As we all know, Kangxi is the longest reigning emperor in Chinese history, and he reigned for 61 years, which can be said to shake the ancient world and the present. Kangxi was one of the greatest emperors in Chinese history, and was also known by many as "one emperor throughout the ages".
Kangxi had many difficulties in his life, and he once suffered from smallpox when he was a child, and smallpox was an incurable disease at that time, but Kangxi survived this disaster and thus inherited the throne. After inheriting the throne, the power of the imperial government was held by Ao Bai, and Kangxi risked his life, and finally zhi captured Ao Bai and regained the imperial power. After reaching middle age, Kangxi fell ill with malaria and almost died, thanks to the sacrifice of his ministers to the cinchona cream to save his life.
Even Kangxi himself felt that his fate was hard. Since the death of the original empress Herschel, Kangxi considered himself a wife, and in order to protect his own woman, Kangxi was not willing to be crowned empress. According to statistics, Kangxi had four empresses in his lifetime, but the reign of these four empresses combined was less than ten years. That is to say, although Kangxi was emperor for 61 years, there was no empress in the harem for 51 years.
The first was Kangxi's first empress, Empress Xiaochengren of the Hesheli clan. In the fourth year of Kangxi, in order to deal with Aobai, Kangxi married Sony's granddaughter Heshelishi, who also became kangxi's first empress. After the marriage, the two Qinser and Ming, unfortunately, in the thirteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, The Herschel clan died in childbirth when giving birth to a second boy.
From the entry of The Hersheri clan into the palace in the fourth year of the Kangxi Dynasty to the death of the Herschel clan in the thirteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, she served as empress for a total of nine years. Many people may feel that Herschel is aggrieved and has only been empress for nine years. However, when you understand the reign of the three empresses after Kangxi, you will feel that Herschel is lucky.
Kangxi's second empress was Empress Xiaozhaoren,who was named Niu Cobalt Lu (陳钴禄氏), and she entered the palace with Hersheri, and was given the title of concubine when she first entered the palace. After the death of the Herschel clan, the Niu Cobalt Lu clan was temporarily in charge of the harem by Kangxi, and in August of the sixteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the Niu Cobalt Lu clan was made empress by The Kangxi. In February of the seventeenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Niu Cobalt Lushi, who had only been empress for half a year, died of illness. After the death of the Niu Cobalt Lu clan, Kangxi felt that his two empresses had died successively because of his own wife, so he would not be crowned empress in the future.
The third empress, Empress Xiaoyiren, was a cousin of Kangxi and the niece of Kangxi's mother, named Tong Jiashi. After empress xiaozhaoren's death, Kangxi needed to promote someone to help him manage the harem, and tong Jia was the highest ranking in the harem at that time, and her position was a noble concubine, and she naturally took on this task.
In the twentieth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Tong Jia was made an imperial concubine by Kangxi Jin and performed the duties of empress. As we said earlier, Kangxi thought that he was suspicious of his wife, so he never promoted Tong Jiashi as empress. However, this did not save Tong Jiashi, Kangxi twenty-eight years in July, Tong Jiashi was seriously ill, in order to rush the joy, Kangxi deliberately promoted Tong Jiashi as empress on the ninth day of the first month of July, unfortunately, the next day Tong Jiashi died, only one day as empress.
The fourth empress dowager, Empress Xiaogongren, was Yongzheng's mother, and during Kangxi's lifetime, her title was Princess De. In October of the 61st year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor died and was succeeded by the Yongzheng Emperor. The mother was noble, and the Uya clan was posthumously honored as empress. In May of the first year of Yongzheng, Wu Yashi suddenly died of illness, and it took half a year from the posthumous title of empress to his death.
It can be seen that among the four empresses of Kangxi, the original empress Herschel clan reigned for the longest time, up to nine years, the remaining three empresses did not reign for more than half a year, and the four empresses reigned for only ten years. That is to say, during Kangxi's 61-year reign as emperor, there were no empresses in the harem for 51 years. Although this was deliberately done by the Kangxi Emperor, this record is also unprecedented.
Resources:
"Biography of concubines after the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", "Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty"