The three palaces and six courtyards and concubines are the real life portrayals of many emperors, and how to "stand out" in the midst of a thousand flowers and get the emperor's grace depends on their own abilities. The position that the women in the deep palace yearn for most is the position of the queen, and some people even fight for this position all their lives.
This can not be blamed on the women for power and profit, after all, in that hierarchical palace, no status and rights are equivalent to surrendering their lives to others at any time. In the palace, the empress ruled the six palaces, and the status was the highest, so almost all the concubines wanted to be empresses.
But it is particularly interesting that there was an emperor in Northern Zhou, who, when he ascended the throne, made all five of his concubines empresses in a row. Of the five, except for one married wife, the other four are more favored. This emperor was yuwen Yun, the fourth emperor of Northern Zhou.
The historical evaluation of this emperor is not very good, indiscriminate killing of ministers, disregard for government affairs, absurdity, extravagance, and extravagance, he has almost gathered all the shortcomings of people's impression of "emperor". He gave people the impression that they were related to the appointment of five empresses.
Emperor Xuan of Zhou
In historical dynasties, it is very rare for multiple empresses to stand side by side. During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, Liu Cong, the Emperor of Han Zhaowu, from the three queens to the eleventh generation, fully showed the world the once unique position of the empress, similar to that of a concubine.
Emperor Xuan of Zhou followed Liu Cong's example, and as soon as he ascended the throne, he immediately crowned five empresses, breaking Liu Cong's record of "three queens standing side by side". And Liu Cong and Emperor Xuan of Zhou both had such strange behaviors, also because they were both equally extravagant and lascivious.
Emperor Xuan of Zhou's empresses were Yang Lihua, Zhu Manyue, Chen Yueyi, Wei Chifan, and Yuan Leshang. Among them, Chen Yueyi and Yuan Leshang were the most favored by Emperor Xuan of Zhou. Yang Lihua was the eldest daughter of Yang Jian and the wife of Emperor Xuan of Zhou, and was named the Grand Empress of Tianyuan, and the remaining four were crowned as Tianda, Tianzhong, Tianzuo, and Tianyou, respectively.
Emperor Xuan of Zhou succeeded to the throne in 578, and his father Yuwen Yong, the emperor of Zhou Wu, died, and it was customary to keep filial piety for a month. However, Emperor Xuan of Zhou wanted to taste what it was like to be emperor, so he hurriedly ascended the throne the day after his father was buried.
After ascending the throne, Emperor Xuan of Zhou did not have much heart to focus on the government, but built a palace in a big way, and then indiscriminately punished and murdered loyal subjects, and selected beautiful women to enter the palace to play with him nationwide.
For a time, the government of Northern Zhou fell into darkness and chaos, the ministers dared to be angry at his behavior, and Emperor Xuan of Zhou also sat down to take the name of "Emperor Of Darkness".
Empress Yang Lihua had a meek personality and repeatedly advised the emperor not to waste state affairs, but was scolded by the tyrannical Zhou Xuan Emperor. Not only that, the empress's father Yang Jian also became a thorn in the side of Emperor Xuan of Zhou.
At this time, Yang Jian was already in charge of the pillar state general, and Emperor Xuan of Zhou was very jealous of his strength, and even repeatedly said in front of the empress that he would kill her entire family. Many ministers advised him to rebel, but Yang Jian refused one by one, and he was waiting for the opportunity to seize power in one fell swoop.
Yang Jian seized power
In 579, Emperor Xuan of Zhou, who had only been on the throne for a year, announced his abdication and gave the throne to his 6-year-old son Yuwen Yan. He sneaked into the deep palace to become the Emperor Taishang, and accompanied his concubines every day to eat, drink and have fun without restraint.
This move of Emperor Zhou Xuandi was really shocking, but before the public opinion dissipated, Emperor Zhou Xuandi died in a drunken drunken due to excessive indulgence, at the age of 22.
