There were 12 emperors in the Qing Dynasty, but there were more than one empress, because most emperors had more than one empress. Most of the empresses of the Qing Dynasty are familiar with them, but there are also some empresses that we have basically not heard of, and the sense of existence is too low. Today we are going to talk about Empress Xiaohuizhang of the Qing Dynasty. Everyone should not be very familiar with her, because although she is a country, her life is too peaceful.
Empress Xiaohuizhang was shunzhi's second empress, and before her, shunzhi also married his cousin as empress according to the wishes of her mother Xiaozhuang, but after marriage, even the individual could not get along, and finally the Shunzhi Emperor forcibly abolished her. However, after the abolition, Xiaozhuang arranged for him to be an empress of a Mongolian nationality, after all, the custom of Manchu-Mongolian marriage had always existed at that time, and this empress was Xiao Huizhang.
In fact, the two empresses of Shunzhi still have certain relatives, the first empress is an aunt, and the second is a niece. Although this empress was more docile than the first, Shunzhi still did not like her, perhaps to express his dissatisfaction with his mother, and he hated the empress so much. Later, after Dong Efei entered the palace, she was favored by Shunzhi, and this time he once again had the idea of abolishing the queen, because he had been planning to establish Dong Efei as the empress.
However, this time, Xiaozhuang did not rely on him and tried his best to prevent the aftermath. We can imagine how cruel this was for Empress Xiaohuizhang, in the strange palace, her husband did not love, did not have children to accompany, and her only honor guard was Empress Xiaozhuang. Soon both Concubine Dong and Shunzhi died, and Kangxi, who was still a child, inherited the throne, and Empress Xiaohuizhang became empress.
Although she was an empress, her situation was still very embarrassing, because the emperor was not her biological child, and the emperor's birth mother was still alive, so her position was not only embarrassing but also dangerous. However, he did not expect that shortly after Kangxi ascended the throne, his biological mother actually died, and the closest people to him were his mother-in-law Empress Xiaohuizhang and Empress Xiaozhuang. However, after all, she was not her biological mother, so the two people were still not so close, and Kangxi only respected her.
It was not until Empress Xiaozhuang's death that the relationship between the two people really improved, because Empress Xiaozhuang was the most important person in the world for them, and two equally sad people must have warmed each other. From then on, Kangxi regarded her as his own mother, and she regarded the emperor as his own son. It is said that in the 56th year of Kangxi, the empress dowager fell ill, and although Kangxi's health had not been good at that time, he still insisted on personally serving Empress Renxian with medicine, and when the empress dowager died, he cut off his hair to express his condolences.
Cutting her hair was a courtesy that only existed when the emperor died, so it can be seen that Kangxi had deep feelings for her, although this Empress Xiaohuizhang did not get shunzhi's love, but she was also respected and loved by Kangxi for a lifetime, and became the most honorable empress of the Qing Dynasty. It is said that she served in the position of empress dowager for 57 years, becoming the longest-reigning empress dowager of the Qing Dynasty, which is also a record-breaking.