Mention the word "Xiaozhuang", everyone will think of empress XiaozhuangWen of the Qing Dynasty, that is, the birth mother of the Shunzhi Emperor and the grandmother of the Kangxi Emperor. But you may not know, in fact, the Ming Dynasty also had an Empress Xiaozhuang, who was Empress Qian, the original wife of Emperor Mingying's Zhu Qizhen.
Speaking of The Queen of Qian alone, everyone also knows it, but few people understand her nickname. In fact, Empress Qian's courtesy name was "Empress Xiaozhuangrui", while the Qing Dynasty's courtesy name was "Empress Xiaozhuangwen", and the "Rui" and "Wen" were the emperors of their husbands.
Those who know a little about the two empresses should know that the two Xiaozhuang empresses of the Ming and Qing dynasties were one favored but desolate in the evening in history, and the other unloved but a winner in life. So today, we will roughly understand how the lives of the two "Empress Xiaozhuang" are different.
Empress Xiaozhuangrui
Qian was born into a family of Ming Dynasty Jing Dynasty heroes, and her great-grandfather was zhu Di's old subordinate, serving as The Deputy Qianhu of Yanshan. Her grandfather Guan Zhi Jingo's right guard commanded the envoy, and her father Guan Zhidu commanded the Affairs, and followed Zhu Di and Zhu Zhanji in many battles, and it can be said that they have been heroes for generations. That is to say, Qian's origin, among the empresses of the Ming Dynasty, is already very good.
In the seventh year of orthodoxy, Empress Dowager Zhang officiated a grand wedding for Emperor Mingyingzong Zhu Qizhen, and Qian shi was fortunate to be elected empress. This was also the first time that the Ming emperor held a big wedding (the previous emperors were all married before they ascended the throne), so the wedding was extremely solemn, and qian shi had a head and face to become empress of Daming.
Empress Qian was very virtuous, and she was well aware of her duties, and while trying her best to help her husband manage the harem, she also tried not to let her family cause trouble for Zhu Qizhen. Zhu Qizhen sympathized with his wife and intended to promote his family status, but was rejected by Empress Qian, on the grounds that she did not want to damage her husband's reputation as a "Ming Jun".
For such a virtuous wife, Zhu Qizhen was naturally satisfied. However, no one expected that such a virtuous queen would not be able to have a child of her own. Empress Qian was not jealous of Zhu Qizhen's favor with the other concubines, but the other concubines gave birth to imperial heirs one after another, and Empress Qian must still be a little uncomfortable in her heart.
In the harem of Zhu Qizhen, there was a Zhou clan, who not only gave birth to the eldest daughter of Zhu Qizhen, the Princess of Chongqing, but also gave birth to the eldest son zhu Jianshen, who was the greatest threat to Empress Qian. Fortunately, Zhu Qizhen also understood his wife, and he did not make any canonizations of other women in the harem, including the Zhou clan, who had the eldest son and eldest daughter.
However, if Empress Qian had been childless, the future throne would only pass to Zhu Jianshen, for which Zhu Qizhen could only delay the time of Li Chu, hoping that Empress Qian would give birth to a concubine. But unexpectedly, the concubine did not wait, but in the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, Zhu Qizhen forcibly marched on the imperial conquest and was captured by Wa Lai.
For the entire Ming Dynasty, this was simply a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and the helpless Empress Qian could only take out her own property and try to exchange it for her husband, but this was not realistic. Empress Qian, who was usually quite virtuous, became helpless at this time, and she pinned her hopes on the powerful ministers of the dynasty and the mother-in-law And Empress Sun, while she hid behind her back all day to pray for her husband.
Empress Qian spent every day crying bitterly, crying and praying to the heavens at the same time, and when she was tired, she fell directly to the cold ground and fell asleep, and when she woke up, she cried again. In this way, she cried blind in one eye, and one leg was cold and could no longer be cured.
During this period, the Qunchen supported Zhu Qiyu the Prince of Qi as emperor, and with the efforts of Zhu Qiyu and Yu Qian, they not only won the victory in the defense of the Beijing Division, but also finally agreed to release Zhu Qizhen. However, Zhu Qiyu was reluctant to return the throne, so he imprisoned Zhu Qizhen and Empress Qian and others.
