On the sixteenth day of the first month of the thirtieth year of the Qianlong Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, just after the Lantern Festival, Qianlong took the Empress Chongqing, the Empress and a cadre of ministers and guards to start the fourth southern tour, no one would have thought that this southern tour would make the Empress Nala clan embark on a road of no return and become a turning point in its fate...
In fact, in the early days of the southern tour, Empress Nala's mood was very happy, because the first ten days of February was her 48th birthday, and Qianlong sent her birthday gifts as early as the eighth day of the first month. Moreover, on the tenth day of the first month of February, Qianlong on the southern tour also specially celebrated the Nala clan, which made the Nala clan feel very pleased.
On the second day of Nala's birthday, Qianlong and the empress dowager still gathered around to make dumplings and offer them to the empress dowager, and there was a rare image of "accepting joy and celebrating" between the empresses.
On the eighteenth day of the leap February, Qianlong and other southern patrol teams came to the famous scenic spot of Hangzhou's West Lake "Banana Stone Mingqin", and at breakfast, The Empress Nala was still there, and Qianlong also rewarded the Empress with some meals. However, at dinner on this day, there was no trace of the queen, and the name of the queen on the dinner stall was covered with paper, and replaced by the name of Ling Guifei.
It turned out that just before dinner on this day, Qianlong suddenly ordered the imperial bodyguard Fu Long'an to send Empress Nala back to the palace in advance. Qianlong did not say it at that time, nor did the historical records record it. However, shortly thereafter, Qianlong wrote a secret letter to the empress's nephew Nesuken:
"Recently, empress dowager Gong gong came to Hangzhou and was about to return, but on the day before her departure, the empress suddenly wanted to leave home and wantonly make her hair. As a queen, it is really not like this. ”
It turned out that the Empress of the Qing Dynasty wanted to become a monk and cut off her hair. In addition, the fifteenth brother Yongyan also wrote a letter to his father Qianlong, who mentioned the empress' affairs:
"The three women who followed them, at the moment you interrogated Them with Fulongan about how they cut their hair on the eighteenth day, why didn't they pay attention and tell them to go out and they would go out?" If they want to kill themselves, don't they pretend not to know? ”
According to Qianlong's Zhu Approval, Empress Nala did not cut her hair openly, but cut her hair alone in the room by separating the palace women around her. Qianlong also said:
"The Queen is very obedient in this matter. In this way, she usually hates me deeply. Outside the palace, yuanmingyuan, her residence and clean room, you look closely with Mao Tuan, do not let others know, if there are traces of evil ways, wait until you return to the palace to play again, the secret is dense. ”
Judging from Qianlong's account, it seems that she did not understand the empress's behavior, saying that the empress hated him very deeply, and sent someone to check whether the empress had engaged in any curse. Because judging from the behavior of Empress Nara's haircut, this act was a curse, and the Manchus only cut their own hair when their closest relatives died.
However, on the way back to the palace, Qianlong's attitude also softened, for example, he ordered the officials along the way to do a good job of reception, and also issued a holy decree to reward the empress's nephew Nesuken.
On April 21, Qianlong returned to Jingshi, and the situation of Empress Nala took a sharp turn for the worse.
First of all, after the punishment attendant Ayong'a opposed the abolition, he was sent to Ili by Qianlong, and Qian Rucheng, another minister who interceded for Ayong'a, was also dismissed.
Secondly, on the fourth day of the first month of May, the empress dowager's golden book of the Empress Nala clan was actually stolen by Zhang Feng, the chief eunuch of the Jiaotai Palace, which was very puzzling. Maybe someone instructed or not. Later, the eunuch was arrested by Gao Heng, the government of Lianghuai Salt, and subsequently executed.
Again, on the fourteenth day of May, Qianlong ordered that all the treasure seals of the Empress Nala clan be taken back, and began to cut down the servants around her, and finally only two palace women were left, which was equivalent to the promised treatment.
Finally, Qianlong also dialed the Empress Nala's family from the yellow flag back to the blue flag, that is, from the upper three banners to the lower five banners.
