As the saying goes: the wife of the chaff cannot be abandoned. In the long course of history, all emperors who have chaff wives should generally be the founding kings of a certain dynasty.
Throughout the ancient history of our country, Liu Bang of Han Gaozu and Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, are typical of the emperor with a bad wife, these two founding monarchs are poor and popular, in the turbulent situation of the rise of their own careers, and finally the king came to the world, established their own dynasty, and their wives Lü Hou and Empress Ma are the hard-to-find chaff wives.
After Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang ascended to the throne, they did not abandon their wives who were already old and yellow, and they also let their wives ascend to the empress's throne, which is indeed remarkable. But if we carefully read the two pieces of history, we will find that Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude towards the wife of the chaff is very different.
The "bad wife" Lü Hou and Empress Ma worked hard over the years
Lü Hou's original name was Lü Yan (劉雉), the wife of Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, and his father Lü Gong was a wealthy gentleman who often associated with official figures in Pei County.
At that time, a wedding banquet in the neighborhood attracted Liu Bang, a small who was the head of the Surabaya Pavilion, to come to the door to beg for wine and dishes, and at the same time, Lü Gong, who went to the banquet, was good at meeting people, and he determined at a glance that Liu Bang was not an idle person, and he was expensive, so he made the main decision on the spot, and without mentioning any material conditions, he assigned his daughter Lü Yanxu to Liu Bang as his wife.
Lü Yan's father's fate was difficult to violate, and after marrying Liu Bang, who was surrounded by disciples, he not only had to have children, manage household chores, and honor his in-laws, but also bear to take care of Liu Bang's son Liu Fei, who had been born of adultery with others.
Liu Bang hid in the mountains in order to save his life, and Lü Yan not only had to shoulder all the burdens of the family, but also took a huge risk to send food and clothing to Liu Bang and others. When Liu Bang could not be caught, the government sent Lü Yan to prison for questioning, and Lü Yan not only suffered from imprisonment, but also was teased and beaten by the prison officials--it can be said that since marrying Liu Bang, Lü Yan has hardly had a comfortable day.
In 202 BC, Liu Bang unified the world, established the Han Dynasty and ascended the throne as emperor, known as Han Gaozu. Lü Yan, who had suffered for half a lifetime, also ascended to the back seat and became a famous Empress Lü in history. However, at this time, Lü Hou was no longer young due to excessive labor, because there were dozens of young women such as Lady Qi in the palace, so she completely lost Liu Bang's favor.
Liu Bang, because he spoiled Lady Qi and her son Liu Ruyi, repeatedly wanted to depose Liu Ying, the crown prince born to Lü Hou, and establish Liu Ruyi, who was born to Lady Qi, as crown prince. Lü Hou was sad and disappointed in Liu Bang, but her strength and flexibility would never allow her to lose to others, and Lü Hou used the power of promoting her own matriarch while calming down the storm of taking the concubine, which can be described as painstaking.
After Liu Bang's death, the crown prince Liu Ying took the throne as emperor, and Empress Lü, who became the empress dowager, began to monopolize power, first conducting a big liquidation in the harem, eliminating Lady Qi's mother and son; and then purging the government and opposition, although the means were fierce, but effectively consolidated her authoritarian rule.
Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's wife was Empress Ma, and when Empress Ma's father was dying, he entrusted his daughter to his good brother Guo Zixing, hoping that Guo Zixing would be able to take care of his only daughter and grow up for him.
Guo Zixing and his wife have feelings and righteousness, not only treat Empress Ma kindly, but also carefully raise her to grow. Empress Ma not only received a good boudoir education, but also was reasonable, literate and hyphenated, and was a lady with high intrinsic quality.
In 1352, Guo Zixing raised a rebel army to rebel against the tyranny of the Yuan Dynasty. The rebel ranks were huge and attracted a large number of young people from the grassroots class, one of whom was Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was heroic, courageous and resourceful, and soon stood out from a group of young soldiers and won the favor of Guo Zixing.
Guo Zixing saw that Zhu Yuanzhang was a rare general talent, so he had a heavy heart, and even married Empress Ma to Zhu Yuanzhang as his wife. After Empress Ma married a human wife, she got along very harmoniously with Zhu Yuanzhang, and the husband and wife were very affectionate.
The grumpy Zhu Yuanzhang sometimes offended the colleagues around him by speaking, and Empress Ma would patiently persuade her, and then use her own money to make a relationship between Zhu Yuanzhang, hoping that the colleagues could include and treat Zhu Yuanzhang well.
Zhu Yuanzhang later became the leader of the rebel army, Empress Ma silently took care of the logistics of the army and the chores at home for her husband, she knew the general body, had a heart, was diligent and thrifty, and did her own work, not only to make the logistics of the army smooth and worry-free, but also to teach her children and love the soldiers, in modern words, Empress Ma is the great woman behind Zhu Yuanzhang.
