Ma Xiuying (1332-1382), Zhu Yuanzhang's wife, was diligent and frugal, caring for the people, but also quite courageous, helping Zhu Yuanzhang achieve great things.
She lost her mother at an early age, and at the age of twelve became the righteous daughter of Guo Zixing, the leader of the Red Turban Army, when Zhu Yuanzhang was a subordinate of Guo Zixing; at the age of twenty-one, Ma Xiuying married Zhu Yuanzhang, although she was born in a chaotic world, she was quite courageous, and in the great chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, she helped Zhu Yuanzhang achieve great things and spent fifteen years of conquest with him.
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne as emperor at Yingtianfu (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), with the state name Daming and crowned Ma Xiuying as empress, at the age of six Chinese New Year's Eve. After that, she cared about political affairs with the dignity of an empress, showed compassion for the people, and worked with Zhu Yuanzhang to consolidate the newly established Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang was violent, and he was often executed and even killed, and Empress Ma always gently advised zhu Yuanzhang to be as restrained as possible.
One year during the Lantern Festival, Zhu Yuanzhang went out in plain clothes and mixed with the crowd to admire the lights. One lamp read, "Women shoulder to shoulder, riding the boat in the wind, suddenly one less person, missing the shore." The mystery is "good double big feet", Zhu Yuanzhang believes that this is a satire on the empress, angry, to severely punish this "Diao people", otherwise, the whole city will be doomed.
After Empress Ma heard about it, she gave advice to the emperor, she was indeed bigfoot, but she did not dislike it, Her Majesty did not dislike it, even if others hated it, then what was it? Moreover, she believes that the Son of Heaven is the parent of the people, and the children casually talk about their parents, which does not hurt the hearts of their parents, how can parents put their children to death? A word of relief made Zhu Yuanzhang quickly calm his anger, so he withdrew his life, and the people of the capital were saved from a disaster.
As the "mother of the country" of the Ming Dynasty, Empress Ma always cared about the lives of the people and the sufferings of the people. In 1372, there was a severe spring drought, the seedlings could not be buried, the people were anxious, and Empress Ma was also anxious.
Subsequently, he ordered the concubine princess to eat green vegetables and rice with him, and asked the harem to save food and clothing and prepare to spend this famine year together.
It happened that one night there was a spring rain, and the next day, she personally went to the court to celebrate, and said happily to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Concubine Zhi Your Majesty's thoughts and worries are all about loving the people, and even the heavens are touched." Zhu Yuanzhang also said excitedly: "It is really a blessing for the people of the world that the empress can be worried and diligent with one heart!" ”
Although Empress Ma held a high position, she never changed her nature of thrift. He often warns his children and grandchildren that although they grow rich and noble, they must also know the hardships of cultivating the land and planting the land. She led by example herself, wearing coarse silk clothes, washed and washed, and the clothes on her body faded and refused to change into new ones. The scraps of the sewn clothes will be put away and put together into a futon for the harsh winter cold.
In terms of diet, it is all coarse tea and light rice, and every famine year, it is mainly vegetarian with the concubines. All kinds of equipment in the palace are not allowed to be excessively luxurious, and all carvings are prohibited. The concubines of the harem respected her and compared her to Empress Mingdema (empress of Liu Zhuang, emperor of the Han Dynasty) during the Eastern Han Dynasty.
In the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382), Empress Ma fell ill and gradually became serious, and Zhu Yuanzhang's mood fluctuated with the illness of his beloved wife, and he was furious at the famous doctors summoned from all over: "If you can't save the empress, I want your life!" ”
After hearing this news, Empress Ma on the sickbed persuaded Zhu Yuanzhang: "Life is alive, life and death have a life, and doctors can't save people whose lives are about to end, so why should they implicate these doctors for me?" ”
After that, Empress Ma's condition took a sharp turn for the worse, and when she was dying, she said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "I hope that Your Majesty will recruit wise men, spread faith and advice, and handle the government well, and that her children and grandchildren will continue like this, which is also what ministers and the people yearn for." ”
Soon, Empress Xianhou Ma, a generation of overworked and ill, died of illness in Nanjing, at the age of fifty, with the title of Empress Xiaoci. Empress Ma's death not only made Zhu Yuanzhang miserable, but everyone in the palace also wept bitterly, and all the officials of the imperial court also mourned in silence.
In Zhu Yuanzhang's heart, no one can be worthy of the status of Ma Xiuying, and the sad Zhu Yuanzhang will no longer be an empress.
After that, someone in the palace wrote a memorial song: After I am a saint, I will transform my family and state, and nurture me. Wilder is unforgettable, in the year of Vance, the spring of The Other, leisurely heaven.
References for this article: "The Complete Biography of the Chinese Empress", "History of the Ming Dynasty"