As the king of a country, the emperor had the treatment of three thousand beauties in the harem. The status of these concubines was very different, and some of them were deeply favored by the emperor and lived a life of glory and wealth. Some compete for favors, but they have to live a miserable life, and neither spiritual nor material can be well taken care of.
Like Wu Zetian, who relied on the favor of the emperor and eventually became emperor himself, like Empress Dowager Cixi, although she did not claim the title of emperor, she also held great power and listened to the government. They were all very favored by the emperor during their lifetime, so they had the opportunity to ascend to the top.
And the concubine we are talking about today was also deeply loved by the emperor, but the fate was tragic, and even became the first in history to be "
Slouched staff
"Concubine! Who is she?
Photo: Stills of Empress Dowager Cixi holding power
This concubine was the guangxu emperor's favorite concubine, Zhenfei, and her life was also more legendary. In many people's minds, Zhenfei is a positive image, such as deep understanding of righteousness.
Although the Guangxu Emperor loved her, Empress Dowager Cixi hated her so much that she eventually ordered her to be pushed into a well and drowned. And Zhenfei was only twenty-five years old when she was killed, which is really regrettable.
In the qing dynasty merchant Yanying's work "Zhenfei Qiren", it is a good restoration of Zhenfei's original appearance, as well as telling why Zhenfei offended Cixi and was "stripped of her clothes", that is, stripped naked and then tortured with a staff.
The picture comes from the Internet: the original appearance of Zhenfei
As we all know, the emperor has supreme power. But there were times when they couldn't act according to their own will, just like the Guangxu Emperor. Although he became emperor, the decision-making power was not in his place, but in his birth mother, Empress Dowager Cixi.
The affairs of the DPRK and China were to be handled according to Cixi's wishes, so the Guangxu Emperor was only nominal and not real. Not only is it not his turn to deal with government affairs, but he cannot decide even such major matters as marriage.
In 1889 AD, that is, the year of Guangxu's great marriage. Originally, the big wedding was a happy event, but the Guangxu Emperor had a sad face. Because the other party is not his crush, he cannot choose his own marriage.
Not only that, the three women Guangxu married in his life were not chosen by himself, and it was really sad that a generation of emperors had fallen to this point.
Photo: Stills of the Guangxu Emperor's sad face
The only consolation was that one of the three women was one he liked, and that was Princess Jane. Not only is he outstanding in appearance, he can chant and paint, but he is also particularly lively, giving people a different feeling among the many women in the harem.
Because of the uniqueness of Zhenfei, she was soon loved by the Guangxu Emperor. Of course, Princess Zhen's favor naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of Empress Longyu. Empress Longyu was Cixi's niece, so she often complained to Cixi and said bad things about Concubine Zhen.
However, Cixi did not intervene, because she did not like this niece too much, but preferred the clever and lively Concubine Zhen. Since Cixi also liked Zhenfei, why did he target her everywhere and even kill her? Because later Zhenfei's style of behavior caused Cixi to be dissatisfied and angered Cixi.
Image: Stills of Princess Jane's appearance
At first, Cixi valued Zhenfei very much. Because Princess Zhenfei was good at writing, Cixi often asked her to ghostwrite and write some words such as "Fu and Shou" to reward the ministers. At the same time, in order to let Zhenfei also have strengths in painting, Cixi also specially asked a teacher to teach her.
It can be seen that at this time, Zhenfei was still very pleasing to Cixi. But later, Zhenfei caused Cixi a series of troubles, which made Cixi hate her more and more. You know, Zhenfei's thoughts are very enlightened, willing to accept foreign ideas, and more interested in Western things.
This was out of place in the feudal imperial palace, and the first to offend was Cixi. For a while, Princess Zhen became obsessed with taking pictures, and also asked the eunuch to open a photo studio outside the Donghua Gate. Zhenfei was just for fun, not knowing that it would anger Cixi.
When Cixi found out, she thought that this was not what the concubine should do, so she reprimanded Zhenfei, and the eunuch was not so lucky and was beaten to death.
Image: Princess Jane wrote a good hand still
Princess Jane not only likes foreign things, but also likes women to dress up as men. Such a character as Princess Zhen is rare in the palace, and naturally becomes an outlier in the palace. Cixi was even more intolerant of this, believing that Princess Zhenfei had disgraced the Qing royal family by dressing as a man.
Of course, these were all small things, but they only made Cixi have a slight dislike for Zhenfei. The following incident directly made Cixi furious, and Zhenfei openly bought and sold official positions. This makes it difficult to imagine, as the emperor's concubine, why did Zhenfei have to "sell officials" to earn money?
Image: Stills of Princess Jane dressed as a man
Although Princess Zhen was an imperial concubine, she was also very short of money. She had three hundred taels of silver a year to spend, but it was far from enough for her. So in order to earn more pocket money, he participated in the sale of officials.
Princess Zhen set up a group of officials to let her relatives, friends and eunuchs carry out the operation, and the work was very prosperous. Of course, this matter was eventually leaked out, but the Guangxu Emperor did not punish Zhenfei after he found out, but turned a blind eye.
Because selling officials in the Qing Dynasty was not a illegal thing, but was allowed by the Qing Dynasty. Since the Kangxi Dynasty, selling officials has been protected by the laws of the Qing Dynasty, and many famous people have obtained official positions by this means. For example, Deng Shichang and Tan Si are equal.
That is to say, Zhenfei's "selling officials" did not violate the law, but it violated the ancestral precepts: the harem must not interfere in politics.
Image: Stills of the jane princess being found selling the official
In this regard, Cixi was very angry and reprimanded Zhenfei. What's the guess,
Princess Zhen said in turn that Cixi was obedient to the government, which was the real harem interference! In addition, Zhenfei also said that she had learned from Cixi to sell officialdom.
In this way, Zhenfei completely annoyed Cixi, and in anger, she imposed a "cloaked court staff" on Zhenfei. Such a punishment is very undignified on a concubine, and Zhenfei is also the only concubine in history to be "stripped of her staff".
After the beating, Cixi's anger was still not dispelled, and she ordered That Zhenfei be imprisoned and guarded by the eunuch. At that time, The Guangxu Emperor's teacher Weng Tonggong thought that such a punishment was too severe, and had interceded for Concubine Zhen, but Cixi, who was angry, did not agree.
Image: Stills of Princess Jane suffering from a scuffle
Princess Zhenfei was punished so badly because she did not take into account the seriousness of the matter. If Cixi could bear it when she reprimanded her, she would admit her mistake. However, Zhenfei's straightforward nature was to openly confront Cixi and also poke at Cixi's sore spot, so how could she not suffer calamity?
Of course, what Zhenfei said was also correct, but it should not be said, let alone in front of Cixi' face. In the palace, Cixi was the real ruler, and the Guangxu Emperor, who loved her, was only an emperor without real power, and it was difficult to protect himself, let alone protect his beloved woman.
Therefore, a very important reason why Princess Zhenfei was "dressed with a staff" was that she did not recognize the situation and angered Cixi.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!