As the saying goes: "Don't even think about it, don't forget it when you give it." Whether it is modern or distant ancient times, the feeling of repaying favors has never stopped, such as the Northern GuoSao of the State of Qi, in order to repay Yanzi's gift of grain, did not hesitate to kill himself to kill the sage of Ming Yanzi; Han Xin rewarded the woman who washed clothes with a reward of 1,000 taels; Zhang Zuolin, the king of the northeast, in order to repay the grace of Sun Widow's meal, regarded her as filial piety and sent her to her to old age. In fact, gratitude is the most common sentiment of people, and even the often said ruthless imperial family is full of gratitude everywhere.
The most common form of this gratitude is the emperor's gratitude for the nurturing grace of the nursing mother. For the word nursing mother, in fact, everyone is not unfamiliar, generally feeding little princesses or little princes in the palace, of course, in large noble families also often appear. In the Book of Rites, it is said that "the son of a scholar has a mother-eating mother". It can be seen that this profession has long been customized, and even there is a "milk house" outside the palace, which recruits rural women who have just given birth around 15 to 20 years old all year round. Because he is a close servant of the royal children, he will pay special attention to character and innocent family lineage when choosing.
As for why the harem concubines gave birth to children but did not raise them? In fact, there are reasons for this:
First, there is the problem of feudal etiquette. Women were severely restricted, especially those in the Imperial House, and more respectful of etiquette.
Second, in order to stay in shape. As the saying goes, women are pleasing to themselves. Not to mention facing the emperor who has countless beauties.
Finally, and most importantly, in order to alienate the relationship between the prince and the concubine and prevent the harem from interfering in politics, there was even a clear stipulation that "the son kills the mother".
Therefore, not raising children does not mean not loving children, but more of a symbol of identity and power. This is also the reason why the emperor has always been closer to the nursing mother. Then, as a nursing mother, once the nurturing prince ascends the throne, he can become a superior person and be respected, and the emperor will also give more or less rewards and rewards to the nursing mother out of the nurturing grace of the nursing mother.
Enjoy endless glory.
Being able to become an emperor's nursing mother is a matter of supreme glory. The so-called one-day selection, lifelong wealth, whether it is material, or power will be improved. Of course, this also depends on whether the prince fed is powerful or not. Just like Puyi's nursing mother Wang Lianshou, she played the role of both mother and teacher, and in Puyi's "The First Half of My Life", she also expressed her gratitude to Wang Lianshou. It's just a pity that Puyi's fate is too bumpy, if there is real power, Wang Lianshou's life must be very good. There is also Sun Quan in the Three Kingdoms period, in order to repay the nursing mother, specially established the Bao'en Temple for her, which can be said to have been passed down through the ages.
Be canonized and become a superior person.
When some gold, silver and jade objects could no longer express their gratitude, the emperor would crown the milk lady. Just like the Northern Wei Dynasty Emperor Tuoba Tao, in the future, he was grateful for the careful care of the nursing mother Dou Shi, who was first honored as empress dowager, and later promoted to empress dowager. This was mainly because of the Northern Wei "lizi kill mother" rule, so that Tuoba Tao pinned his thoughts on the birth mother on the nursing mother, plus Empress Dou herself was of high moral character, so she was raised as her birth mother. According to the records, after Empress Dou's death, Emperor Taiwu also ordered three days of mourning, which shows that her feelings are deep.
Promoted to concubine
Generally speaking, most of the relationship between the nursing mother and the prince is family affection, and it rarely develops into love. But everything has accidents, for example, Emperor Mingxianzong Zhu Jianshen fell in love with his own nursing mother Wan Zhen'er, so the first thing he did after he grew up and ascended the throne was to marry a nursing mother as a concubine. Wan Zhen'er entered the palace at the age of 4 and began to take care of the 2-year-old crown prince Zhu Jianshen at 19:00, and the relationship between the two can be described as mutually exclusive. Coupled with her cleverness and means, even if there are thousands of beautiful ladies in the harem of Zhu Mishen, she can still be favored, and if it is not the right group of courtiers, she almost becomes an empress. After her death, Emperor Mingxianzong also gave her a 7-day resignation and was buried as an empress. This kind of mother-child thinking is really amazing.
Of course, as long as there are no distractions in the mind, you will reap a lot of wealth and live your life in peace. However, there are also those who are not willing to be demons. For example, Emperor Wu of Han's nursing mother, Guo Shi, thought that she had fed the emperor, so she regarded herself as an onion. At first, Emperor Wu of Han was still responsive to Guo's needs, not only naming her son the Marquis of Dongwu, but also often rewarding Ayara silk, as long as It was Guo's favor, he would not hesitate to give it.
Unfortunately, after the Guo clan had a dependency, it became flying and domineering, not only openly robbing the people of their things, but also doing the business of selling officials. However, Emperor Wu of Han eventually thought about feeding himself and spared her. Although Guo Shi escaped the disaster of exile, his future life can be imagined, there is no longer a glory and favor, and he has been completely beaten back to his original form.
Therefore, the emperor is actually not ruthless, but there are too many emotions to bear, and he will not be able to take care of it, for fear of not being able to weigh it, so that he is mistaken for the emperor's ruthlessness. Just like Song Renzong in "Qing Ping Le", he has feelings for everyone, but some of them are hidden deep in their hearts and cannot be expressed.