Qianjiang Evening News hourly news reporter Mao Weiqi Wang Lei
【I】
In the warehouse of the Zhejiang Museum lies a piece of gold book iron coupons from the first year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty.
This tile-like object, separated by 499 years, is quiet and vicissitudes.
Although there are many handwriting, the golden book still shines: the front of the iron coupon, the main text of 20 lines, each line ranges from 5 to 14 words; there are also 4 lines of the golden book on the back.
"Pillar kingdom Changhua Bo, food Lu three thousand stones, descendants inherited." Ima and Er swear: Except for conspiracy, if you commit a miscellaneous crime of capital punishment, you will be spared twice, and your son will be spared once..."
This golden book coupon came from Emperor Mingshizong, the Jiajing Emperor, who had just ascended the throne at that time.
This grace was bestowed upon him by the fourth brother of the emperor's grandmother, Shao Xi and Changhua.
In the same year, with hope for her grandson, Shaw completed her life.
This life, it looks gorgeous and splendid, but it is really a handful of bitter tears.
△ Courtesy of Zhejiang Provincial Museum
【II】
Shaw came from a humble background. His father, Shao Lin, was a native of Shaojia Village in Changhua, Hangzhou (now part of Qingliangfeng Town, Lin'an), and was rumored to have worked as a sand panning army in Hangzhou, where he was so poor that he received money in exchange for rice.
Shaw has four younger brothers. Daughters of poor families, especially the eldest sister, often had to make sacrifices, or marry early or sell into rich families in exchange for a little silver, just like Empress Dou in the Western Han Dynasty. Helplessly poor, Shao Lin could only sell his daughter to the eunuch of Hangzhou Zhenshou, who sent her to the court.
Anyone who is an imperial concubine has many visions at birth, and Shao Shi is no exception. In Yan Song's "Monument to the Shinto of the Bo Shao Gong of the Great Doctor Zhu Guo Changhua", it is recorded that when Shao was born, his mother Yang Shi dreamed of a phoenix flying in the court. After that, the story is even more shrouded in mystery, saying that in the fourteenth year of the Shao family, six of the recruits died, and finally a commander was set, and when everything was ready, who knew that the horse was furious, and the commander fell off the horse and died.
When Shao Entered the Palace, she was just a little palace girl, and there were not so many miracle legends attached. I don't know if when she was a teenager facing the door of the scarlet palace, was it novelty, was it hope, or the fear of stepping into the cage?
In 1460, during the reign of Emperor Mingying, Shao was elected to the inner court. Since then, the road to my hometown is far away from the mountains, and the palace walls are high, isolating the outside world.
【III】
Shao reappeared in historical records in 1476, in the twelfth year of Chenghua, when Emperor Mingxianzong was her husband.
In this year, the Shao clan gave birth to the fourth son of emperor Zhu Youfu for Emperor Mingxianzong. More than ten years after ascending the throne, Ming Xianzong only had 3 sons before, and two died prematurely, at this time it has been exactly 6 years since the birth of the third son of the emperor.
Emperor Xianzong came to a great seal of the Six Palaces, and Shao Shi was given the title of Concubine Chen.
From the obscure little palace girl to the concubine, Shao Shi spent 16 years. In the 16 years of the palace, it was with teeth biting lip, tears and blood, surviving. This magnificent and majestic Forbidden City is thrilling step by step.
In the history books, Shao Shi "knows the book and has a color". Legend has it that she met Xianzong, and it is also related to the book of poetry - one night, Shao Shi was hesitating in the imperial garden, and he couldn't help but feel it, and gently chanted a "Red Leaf Poem", which contained "the rain passed through the jade steps and the autumn air was cold, and the wind shook the golden lock at night." After not seeing the king's face for several years, the sentence "Penglai Nai Ruohe" was just heard by Xianzong and smelled differently.
By coincidence, Shaw's fate has since taken a turn, but he is also more cautious in his words and deeds.
Emperor Mingxianzong favored Wan Guifei, who was more than ten years older than him, Wan Guifei favored the harem, and her power was tilted inside and outside, and the history books said that she was sinister and vicious, and she was jealous, and the life of a woman in the palace was like walking on thin ice.
Shaw finally put up with it. In the years that followed, she gave birth to two sons in succession, raising and educating three children, and the empty palace did not seem so lonely.
It's just that it is inevitable to be sad in the middle of the night, thousands of miles away from the hometown, father and brother, can only see each other in dreams, and when they wake up, there is a shadow in front of their eyes.
△ Forbidden City / Image source CFP
【IV】
Emperor Xianzong died, it was 1487, and Shao became a noble and empty concubine, "a few ancient palaces, sitting idly and talking about Xuanzong".
One by one, the three sons became adults, and one after another left their mothers, left the capital, and went to the fiefdom to take the domain.
