As the saying goes, behind every successful man, there is always a woman who pays silently. This sentence makes a lot of sense, whether it is put in the past or now, it is more applicable. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, just because he found a good daughter-in-law, so this cause became bigger and bigger, and finally founded the Ming Dynasty.
When it comes to this woman, some readers and friends may not be unfamiliar, and they know that she is the famous horse queen. Today I will introduce you to the story of this person.
Empress Ma was a native of Suzhou, but she was also a child of hard life since she was a child, and her parents died when she was a child. When her father was dying, he entrusted her to Guo Zixing. Guo Zixing was a leader of the rebel army at that time and was very righteous. He directly recognized Empress Ma as his own dry daughter and regarded her as his own. The "History of Ming" records: "Ma Gong pawn, zi Xingyu is like his own daughter".
After a few years of sending people to the fence, Empress Ma will soon usher in a big turnaround in her life.
After Zhu Yuanzhang joined Guo Zixing's team, because of his good performance, Guo Zixing valued him very much and thought that this person would definitely make great achievements in the future. In order to win him over, Empress Ma was given to Zhu Yuanzhang. Empress Ma and Zhu Yuanzhang should have also seen and understood in the army, perhaps the two of them have secretly had feelings, so for Guo Zixing's arrangement, the two did not refuse.
In this way, Empress Ma went from losing her father and mother at an early age, to sending people to the fence, and now marrying Zhu Yuanzhang, forming her own small family, and achieving a big leap in her life.
The empress ma after marriage was very virtuous, and if a representative was chosen among all the good wives and mothers, then it must be her. Empress Ma did a lot of things in the process of Zhu Yuanzhang's entrepreneurship, which can be called Zhu Yuanzhang's xiannai helper.
Because Zhu Yuanzhang's performance is too prominent, the merit is also great, and the person who has achieved great merit will always be suspected by the leader. Guo Zixing was suspicious of Zhu Yuanzhang all day, worried that he would have to do something wrong. Empress Ma naturally also saw it in her heart, on the one hand was her husband, on the other hand, her adoptive father, and both sides had to take care of the whole. However, Empress Ma was also really smart, and under her movements, Guo Zixing quickly dispelled his suspicions about Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang had the possibility of further development.
And after Zhu Yuanzhang pulled up his own team and became the leader of the rebel army. Once again, the Horse Queen played a big role.
When Zhu Yuanzhang led his troops to fight on the front line, Empress Ma personally led the women to sew clothes and shoes for the soldiers in the rear, and at any time pacified the wives and concubines of the soldiers who stayed in the rear, making great contributions to Zhu Yuanzhang's consolidation of the stability of the rear.
In the first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang was the emperor, and Empress Ma was officially made empress. This troubled couple finally created this great cause together.
The ancients said that it is easy to enter luxury from thrift, and it is difficult to enter frugality from luxury. But here at Ma Queen, it doesn't seem to be a difficult task. Even after becoming empress, Empress Ma still maintained a hard and simple style. She often advised Zhu Yuanzhang that if it were just decided today, the people had not yet lived a good life, so life could not be too luxurious.
Not only did she say that, she did it. She often cooks herself and cooks some coarse tea and light rice for Zhu Yuanzhang, such as cooking cakes, wild vegetables and other meals. Zhu Yuanzhang naturally understood that his daughter-in-law was for himself and for the sake of the world, so he ate very happily. Lao Zhu also often praised Empress Ma in front of his ministers and compared her to empress dowager of the Tang Dynasty. The History of the Ming Dynasty records that "each pair of courtiers described Hou Xian as the same as Empress Dowager Changsun of the Tang Dynasty."
Empress Ma listened to Zhu Yuanzhang praise herself like this, but she was very modest, and she said so: "Concubines and husbands are easy to protect, and it is difficult for kings and subjects to protect each other." His Majesty does not forget the concubines and the poor, and wishes not to forget the hardships of the monarchs and subjects. And the concubine He dares to be better than the empress dowager."
This speech is very high-level, not only to be humble and courteous, to deepen the feelings between husband and wife, but also to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang not to forget to fight the brothers in the world together. Old Zhu listened to this, can he not be happy? In dealing with the relationship between the monarch and the courtiers, Empress Ma really did not contribute less.
The most typical thing is the "Song Lian case".
Song Lian was implicated because his grandson was involved in the "Hu Weiyong case", so Zhu Yuanzhang planned to kill him. Empress Ma came out to persuade Lao Zhu, because Song Lian was the teacher of the crown prince Zhu Biao, so Empress Ma took this as an entry point, she said that the people of the people still respect the teacher, let alone the emperor? Moreover, Song Lianjiu was at home and did not know about this matter. But this time Old Zhu did not listen, and only asked Empress Ma to serve him dinner.
Empress Ma prepared a table of meals for Lao Zhu, but there was no wine or meat. Old Zhu was not happy and asked Empress Ma why she did not prepare wine and meat. Empress Ma said that this was a blessing for Mr. Song. The subtext is to tell Lao Zhu that you have done something wrong and that you need to correct it.
After Listening to It, Old Zhu thought about it again and realized that it was really inappropriate for him to do so. On the second day of the ascension, Song Lian's capital offense was pardoned and changed to Fabei Maozhou.
And this is just one thing that Empress Ma has done, and in her many years as empress, she has saved the lives of many ministers.
In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Empress Ma fell seriously ill. The ministers thought of Empress Ma's goodness on weekdays, and Zhang Luo was going to make a sacrifice to pray for Empress Ma's exorcism, but Empress Ma refused the ministers' kindness. She advised Zhu Yuanzhang that life and death are destiny, and there is no need to raise the masses because of this, and she also begged Lao Zhu not to cure the doctor's sins if he died.
Until her death, Empress Ma still had someone else in mind.
In this year, Empress Ma still came to the end of her life, and before she died, she left this last word: "May Your Majesty seek advice from the wise, and be cautious in the end, and all the children and grandchildren will be wise, and the subjects will be rewarded."
Empress Ma's last thought is that Zhu Yuanzhang can be a good emperor, her children and grandchildren can become a sage, and the common people can live a good life.
How many good queens like this are there? It is no exaggeration to call her the most virtuous empress of the Ming Dynasty.