On February 18, 1765, Qianlong, who was on his way to the south, suddenly issued a decree asking Efu Long'an to immediately send Empress Nala back to Beijing, and was not allowed to stop along the way. At the same time, Qianlong also strictly ordered that after the empress returned to Beijing, she was only allowed to "recuperate" in her Yikun Palace, and she was not allowed to meet with anyone.
Later, Qianlong received a request from the brothers who remained in the palace, and in reply, he told the chief eunuch Pan Feng: "The empress is crazy! ”
Is this really the case? Was this qianlong successor, nala, sick or really crazy?
It has to start at the beginning.
1. The side of the submerged mansion
The Nara clan was born in 1718, and her father was the Sipinzo lingerbu, a Manchurian Yellow Bannerman.
In the spring of 1734, the 16-year-old Nala clan was accused by Yongzheng of marrying the then fourth prince, Prince Bao, Hongli, as a side Fujin.
Film and television image of Nara, network diagram
At this time, Hongli's concubine Fujin was the Fucha clan that had been in the submerged mansion for 7 years, in addition, he also had more than ten Fujin, side Fujin and Gege, and Hongli's favorite was the Fucha clan.
In the second year of Nala's marriage to the Hongli calendar, Yongzheng collapsed, and the Hongli took the throne, which was for Qianlong.
After Qianlong ascended the throne, he made the Fucha clan empress and the Nala clan a concubine. Concubines were second only to empresses and noble concubines.
In the following ten years, Concubine Xian was just like her title "Xian": An he, tranquil, and indisputable from the world.
Qianlong did not seem to show much love or dislike for her, he gave her a noble name and a leisurely life, but it was not like for the Fucha clan, the two people were in love and connected; nor was it like to the noble concubines, always pampered.
In 1745, Concubine Xian was promoted to the title of Concubine Xian Guifei, becoming the youngest noble concubine in the palace.
Qianlong's comment to her was: "Concubine Nala, gentle in nature, soft in quality." At this time, Concubine Xian had been married to Qianlong for 11 years, and although she seemed to be very popular with Qianlong and the empress dowager, she had never come out.
2. Ascended empress
In March 1748, Empress Fucha died, and there was no one in charge of the palace for a while, Qianlong was instructed by the emperor and empress dowager, and promoted the concubine to the title of imperial concubine, and the sixth palace affair, giving her the honor of accepting the honor of "the middle palace note table and issuing the edict to the world", which was previously only available to the empress; three palace women were added to the palace of the imperial concubine, and the staffing standard was equal to that of the empress.
Qianlong and empress dowager in this period should have finalized the Nala clan as the successor candidate, and the "imperial concubine" was just a transitional "examination" stage.
Qianlong's film and television image, network diagram
With the promotion of the Nara clan to the rank of imperial concubine, her maternal family was also promoted: by this time her father and brother had died, and her nephew Nesuken was awarded the title of third-class bodyguard and Qianqingmen walker, while also giving an official house in the oil mill alley.
In 1750, the imperial concubine was already called empress in the archives of the inner court, but the 27-month mourning period of Empress Fucha had not yet expired, and she had not yet performed the ceremony.
On the tenth day of July 1750, Qianlong officially decreed that the imperial concubine Nala clan would be made empress, and in early August, a ceremony and celebration ceremony was held.
Qianlong treated his successors kindly, posthumously honoring the empress's father as the First Rank Cheng'en Duke and his mother as the wife of the Duke of Yipin, breaking the previous practice that the Empress's foreign family could not inherit the title of Cheng'en Duke, and allowing the Empress's nephew Nesuken to inherit the title of First Rank Cheng'en Marquis.
After that, whether Qianlong went out to worship his ancestors or inspected Jiangnan, the empress would accompany him.
In 1752, the 34-year-old empress gave birth to the twelfth son of the emperor, Yong Xuan, for Qianlong. In the following four years, she gave birth to the fifth daughter of the Emperor and the thirteenth son of the Emperor Yongjing, but both sons and daughters died in their infancy.