Before the eldest son Zhu Youqi left, he wrote to Emperor Xiaozong and pleaded with his mother Concubine Shao to go to the kingdom with him to raise him, but Emperor Xiaozong did not agree. Shaw lost his only chance to leave the palace. There is no way to guess her mood, as a mother, she will not want to leave her son far away, but "the ancestors have no precedent for this", so they can't let her, nor can they let their sons.
The sons are gone, and the mother's heart is also gone, and one heart is divided into three parts, like the line of a kite, always holding and hanging on.
Jinyi, jade food, Huawu, Honor, why are you still lonely?
Fate showed its unforgiving side. In 1501 the second son Zhu Youzhu died at the age of 23, in 1507 the third son Zhu Youzhi died, 26 years old, and in 1519 the eldest son Zhu Youqi died, aged 43. Again and again, the white-haired people send the black-haired people, and they have never even seen the last side, what a pain?
I don't know how many times I cried, I don't know how many tears were shed, I don't know whether I was morning or dusk, I only knew that my head was white and my eyes were glazed over.
In my heart, my son was still the same as when he was young. Reaching out, I wanted to touch my son's face again, but what I felt was the void.
【5】
Shao touched the face of his grandson Zhu Houxi. Sun Tzu became emperor.
It was in 1521 that Emperor Ming's son, Emperor Mingwuzong, who had been absurdly alive, died without heirs. Emperor Wuzong of Ming's cousin, Zhu Houxi, the second son of Emperor Xingxian of the Shao clan, became the closest blood-related imperial family, and was suddenly put on the emperor's throne, which was later known as the Jiajing Emperor.
When the 14-year-old Zhu Houxi bid farewell to his mother Jiang shi from the fiefdom of Hubei Anlu, arrived in the capital, entered the Forbidden City, and came to his grandmother Shao, whom he had never met, Shao was so old that he could hardly remember how old he was.
Yes, if you do the math carefully, it has been 61 years since the year you entered the palace. How many years old to enter the palace, I can't remember, thirteen or fourteen, it doesn't matter, Sun Tzu became the emperor.
Shaw, blind in both eyes, caressed his grandson's body, slowly, trembling, from top to heel.
【VI】
The Jiajing Emperor should be filial piety. Only 5 days after ascending the throne, he ordered the ministers to discuss the title of his father Xingxian King, whether it should be called Huang Kao or Emperor Uncle, which triggered a dispute over etiquette for more than three years, which was historically called "Great Ceremonial Discussion".
The history books do not leave Shaw's opinion on the matter. She may or may not want to say anything.
She was honored as empress dowager, and in the first year of Jiajing, she was also honored with the title of Empress Dowager Shou'an.
His father Shao Lin was long gone, but he still received the emperor's gift, and specially entered Ronglu Dafu, Zhu Guo, and Changhua Bo. The younger brother Shao Xi, who had previously been the commander of Jinyi, was given the title of Changhua Bo this time, and was also given the Golden Book Iron Coupon.
The glory of the family, a moment of fire cooking oil, flowers and brocade, today is easy to get, tomorrow is also easy to lose. I heard that my parents were temporarily in Qingzhiwu in the north mountain of Xihu Lake, I heard that the alley in Hangzhou was called Huangqin Lane, and I also heard that in her hometown of Changhua, my fathers and elders made "horse roaring rolling lamps" for her to come back to the province...
I can't go back to my hometown. There are beautiful mountains and rivers, Jiangnan is good, and the scenery used to be familiar.
The decaying Shao clan wanted to leave a grace for the women of Jiangnan: "When a woman enters the palace, she has no life and no one to enjoy, and she cannot eat and live freely, such as a ghost." In the future, I will choose a woman to enter the palace, and I will not go down to Jiangnan, so I will leave a great favor to the women in Jiangnan. ”
This phrase is really a lifelong pain. I have been in this splendid cage for a lifetime, so that Jiangnan women who are as good as I were then will be spared the pain of leaving their hometown and abandoning their parents. Perhaps, this is the only thing I can do for my hometown.
In November of the first year of Jiajing, The Shao clan of the Four Dynasties died. In the seventh year of Jiajing, she was renamed Empress Dowager.
Perhaps, on the occasion of his death, Shao Shi thought: Looking back on this life, I wish I had never entered the palace.
△ This is the Nine Dragons nine phoenix crown unearthed from the Ming Ding Mausoleum, I wonder if Shao Shi also wore such a gorgeous phoenix crown before his death? /Image source CFP
(Thanks to the Strong Support of the Publicity Department of the Lin'an District Committee, and thanks to the Party History Research Office of the Lin'an District Committee for review)
【Before, what did we write】
Meet Han Qian Tang Chang | opening remarks
Meet Hanqian Tangchang| meet Hanqian Tangchang
Meet Han Qian Tang Chang| his strange work, four seasons of cultivation
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