In ancient society, the status of the empress dowager was so honorable that even the supreme emperor had to respect her for three points, however, the Qing Dynasty had a concubine who dared to openly oppose the empress dowager and point to the corpse of the empress dowager and scold her, which was a unique existence. Moreover, this concubine was also honored as an imperial concubine through four dynasties, and lived until her death in 1932, and she was the jingyi imperial concubine.
1. Daughter of the upstart of the Eight Flags family
Emperor Jingyi's noble concubine Hesheli, a Manchurian Zhenglan bannerman, was born on the first day of June in the sixth year of Xianfeng, and was the daughter of Chongling, the prefect of Leizhou, Guangdong.
Speaking of this Herschel, the first thing that comes to mind is the first sony family in the early years of Kangxi, because Sony's granddaughter was made empress by Kangxi, and because Sony's son Soetu was reused, the Herschel clan became a noble relative of the imperial court. However, later, the crown prince was deposed twice, and the Herschel clan went from prosperity to decline, but it was still much stronger than the average family.
The Sony branch of the Hersheli clan belongs to the Manchurian Zhenghuang Banner, while the Jingyi Emperor's noble concubine is from the Manchurian Zhenglan Banner, so the two families do not have any cousin relationship, just the same surname. Moreover, the Hesheri clan of The Jingyi Emperor's concubines was not prominent in the early Qing Dynasty, but only soldiers sent by the imperial court to Xi'an for garrison.
Until the generation of Shu Xing'a, the grandfather of Emperor Jingyi's concubine, Shu Xing'a himself worked hard and studied hard, first passing the Wenjuren examination in the first year of Daoguang, and then entering the jinshi in the twelfth year of Daoguang, and then being transferred to the Beijing Division to become the Beijing Banner. Although Shu Xing'a was dismissed from his post in the later years of Daoguang, Xianfeng was reinstated after succeeding to the throne, and thereafter he successively served as the inspector of Yunnan, the chief soldier, and the minister of internal affairs, and returned to the capital in the seventh year of Xianfeng due to illness.
It is said that Shu Xing'a had a total of five sons, the eldest name Xi Ling, the second name Chongling, the third Song Ling, the old four Hui Ling, the old five Yi Ling, these five sons all served as intermediate officials, and began to marry with the clan royal family, in one fell swoop to establish the status of the new upstart of the Hesheli family.
Among them, the second eldest, Chongling, served as the prefect of Leizhou in Guangdong, and this was the father of The Noble Concubine of the Jingyi Emperor.
In addition, Emperor Jingyi had a cousin married to Pu Yu (溥楙), the Duke of Zhenguo (镇国公公), another cousin to Yu Long (毓隆), a scholar of the Xiaozong Ceremonial Academy of the Imperial Palace, and a sister to Prince Gong's second son, Prince Gong Yixuan (奕訢), namely Belle Zaiying (滢) as Concubine Fujin.
2. Selected concubines of Tongzhi
In the eleventh year of Tongzhi, the Tongzhi Emperor was already 17 years old, and it was time to marry, and in February of this year, the empress dowager of the two palaces held the Eight Flags Draft, and a total of five showgirls were selected into the palace, one of which was the daughter of the prefect Chongling, Yu Concubine Hesheli.
"The Jiao wei Jiao Ting yi yi." Zi Xiang praised Kun Yi. Lan Dian Chenghui. Xi Baorong was in Sunda. Shin Lun Pi Huan. Mawdian Sichang. Shri Hersheli. Be humble. Be humble. Sowing xuan's edict. Etiquette is unashamed. The Aromatic Type of Xie Heng Pei. Jia is called Yun Vice. Hereby hereby honor The Will of Empress Dowager Cixi Duanyou of The Crown Princess Dowager Cixi. He was enthroned as a concubine. Erqi coat of arms. Be clothed by elephants to increase glory. Internal piousness. Yi Hongqi and Yanqing. Thanks. ”
In addition to the Herschel clan, there were also the Empress Aluth clan, the Hui Concubine Fucha clan, the Xun Concubine Arut clan, and the Noble Lady XilinJue Luo clan.
In this draft, people's attention was on two people, one was the Empress Alute clan, and the other was the Huifei Fucha clan, these two show girls were supported by the two palace empresses Ci'an and Cixi, and finally the Tongzhi Emperor finalized the Arut clan into the middle palace.
Therefore, the main contradiction in the harem of the Tongzhi Emperor is also reflected in these two people, which is actually a power struggle between Ci'an, the Tongzhi Emperor and the Empress Dowager Cixi. The other three concubines of the Tongzhi Emperor, including the concubine Hesheli, were sandwiched between the two factions, and their sense of existence was not high.
It is said that Concubine Hesheli was the most beautiful of the four concubines of the Tongzhi Emperor, and she was slender, ice-skinned and jade, and beautiful as a flower. Coupled with her cleverness and cleverness, proficient in literature and ink, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, omnipotent, she is really a beautiful person who is both beautiful and talented.
Therefore, in addition to the Tongzhi Emperor's favor for the empress, The Herschel clan could also get some rain and dew, which was probably the happiest time in Herschel's life. However, good times were always fleeting, and after only two years, the Tongzhi Emperor died of smallpox, and the 19-year-old Herschel began a widowed life.
On November 15, 111th year of Tongzhi, on the eve of the death of Emperor Tongzhi, Hesheli was given the title of Concubine Of Jin.
3. Imperial concubines who have gone through four dynasties
Since the death of Emperor Tongzhi, in addition to the concubine Fucha clan still favored by Cixi, the other three concubines of Emperor Tongzhi were completely left aside, even if the Guangxu Emperor took concubines later, Cixi was more willing to be close to Concubine Jin than to take care of the three widows of her own son.
Therefore, this Guangxu Dynasty, The life of Herschel Lishi can be said to be extremely boring, during this time, in addition to pen and ink, Herschel can no longer think of other ways to pass the time, as a literate princess, she can not always idle every day and eat melon seeds.
At that time, there was a Qing palace poem that reflected the boring palace life of Herschel:
"Lazy Dream Mountain Man (Yu Concubine's nickname) Ice and Snow Posture, Jie Yu Pet Lucky Crown at that time, burning incense Li Fo duo leisure, self-painting Lin Luan embellished small poems."
Of course, there may be some small surprises at some times, such as in the first month of the twentieth year of Guangxu, Cixi is going to celebrate her sixtieth birthday, and the harem concubines are also stained, and The Hersheli clan has been promoted to the title of Concubine Xun, and the living treatment has been qualitatively improved.
However, what people did not expect was that this princess had several highlight moments in the later years of Guangxu and after Xuantong's succession.
In the 26th year of Guangxu, the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi fled with Emperor Guangxu and Concubine Jin, and the four widows of Emperor Tongzhi were left in the Forbidden City.
In the face of the sudden changes in the country, the other concubines were panicked and did not know what to do, but at this time, the Herschel clan was very calm, organizing guards to guard the inner court, and finally saving the inner court from disaster. However, after Cixi returned, she did not have any reward for the Herschel clan, as if nothing had happened.
After Emperor Xuantong succeeded to the throne, Empress Dowager Longyu, who held the will in her hand, flew high and went so far as to make the three widows of the Tongzhi Emperor call themselves slaves, which caused resistance from the three people. After the three of them held the Feng'an ceremony of Empress Dowager Cixi, they refused to return to Beijing, claiming to be martyred for Lafayette, but in the end, Empress Longyu gave way and honored the three of them as imperial concubines, of which Hesheli's title was Jingyi Emperor Guifei.
Because Emperor Xuantong was nominally both the step-son of Emperor Muzong (Emperor Tongzhi) and the heir of Emperor Dezong (Emperor Guangxu), at this time the three widows of Emperor Tongzhi were headed by the Hesheli clan, so these three people, as a faction, formed a confrontation with Empress Xiaodingjing and Concubine Jin, the widows of emperor Guangxu.
It is said that after the death of Empress Xiaodingjing, Herschel actually pointed to her corpse and scolded: "You also have today!" Although it is not necessarily a fact, it also highlights the sharp contradictions between the two factions of the harem at that time. However, at that time, the Qing Empire was crumbling, and this kind of struggle was actually meaningless.
After the establishment of the Republic of China, according to the preferential treatment regulations, the Xuantong Emperor and the old concubines were still allowed to live in the inner court, and it was not until 1924 that Feng Yuxiang revised the preferential treatment regulations, and they were expelled from the Forbidden City. Princess Jingyi moved to the residence of Princess Rongshou Gulun with another concubine (Ronghui Emperor Guifei) until the twenty-first year of the Republic of China, that is, Chinese New Year's Eve 1932, when Hesheli died of illness at the age of 77.
In the twenty-fourth year of the Republic of China (1935), the noble concubine of the Jingyi Emperor Hesheli was buried together with the coffin of the concubine of the Dunhui Emperor and the concubine of the Qing Dynasty, and the story of the imperial concubine who had gone through four dynasties was officially concluded.
Zichen said:
The Jingyi Emperor's noble concubine Hesheli was the only concubine who had a bright spot among the last three widows of the Tongzhi Emperor, and although she had been free from the main contradictions all her life, she had been fighting with Empress Xiaodingjing and Concubine Jin of the Guangxu Emperor during the Xuantong Emperor's time. It can be seen that she is not a weak woman, and some people even think that her personality is somewhat similar to Thato's Empress Dowager Cixi, and if there is a day, maybe this is another Empress Dowager Cixi.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Qing Barnyard Banknotes, Qing ShiLu