During the feudal dynasty, there have always been two major power struggles in the imperial city, one is the official field composed of the emperor's ministers, and the other is the harem composed of concubines behind the emperor.
Generally speaking, ministers and concubines belong to two systems, and the two do not intersect with each other, so if they let the fight in their respective systems be broken, it will not affect the operation of the other side, but when the Qing Dynasty was just established, there was such a harem lord who spread his war in the harem to the court.
She not only caused the princes and nobles to take sides and go to war, but also almost let the imperial power change hands, almost changing the fate of the Qing Dynasty, the lord of the harem was Empress Xiaozhuang, one of the most powerful women in the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
During the reign of Empress Xiaozhuang, she not only clung to emperor Taiji, the most powerful emperor in the Qing Dynasty, but also controlled the heart of dolgun, the most powerful courtier at that time, and applied the power and scheming to the extreme. So what makes this queen so capable?
After later generations of scientists restored Xiaozhuang's true face, this question was answered. Today, let's talk about this story.
The queen was snubbed and fell in love with a love triangle
Power struggles are often accompanied by disputes of feelings, and this is naturally the case with Empress Xiaozhuang, who at the beginning of the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, had two people whose historical position was extremely important, one was Emperor Taiji and the other was Dolgun.
Now it seems that although the relationship between these two people is not called righteous and thin, it can also be regarded as mutual respect. But in fact, due to the mixing of Empress Xiaozhuang, the relationship between the brothers was far less harmonious than it seemed, and the dispute between the three even continued to the next generation of rulers.
The reasons for this situation are very complex, and we will talk about them one by one. First of all, in terms of feelings, Huang Taiji, as the husband of Empress Xiaozhuang, has no interest in Xiaozhuang, and it can be said that the relationship between the two is a spouse rather than a lover, which makes Xiaozhuang very distressed.
As a girl who married at the age of thirteen, she was prematurely bound to others in life, resulting in Xiaozhuang not having the opportunity to meet other boys, and what made Xiaozhuang even more desperate was that her spouse did not pay attention to herself after marrying herself, but instead frowned with her sister.
Yes, although the Emperor Taiji married Xiaozhuang at that time, he actually loved Xiaozhuang's sister Hai lanzhu. Xiao Zhuang, who was forced to guard the women's way, could do nothing about this, and could only look at his husband and other women in the cold, and there was no way.
Over time, the emptiness and loneliness in Xiaozhuang's heart could not be said to others, and a heart disease was formed. At this time, Emperor Taiji had already begun his great cause of conquering the four directions, and by chance, he brought one of his generals into the life of Xiaozhuang.
This general is Dorgon, when following the Emperor Taiji to fight the world, Dorgon inevitably wants to meet with Xiaozhuang, and gradually the young general is immediately attracted by this mature empress, and a man who cares about himself suddenly appears in the life of Xiaozhuang, who feels empty, and the evil relationship between the three begins.
The restoration of the mediocre appearance of later generations actually determined the fate of the dynasty
In later histories, Xiaozhuang is usually portrayed as a beautiful woman, so it is explained why Dorgon was obsessed with Xiaozhuang, but after historians have restored Xiaozhuang's appearance in history, people have found that Xiaozhuang's appearance is not surprising, and it can even be said to be extremely mediocre.
In the historian's restoration map, Xiaozhuang's appearance is very close to the Mongols, with a fairly wide chin and an angular jaw, looking very heroic and mature, while the restoration of Xiaozhuang's sister Hai lanzhu is more delicate, she looks sweet and lovely, handsome, although slightly older, but is a full-fledged beauty.
Therefore, it may be due to the gap in appearance that the relationship between Emperor Taiji, Dorgon and Xiaozhuang is still chaotic. In addition, when Xiaozhuang married Huang Taiji, she was still relatively small, which did not interest Huang Taiji at all, and Hai Lanzhu was a mature woman.
Because Xiaozhuang is too ordinary, coupled with the age gap, Huang Taiji is addicted to the more beautiful Hailan Zhu than Xiaozhuang. Dorgon is different, he is almost the same age as Xiaozhuang, and he is deeply fascinated by her simple and mature temperament.
With such a favorable time and place, the seeds of love should have been sown, and a beautiful love story should have been produced between Xiaozhuang and Dorgon, but the development of history was often unexpected, and the two later became out-and-out enemies.
The Queen Regent was in agreement but had to become a sworn enemy
After The death of Emperor Taiji, the situation in the Qing Dynasty, which had been stable, suddenly became confusing, and the relationship between Xiaozhuang and Dolgun also became confusing.
As a direct relative of Emperor Taiji, Shunzhi was supposed to be the heir to the throne of the Qing Dynasty, but at this time, Dorgon held the military power and the unanimous trust of some military subjects. In order to ensure that his children could ascend to the throne smoothly, Xiaozhuang had to condescend to Dorgon.
It's just that under the imperial power, there is no love, which is the truth since ancient times. Xiaozhuang originally had a good feeling for Dorgon, and the two of them also looked at each other for a while. What's more, the two once wanted to develop a spark of love, almost cooking raw rice to maturity.
However, Dorgon's ambitions were too great, and his power once threatened the power of Shunzhi. As a result, Xiaozhuang broke with Dorgon and mobilized the harem to begin to seize power from him, along with the courtiers.
In this way, the war between the lord of the harem and the military lord began, and what Xiaozhuang did not expect was that the more chaotic the situation, the more favorable it would be for Dorgon, and under the situation that everyone in the DPRK was in danger, Dorgon would either buy or threaten most of the people above the government and the opposition for his own use.
Seeing that Shunzhi's position was not secure, Xiaozhuang joined forces with other powerful concubines in the harem to unite the old courtiers who had originally supported the Emperor Taiji into a force to balance Dorgon above the court.
After years of confrontation between the two, Dorgon eventually died of an illness, and the alliance under the general naturally dissolved, and power returned to Xiaozhuang again.
In order to ensure that his children could smoothly ascend the throne and become Ming Jun, Xiaozhuang did not listen to the government and interfere with the government and the opposition like the later Cixi, but chose to abdicate and let his children judge political affairs on their own, which also laid the foundation for Shunzhi to govern the country.
Shunzhi succeeded to the throne smoothly, but the first thing after the new emperor ascended the throne was controversial, and he directly sent someone to dig up the old grave of his uncle, despite the opposition of the people in the court and the various feelings between Dorgon and his mother.
Then, Shunzhi sent people to remove Dorgon's body, disregarding the various exploits of this deceased hero and raising him to ashes.
Later generations believe that shunzhi did this to Dorgon because he was afraid that the secret between his mother and Dorgon would be exposed, which would lead to a scandal in his position as emperor.
Regardless of the reason, this setback can be said to have ended the chaotic relationship between the three people, and Shunzhi may also lament that the incident caused by his mother's mediocre appearance is no less than those evil water red faces.
Separating the relationship between the three people, Xiaozhuang is also an accomplished empress in history, she resolutely and resolutely abandons her personal feelings, forgets Dorgon and her own feelings, and fights for the orthodox continuation of the Qing Dynasty, if the future Cixi can learn one-tenth of the empress Xiaozhuang, the end of the Qing Dynasty will not be so bleak.