We generally believe that Wu Zetian was the first and only female emperor in Chinese history. But in fact, as early as the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was a baby girl who ascended to the throne. Although the baby girl had only been emperor for one day, she was indeed on the throne in front of the courtiers.
This baby girl was the daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei. In addition to the history books that recorded that she had been the "emperor of the day", there was no other information, not even a name left, and people who knew her called her "Yuan Girl".
The story has to start with the father of the Yuan girl, The Xiaoming Emperor Yuanxuan. Yuan Xue was the ninth emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, his father was Xuanwu Emperor Yuan Ke, and his mother was Empress Xuanwu Ling of the Hu clan.
Emperor Xiaoming
Yuan Xue was only 6 years old when he ascended the throne. After he became emperor, the power of the imperial government was first in the hands of the powerful minister Yuan Fork, and then the mother Empress Hu killed the Yuan Fork and took power herself. This Empress HuLing grew up in a nunnery and was a good hand at palace fighting, losing power several times and making several comebacks. However, she was best known for her sexual immorality, having an affair with a relative of her uncle's generation and forcing a handsome minister to sleep with her, who was so frightened that she defected directly to the enemy country.
As he grew older, Yuan Xue became more and more dissatisfied with Empress Dowager Huling's dictatorship, and the contradictions between the two became more and more intense. Because the power of the imperial court was in the hands of Empress Hu Ling, Yuan Xue pinned his hopes on the warlords in the field. In the first year of Wutai (528 AD), the Warlord Erzhu Rong of Jinyang entered the Jingqin King.
As a result, the secret edict leaked out, and Empress Dowager Hu Ling was furious when she found out, and ordered someone to poison her own son Yuan Xue. The imperial family really only had struggle and no family affection, and Yuan Xue was only nineteen years old when he died, and his nickname was Emperor Xiaoming, and he was buried in Dingling.
Empress Dowager Huling
Yuan Xue has no son, only one daughter, which is the "Yuan Girl" mentioned in this article, and when her father was poisoned, yuan girl was only one month old.
From the day she was born, she was destined to become a tool in the political struggle between her grandmother and father. Empress Dowager Hu was fierce by nature and knew that Yuan Xue was dissatisfied with herself, so she took precautions and made preparations: when Yuan Girl was born, Empress Hu announced to the outside world on behalf of Emperor Xiaoming, saying that she was a prince, not a princess. In this way, in case she had to kill Emperor Xiaoming one day, Empress Dowager HuLing could appoint this girl as emperor in the name of "crown prince" and continue to control the government herself.
Things did indeed develop in the direction predicted by Empress Dowager Hu Ling. Therefore, after poisoning Emperor Xiaoming, Empress Dowager Hu Ling immediately established Lady Yuan as emperor. However, wutai was made emperor on April 1 of the first year of the yuan dynasty, and was deposed on April 2, and became emperor for only one day.
Why is that? Two reasons. First, Empress Dowager HuLing found that after Emperor Xiaoming's death, the hearts of the people in the DPRK did not seem to have changed much; second, she also realized that girls posing as boys were not a long-term solution. Therefore, Empress Dowager HuLing changed her mind, declaring to the courtiers that the Yuan girl was a girl and was not suitable to be an emperor, and defended that she was doing this for the sake of the stability of the country.
Empress Dowager Huling then made the 3-year-old Yuan Zhao emperor. Yuan Zhao was the son of Yuan Baohui the Prince of Lintao, and was a new puppet chosen by Empress Dowager Hu for power.
Erzhu Rong
However, Empress Hu Ling still miscalculated. On April 13, Erzhu Rong, in the name of avenging Emperor Xiaoming, led a large army to capture Luoyang. Empress Dowager Hu was a good hand, but she was powerless to resist Erzhu Rong's iron horse and was captured along with the young lord Yuan zhao.
Subsequently, Erzhu Rong escorted the young lord Yuan Zhao and Empress Hu Ling to the Yellow River. Empress Dowager Huling said a lot of nice things in front of Erzhu Rong, but Erzhu Rong still ordered that the young lord Yuan Zhao and Empress Hu Ling be drowned in the Yellow River, and that the soldiers killed more than 2,000 officials of the prince and the prince, known in history as the "Change of Heyin".
The history books do not say whether the Yuan girl died in this "heyin change", only that her whereabouts are unknown.
Well, the story of the yuan girl is over. Many people believe that Yuan Girl cannot be regarded as the first female emperor in Chinese history. First of all, her reign was too short, only one day, nothing had happened, and she was too far behind Wu Zetian; secondly, she ascended to the throne as a man, and the throne was based on lies and could not be counted.
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