Don't look at Zhu Di so fiercely, he killed many people after succeeding to the throne, but he was not generally good to this original empress, but incomparably good.
The original empress Xu of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, was the eldest daughter of Xu Da, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty. The History of Ming says that she was talented, chaste and quiet, and loved to read. Mr. and Mrs. Xu Da have carefully raised her since childhood and invited teachers to teach her.
Xu Shi is full of poetry and books, has a superb memory, and when she reads, she never forgets it, and even her teacher is very surprised, and when she reads the virtues and words and deeds of the ancients, she will think deeply about imitating them.
Since childhood, Xu's family has the reputation of "female students". In the Ming Dynasty, "Zhusheng" was a student who had received traditional Confucian education and worked in the history of the classics, and Xu Shi could have the name of "Female Zhusheng", which showed that his talent and cultivation were very good.
When Xu Shi was very young, Zhu Yuanzhang liked her very much, and once said to Xu Da: "This child will definitely be very successful in the future." Our family (Zhu Yuanzhang called himself) and you are friends of cloth, one heart and one mind, there is always no gap, the fourth son of our family has an extraordinary temperament, and hopes to become a family with you. Xu Da prostrated his head and thanked him, and as a result, Xu Shi and Zhu Di agreed to marry from an early age.
Therefore, when Xu Shi was about ten years old, he entered the palace, not only met Zhu Di, the two became young partners of Qingmei Bamboo Horse and two small unsuspecting, and served around Empress Ma every morning and evening, and Empress Ma also liked her very much.
In the first month of the ninth year of Hongwu (1377), the fifteen-year-old Xu Shi was crowned Princess of Yan; at that time, because Zhu Yuanzhang asked his sons to go to Fengyang to experience life, the newly married Xu and Zhu Di of Yan'er did not want to be separated, and Xu Shi accompanied Zhu Di to Fengyang. In the following three years, the couple traveled back and forth between Fengyang and Nanjing many times.
In March of the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380), Xu shi left Nanjing with Zhu Di and went to Beiping to enter the Yan palace.
Prior to this, Xu Da had been guarding Beiping Town for many years. Under the leadership of Xu Da, Zhu Di's military talents improved by leaps and bounds. At that time, when Xu Da was fighting, he often dictated the art of war to Zhu Di, who followed him. Therefore, when Zhu Di was training soldiers, he often put Xu Da's teachings on his lips.
The Yan Royal Palace was huge, and it was not easy to manage it well, so Xu Shi played the role of the hostess of the house, and managed the internal affairs of the deep palace in an orderly manner, which made the palace orderly and also reduced Zhu Di's burden.
Because of her and Zhu Di's deep affection, seven of Zhu Di's nine children are from the Xu clan. Nine years after marriage, Zhu Di hardly touched other women. It was not until later that the Xu clan did not have children, and there was a concubine Princess Changning and a concubine Zhu Gaomu, whose birth mother was unknown.
In July of the first year of Jianwen, the Battle of Jingnan broke out, Zhu Di led an army to attack Daning, and Emperor Jianwen sent the general Li Jinglong to lead an army of 500,000 to raid Zhu Di's rear road and besiege Beiping. At that time, Zhu Di's son Zhu Gaozi stayed in Beiping, and everything that was deployed for defense was finally decided by Xu. Xu Shi is equivalent to the commander-in-chief of the Beiping garrison, often wearing armor to defend the city, fully interpreting what is called "towels do not let the eyebrows".
Faced with the situation of lack of troops in the city and the enemy's widowhood, Xu Shi calmly and calmly planned and deployed various affairs of the defending city together with his son Zhu Gaozi and the generals who defended the city, and called on all the soldiers and people to swear to defend Peiping to the death. Under the command of Xu Shi, although the enemy was outnumbered, they still fought a deadly battle with Li Jinglong's army until Zhu Di led his army back to Beiping. The defense of Beiping fully reflected Xu's courage, strategy, composure and wit.
On June 17 of the fourth year of Jianwen, Zhu Di ascended the throne as emperor, and on November 13 of the same year, He made Princess Xu empress. In Xu's Li hou book, Zhu Di wrote:
Xu Shi, the daughter of Xu Da, the King of Wuning in Zhongshan, was a concubine of Shuo Zheng and assisted the kingdom of the domain for more than 20 years.
After Zhu Di ascended the throne, his relationship with Xu Shi lasted for a long time, and the two often lived together and discussed political affairs.
