
Later, jiaqing had a birthday, the third son Miankai did not go to the hehe fold, the Jiaqing Emperor was not satisfied, ordered a punishment of Fengyin for half a year, and even Miankai's teacher was punished.
Judging from these historical records, Jiaqing's dissatisfaction with the third son was not because of the assassination, but most likely because of the dissatisfaction of the NiuHulu clan. Moreover, at this time, the successor candidate in Jiaqing's heart was also selected, that is, Mianning.
After Jiaqing's death, the Niu Hulu clan did not find the golden box of Jiaqing's secret reserve after arriving at the Zhengda Guangming Plaque, and the Niu Hulu clan ordered Mianning to succeed to the throne in the name of the empress. This can be seen that as early as when Jiaqing was alive, Mianning had already been set to succeed to the throne.
Judging from the analysis of these historical materials, the Jiaqing Emperor had deep feelings for the first empress.
Reference: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty