Text/Feng Xuanyi
Whenever I mention the misery of the last chaotic royal family, I always think of the words that the Chongzhen Emperor said to his daughter: "Ru He gave birth to my family." This sentence really fulfills the tragic fate of the last royal family. However, many people who know this sentence may not know the fate of the girl later.
The Chongzhen Emperor said this to his daughter Princess Changping. At that time, the rebel army invaded Beijing, and Chongzhen ordered Empress Zhou to hang herself. Princess Changping, who had heard the news, hugged Empress Zhou's corpse and cried bitterly. Chongzhen was helpless, and Princess Changping climbed to Chongzhen's feet, hugged Chongzhen's legs, and burst into tears.
Emperor Yue: "Why did Ru give birth to my family!" "Say it, swing your sword and cut off your left arm."
Chongzhen originally slashed at her head, but when swinging the sword, the princess instinctively raised her hand to block the following, cutting off her hand, but did not hurt her head. Seeing the scene of blood flowing all over the ground, Chongzhen "stopped with his hands" and turned around and walked out of The Shouning Palace.
After that, Chongzhen hanged himself on the coal mountain.
The ladies in the palace all thought that Princess Changping had bled too much and died. He Xin, the shangyi supervisor, and fei shi, a palace maid, were worried about the princess's "body" being humiliated, and planned to find a place to bury it, but when they were cleaning up, they found that she still had a trace of breath. They smuggled the unconscious princess out of the palace and sent her to the palace of her maternal grandfather, Empress Zhou's father, Zhou Kui. Zhou Kui saw that her arm had been cut off and had lost too much blood, and she was sure that she would not be able to live. He carried her to an empty room and waited for her to catch her breath. Unexpectedly, she did not breathe, and she woke up five days later. After being healed, she survived.
For the female relatives of the Chongzhen Emperor, the Qing Dynasty was particularly gracious. Because they can't be supported by the Han people. Giving preferential treatment to them will help the Qing Dynasty to unite people's hearts and minds.
Zhou Kui had already surrendered to the Qing Dynasty at this time, and he did not dare to hide the fact that the princess survived. Knowing that Princess Changping was still alive, the Qing court ordered Zhou Kui to treat the princess kindly and allocated a sum of money to the princess as her living expenses.
The surviving princess did not feel that she was lucky, and she often said to the people around her: "Father and Emperor gave me death, how dare I steal life?" "She washed her face with tears all day and had almost no joy in living a good day.
In the second year of Shunzhi, the crown prince of Chongzhen, Zhu Cixi, the brother of Princess Changping, fled back to Beijing after many hardships, and he sneaked to find his grandfather Zhou Kui's house like a beggar. Princess Changping was very excited when she saw her brother, and the two sat in tears. Zhou Kui saw the former prince and was happy and surprised. The good news is that he did not die, and he was able to reunite with his relatives in his lifetime. What is shocking is how he should deal with this "emergency".
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, it vigorously searched for chongzhen's descendants, especially for Chongzhen's male descendants, and spared no effort. Among them, the crown prince Zhu Cixi was the focus of the search.
Zhou Kui has surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and now that the former crown prince has come to his house, will he report it or not? If he reported it, Zhu Cixiu would definitely be killed; if he did not report it, if he was discovered by the imperial court, the whole family would have to die. After two days of entanglement, he still reported the matter to the imperial court.
When Dorgon got the news, he was surprised that the key criminal who had been pursuing for so long could be caught so easily. However, this also gave Dolgun a problem. If he kills, it is contrary to the national policy of giving preferential treatment to the descendants of the Ming Dynasty; if he does not kill, it will be a lot of trouble to keep him. Dorgon thought about it and finally had a brilliant idea, he determined that this Zhu Cixi of the Zhou Kui family was a fake, and then sent someone to take it down, and quickly beheaded him on trumped-up charges such as "pretending to be the prince of the former dynasty" and "demagoguery".
The brother who had just met had left him forever, and Princess Changping was devastated. She was only 16 years old, and such a blow was unbearable for this young girl. Her thoughts were all gray. In desperation, she wrote to the imperial court and asked to become a nun. But the imperial court rejected her request.
The Qing court not only disagreed with Princess Changping's request, but also actively searched for the former horse Zhou Shixian.
It turned out that two years ago, the Chongzhen Emperor had already chosen a donkey for Princess Changping, named Zhou Shixian. However, their wedding was interrupted by the chaos of the war, and Zhou Shixian was nowhere to be found.
In order to buy people's hearts, the Qing Dynasty vigorously promoted the "generous treatment" of the descendants of the Ming Dynasty, and sent people to search for the whereabouts of Zhou Shixian to complete the wedding that had been interrupted for the princess.
Shortly after she asked for renunciation, Zhou Shixian was "finally" found. The imperial court allocated a huge amount of money and arranged for someone to hold a wedding for Princess Changping. Weddings are grand and extravagant. The purpose is to let the people of the world see that daqing is "how to treat" the descendants of the Ming dynasty, so that the people of the world can praise the "deep benevolence and virtue" of the qing.
This wedding is undoubtedly a torment for Princess Changping. She held back tears and insisted on completing the various procedures of the wedding, and then lay down on the bed, her face like ashes, without saying a word.
A few months later, the Qing army captured Nanjing, and the Hongguang small court was completely destroyed. The captured Emperor and prince of the Southern Ming Dynasty were executed in Beijing. After learning this news, Princess Changping was once again desperate, and she could not afford to be ill. On August 18 of the third year of Shunzhi, Princess Changping, who was only eighteen years old, died in despair, by which time she was five months pregnant.
After the death of Princess Changping, the Qing court buried her outside the Quang Ninh Gate and held a grand funeral. This bitter woman, who has finally completed her short life, presumably, in another place, she will be happy.