Today, it is explained that the two "Empress Xiaokang" of the Qing Dynasty are lucky, because the sons of both of them have inherited the throne, and they have also seen this day with their own eyes. They were also unfortunate, because one of them died early, and the other was desolate at night.
Empress Xiaokangjing of the Ming Dynasty, Empress Zhang, was the original wife of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty. As we all know, Ming Xiaozong married Empress Zhang in his lifetime, and the eldest son of the two, Zhu Houzhao, was also held in the palm of his hand and grew up, not to mention how happy the family of three was.
Empress Xiaokangzhang of the Qing Dynasty, Tong Jiashi, was a concubine of the Shunzhi Emperor and the biological mother of the Kangxi Emperor. Tong Jia was not favored by her husband, but fortunately had a contentious son, and with the support of her mother-in-law Empress Xiaozhuangwen, Kangxi eventually succeeded to the throne and honored Tong Jia as empress dowager.
The "Jing" and "Zhang" in the titles of Empress Xiaokangjing and Empress Xiaokangzhang were both imperial concubines of her husband.
Empress Xiaokangjing
We all know that Zhu Youfan was not very happy in his childhood, and he grew up to be 6 years old before he was accepted into the palace by his father Zhu Mishen and made the crown prince. Twenty-three years after Chenghua, the 17-year-old Zhu Youfan wanted to choose a princess, and finally Zhang Luan's daughter Zhang Shi defeated all opponents and became Zhu Youfan's wife.
This year more than this happened, as early as the first month, Zhu Jianshen's favorite Wan Guifei died of illness. Deeply sad, Zhu Jianshen said that Wan Guifei had gone, and he would not live long. As a result, in August, Zhu Mishen died. In September, crown prince Zhu Youfan succeeded to the throne. In October, crown princess Zhang Shi was officially appointed empress.
At the beginning, Zhu Youfan actually thought about expanding the harem, because in the first few years of marriage to Empress Zhang, the empress had been out of the woods. However, due to the need to keep filial piety for Zhu Mi, the matter was shelved. Who knew that when the filial piety period passed, no one mentioned this matter again, and in the fourth year of Hongzhi, Empress Zhang finally gave birth to Zhu Youzhao,the eldest son, Zhu Houzhao. Since he had an heir, Zhu Youfan no longer thought about Concubine Na.
The birth of Zhu Houzhao made Zhu Youfan feel the happiness of being a father, and he also loved Empress Zhang even more, and the family of three lived a beautiful life. Therefore, when Zhu Houzhao was two years old, he was made crown prince. It is precisely because he was born in such an environment that Zhu Youfan neglected to educate Zhu Houzhao, which became his regret, and he expressed his regret when he was dying.
In the first month of the seventh year of Hongzhi, Empress Zhang gave birth to zhu Xiurong, the eldest daughter of Zhu Youfan, and was named Princess Taikang, but unfortunately this daughter died at the age of 4. After giving birth to Princess Taikang, Empress Zhang soon became pregnant again, giving birth to her second son, Zhu Houwei, in December of the same year. Zhu Houwei only lived for one year before he died prematurely, and was posthumously honored as the King of Wei Mourning. In this way, Zhu Houzhao has become a single seedling, and he has set thousands of pets in one.
Generally speaking, if you become an empress, your mother's family will also be promoted, after all, one person will have to ascend to heaven. However, some empresses would refuse the emperor's promotion of their families. Empress Zhang was fine in other respects, but she was more conniving with her family, and during the Hongzhi period, her clan relatives moved to many ranks and appointed officials, and the prosperity of favor was incomparable.
For example, her father, Zhang Luan, had failed many times in the past, but his daughter was elected as the crown princess, and he was given the position of secretary of the Hongxu Temple. His daughter became empress, and he was even more famous than Ronglu Doctor and governor of the Chinese military governor's mansion. For three years, he was awarded the title of Tuicheng Xuanli Wuchen, Ronglu Dafu, Zhu Guo, Shou Ningbo, and Shilu Senshi, and gave three generations.
After five years of Hongzhi, he was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Shouning, and Hejia was promoted to Guanglu Dafu, and Lu Jia was given two hundred stones, and he still gave him three generations, gave him a coupon, and his descendants were hereditary. In the same year, Zhang Luan died, posthumously awarded the title of Duke of Changguo, with the posthumous title of Zhuang Su, and the eldest son Zhang Heling directly attacked the Marquis of Shouning. The "History of Ming" all recorded: "At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the minister of culture and military affairs died, and for example, please ask Yu Shang, ordered Hanlin to make an official text, and erected a Shinto monument." However, Xu Da, the King of Zhongshan during the Taizu Period, Yao Guangxiao, the Duke of Rongguo at the time of Chengzu, and Zhang Luanzhi, the Duke of Hongzhi Zhongchang, all produced imperial pens. ”
All along, the royal family has been very wary of foreign relatives, but Zhu Youfan, out of love and trust for Empress Zhang, was not wary of the Zhang family, which led to the wanton behavior of the Zhang family. When Zhu Youfan was in power, he always turned a blind eye, and after Zhu Houzhao took the throne, he was naturally partial to his mother, and everyone knew that the Zhang family was not easy to mess with.
After Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne, Empress Zhang was honored as empress dowager and continued to live a life of pampering and pampering, and the Zhang family continued to do whatever they wanted under her protection. But unexpectedly, in the sixteenth year of Zhengde, Zhu Houzhao died, and Zhu Houzhao had no sons to inherit the throne. Therefore, Empress Zhang could only negotiate with the university scholar Yang Tinghe to let Zhu Houzhao's cousin Zhu Houxi inherit the throne.
At that time, Zhu Houxi's birth mother and grandmother were still alive, and after he ascended the throne, he honored his mother-in-law Zhang Shi as "Empress Dowager Zhaosheng Cishou", his birth mother Jiang Shi as Empress Xingguo, and his grandmother Shao Shi as Empress Shou'an, enjoying the same treatment as Empress Zhang.
Zhu Houxi originally had no feelings for Empress Zhang, and his birth mother was still there, so he was not very courteous to Empress Zhang. Empress Zhang was well aware of her situation, so she had to live her life honestly. Who knew that the people of the Zhang family would not let her live in peace, and Zhu Houxi would not protect the Zhang family, so Empress Zhang was very troubled, and often because of her family, she had to intercede with Zhu Houxi.
In fact, Empress Zhang's own situation was very difficult, and later Zhu Houxi changed her title directly from virgin to aunt, which was equivalent to not recognizing her as a concubine. In this case, Empress Zhang also had to kneel down to intercede for her brother who had made a mistake, but was ignored by Zhu Houxi.
Empress Zhang, who had a bleak evening view, died in the twentieth year of Jiajing at the age of 70, and Zhu Houxi gave her the title of "Xiaokang Jing Su Zhuang Cizhe Yi Yi Tian praises Empress Shengjing". As soon as Empress Zhang died, her brother, who had made a mistake, was executed by Zhu Houxi.
Empress Xiaokangzhang
Empress Xiaokangzhang, tong jia, originally surnamed Tong, daughter of Tong Tulai, was originally subordinate to the Zhenglan Banner of the Han Army, later changed to the Yellow Banner of the Han Army, and then changed to the Yellow Banner of Manchuria. This is because Tong Jia's son inherited the throne, that is, Kangxi. Tong Jia was born in the fifth year of Chongde and entered the palace in the tenth year of Shunzhi.
Tong Jia's early days were just an ordinary concubine, here to explain, at that time, the Qing Dynasty harem system was not perfect, roughly divided into empress, imperial concubine, concubine, Fujin, Xiao Fujin, Gege these levels, and Tong Jia's status is lower than Xiao Fujin.
But this did not affect the Shunzhi Emperor's favor on her, so Tong Jia was pregnant soon after entering the palace. The "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty" records: "In the spring of the eleventh year of Shunzhi, the concubines asked for peace in the palace of the empress dowager, and they would come out, and the clothes were like a dragon, and the empress dowager asked, knowing that there was a concubine, and said that the near attendant said: 'The emperor of Shunzhi really has Si Xiang, and the present concubine also has it, and the birth of a son will be blessed.' ’”
That is to say, once Tong Jiashi went to ask the empress dowager for peace, and the empress dowager saw that there was light around her that seemed to be surrounded like a dragon, and when she asked, she knew that she was pregnant. The empress dowager also said that this phenomenon also existed when she was pregnant with Shunzhi, so if Tong Jia gave birth to a son, this son would be blessed in the future. Sure enough, in March of that year, Tong Jia gave birth to the emperor's third son, Xuan Ye.
However, Tong Jiashi, who gave birth to a son, did not get too much care and favor from Shunzhi because of his mother's son. On the contrary, Later, Concubine Dong gave birth to the fourth son of the emperor, and Shunzhi regarded this son as the "first son", and even intended to appoint him as the crown prince. Later, the fourth son of the emperor died prematurely, and Shunzhi even posthumously honored him as the Prince of Heshuorong, and the funeral specifications exceeded the ancestral system.
It can be seen that in Shunzhi's heart, in addition to Dong Efei who really gave birth to a son for him, other concubines can only be called branches and leaves for him, but the key is that even if a son is born, it will not be taken seriously. In this way, Tong Jia could only stay in obscurity in the Shunzhi harem, and she probably did not expect that her son could inherit the throne.
Because Shunzhi definitely belonged to the fourth son of the Yi Emperor, but the fourth son of the Emperor died prematurely, and later he belonged to the Yi Old Second Fuquan. However, Empress Zhaosheng (Empress Xiaozhuangwen) was more optimistic about Xuan Ye, so she entrusted Tang Ruowang to persuade Shunzhi. John Tang persuaded Shunzhi to make Xuanye the Crown Prince on the grounds that Xuan Ye had had smallpox and was cured.
In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi, the Shunzhi Emperor died. Before dying, he took John Tang's advice and chose Xuan Ye as his heir. At this time, Xuan Ye was only 8 years old, and thus took over the Qing Dynasty from his father, that is, the Kangxi Emperor. Because Xuan Ye was still young, Shunzhi also established a team of assistant ministers for him, and the four auxiliary ministers were Soni, Suksaha, Shubilong, and Aobai.
After Kangxi ascended the throne, his mother-in-law Borjigit was made empress dowager with the title of Empress Dowager Renxian; his mother Tong Jia was made Empress Dowager of the Virgin Mary with the title of Cihe; and his grandmother was Empress Dowager Zhaosheng. Empress Renxian, as the second empress of Shunzhi, was not a jealous person, and Tong Jiashi was also a character who did not argue, so the two empresses got along very well, and Xiao Kangxi had three elders who loved her, which was very happy at this time.
But no one expected that in the second year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cihe actually died at the age of 23. Xiao Kangxi lost his parents one after another, and his mood can be imagined. Later, he honored his birth mother as "Empress Xiaokang Ci and Zhuang Yi Gonghui Chongtian Yusheng", and after Empress Xiaokang ascended to the Temple, she was also honored by the Emperor of Shunzhi. After being added by the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors, Tong Jia's final title was "Empress Xiao Kangci and Zhuang Yi Gonghui Wen Mu Duanjing Chongtianyu Shengzhang".
The two Empress Xiaokang of the Ming and Qing dynasties did not have a good ending.
Empress Xiaokangjing of the Ming Dynasty was very happy in the first half of her life, after all, the emperor who achieved monogamy was only Ming Xiaozong in history. With this alone, Empress Zhang was worthy of the envy of all the empresses in ancient times. Later, her son also naturally succeeded to the throne, and she still enjoyed life. But I never expected that Zhu Houzhao would fall to his cousin because he was childless. Empress Zhang, who was accustomed to living a happy life, was harshly treated by Zhu Houxi, and as a result, the evening scenery was desolate and depressed.
Empress Xiaokangzhang of the Qing Dynasty, she was much more miserable than Empress Zhang. First of all, she is not the only woman in her husband, nor is she favored, even if she gives birth to a son, she is not as expensive as a mother. Secondly, her son inherited the throne, and she was not the only empress dowager, not only had a higher status than her empress dowager Renxian, but also the empress dowager. In the end, the original son should have enjoyed the blessing when he ascended the throne, who knew that he died at a young age, no wonder Empress Zhaosheng said that she was an unblessed person.
(Reference:Myashi,"Kiyofumi manuscript"))