Song Renzong, as an emperor with the best reputation in history, has always been admired by many people, because his "benevolence" is very recognized by later generations, to say that among the ancient emperors, who else can do it like him, thirst does not ask people to pour water for themselves, just because they are afraid that he will be punished, the courtiers are excited, spit on their faces between words, he does not blame, such an emperor in addition to Song Renzong really can not find a second come. And Song Renzong also has his own very favored concubine, that is, Zhang Guifei, it can be said that Song Renzong gave Zhang Guifei a favor, all the concubines, including the empress, add up to nothing, but since it is so pampered, why has Zhang Guifei been unable to become an empress? Even zhang guifei overstepping the line to compete for the position of empress, Song Renzong did not like Empress Cao, but still did not depose Empress Cao and establish Zhang Guifei instead, until Zhang Guifei's death was posthumously crowned empress, why is this?
1. Brief Introduction of Zhang Guifei in History
When Empress Wencheng was eight years old, she entered the palace with three sisters and was raised by the palace people Jia Shi. At a banquet, Empress Wencheng's outstanding posture and graceful dancing posture deeply attracted Emperor Renzong. Empress Wencheng was clever and clever, spoiling the harem and moving both inside and outside the country. Because Emperor Renzong was a son of a good family, he was treated differently from his concubines. In May of the second year of the Qing calendar, Emperor Renzong gave Wen Cheng's father the title of military governor of Shizhou, Yao, as a secretary supervisor; Empress Wencheng's eldest daughter, Princess Anshou, was deeply favored by the emperor with her mother's love, and her moon was served by Emperor Renzong, and the courtiers were enshrined outside the door of the palace. In September, Emperor Renzong gave Wen Cheng's great-grandfather Dongtou to enshrine the official Wen Gradually as the Assassin of Ningzhou, the ancestral examination school secretary Lang Ying as Guanglu Shaoqing, and the maternal grandfather Cao Jian as the secretary of the provincial book Zuo Lang, posthumously presented to the third, which had never been done before. In April of the sixth year of the Qing calendar, Emperor Renzong enfeoffed Empress Wencheng's mother, Juncao of Anding Commandery, as Lady of Qinghe County; In May of the seventh year, he was made an observer of Mizhou by his brother Zhang Huaji, the Marquis of Xitou. In October of the eighth year of the Celebratory Calendar, Empress Wencheng entered the throne as a noble concubine with her driving skills. In June of the second year of the emperor's reign, Emperor Renzong presented Empress Wencheng's mother, Empress Yueguo's wife Cao Shi, as his secretary, and Zu Jing as a member of the ancestral staff.
Emperor Renzong of Song wanted to appoint his uncle Zhang Yaozuo as an envoy to Xuanhui's southern court at Empress Wencheng's request, but was violently attacked by the Taiwan counselors, and Bao Zheng advised Emperor Renzong to "cut off the great righteousness and cut off love slightly", and had no choice but to give up. Empress Wencheng was not dead-hearted, and Emperor Renzong was also determined to appoint Zhang Yaozuo to an official position. One day, when Emperor Renzong ascended to the throne, Empress Wencheng sent Emperor Renzong to the gate of the palace, touched his back and instructed: "The official family should not forget the envoy of Xuanhui today!", which means to remind Emperor Renzong not to forget the matter of sealing Zhang Yaozuo, and Song Renzong listened to it and hurriedly said: "Rest assured! Rest assured!" Arriving at the main hall, Emperor Renzong was just about to issue an edict to appoint Zhang Yaozuo, and Bao Zheng of the Zhizhiyuan stood up and spoke, talking about why He could not appoint Zhang Yaozuo, and gushed endlessly. Bao Zheng is known for his integrity, severe law enforcement, and no fear of the powerful. When he spoke of excitement, the spit also splashed on Renzong's face, and under such circumstances, Renzong had to withdraw his life. When Emperor Renzong returned to the harem, Empress Wencheng greeted him, and before he could speak, Emperor Renzong wiped his face with his sleeve and said impatiently, "Today Bao Zheng went to the palace, and the spit splashed on my face, you just want to xuanhui envoy, don't you know if Bao Zheng is an advisor?" The matter was thus abandoned.
In the first month of the first year of the reign of Wen Chengxue, wen Chengxue died, when Chinese New Year's Eve one year old. Song Renzong was so grief-stricken that he quit the dynasty for seven days and made his own elegy. He ignored the fact that Empress Cao was still alive and decided to mourn Wen Cheng with the empress's courtesy, which many ministers opposed. Empress Wencheng dreamed of ascending to the throne of the empress all her life, and finally put on the queen's funeral dress after her death, and was paid homage to the clan and ministers. Emperor Renzong, fearing the opposition of his advisors, waited until the fourth day of the funeral to announce the posthumous title of Empress Dowager, and wen cheng was known as Wen Cheng, and the gifts were extremely generous. In June of the same year, Emperor Renzong created Empress Wencheng's father Yao the Prince of Qinghe Commandery and his mother Cao Shi the Lady of Qi. Empress Wencheng saw Emperor Renzong of Song on her deathbed, and entrusted her father and ancestor with the burial of her father and grandfather, so Emperor Renzong buried her third life next to the tomb. Empress Wencheng lived in the Ninghua Pavilion, and Emperor Renzong of Song kept the palace where she lived. In the first month of the second year of the reign, Emperor Renzong of Song wanted to take advantage of the occasion of the Imperial Palace of the Ancestral God to pay tribute to empress Wen's mausoleum temple, and the courtiers would stop there.
2. Why Zhang Guifei could not become empress
In the history of the Song Dynasty, Zhang Guifei did not become empress for two reasons, as follows:
First, come from a humble background. Zhang Guifei was the great-granddaughter of the general Zhang Mei, her father was Zhang Yaofeng, a jinshi, and her mother was a geji of the dachang family. At that time, the eldest princess thought that the 8-year-old Zhang Shichang was well-behaved and cute, and he was very intelligent, so she was summoned to the palace to be a music girl.
It was precisely because of this arrangement of the eldest princess that Zhang Shi had the opportunity to fall in love with Song Renzong at first sight. Song Renzong saw the amazing Zhang Shi at the banquet, and fell in love with her at that moment, which can be said to be love at first sight.
However, the Zhang clan came from a humble origin, although it was deeply favored by Song Renzong, and the speed of jin was amazing, song Renzong also made an exception to seal the ancestors of the Zhang clan for three generations in order to elevate the origin of the Zhang clan. Even so, Empress Liu, who was sensitive to her origins, did not like the Zhang clan at all, but on the contrary, Empress Liu took a fancy to the noble Guo clan and insisted on making guo an empress. At that time, Empress Liu was in power, and Song Renzong had to agree with Empress Liu's advice to make Guo empress, but the person he loved most in his heart was still Zhang.
2. No heirs. Although Zhang Guifei was deeply favored by Emperor Renzong of Song, she only gave birth to two princesses, and she died prematurely. The lack of heirs was also a major reason why Zhang Guifei did not become empress. Especially after Empress Guo's violent death, if Song Renzong insisted, Zhang Guifei still had the opportunity to become empress, but because Zhang Guifei had no heirs, the ministers opposed her to becoming empress, and finally Song Renzong had to be ruled by Empress Yang and chose Cao Shi as empress.
Zhang Guifei was deeply loved by Song Renzong throughout her life, but she did not have the opportunity to ascend to the back seat, which cannot but be said to be a regret in her life. In the first year of Zhihe, Zhang Guifei died of a violent illness at the age of 30. Song Renzong was particularly sad after Zhang Guifei's death, and in order not to let his beloved woman leave a lifelong regret, Song Renzong disregarded Empress Cao's reign and ordered Zhang Guifei to be buried with the gift of empress.
Zhang Guifei did not have the opportunity to be an empress before she died, and finally had the opportunity to wear the empress's dress and be buried after her death, which is also the last thing Song Renzong did for the beloved woman and fulfilled her wish. It's just a pity that this posthumous empress title can't be officially recognized by the Song Dynasty, she is only the empress of Song Renzong, she has not really ascended to the throne in her life, but she should also be satisfied, she has been loved by an emperor's life, such an ending should be regarded as happiness for her, at least she is happier than the violent Empress Guo, happier than the still alive Empress Cao.
3. Why Did Emperor Renzong of Song favor Concubine Zhang alone?
In the harem of Emperor Renzong of Song, there was a concubine named Zhang Guifei, that is, Empress Wencheng, Zhang's birth was not high, his father was a jinshi, but he died at a young age, Zhang shi has been following his mother for his life, and then in order to support his daughter, Zhang's mother was a dancer in the palace of Princess Qiguo, the mother and daughter also lived a life under the fence, Zhang's mother looked very drifty, and the princess felt that Zhang shi should be good in the future, so she sent Zhang Shi into the palace, and the Zhang clan was really outstanding after growing up. Talented and artistic, in another banquet, he was favored by Song Renzong and selected into the harem.
With her looks, Zhang Clan quickly got favored, and then Zhang Clan gave birth to three daughters for Song Renzong, and then gained a lot of favors, but at this time when the scenery was infinite, Zhang Clan wanted Song Renzong to lower her rank, because it was her second daughter who died very early, although it was demoted, Song Renzong also had more good feelings for Zhang Shi, although he was demoted to the position of beauty, but the favor has not decreased, until five years later, Zhang Shi sat in the position of a noble concubine, which can be described as one person. Above all men.
Although she was a concubine, but Song Renzong made a special case for her, Emperor You six years, Zhang Guifei died of illness, at that time only 31 years old, before Zhang Guifei did not die, she always wanted to sit in the position of empress, and this wish, I don't know if Song Renzong knew it at that time, but since her death, Song Renzong really made her an empress. Song Renzong posthumously named her Empress Wencheng, and put on the empress's uniform for her to accept the worship of the courtiers, posthumously sealing the empress is also a very common thing for ancient times, why is it an exception?
Because Empress Cao, the empress of Song Renzong, was still alive at that time, it was really rare to have an empress dowager, which naturally attracted the opposition of many courtiers, but Song Renzong only hid it for fear of being impeached at first, but in the end he crowned Zhang Guifei as empress. Zhang Guifei was so favored by Song Renzong, which was really a typical example of Cinderella's counterattack.