During this period, Empress Nala not only honored the throne and favored, but also gave birth to children, which seemed to be pleasing to Qianlong.
It was not until Qianlong's fourth southern tour, which became a turning point for Empress Nala to follow.
3. Subsequent hair loss
In the first month of 1765 (the thirtieth year of Qianlong), Qianlong prepared for the fourth southern tour.
Like the previous three southern tours, the lineup of this tour was very large, in addition to the empress dowager, empress, Ling Guifei, Qingfei, Rong Concubine and other people, the Mongolian princes, local governors, university scholars Fu Heng and others also accompanied the trip, and the vast contingent of more than a thousand people set off from Beijing and went straight to Hangzhou.
Hongli XingleTu, originated from the Network
Before leaving, on the eighth day of the first lunar month, Qianlong also specially rewarded the empress's 48th birthday in advance. During the trip, on the day of the empress's birthday, Qianlong also held a celebration ceremony for her, inviting the princes and ministers and officials of all sizes to feast and drink together, and specially rewarded the soldiers of the two provinces along the way with two months of money and food.
It seems that the two people are still the scene of "accepting joy and celebrating" as described by Qianlong later.
Things have happened in Hangzhou, a city with both beautiful scenery and beauty.
On the morning of arriving in Hangzhou, Qianlong and the empress had breakfast together, and until this time the empress and empress still got along peacefully. However, this peaceful scene did not last until the evening, and by dinnertime, Empress Nala did not appear in front of Qianlong again, and it was Ling Guifei and Qingfei and Rong Concubine who accompanied him to dinner.
At dinner, Qianlong was supposed to be the first to give dishes to the Nala clan, but it was Ling Guifei who accepted the first dish from him at that time. The name of the empress, which originally appeared on the record file, was pasted on paper and replaced with the name of Concubine Ling.
On the same day, Qianlong sent Fulong'an to send Empress Nala back to the palace, strictly ordering that she was not allowed to stay along the way, and after returning to the capital, the empress was not allowed to see anyone.
There is no official record of what happened on this day, and Qianlong was very secretive about it, and it was only when he received a reply from the brothers that he briefly told the chief eunuch Pan Feng: "The empress is crazy!" ”
However, there is another saying in the folk: Empress Nala advised Qianlong not to covet beauty excessively, but Qianlong did not listen, and Empress Nala was extremely angry, so she cut her hair herself.
In ancient times, the combination of husband and wife was called knotting hair, and if Empress Nala cut her hair on her own, she should have the meaning of expressing and Qianlong severing the relationship between husband and wife.
If it is really just a husband and wife, then The broken hair of The La clan only expresses his own discouragement and severance of his husband's kindness.
But she overlooked a problem, that is, she was not only a wife, but also an empress of the Manchu Qing Dynasty; Qianlong was not only her husband, he was also the husband of dozens of women in the palace, he was also the king of Qiangang's dictatorship, he was rich in the world, he was the one who dominated her wealth, honor, and disgrace, and her life.
Especially according to manchu custom, the empress cut off her hair, like a curse on the empress dowager and the emperor.
Therefore, Qianlong was very angry at the severance of the Nala clan, and he ordered that Empress Nala be sent back to the capital, not allowing her to see anyone, and quickly dismissed the palace maids and eunuchs who served her, and in the end only two palace maids were left to serve. At that time, in the Qing Palace, the lowest level of consent was only two palace women serving.
Not only that, after Qianlong returned to the capital, he also ordered the recovery of the four treasures given by the previous canonization of concubines, concubines, imperial concubines, and empresses of the Nala clan.
Empress Image
Although the abolition was not announced, The situation of Empress Nala at this time was no different from that of the queen.
From the lofty harem dignity to suddenly falling to this point, Nara's mood can be imagined. She did not last long, and on August 19, 1766, a year and a half after returning from Hangzhou, Nalashi died.
