There are two very special empresses in history, which make posterity solemnly respect when they think of them, they are the eldest grandson empress of Tang Taizong Li Shimin and the empress Ma of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, who are definitely the best and role models among all the empresses in ancient history, and there are many reasons why they can become such people.
Perhaps few people know that Guo Zixing's adopted daughter Empress Ma and her own daughter Guo Huifei were actually married to Zhu Yuanzhang, but why was Empress Ma able to leave her name in history, but Guo Huifei was rarely mentioned?
Why empress Ma was able to leave her name in history
Zhu Yuanzhang was born poor, after the death of his parents and eldest brother, Zhu Yuanzhang once worked as a beggar, went to the temple, life was quite difficult, and finally at the invitation of his friend Tang He, he joined the Red Turban Army, when an important leader of the Red Turban Army was Guo Zixing, Zhu Yuanzhang joined the Red Turban Army, and did things under Guo Zixing.
Guo Zixing was born in a wealthy family, which is fundamentally different from Zhu Yuanzhang and others, but Guo Zixing can also be regarded as a person with more serious feelings, such as his adoption of Empress Ma is the most direct proof. Empress Ma was not born well, when the father in order to escape the war, only to take his daughter to run to the distant Haozhou friend Guo Zixing, the result was not long after the defection to Guo Zixing, Empress Ma's father died of illness, on the occasion of parting, he entrusted Empress Ma to Guo Zixing to raise, Guo Zixing very cheerfully agreed to come down, and later it was not bad for Empress Ma.
That is to say, relying on Guo Zixing's upbringing and care, Empress Ma can grow up, and from this point of view, Guo Zixing can definitely be regarded as a person with great affection and righteousness, otherwise she would never have promised Empress Ma's father to help raise her daughter in that war-torn era.
When Zhu Yuanzhang joined the Red Turban Army, Tang He was already a small leader, but he still nodded to Zhu Yuanzhang, which made the rest of the soldiers particularly curious, they began to notice Zhu Yuanzhang, and later Zhu Yuanzhang also proved his ability with his own practical actions, and everyone respected Zhu Yuanzhang more.
Relying on this prestige, Zhu Yuanzhang gradually gained a certain position in the army, and Guo Zixing also saw Zhu Yuanzhang's ability and appointed Zhu Yuanzhang as the commander of the Ninth Husband, and when Guo Zixing and the rest of the peasant-born generals in the Red Turban Army were killed in a conflict, it was Zhu Yuanzhang who turned the tide and saved Guo Zixing.
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang's strength is growing day by day, Guo Zixing is worried that such a person will be lost, so he will marry the adopted daughter Empress Ma to Zhu Yuanzhang, which has the meaning of enveloping Zhu Yuanzhang, according to this beginning, the position of Empress Ma in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart should be more embarrassing, no matter what, she is after all shouldering some kind of mission to marry Zhu Yuanzhang, if she did not do something that really touched Zhu Yuanzhang later, Zhu Yuanzhang absolutely could not trust or attach too much importance to Empress Ma.
Of course, Empress Ma was a fairly sensible and virtuous person, after she married Zhu Yuanzhang, she was single-mindedly for the sake of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang was fighting outside, she was responsible for Zhu Yuanzhang's diet and living at home, all logistical affairs, Empress Ma handled it in an orderly manner, so that Zhu Yuanzhang looked at her with admiration.
To say that Zhu Yuanzhang really trusted Empress Ma, we have to talk about Guo Zixing. Although Guo Zixing married Empress Ma to Zhu Yuanzhang to attract talents, as Zhu Yuanzhang's reputation grew, Guo Zixing was still a little afraid and suspicious of Zhu Yuanzhang, and he was worried that Zhu Yuanzhang would affect the status of his two sons and planned to eliminate Zhu Yuanzhang.
It was at this critical stage that Empress Ma came forward to play an important role, and while currying favor with Guo Zixing and Guo Zixing's wife, she said some good things about Zhu Yuanzhang in front of them, and at the same time advised Zhu Yuanzhang not to forget Guo Zixing's kindness to him in those years, and asked Zhu Yuanzhang to have more respect for Guo Zixing.
It was under empress Ma's maneuvering that the relationship between Guo Zixing and Zhu Yuanzhang eased up somewhat, and it should be known that at that time, Guo Zixing had already imprisoned Zhu Yuanzhang because he suspected that Zhu Yuanzhang had two hearts, and wanted to starve Zhu Yuanzhang to death by not letting him eat, if it were not for Empress Ma putting the flak cake in her clothes every day (scalding herself at all costs) and secretly giving it to Zhu Yuanzhang to eat, it is estimated that Zhu Yuanzhang would have died a long time ago.
What Empress Ma did at this stage was absolutely grateful to Zhu Yuanzhang, because Zhu Yuanzhang's situation was indeed very dangerous at that time, and Empress Ma, while mediating the relationship between him and Guo Zixing, secretly took the flapjack to Zhu Yuanzhang to eat, only to save Zhu Yuanzhang's life, and finally persuaded Guo Zixing to release Zhu Yuanzhang.
After this incident, Zhu Yuanzhang also understood that with Guo Zixing's measurement and mind, it is absolutely impossible to achieve great things, if he continues to stay by Guo Zixing's side, he will face more uncertain risks, rather than this, it is better to stand on his own. In order to limit Zhu Yuanzhang's power, Guo Zixing only allowed Zhu Yuanzhang to leave with Tang He and a total of 24 other people, at that time Zhu Yuanzhang was actually still under a lot of pressure, and at the most difficult stage, fortunately, Empress Arima stood firmly behind Zhu Yuanzhang.
After the establishment of the portal, Zhu Yuanzhang's initial stage was also weak, Empress Ma prepared food for Zhu Yuanzhang every day, and even warmed up to Zhu Yuanzhang's men, every time Zhu Yuanzhang went out to fight, Empress Ma took the soldiers' families to make clothes or shoes at home, which had a great impact, on the one hand, it could enhance everyone's relationship, on the other hand, she also cleverly used the families of soldiers to control the soldiers and prevent them from having two hearts.
After Zhu Yuanzhang's new team had grown slightly, in order to boost morale, Empress Ma often distributed the small amount of money on her body to the soldiers to boost morale, for example, when Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Shicheng were fighting hard, it was Empress Ma who boosted the morale of the soldiers and won the final victory.
Judging from many things, in the stage of Zhu Yuanzhang's entrepreneurship, Empress Ma not only acted as Zhu Yuanzhang's internal helper, but also boosted morale to a certain extent, promoted the feelings between Zhu Yuanzhang and the soldiers, and made more people willing to fight for Zhu Yuanzhang' lives.
Obviously, in the entrepreneurial stage, Empress Ma has helped Zhu Yuanzhang too much, and as a result, after Zhu Yuanzhang won the victory and ascended the throne, Empress Ma still did not forget her roots, and reminded Zhu Yuanzhang all the time not to forget her original intention, it can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang after becoming emperor, if it were not for the existence of Empress Arima, she might have done a lot of confusing things, after all, Zhu Yuanzhang was not willing to listen to other people's words, and no one dared to advise Zhu Yuanzhang, only empress Ma's words, Zhu Yuanzhang would take it seriously.
When Zhu Yuanzhang wants to kill the heroes for the monarchy to centralize power, Empress Ma will always repeatedly advise Zhu Yuanzhang, even Zhu Yuanzhang's diet and living, Empress Ma will also be fully responsible, what she is worried about is that Zhu Yuanzhang will punish those who prepare food, even if Empress Ma has been dying, still do a thing that makes posterity breathtaking, the imperial doctor prepared medicine for Empress Ma to drink, she was worried that after drinking it, the condition was still not good, the imperial doctor would be killed by Zhu Yuanzhang, so resolutely not to drink, such a mind is so touching, In the history of the feudal dynasty, besides the empress dowager, which other empress can be compared with empress Ma?
Empress Ma has been thinking about Zhu Yuanzhang and national events all her life, and the efforts and sacrifices she has made are things that ordinary people dare not imagine, such a perfect woman, which knowing emperor will not like it? How could such an empress not be famous in history?
Why is Guo Huifei obscure
Compared with Empress Ma, Guo Huifei is actually not much different from the point of view of origin, from the perspective of Zhu Yuanzhang's favor for concubines, Guo Huifei is also second only to Empress Ma, because she gave birth to three sons and two daughters for Zhu Yuanzhang in her lifetime, which is enough to show the degree of Favor Zhu Yuanzhang for her, but why is Guo Huifei not famous in history? I think there are two main reasons.
The first reason comes from the problem of birth, although Empress Ma and Guo Huifei are both daughters of Guo Zixing, but after all, one is an adopted daughter, one is a biological daughter, this identity is still very different, not biological, in terms of personality and people, naturally different, Empress Ma's personality and people, mainly by the biological father, coupled with the special experience of sending people under the fence, Empress Ma will naturally be more inclined to consider the feelings of others in terms of dealing with people.
On the other hand, Guo Huifei has lived in a rich family since she was a child, plus Guo Zixing himself is lacking in terms of mind and pattern, so Guo Huifei is affected by the family environment, naturally not much better, in the later process of getting along with Zhu Yuanzhang, the disadvantage of this personality is exposed.
To a large extent, Guo Huifei will consider the interests of her family more than Zhu Yuanzhang's interests, plus Guo Zixing's two sons are fighting with Zhu Yuanzhang for power and dying, Guo Huifei naturally has many views on Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang can also see these details from Guo Huifei's usual actions, and she definitely does not dare to be more fond of Guo Huifei.
Zhu Yuanzhang has reservations about Guo Huifei's feelings, and Guo Huifei is naturally difficult to leave more traces in history, but this is not the essential reason why she cannot be famous in history, to say the essential reason, I think it is guo Huifei's limited help to Zhu Yuanzhang, and limited consideration of national events.
Guo Huifei's own origin, coupled with personality defects, doomed her pattern and mind to be inferior to Empress Ma, and these key factors will eventually determine Guo Huifei's attitude towards Zhu Yuanzhang and the degree of help to her career, she did not pay so much, naturally did not get the attention of others, and it is even more nonsense to want Qingshi to leave a name.
epilogue
Judging from the evaluation of Empress Ma and Guo Huifei in later generations, we will find a law, no matter what kind of dynasty, the people who are really remembered, or those who tend to pay silently without asking for returns, Empress Ma is so, so is Empress Changsun, they never have the luxury of asking what the emperor will do for themselves, but they are single-mindedly thinking about their husbands, for the sake of national affairs and the overall situation of Jiangshan Society, even if they may not have received too much praise at that time, but future generations will certainly not forget them. After all, truth, goodness and beauty can stand the test of history!
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