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Since the ancient kings are thin and fortunate, the most ruthless imperial family. Throughout the history of China's two-thousand-year feudal dynasty, the drama of father and son opposing each other and brothers repeatedly playing out in the royal family. In the face of supreme power, the affection that ordinary people regard as a treasure is worthless, let alone illusory love.
For the emperor with three palaces, six courts and seventy-two concubines, the most insignificant is perhaps the woman. In the royal family, the three thousand beauties in the harem are mostly only tools for continuing the royal bloodline.
However, it is not difficult to read the history carefully and find that the Ming Dynasty royal family seems to be an exception, and there are many touching stories of the emperor's deep affection.
1. Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma
(Stills of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma)
Zhu Yuanzhang was a cold man, never easily moved by women, when he attacked the Yuan Capital, in the face of thousands of worldly beauties who were too late to escape in the palace, he actually did his heart like water and was not moved. In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang was not a thin lover, but he gave all his tenderness to Empress Fa Ma.
Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma were a real couple in distress. As early as when Zhu Yuanzhang was still a nobody, Ma Xiuying, as Guo Zixing's adopted daughter, married him without hesitation. It is undeniable that Zhu Yuanzhang has gained a lot of benefits by being the marshal's son-in-law, but his relationship with Empress Ma is not a relationship of mutual use, but a real couple with a deep affection. Empress Ma also risked her life many times to save Zhu Yuanzhang from water and fire.
When Zhu Yuanzhang was locked up in the firewood room by Guo Zixing's father and son and almost starved to death, it was Empress Ma who hid the hot burnt cake in her arms and secretly gave it to Zhu Yuanzhang, so that her chest was seriously burned and suppurated, just so that her husband jun could eat hot food in the hunger and cold.
(Classic of the Ming Dynasty And The Biography of the Empress Dowager)
When Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youyi were defeated and injured in battle, it was also Empress Ma who risked death to carry him and escape. Many years later, Crown Prince Zhu Biao also deliberately found someone to draw a "Horse Queen's Back" according to this matter, and often put it in his arms for any time to see. After Empress Ma's death, Zhu Yuanzhang inadvertently saw this painting and actually put down the majesty of the emperor and cried bitterly in public, which showed that he had a deep affection.
(Classic of the Ming Shu Yiwen Crown Prince)
After Empress Ma's death, Zhu Yuanzhang never created a new empress to show his unique love for his wife.
2. Emperor Mingying's Zhu Qizhen and Empress Qian
(Stills of Empress Qian in "The Legend of the Female Doctor Mingfei")
Among all the empress stories, Ming Yingzong and Empress Qian are the most touching and pathetic.
Love that began as a young man is always more indestructible, and has been blessed ever since the 16-year-old Empress Qian married the 15-year-old Ming Yingzong. Even though there were three thousand harem beauties, he only had her in his eyes. Their only regret is that they have not had children for many years after marriage.
In the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, the young and vigorous Emperor Ming Yingzong personally conquered Vala, but as a result, he encountered the change of Tumu Fort, and was defeated and captured. Emperor Mingying thus lost the throne and was replaced by his brother Zhu Qiyu as Emperor Ming.
No one cared about Ming Yingzong's death or death, and Ming Mingzong obviously wanted to sacrifice his brother for self-preservation. There was only one person in the entire Ming imperial family who refused to give up Ming Yingzong, and that was Empress Qian. She sold jewelry, paid for it out of her own pocket, and begged the minister to go to Wallachia to negotiate, only to be reunited with her husband.
During the uncertain life and death of Emperor Mingyingzong, Empress Qian knelt down day and night to pray for the blessings of heaven, and her mournful voices continued, resulting in her kneeling and lame legs, crying and blinding her eyes, and at the age of 23, she fell into a lifelong disability.
Fortunately, Empress Qian finally waited for Ming Yingzong to return to the dynasty, and then she accompanied Ming Yingzong to spend 7 years of seclusion in the Nangong, lacking clothes and food. After the restoration of Emperor Mingyingzong, the courtiers requested a new one on the grounds that Empress Qian was childless and disabled, but Ming Yingzong categorically refused.
Before his death, Emperor Mingyingzong left a will and testament, requiring him to be buried with Empress Qian in the future, to be born with the same person, to die with the same coffin, to be born in the world, and to live and die.
3. Emperor Xiaozong of Ming and Empress Zhang
(Portraits of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming and Empress Zhang)
One person exclusively enjoying the three palaces, six courtyards and seventy-two concubines is the privilege of ancient emperors, such as Tang Xuanzong Li Longji, sitting on the harem beauty of 40,000 people, even if the last emperor Puyi, also married 5 concubines. However, Emperor Mingxiaozong was an exception, the only emperor in history to practice monogamy and love only one person in his life.
Twenty-three years after Chenghua, the 17-year-old Zhang Clan married into the Eastern Palace as a crown princess, and in September of the same year, Zhu Youfan ascended the throne as emperor, and Zhang Shi was promoted to empress, beginning a journey to the world of motherhood. From then on, the six palaces were virtual, and the harem had no concubines.
The "Excerpts from the Miscellaneous Writings of The Qianyetang" records that when Empress Zhang suffered from severe aphthous sores, the palace ladies did not dare to pass on the medicine, but Emperor Xiaozong personally fed the medicine. The history books describe the relationship between Emperor Xiaozong of Ming and Empress Zhang:
"The filial emperor has no other luck in his life, and he is very happy with his future generation."
In other words, Emperor Mingxiaozong not only never took concubines, but even never favored other women in his lifetime. Emperor Hyojong's favor for Empress Zhang was well known to everyone inside and outside the government, and even the envoys of Korea were amazed by the emperor's affection, and reported to the King of Joseon:
"Emperor Loves Empress".
4. Ming XiZong Zhu You and Zhang Yan
(Zhang Yan stills)
She was another Empress Zhang, but Zhang Yan's reputation was even more famous in ancient and modern times, because she was ranked as one of the "Five Great Empresses" in ancient China with her unique appearance. (Note: The empress of Liu Ying, the Emperor Hui of Han, was also called Zhang Yan, and the two had different names.) ）
In the first year of the Apocalypse, 15-year-old Zhang Yan was drafted into the palace and was favored by Emperor Mingxi Zhu Youxiao and was crowned empress. Zhang Yan was deeply favored by the emperor, and by virtue of not only the beauty of the country and the city, but also her kindness, bravery, wisdom and profound righteousness.
When Zhang Yan was empress, after all, she was young, and she could not fight the fierce Keshi (Ming Xizong's wet mother, Wei Zhongxian was good), and was killed and miscarried, which led to infertility. In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, when the 23-year-old Ming Xizong died childless, it was Empress Zhang who urged Ming Xizong to pass the throne to Zhu Youjian, the King of Xin, before her sickbed, and personally arranged a secret meeting between Ming Xizong and The King of Xin, and set a plan for the succession.
After Zhu Youjian succeeded to the throne as the Chongzhen Emperor, he was grateful and courteous to his sister-in-law Empress Zhang, honored her as Empress Yi'an, gave her the treatment of empress dowager, and still lived in the palace. In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty was destroyed at the hands of Li Zicheng, Empress Zhang was deeply aware of the great righteousness, not willing to be humiliated, and martyred herself, and the generation of Yanhou died in the most singable and weeping way.
summary:
(Ming Dynasty Draft Stills)
After reading the touching love story of the empress, we may wish to think about a question: why is the Ming emperor particularly affectionate and dedicated? Could it be that the old Zhu family has a sentient gene?
In fact, the truth is far from being so simple, but there are more reliable, objective, deeper and more convincing reasons.
Throughout the dynasties, the combination of emperors and queens has often been a political marriage. In the Qing Dynasty, for example, the emperor's main concubines were selected from the Manchu and Mongolian nobles. The so-called selection, in fact, is not to choose, who has the use of value to choose who.
For example, in the early Qing Dynasty, it was necessary to win over the Mongol nobles, so most of the concubines of Emperor Taiji and Emperor Shunzhi came from the steppe, and in the Kangxi Dynasty, Emperor Chong Ling took the throne and needed the support of auxiliary ministers, so Kangxi first married Sony's granddaughter, and then married soetu's daughter.
Such a political marriage, it is really difficult to get unforgettable love. Of course, it is not nothing, such as Kangxi and Empress Hesheli, Qianlong and Empress Fucha, and the feelings are also good. This is a postscript.
The Ming Dynasty's concubine selection system was just the opposite. In order to eliminate the monopoly of foreign relatives from the root, the Ming Dynasty adopted the commoner concubine. To a certain extent, the Ming Dynasty's draft is no different from a beauty pageant, choosing appearance and character, and the emperor himself can usually decide who to choose as an empress is his freedom, without considering origin and political factors. As a result, the selection is wide in scope, large in base, high in quality, and the odds of encountering true love also increase.
Specifically, among the sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty, except for The Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Di who married the daughter of the general Xu Da (at that time, the Ming Dynasty had just established a stable foundation, and Zhu Yuanzhang intended to win over the heroes, so the sons generally married the daughters of the heroes), most of the others met the above situation.
Needless to say, Empress Ma is a folk woman married before Zhu Yuanzhang's departure, Empress Qian's father Qian Gui is a low-level military attaché, Empress Zhang's father is just an ordinary talent, and Zhang Yan is more typical, she is a veritable beauty queen, with beauty in the draft to stand out, overnight.
Without exception, they are all folk women from innocent births, who were personally selected by the emperor because of their talents and colors, so the starting point between the empresses is not interests, but heartbeats, so that love is naturally more sincere and long-lasting than political marriage.
After Zhu Yuanzhang was an emperor and an emperor, emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty had no concubines in the six palaces, and the imperial empress of the Ming Dynasty had deep affection and affection, which was determined by its special concubine selection system from the root.
Resources:
History of the Ming Dynasty