"Poor flower-like jade girl, born in the family of the emperors of the last days", this poem was originally composed by posterity out of sympathy for Princess Changping of the Chongzhen Emperor. But as long as they are women born in the imperial family or related to the imperial power, which fate is not like the princess of Changping, they not only cannot control their own life, but also like rootless duckweed, they can only go against the grain.
The preciousness of imperial power is what everyone wants, especially for Li Shimin, the king of Qin, the throne is close at hand. However, in 618, when Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty, he still broke his promise to his son Li Shimin, abided by the patriarchal etiquette, and made his eldest son Li Jiancheng the prince of Donggong. However, Li Yuan did not weaken Li Shimin's power, which was bound to cause the prince to be jealous of the King of Qin, and the King of Qin to covet the prince.
The two kings fought each other, and the only one who was the most pitiful and innocent was the woman. They have no say in the family, but if the men in the family commit crimes, they will also suffer. In 626, the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the fourth prince Li Yuanji conspired to bulldoze the Qin palace, but the Qin palace had already anticipated the enemy's opportunity and launched a mutiny at Xuanwu Gate in advance in the name of the prince's rebellion.
Although the history books record that Li Shimin's side was out of self-preservation, Li Shimin was the first emperor in history to ask to see the living notes, so it is not known how many truths and falsities there are in the history books. Moreover, after Li Shimin ascended to the throne, he then carried out "cutting the grass to remove the roots" for Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji's family, and erased most of their lives before they were born.
Combining the fragments of the history books and the archaeological findings of modern tomb remains, one can only make rough speculations about the families of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji. Li Jiancheng was born in 589, and his crown princess Zheng Guanyin was 10 years younger than him, and the two were married only in 614 during the reign of the Sui Emperor, when Zheng Guanyin was only 16 years old, while Li Jiancheng was already 26 years old.
Obviously, before Li Jiancheng married Zheng Guanyin, there were already other concubines in the palace, and they had children. It is just that Zheng Guanyin is a noble person, the daughter of Zheng Jibo of the Xingyang Zheng clan of the Northern Dynasty Wang, and the reason why he will be named "Guanyin" is also related to his father Zheng Jibo's belief in Buddhism and frequent contacts with senior monks.
In 618, when Li Jiancheng was crowned crown prince, she also naturally became a princess from a famous and prestigious family, and the mother's world was just around the corner. Li Jiancheng has at least 6 sons and 5 daughters, but I don't know which ones are for Zheng Guanyin's concubines, but Zheng Guanyin is kind, broad-minded, has the style of a master mother, and is very good to her children, making the family harmonious.
Unfortunately, the last of these children and grandchildren did not stay. After Li Jiancheng's death, except for the eldest son who died prematurely, who did not suffer, the other 5 sons were all killed by Li Shimin one by one. Since it was generally believed in ancient times that women did not care about the affairs of the clan, Zheng Guanyin and her daughters were able to save their lives.
It's just that the next life is extremely worrying, because of the sensitive identity, so Zheng Guanyin is impossible to remarry. At only 28 years old, she was claustrophobically confined inside the Changle Gate, where there were layers of heavy guards outside the door, and Zheng Guanyin never went out of the residence again in her life, and could only mourn her dead husband while raising her young daughter to grow up.
Among Li Jiancheng's 5 daughters, only the second daughter Li Wanshun was recorded to be married, and she was only named the lord of Wenxi County when she was 17 years old, if according to the original regulations, she should have been named the lord of the county early. Fortunately, Li Wanshun married a good husband, and Liu Yingdao, a general housekeeper, took her as a wife regardless of her status and loved her very much.
After their marriage, the two were poor and despised by the people of the time, but they never had contradictions and shared happiness and hardships. Unfortunately, Li Wanshun failed to grow old with Liu Yingdao and died at the age of 40. Liu Yingdao personally wrote an epitaph for his wife, and the queen did not remarry for more than 20 years.
Zheng Guanyin died in 676 at the age of 78, a relatively long life, but because he was nameless and had no points, he could only go out with his young daughter Guide County Lord, and finally buried with Li Jiancheng. These events are not recorded in the history books, but archaeologists who, when inspecting Zheng Guanyin's tomb, found that his epitaph was recorded, and was able to uncover the truth that was covered up 1300 years ago.
Some people may say that if the king is defeated, Zheng Guanyin can spend the rest of her life in peace is already a favor given to her by Li Shimin, but if you compare the hundred years of Li Yuanji's Princess Yang of Qi, you can know the misery of Zheng Guanyin. The Yang clan should not have remarried, and after Li Yuanji's death, his mansion was rewarded by Li Shimin to his enemy Wei Jingde, who personally shot him.
All five of Li Yuanji's sons were also killed, and the women who remained were imprisoned in a small room. Yang's status was extremely noble, and she was originally the niece of Yang Xiong, the former King of the Sui Dynasty, and it was probably for this reason that Li Shimin fished her out and let her fill her in his harem.
But Li Shimin did not give Yang the identity, so yang still lived in the harem as princess of the nest, and even gave birth to a prince for Li Shimin, who was so happy that he almost wanted to make her empress. However, the Yang clan was able to be favored by the family, and when Li Shimin found that the Yang clan could not bring him more benefits, the Yang clan fell out of favor, and the son was also passed on to Li Yuanji.
But compared with Zheng Guanyin, Yang's life is much freer, although the second half of his life is with the enemy who killed his son and husband, but he will not live his life alone, relatively speaking, it is still good. It is just that women in ancient times suffered this humiliation, and I don't know whether it was Li Shimin's cruelty or the actions of the times at that time.