The "History of the Ming Dynasty" says: "Those who are diligent in political affairs, or who do not eat in the future, do not eat after that."
During Zhu Di's reign, because of the busy state affairs, he often forgot to sleep and eat, and Empress Xu accompanied him all the time.
Because both of them like to read, like poetry and songs, philosophy of life, and the values and aesthetic orientations are very similar, this is also an important reason why they can imprint their hearts and minds after marriage.
After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he knew that his name was not right, so he tried his best to change this dilemma and did everything possible to justify his own name. Of course, Empress Xu was well aware of the situation at that time, so she closely followed her husband's steps, and in addition to assisting Zhu Di, she wrote a book and a book, describing the teachings of Empress Ma before she died, expanding and writing twenty articles of "Internal Training" to teach the concubines in the palace, and compiling the words and good deeds of the ancients, writing them into the "Book of Persuasion for Charity", and promulgating them to the world. In addition, Xu also wrote a volume of "Poetry of Empress Renxiao", which has unfortunately been lost.
In addition to managing the harem in an orderly manner, the Xu family often put forward their own views on governing the country, caring for the well-being of the people and cherishing the talents of the country. Zhu Di also deeply agreed with many of her views and issued an edict to implement them.
Zhu Di's empress, Xu Shi, was a very cultured and almost perfect woman. Whether it is assisting Zhu Di, or filial piety to the elders, educating future generations, interacting with people, treating people and things, they are very well done. No one who had come into contact with her did not dislike her.
On the fourth day of the fifth month of July in the fifth year of Yongle (1407), Empress Xu died at the age of 46 due to overwork. The Records of Emperor Ming Taizong record this touching farewell scene:
When Empress Xu was critically ill, Zhu Di went to visit. She instructed Zhu Di: "Although today, although there is peace and no armor is needed, the people's livelihood has not been fully restored, and I hope that the saint will be more sympathetic." ”
When Zhu Di asked the empress what else she had to say, Empress Xu said: "When employing people, we must widely use talents, distinguish between right and wrong, and do not abandon a person because he has a small fault, nor entrust him with heavy responsibilities because a person has a small wisdom, teach his children and grandchildren to focus on their studies, and treat the clan with kindness and righteousness." The other thing is not to be arrogant about my mother's family. ”
After Zhu Di listened, he couldn't help but burst into tears and couldn't cry.
Throughout Xu's life, I personally believe that she has five characteristics: one is humble and cautious, not arrogant and impatient; the second is to respect the elders and love the young; the third is to be diligent and studious, to emulate the excellent; the fourth is to be virtuous and good, to serve people with virtue; and the fifth is to distinguish between right and wrong, reasoning and people. With these five characteristics at the bottom, therefore, although her life is short, it is enough to make posterity admire and imitate, and qingshi will leave a name.
After empress Xu's death, Zhu Di's temperament changed greatly due to the painful loss of his beloved wife, and he was willful in the palace, often irritable. This may also be a major reason for Zhu Di's later temperament and murderous nature.
After Empress Xu's death, Zhu Di decided not to make an empress again, leaving the yongle dynasty vacant for seventeen years.
Zhu Di dressed in white for another year because of empress Xu's funeral, and dropped out of the dynasty for a year.
In February of the seventh year of Yongle (1409), Zhu Di toured the north, returned to Beiping, which was full of past events, and began to move the capital, so he ordered people to go to the Site of Buxuan Mausoleum in Beijing, and then chose Tianshou Mountain in Changping County, Jidi, and started construction of the mausoleum in the same year. Since Empress Xu was unable to settle down for a while, Zhu Di parked her coffin in the Nanjing Imperial Palace for six years.
In February of the eleventh year of Yongle (1413), the Underground Xuan Palace of Changling was completed, and the Zi Palace of Empress Xu of Zhu Di was escorted from Nanjing to Beijing. Therefore, Empress Xu was also the first person to be buried in the Ming Tombs.
On July 18, 1424, the twenty-second year of Yongle, Zhu Di died of illness on the way back to mobei at the age of sixty-five. On his deathbed, he was buried with Empress Xu in his will. In December of the same year, Zhu Di and Empress Xu were buried together in Changling.
This also made Zhu Di and Empress Xu the only pair of empresses and emperors who had recently died for many years in the Ming and Qing dynasties, emperors and empresses who were honored on the same day, in the same place, and in the same ceremony.