The Qing History Manuscript records only a few words about the last empress Wanrong: "Empress Xuantong, Guo Bole, rongyuan daughter of the minister in charge of internal affairs." After abdicating the throne, he was made empress dowager. "
The Last Queen: A Huge Difference in Life
WanRong, the daughter of Guo Bro, is a member of the Eight Banners of the White Banner, born in 1905 in the Rongyuan Province of the Minister of internal affairs. In 1922, WanRong, who was 17 years old at the time, was famous among the princes and nobles for her dignified appearance and talent.
In the same year, Wanrong was elected to the palace, and since then, she has become the last empress in the history of the Qing Dynasty.
Wanrong has a lively and active personality, and even the repressed palace walls of the Forbidden City cannot close her nature. She has a woman's water-like tenderness, the erudition of an ancient talented woman, and a model for everyone's beauty
Therefore, she was very harmonious in her days with Fu Yi, and she was able to talk with Puyi, who was also literate.
However, good times are always short-lived. Only two years later, as Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City, Wanrong and Wenxiu also followed him to Tianjin to settle down.
In the modern city of Tianjin, Wanrong spent a very happy time here. She became a modern girl, and with Wenxiu, she permed her curly hair, wore a cheongsam, and visited department stores, and her whole spirit was much better.
And the vicissitudes of the situation still involve this old-fashioned weak woman in the frenzy of political change. A heavy crisis swept in, and she was not given a chance to breathe.
Wen Xiu could not stand Puyi's snub, incompetence and unfree in the palace, and finally filed for divorce from Puyi.
This incident undoubtedly dealt a great blow to the Qing royal family and Puyi himself. However, under the strong insistence of Wenxiu and his lawyers, Puyi finally signed the divorce agreement and paid Wenxiu 50,000 yuan in alimony for the second half of his life.
All kinds of blows finally led her to a dark end
The departure of his wife was a great shame for Puyi, but he counted this on Wanrong, believing that it was precisely because Wanrong suppressed Wenxiu everywhere and competed with Wenxiu for favors.
Since then, Puyi has also snubbed Wanrong even more and regarded him as a passerby.
However, Wanrong, as an empress, could not divorce Puyi like Wen Xiu. Wanrong, who was in her prime, soon had feelings for the guards around Puyi, and eventually led to pregnancy.
According to "The First Half of My Life", Wanrong became infected with the habit of smoking opium, and also committed adultery with the guards, and the two secretly married a pearl fetus and gave birth to a daughter. Puyi threw wanrong's daughter into the boiler, but told wanrong to give her daughter to her brother to raise. Later, wanrong, who learned of the child's death, became a mad woman and smoked opium.
Wanrong's once delicate face began to appear blue-gray smoke, and the former style no longer appeared. When her illness was severe, Wanrong was unable to walk on the ground.
The generation of beauties who used to be "like a mighty bird, like a dragon" has become a moody madman.
It was not until August 1945, when Japan surrendered, that the "puppet Manchukuo" regime collapsed. When WanRong withdrew with some of the palace personnel to The Great Chestnut Ditch in Tonghua, she was captured by the guerrillas and later transferred to Yanji Prison in Jilin Province.
In prison, Wanrong's life was not going well. Because of excessive opium use, she was in great pain in prison. At the time of the onset of the drug addiction, she rolled on the ground, even scratched her face, and in severe cases, even tore her clothes and bedding.
Wanrong's only luck in her later years was probably to meet the Li family brothers.
Kind Li brothers
The brothers Li Yantian and Li Yanxia were the managers in charge of Wanrong, and the two of them were very sympathetic to Wanrong's plight, plus their mother asked them to treat Empress Wanrong well. Therefore, they have always been very attentive to Wanrong, and when Wanrong is in pain, they will also boil a small amount of opium into water and give it to Wanrong in a limited amount to reduce Wanrong's pain.
In fact, if there is no care for the Li family brothers, it is very likely that Wanrong will die after a few days in prison. But despite the help of the Li family brothers, Wanrong is still lacking in skills.
Because Wanrong's addiction to smoking has been very deep, it has led to a mental breakdown. It wasn't until one day that it was discovered that the empress had died in prison.
Even the empress of the Qing Dynasty, Wanrong, after her death, did not receive any special treatment. After her death, she was just wrapped in a mat and thrown to a stinky ditch in the distance.
After the Li brothers learned of this news, they quickly found a few bed boards, nailed a simple and sturdy coffin, and collected Wanrong's body.
The only relic of Empress Wanrong is a yellow ivory smoking gun, on which Wanrong's name is engraved.
After the 1950s, the Li family brothers were exposed for taking care of and burying Empress Wanrong, and they were often criticized, and later the Li family brothers lost their public office.
After entering the 60s, the Li family had people come to the door every day to criticize the two brothers, and the eldest brother Li Yantian finally died on the way to the labor reform after several years of suffering.
After his younger brother Li Yanxia lost his public office, in order not to involve his family, he was alone to bear all the pressure.
In this way, under the influence of Empress Wanrong, the Li family lived in hardship. It was not until the 1980s of the last century that the Li brothers were able to be rehabilitated.
That is, in the second year of the rehabilitation, Li Yanxia died.
brief summary
A beautiful person with a jade-like jade and outstanding temperament became a smoker, even a madman, and eventually died tragically in prison. And all this is not all her fault, from the time she married the last emperor Puyi, it has been doomed to her future uneven life path.
The Li family brothers are undoubtedly a light that Wanrong encountered in her dark old age, which gave her miserable life a little warmth.
References: "The First Half of My Life", "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty"
The picture comes from the network, if there is infringement, contact to delete!