The sudden death of Emperor Xuan of Zhou, coupled with Yuwen Yan's young ignorance and the fact that he had just succeeded to the throne, made Empress Yang Lihua very sad. Just when she was still troubled, her father Yang Jian appeared and relieved the existing crisis.
At this time, Yang Jian was already in full power, and the opportunity he was waiting for was also as promised, and he and his group of people were already looking forward to the change of the imperial dynasty. However, Yang Jian considered the idea of his daughter Yang Lihua, although the ambition was sprouting in his heart, he did not dare to show it.
Yang Lihua thanked her father for his assistance to the young emperor as if she had grasped the straw of life, and at this time she did not know that Yang Jian had already begun the action of usurping the throne.
Slowly, Yang Jian took control of Northern Zhou's power with the help of Zheng Yi and Liu Fang, first booby-trapping other clan kings and removing the obstacles that threatened him. He then sent Wei Xiaofan's troops to defeat the pillar general Wei Chiyi, who rebelled against him.
When everything was ready, in 581, yuwen Yan, who was only 7 years old, announced that he would cede the throne to Yang Jian. At this time, Empress Yang Lihua suddenly woke up to her father's conspiracy, but it was too late.
After Yang Jian ascended the throne, he crowned his eldest daughter Yang Lihua as Princess Leping. From empress to princess, the change of identity also made Yang Lihua resentful of her father's usurpation of the throne. Then the change from Yang Lihua's identity also makes us curious about the situation of the other four empresses of The Zhou Xuan Emperor.
The home of the queens
Empress Dowager Zhu was second only to Yang Lihua in status and was the biological mother of the former emperor Yuwen Yan. After her son succeeded to the throne, she was made empress dowager. However, the glory and aura lasted only one year, and after Yang Jian came to power, he sent her to the temple to become a nun.
Zhu Manyue was called "Fa Jing" in the temple, and spent his life with the Qinglan Ancient Buddha, until he died of illness at the age of 40, which can also be regarded as a away from the hustle and bustle and a half-life of purity.
Like her, she was forced out of the family by Yang Jian, and chen Yueyi, the great empress of Tianzhong, was born beautiful, was a typical Jiangnan beauty, and was previously the most favored by Emperor Xuan of Zhou. After her renunciation, she lived a life of pure heart and widowhood until the first year of Yonghui of the Tang Dynasty, when she died at the age of 85. In that era, it was also a high-life old man.
The Grand Empress of Tianzuo, Wei Chifan, was the granddaughter of The Duke of Shu, Chi Yi, and after Wei Chi was killed by Yang Jian, his granddaughter was also sent to the temple along with Chen Yueyi to become a monk. However, Wei Chi was depressed all the time after leaving the family, and he died of illness at the age of only 30.
The last Heavenly Right Empress Yuan Leshang, the second daughter of Kaifu Yuansheng, entered the palace with Chen Yueyi and was also favored together. The two sisters had a deep affection, often accompanied in the deep palace, and later became a nun together.
Yuan Leshang was the longest-lived of the four empresses, living until the Tang Zhenguan years. She and Chen Yueyi supported each other and spent a long life in the temple.
Regarding the suffering of the four empresses, there was no massacre or imprisonment, and they were all sent to the temple to become nuns, which is undoubtedly the best ending, and also reflects Yang Jian's great benevolence and righteousness.
After seizing the throne, Yang Jian made his daughter, Emperor Xuan of Zhou's wife, a princess, and had the other four empresses cut their hair as nuns. Having seen too many killings brought about by the change of imperial power in the chaotic world, Yang Jian's treatment of the concubines of the former emperors was greatly praised.
If it were not for the absurdity of Emperor Xuan of Zhou, perhaps the Northern Zhou Kingdom would not have perished so quickly. But history is like this, there is already a predestined in the darkness, the wheel of the times has turned to Yang Jian's side, and a "rule of the emperor" is being brilliantly written.