When Zhu Qizhen returned, his wife had become lame and blind, but he did not dislike the other party, but faced his wife with deep affection and righteousness, and knew how to cherish it even more. This is really rare for Zhu Qizhen, who was once high up in the harem and did not lack women, so Empress Qian is happy in love.
Zhu Qizhen was imprisoned for seven years, and then successfully restored to the throne through the change of the door. After the restoration, the ministers suggested that the emperor's eldest son and mother, Zhou Shi, be made empress, but Zhu Qizhen could not abandon his wife, who was deeply in love, so he insisted on making qian shi the queen. After this incident, the Zhou clan held a grudge against Empress Qian.
In the eighth year of Tianshun, Zhu Qizhen died. Before his death, he left a last word that in the future, when Empress Qian died, he must be buried with him, and specially instructed the crown prince Zhu Jianshen: "The empress's name is fixed, and she should fulfill her filial piety for the rest of her life." ”
After Zhu Jianshen ascended the throne, he honored both the Qian and Zhou clans as empress dowagers, but with the intervention of Empress Zhou, Zhu Jianshen was not good to his mother-in-law. Empress Qian, who had a bleak evening view, ended in four years of depression in Chenghua at the age of 42. According to Zhu Qizhen's last words, Empress Qian should be buried with him, but Empress Zhou stepped forward to stop it.
Fortunately, the Qunchen argued on the basis of reason, which made Empress Zhou compromise superficially, but she still sent people to secretly block the tunnel between the tombs of Qian and Zhu Qizhen. The people did not know anything about this matter, and after that, Zhu Mishen was known as "Empress Xiaozhuang Xianmu Honghui Xianren Gong Tianqin Shengrui Empress", and the Temple of Qitai.
Empress Xiaozhuangwen
Because the empresses of the Ming Dynasty are all Han Chinese, and their names are easier to call, we generally do not call them by name, but by surname, such as Empress Ma, Empress Xu, Empress Qian, and so on. The empresses of the Qing Dynasty were mostly Manchus and Mongols, and their names were basically longer and inconvenient to call, so they were all called by nicknames or emblems (honorific titles), such as Empress Xiaozhuang, Empress Xiaoxian, Empress Dowager Cixi, and so on.
Just like Empress Xiaozhuangwen, she was born in the Mongolian Horqin tribe, with the surname Borjigit and the name Bumubutai. If it is called Empress Borzigit, first of all, it is too troublesome, and second, there is more than one Borzigit empress in the Qing Dynasty, which is confusing. Of course, Xiaozhuang is a nickname, which only existed after his death, so it is not reasonable at all for some TV dramas to mouth a "I filial piety empress".
Bumubutai was sent by his brother to Shengjing to marry Emperor Taiji ten years after the Mandate of Heaven of Jin, and his initial identity was Later Fujin. But Bumubutai was different from Empress Qian, she was not favored by her husband, and even if Hai Lanzhu had not yet married at this time, Huang Taiji did not pay much attention to her.
Later, Emperor Taiji succeeded to the Khan's throne, and his wife Zhezhe became the Great Fu Jin, and Bumubutai was named Xigong Fujin because she was Zhezhe's niece, and by virtue of her background relationship, she was still second only to Zhe Zhe at this time. However, when Bayar Daiqing's daughter Zalut married, Bumubutai's status dropped by one place.
Later, Lin Dan Khan's widows Batma and Namu Zhong married successively, and The status of Bumubutai declined one after another. In the eighth year of Tiancong, her sister Hai Lanzhu also married. Hai Lanzhu soon gained the favor of Emperor Taiji, and his status continued to rise, and At this time, Bumubutai, who had already given birth to three daughters, was still not favored.
Emperor Taiji, who was called empress dowager, established the initial harem system, and crowned the five people with higher harem status together to form the "Chongde Five Palaces". Among them, his wife Zhe Zhe naturally sat firmly in the middle palace, followed by Hai Lanzhu, who favored the harem, but Bumubutai, who was also from Horqin, ranked last, and was named the princess of Yongfu Palace.
Although Bumubutai was not favored, she was better than Empress Qian's fate, and gave birth to a son, Fu Lin, who later became the Shunzhi Emperor in the third year of Chongde. Originally, Fu Lin could not sit on the throne, and the Emperor Taiji was interested in the eighth son of the Emperor born to Hai Lanzhu, but the Eighth Son of the Emperor died prematurely.
Later, Emperor Taiji died suddenly and did not make a will, so his younger brother Dorgon and eldest son Hauge began to compete for the throne. Just as the so-called sandpiper clams competed for fishing and profit, and finally let Fu Lin pick up this big bargain, and was supported as emperor, and Dorgon was made the regent.
After Dorgon's death, the Shunzhi Emperor took the throne, and he honored his birth mother Bumubutai as "Empress Dowager Zhaosheng Cishou". However, as we all know, the mother-son relationship between Bumubutai and Shunzhi was not good, but in the matter of Li Chu, Shunzhi still obeyed his mother's wishes and passed the throne to his third son Xuan Ye, that is, the Kangxi Emperor.
After Kangxi ascended the throne, he also honored his grandmother as "Empress Dowager Zhaosheng", and it can be said that it was only at this time that Bumubutai really began to enjoy happiness. Kangxi was very filial to his grandmother, and he had to follow her every southern tour, and if he was on the front line, he would also send people to report to his grandmother every day for safety, and let people carry some specialties back along the way. Sometimes he personally caught fish in the river, and he would send someone to send it back to his grandmother to taste it.
In the twenty-sixth year of Kangxi, Bumubutai was critically ill, and Kangxi stayed away day and night, personally serving soup medicine. However, his grandmother's condition has not improved, and Kangxi, who has no way, actually led the prince and minister to walk to the Temple of Heaven to pray for his grandmother's blessing, and he even prayed to the heavens: "If you are calculating or poor, I would like to reduce the age of my subjects and increase the life expectancy of the empress dowager for several years." ”
Unfortunately, the empress dowager died at the age of 75. Before dying, Bumubutai instructed Kangxi not to alarm Emperor Taizong (Emperor Taiji) and to bury her near his son Shunzhi's tomb. Later, Kangxi was given the title of "Empress Xiaozhuang Ren Xuancheng Xian Gong Yi Yi Tianqi Shengwen Empress", but the burial was very difficult.
Thinking about it, Kangxi still obeyed his grandmother's last words, and did not bury her with the Emperor Taiji, but temporarily placed the coffin under the Changrui Mountain. Unexpectedly, this "temporary security" was thirty-seven years, and it was not until the third year of Yongzheng that Yongzheng officially ordered the construction of a cemetery in situ in the temporary an fengdian hall, and Empress Xiaozhuangwen had to be buried. After being added by the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors, Bumubutai was finally given the title of "Empress Xiaozhuang Ren Xuancheng Xian Gongyi to DeChun Hui Yi Tianqi Shengwen Empress".
Through the comparison of the lives of the two Empress Xiaozhuang of the Ming and Qing dynasties, we can clearly see that the lives of the two are completely opposite. Empress Qian is the original match, but Bumubutai is not; Empress Qian is favored, but Bumubutai is not favored; Empress Qian has no children and no daughters, and Bumubutai gives birth to three daughters and one son; Empress Qian's evening scene is desolate, and Bumubutai enjoys her old age.
From the early stage, it is undoubtedly the qian queen who is happier, after all, there is a husband who understands and cherishes her. But without a son, she could only face the situation of being bullied by Empress Zhou's mother and son, and even her husband's request to be buried with her was stopped by Zhou Shi by any means, which was really regrettable.
Although Bumubutai was not favored in the early stage, she was lucky to have children and grandchildren. Even if the relationship with her son is not very good, at least her son has become emperor, and she is already a high empress dowager. Later, when Kangxi took the throne, he put her grandmother in the first place, and for her, this was bittersweet.
Therefore, in contrast, Empress Xiaozhuangwen of the Qing Dynasty was much happier.
(References "History of Ming", "Records of Ming", "Draft History of The Qing Dynasty")