On July 14, 31, Qianlong, Empress Nala died tragically in the Cold Palace, at the age of 49. At that time, Qianlong was not in the palace, but was hunting in the Mulan paddock, and when he heard the news of the empress's death, he seemed very calm and gave instructions:
"The Empress has not lost her moral character since her inception. In the spring of last year, when empress dowager Gongfeng was touring 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. If they act in violation of the law, it is only natural that they should be deposed. It still retains its name and has become exceptionally advantageous. However, the final ceremony is not convenient to repeat the major affairs of Empress Xiaoxian. All funeral rites may only be undertaken by the Minister of the Interior, as is routinely performed by the Imperial Concubines. The author of this proclamation is known to both the Chinese and the foreign. ”
Judging from Qianlong's instructions, this is the first time that the empress's haircut on the southern tour has been disclosed, saying that the empress is "particularly obedient and reasonable, and the traces are crazy", it seems that the fault of the empress Nala's haircut is completely in her own right, and has nothing to do with Qianlong, and also said that the empress is "shallow in blessings", and still retains the empress title has been "exceptionally good". As for the reason for the empress's haircut, Qianlong did not mention anything.
Regarding the empress's funeral, Qianlong's instructions were handled according to the standard of imperial concubines, but in fact it was only equivalent to the standard of concubines, and only the twelve Brother Yongxuan and Fujin Borjigit clans who went back to wear filial piety were the twelve Brother Yongxuan and Fujin Borjigit clans, and there were no other personnel. Qianlong also did not bury Empress Nala into the Yuling Underground Palace, but buried her in the Concubine Garden, which did not have its own underground palace, but stuffed it into the underground palace of The Pure Hui Emperor's noble concubine, occupying a side position.
Logically, an empress of the Qing Dynasty should have a tablet, but the Nala clan did not, so she would not be sacrificed by her descendants. According to the regulations, the coffin of the imperial concubine should use catalpa wood, while the Nara clan used fir wood. According to calculations, the entire funeral only used 207 taels of silver, which was not as good as a low-level official, and the degree of desertion of the funeral was evident.
However, the matter of the Queen Nara clan is not over.
In the forty-first year of Qianlong, an official named Yan Zhen asked for a supplementary edict for the death of Empress Nala, stating:
"Thirty years of the emperor's southern tour, on jiangnan road first to send the empress back to Beijing, I just smelled this in Shanxi, people say that the emperor wants to set up a concubine in Jiangnan, the empress is not dependent, so it is quite touching to cut the hair, there are many people who say this, now after more than ten years, where do I remember who said it?"
Yan Chen's confession pointed out the reason for Empress Nala's haircut: Qianlong wanted to make a concubine, but the empress objected, so she cut her hair.
Forty-three years after Qianlong, another Jin County student, Jin Congshan, asked Qianlong to issue an edict for his own sins, and then after he established the throne and the post, this action caused Qianlong to be furious and deliberately issued an edict:
"When Empress Xiaoxian died, because the Nara clan was originally a side room blessed by the Imperial Examination at the time of the Qing Palace, the rank was comparable, so she played the Empress Dowager and was registered as an imperial concubine and a sixth palace affair. After another three years, the book was established as the last. Since then, he has been embarrassed, and he is still as good as ever. Even if he makes his own hair, he is the most taboo in the national customs, and he brazenly ignores it. However, it is contained in the song, and it is not repudiated. Later, due to illness and death, he only ordered his rituals to be reduced, but did not lower his name. To deal with this matter is indeed the best of benevolence and righteousness. And its standing, in order, is not to ascend with love. And then he acted irrationally, not because of the decline of love, and since then he has not succeeded the empress. The heart is bright and righteous, and it can be up to the Heavenly Ancestor and down to the subjects. In the hereafter, why should we discuss it? The transgression (referring to Jin Congshan) is to commit the edict of sin against himself, and what sin is there that the edict condemns himself at the moment? ”
In this edict, Qianlong only explained that the treatment of the empress was not "fading and loving", everything was the empress's "self-inflicted unreasonableness" (blamed for herself), and said that she was "benevolent to the righteous" to the empress. However, qianlong still did not mention anything about the reason for Empress Nala's haircut, so the truth about the empress's haircut can only become an unsolvable case.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Records of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty