In ancient times, there were many examples of concubines spoiling the harem, but Wan Zhen'er could be favored by Emperor Mingxianzong Zhu Jianshen or it was a little incredible, because there was no shortage of young and beautiful concubines in the harem of Emperor Mingxianzong, and a palace girl who was 17 years older than the emperor was able to obtain grace for 23 years without fading, and even was named a noble concubine, so what is the charm of this elderly palace girl, which will make the emperor obsessed?
Wan Zhen'er entered the palace as a maid
Wan Zhen'er was born in a family of eunuchs, whose father was belittled for being implicated in the crimes of his relatives, and in order to protect his daughter, Wan Guifei's father sent her, who was only four years old, to the palace to serve as a palace maid. Wan Zhen'er had a lively, well-behaved and cute personality in her childhood, and soon became favored by Empress Xuanzong's Sun clan, and she has been serving Empress Xuanzong ever since.
Under the protection of Empress Sun, Wan Zhen'er's life in the imperial palace was relatively leisurely, but when she was 19 years old, something that changed her fate occurred, and the "change of Tumu Fort" led to the northern hunting of Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, and under the support of the chancellor Yu Qian and others, Zhu Qiyu the Prince of Qi, ascended the throne as emperor.
However, Zhu Qiyu was not Empress Sun's biological son after all, and although Empress Sun was forced by the situation to agree to Zhu Qiyu's ascension to the throne, in order to ensure that the throne could be passed on to her son Zhu Qizhen, she made her 2-year-old grandson Zhu Mishen crown prince before Zhu Qiyu ascended the throne. In order to ensure Zhu Jianshen's personal safety, Empress Sun also sent her personal maid Wan Zhen'er to the Eastern Palace to take care of Zhu Jianshen, and the fates of the two were deeply entangled from this moment.
After Emperor Zhu Qiyu of the Ming Dynasty sat firmly on the throne, he would naturally plot for his descendants, so Zhu Jianshen, who occupied the position of prince, seemed a bit distracting, so he abolished the position of Prince Zhu Jianshen and moved him out of the Eastern Palace, and as a result, Zhu Qizhen was later restored, and Zhu Jianshen was made crown prince again and once again entered the Eastern Palace.
Because Zhu Jianshen has lived in the East Palace since he was a child, and the time spent with his own mother is not as long as Wan Zhen'er, so Zhu Jianshen has a deeper relationship with Wan Zhen'er, and after moving back to the East Palace, Zhu Jianshen will take Wan Zhen'er to his side, and it is the time that the East Palace gets along day and night, so that the elder Zhu Jianshen's 17-year-old Wan Zhen'er became Zhu Jianshen's first woman.
It is reasonable to say that there are countless harem beauties, and since Wan Zhen'er can be deeply favored by Zhu Jian, then her appearance will naturally not be ordinary, but what is interesting is that the historical data does not make any record of the appearance of this Wan Guifei. Later generations have two views on Wan Zhen'er's appearance, one is that she is incomparably beautiful and delicate; the other is to agree with the description of Wan Zhen'er in the "Record of Sin", "a majestic and majestic man-like woman", and is definitely not a beautiful woman.
It's not that a queen is better than a queen
After Emperor Mingxianzong ascended the throne, he wanted to immediately crown Wan Zhen'er as empress, because Zhu Jianshen had a deep emotional dependence on the woman who had accompanied him, and he wanted to give her the most beautiful things in the world, and the empress position was the best gift he could give. However, Wan Zhen'er is not only a lowly status, but also a huge difference in age with Zhu Jianshen, according to the ancient reproductive age, Wan Zhen'er can even give Zhu Jianshen a mother, for the king of a country, sealing Wan Zhen'er as a posthumous commission is not a very glorious thing.
Faced with pressure from his mother and the court, Zhu Jianshen could only compromise and change the title of other women to the queen, but this also made Zhu Jianshen feel a little more guilty about Wan Zhen'er, so he was more fond of Wan Zhen'er, although there was no nominal empress, but all the treatment was the same as that of the empress, and even after the zhengpai empress provoked Wan Zhen'er, Xianzong insisted on abolishing Empress Wu, who had just been crowned for a month, despite the opposition of her mother and ministers.
Later, Emperor Xianzong set up the Wang clan as the queen, but this empress was much smarter, knowing that the emperor's favor for Wan Guifei was beyond common sense, and no one could argue, so she tolerated Wan Zhen'er everywhere and never came out to compete for favors, so Wan Zhen'er spoiled the harem, not an empress but better than an empress.
The reason why Emperor Mingxianzong favored Wan Guifei alone
According to the current version, there is a veritable "sister-brother love" between Zhu Jianshen and Wan Zhen'er, but Ming Xianzong's various practices show that he has fallen in love with Wan Guifei to the extent of a paranoia, and this paranoia about the love of women is almost impossible to appear in any emperor, because there are various types of beauties in the emperor's harem, so there must be a deep reason why Ming Xianzong is so obsessed with Wan Zhen'er.
Zhu Mishen may have an Oedipal complex because of his childhood experience. Zhu Jianshen was in the whirlpool of the struggle for the throne at an early age, and was frightened all day long, and it was rumored that Zhu Jianshen's stuttering problem was formed during this period, and this also made Zhu Jianshen form a more introverted personality. It was Wan Zhen'er who accompanied Ming Xianzong through this most difficult time, and this also made Wan Zhen'er have a hazy positioning of a mother, a confidant big sister and even a lover in Zhu Jianshen's heart. It can be said that it was the encounter in his childhood that made Ming Xianzong develop a motherly complex with Wan Guifei, so he would love wan guifei in every way, and even obey him.
Wan Guifei was capable and knew how to cater to the emperor. Wan Zhen'er was sent to serve at the age of 2, and as clever as Wan Zhen'er, she would naturally regard the young prince as a "potential stock" that could be invested, so she took great care of Zhu Mishen in her daily life, just like a mother treated her son.
Wan Zhen'er grew up watching Zhu Jianshen grow up, and she was naturally very familiar with his personality characteristics and style of doing things, and even some personalities were formed under her influence, so for some weaknesses in Zhu Jianshen's body, she was clear in her heart. In addition, Wan Zhen'er was originally a maid by Empress Sun's side, and she naturally played the palace methods and rules perfectly, so she could "play" Xianzong between the palms of her hands and achieve the purpose of her own favor.
epilogue
Legend has it that Wan Guifei secretly poisoned pregnant concubines in order to compete for favors, resulting in Ming Xianzong having no heirs for a long time, and even Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youfan was able to survive under the cover of eunuchs and palace women, and later after zhu Youfan was determined to be the crown prince, Zhu Jianshen gave birth to many princes and princesses in the harem, even so, Zhu Jianshen was not willing to punish Wan Guifei in the slightest, and the depth of Ming Xianzong's love for Wan Guifei was touching.
In the imperial palace full of deceit, Wan Zhen'er became the emperor's favorite woman all the way from a small palace girl, and the depth of her heart and the strength of her means were evident. And Wan Zhen'er was 57 years old when she died of illness, when Zhu Jianshen was only in his early 40s, as a result, shortly after Wan Zhen'er's death, Zhu Jianshen was also worried and sick, and went west, so Wan Zhen'er was more like the spiritual pillar of Ming Xianzong, once the spiritual pillar collapsed, Xianzong's spirit was also dispersed, which shows that Xianzong really loved Wan Guifei to the bone.
References: History of the Ming Dynasty, Records of Sin