History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
In ancient times, there were many criteria for choosing an empress, such as beauty, talent, mendi, etc., which were different in successive dynasties, and in most cases, in order to make the royal bloodline continue to be noble, concubines and so on would also be selected by the famous nobles.
However, it was different during the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang period. He ordered: "Son of Heaven, the spouses of all the princes and generals must be chosen from the people." "People have mixed opinions about such a rule.
Some people think that Zhu Yuanzhang himself is a grassroots emperor, so he is closer to the people, sympathetic to the people, and hopes to let some ordinary people change their fate. There is also a saying that in order to consolidate his political power, Zhu Yuanzhang was afraid of foreign relatives interfering in politics and was not easy to handle.
Whatever the reason, in short, this is definitely a good thing for the people. As long as there are beautiful women of the right age in the family, they have the opportunity to ascend to the heavens one step at a time and improve their status. When the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was in power, he still retained this rule and accepted concubines through the way of folk draft women.
His first empress, Chen Shi, was born in a very ordinary family, but she was born beautiful, gentle and virtuous, and stood out in the selection of the draft women, and the empress dowager also nodded to her continuously. Later, when she was only 14 years old, she became empress and managed the affairs of the harem.
Chen's father was a poor reader, although his ancestors were also readers, and he had served as an official in the middle of the door, but in his father's generation, he could not get a meritorious name. According to historical records, his father began to take the meritorious examination from a young age, and when he reached the age of 50, he did not even pass the xiucai examination. However, since her daughter became empress, he was promoted to the rank of abbot and his status became noble.
The emperor was very good to this old man, and recruited the old man into the capital and built him a luxurious mansion. Jiajing is not only materially good to lao zhangren, but also gives lao zhang's face in handling things. Once, the old man Chen Wanyan bullied others and robbed other people's land, and the people could not bear such humiliation and launched a dispute, but they did not expect Chen Wanyan's men to directly beat him to death.
It was all Chen Wanyan's fault, but when Jiajing heard about it, he personally handled the matter, directly favoring Lao Zhangren, releasing Lao Zhangren's men, and directly awarding land to Lao Zhangren. In this way, this old man really ascended to the heavens in one step, and his life was very leisurely. However, the good times did not last long, because of one of his daughter's moves, he fell to the bottom again.
When Chen Shi was 21 years old, she was pregnant with a dragon son, which can be described as a celebration and a great joy. One day, the emperor, the empress and Concubine Zhang Shunfei drank tea together, and when pouring the tea, the emperor noticed that Concubine Shun's hand was very tender and smooth, so he touched it and flirted. Chen Shi immediately became jealous and directly threw Fang Feijing's teacup to the ground, ready to get up and leave.
The emperor saw that the queen did not give herself face, and humiliated herself in public, very angry, directly pulled the queen and kicked the queen in anger. This foot made the fate of the Chen family completely change. After the Tai Doctor checked that the blood flow did not stop Chen Shi, who fell to the ground, kicked and killed both of them.
After Jiajing kicked the mother and son to death, his anger did not disappear or regret, but instead lowered the level of burial and was given the title of Empress of Mourning. Chen Wanyan also fell to the bottom, the emperor no longer paid attention to him, and seven years later he died of depression.
It was not until the fifteenth year of Jiajing, due to the re-proposal of Shangshu of the Rebbe, that the Jiajing Emperor changed his title back to "Empress Xiaojie". It can be said that the heavens and the earth are only in a moment.