Fourth, aftermath
When Nalashi died, Qianlong was hunting in the Mulan Hunting Ground, and after hearing the news of the empress's death, he did not have any grief, but issued an edict, which said:
The Empress has not lost her moral character since her inception. In the spring, when the empress dowager was on a tour of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and was celebrating, the empress's nature suddenly changed, and she could not fulfill her filial piety before the empress dowager. Compared with Hangzhou, the behavior is particularly obedient and reasonable, and the traces are crazy. Because of the order to return to Beijing first, he was transferred to the palace. After more than a year of suffering, the illness became more and more dramatic, and Sui'er died. This is the result of the shallowness of the queen's blessings, and she cannot rely on the kindness of the Virgin Mary and receive the grace of the Virgin.
The previous empress's self-interruption was attributed to "sexual neglect", the crime committed was "not filial piety before the empress dowager", and as for the death of the empress, it was "a shallow blessing, and it is impossible to rely on the kindness of the Virgin Mary and receive the grace of the Queen for a long time." ”
As for the funeral rites of the Nala clan, although Qianlong ordered them to follow the specifications of the imperial concubines, in fact, the funeral specifications were far lower than the rank of the imperial concubines, and the only people who dressed her filial piety were her son Twelve Brothers and daughter-in-law Borjigit. As for the mausoleum, there was no such thing, she was just stuffed into the underground palace of The Pure Hui Emperor's noble concubine.
As an empress, she was treated like this behind her, and after the funeral, the ministers of the DPRK and China complained about the empress, but in the end they were severely punished by Qianlong:
Yushi Li Yuming, the inspector of the funeral, was dismissed from his post and sent to Ili with nine iron chains; Yan Chen, a candidate official of the Metropolitan Inspection Yuan who had asked for an edict to be issued for the empress' supplement, was beheaded; and Jin Congshan, a jinxian student who demanded that Qianlong commit his own edict on this matter, beheaded.
Qianlong years of the dynasty of Letu
In order to quell the remarks from the DPRK and the people, Qianlong admitted that the empress had cut off her hair, but his series of punishments for the empress were not because the empress was "fading and loving to relax", but because she "took it upon herself to be the most taboo of the national customs, and she blatantly ignored it". ”
In the booklet that crowned the Nala clan as a concubine, the evaluation of the Nala clan was: "Ershu Concubine Nala clan, holding a bow and a prudent manner, endowed with peace of mind, early ordering ceremony, every time respectful and obedient, diligent in internal practice, constantly humble and obedient to the heart." "Saying that concubines are cautious, peaceful, respectful and self-denying is full of praise.
In the booklet that crowned Concubine Xian as a noble concubine, her evaluation was: "Gentle in nature, gentle in quality, unscrupulous in virtue, in the grace of Xie Heng, diligent and diligent, and honorable in Her Majesty." "It is also a gentle and gentle concubine image."
In the book of being crowned as an imperial concubine, or even being made an empress, the various advantages of the Nala clan were written. And these words of praise, although it is inevitable that there are many exaggerations, but there must be more or less connection with the words and deeds of the Nala clan for more than ten years, even if it is not the whole picture, it is not necessarily a false word.
In contrast, Qianlong's words after sending the Nala clan back to Beijing first said that "the empress is crazy", and then in the edict he said that "sexual neglect has changed", "Compared with Hangzhou, the behavior is particularly obedient and reasonable, and the traces are crazy." "The queen is a completely deranged image of a mad woman.
What was it that made this virtuous empress, who had always been gentle and supple, suddenly turn into a mad woman? I am afraid that only Qianlong himself and the few people present know the reason best.
Judging from the reactions of the officials of the imperial court at that time and the remarks of the people, Qianlong's faults were even greater, but the people kept secrets about His Holiness and feared his severe punishment, and no one dared to say anything.