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang established the title of emperor in Nanjing, and the state name was Daming. He enfeoffed his wife Ma Shi as Empress Daming, and then pacified the frontier lands such as Chuanganyun and unified the political power of the whole country. Daming's Jiangshan was made by Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born in the grassroots, but if there was no Empress Ma sitting in the rear, it should be said that Daming would not be so stable and prosperous.
In the past, Empress Ma used all her strength to cheer for her husband's cause, and after she became a noble empress, she could still maintain a humble and gentle initial intention in the face of wealth and glory, not to transgress or exceed the rules, and to continue to use her wisdom and sincerity to assume everything that a wife, mother and empress should do.
Both are imperial husbands, but Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang treat their chaff wives very differently
Since Lü Yan married Liu Bang, when he was young, he worked hard to take care of Liu Bang, the "hands-off husband", and worried about most of the affairs outside the family, so that a bridesmaid who was originally born in a rich gentry family was forced to become a housewife who worked hard and complained and lived with the roughness of life all day.
Whether Liu Bang is grateful to Lü Yan or not is unknown, but we know that this man not only disregarded his family after marriage, but also let loose skeletons every three to five minutes - because of this, Liu Bang would "cooperate" with a woman named Cao Widow and give birth to Liu Fei, the eldest son of Shu.
Most of the heroes in the world are also lustful, but Liu Bang's lustful behavior in the establishment of the empress dowager directly touched Lü Yan's psychological bottom line and survival bottom line.
Since Liu Bang took Lady Qi as a concubine, he was pampered day and night, and also gave birth to a son Liu Ruyi with Lady Qi. Gao zu believed that the cowardly and benevolent crown prince Liu Ying was not like himself, and Liu Ruyi was very similar to himself, so he repeatedly planned to depose the crown prince Liu Ying and establish Liu Ruyi as the crown prince.
Lü Hou loved to relax because of her decline, and was more and more estranged by Liu Bang, she knew that Liu Ying was not good at meeting her father and emperor, and seeing that Liu Ruyi had been crowned queen and stayed in Chang'an for a long time, her heart naturally began to panic inexplicably - once Lady Qi's son ascended the throne, then she and Liu Ying would definitely not have a good life in the future.
Seeing that she had wholeheartedly assisted her husband Liu Bang for decades, Lü Hou was already extremely disappointed in such an unreliable man, and she had to fight back, using Zhang Liang's strategy to keep Liu Ying's position as crown prince, and then actively support the power of the mother clan, so as to lay a solid foundation for helping Liu Ying stabilize the power of the government and the opposition in the future.
In order to achieve these long-cherished wishes and to strengthen himself, Lü Hou did not hesitate to slaughter the different parties, kill Liu Ruyi, and make Lady Qi a "human figure", leaving a notoriety in history.
On the other hand, Zhu Yuanzhang's wife, Empress Ma, she had also cut thorns and thorns and worked hard to help her husband build a career in the past, but when Daming was established, Zhu Yuanzhang was grateful for Empress Ma's hard work and dedication in the past, and only hoped that his wife would sit firmly in the high position of the harem and teach her husband and children. Other party disputes and contradictions, government and opposition politics, were all faced by Zhu Yuanzhang himself.
In his later years, in order to give the prince a smooth political environment and kill all the founding heroes who used to follow him to fight the world, Zhu Yuanzhang smoothed out everything that he should think of and do as a father and husband, so that Empress Ma could sit back and relax and enjoy peace and tranquility. And Empress Ma also lived up to her husband's expectations, won the respect of everyone with her atmosphere and wisdom, and was also passed down through the ages in the annals of history.
The root cause of Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang's very different attitudes towards the wife of chaff is the root cause
The same treatment of the wife of the chaff, Liu Bang was from the beginning of the lü pheasant is like a casual, careless, when Liu Bang called the empress, but also began to alienate the old and fading wife Lü Hou, more excessively, Liu Bang also wanted to abolish Chang Liyou, this move was not only unanimously strongly opposed by the courtiers, but also stabbed Lü Hou's heart fiercely.
Zhu Yuanzhang, on the other hand, has always remained unchanged in his original intention for his wife Empress Ma, obeying respect and cherishing her everywhere, and loving and thinking peacefully of this wife who shares weal and woe from the bottom of her heart.
Therefore, in the history of Qing, Lü Hou's life can be said to be a mixed reputation, and she is considered by the world to be a cruel and vicious person, but Empress Ma is full of praise and has won the eternal reputation of virtuousness and filial piety. In fact, these 2 women are good women who are not proud, responsible, capable, and single-minded about their husbands.
Judging from the lifelong behavior of Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang, the personalities of these two emperors have a difference in cloud and mud: Liu Bang has been a "little bastard" since childhood, and after becoming emperor, he has become an ungrateful "scumbag father" and "scumbag husband"; while Zhu Yuanzhang, who is also from the grassroots, has always respected empress Ma and cherished her.
We can only say that the fate of Empress Ma, who is also the wife of the chaff, is much better than that of Lü Hou, and the most fundamental reason is that the man they marry is a "scumbag" and a grateful man.