In the fourteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the Ministry of Internal Affairs held an annual palace women's draft, in which two women in the coat stood out, one surnamed Wu Ya and the other surnamed Wan Liu Ha. At this time, they were only thirteen or fourteen years old, and perhaps they would not have thought that they would become legends in the harem of the Qing Dynasty. The Wuya clan was favored by Kangxi and gave birth to six children, the son Yongzheng inherited the throne of the Qing Dynasty, and the Wanliuha clan gave birth to the crown prince Yin Qi, but she was not favored in her life, but she became the longest-lived concubine of the Qing Dynasty, living to the age of 97...
A clothed woman from Sindzeku
In other words, in the Qing Dynasty there was an institution dedicated to the service of the imperial family, that is, the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there are two organizational units, one is the Collar and the other is the Leader, in fact, there is no difference in nature between the two organizations, both belong to the Three Banners, that is, the slaves of the emperor's relatives, but due to different sizes, their status is different. Generally speaking, the number of internal pipe leaders is small, the status is relatively low, and they also have a title, that is, Xinzhiku.
The status of Xinzhiku in the Kangxi Dynasty was once low, but since the beginning of the Yongzheng Dynasty, the status of Xinzhiku has gradually risen, and some of the concubines of the Qing Dynasty are also from Xinzhiku, and even some people have given birth to the Qing Emperor, such as the Jiaqing Emperor's birth mother, Empress Xiaoyichun, who was born in Xinzhiku.
The Dingfei Wanliu Hashi we are going to talk about in this article is also from Xinzhiku.
According to the "Eight Banners of Manchurian Clan Genealogy", the great-grandfather of the Dingfei Wanliuha clan was named Nikada, who lived in the Qinghe region for generations, and when the country first returned, due to the small number of families, it was incorporated into the Yellow Banner.
Since Nikada, the Wanliuha clan has basically served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, such as Nikada's son Toheqi as the former treasurer, Sun Torai and Manpi as the former internal steward, Hushitun as the former consul general of the dining room, and Torbi (the father of Concubine Ding) as langzhong and counselor.
Although the Interior Ministry, especially Sindekku, was of a lower origin, they were more likely to be trusted by the emperor, for example, Concubine Ding had an older brother named Tohchi (not the son of Nikada mentioned above). Toheqi was originally a member of Yue Le,the Prince of An, but later became the Minister of Internal Affairs, and served as the Treasurer of Guangshan Ku.
Concubine Ding was incorporated into the harem by Kangxi, and Toheqi became Kangxi's brother-in-law, gaining the emperor's trust, and in the forty-first year of Kangxi, he became the commander of the infantry, which is known as the Nine Gate Admiral. It should be known that although the post of commander of the infantry is not very high-level, it is a key department, which is related to the safety and security of the entire capital, and its status is equivalent to that of the current commander of the Beijing Garrison District and the director of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.
However, it was precisely because the commander of the infantry was a key department that it would attract people's attention, including of course those princes. In the later years of the Kangxi Dynasty, the princes were endlessly vying for the throne, and Toheqi was also involved. In the winter of the fiftieth year of Kangxi, Toheqi attended a banquet, probably a few more drinks, and even discussed the issue of the throne at the banquet, and also said good things to the crown prince Yinrong, who was soon denounced, and Kangxi ordered that Toheqi be sent to prison, which is the "Toheqi meeting drinking case".
In February of the 52nd year of the Kangxi Dynasty, after the second depose of the crown prince Yinrong, Toheqi died of illness in prison, and was frustrated for his serious crimes and was not allowed to be buried.
It is worth mentioning that after the Toheqi case was imprisoned, the successor to the position of commander of the infantry was Kangxi's cousin and brother-in-law Long Keduo.
Forty-three years as a Kangxi concubine
In the fourteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, in the internal affairs draft of this year, The daughter of Torbi, Wanliu Hashi, was elected to the palace as a palace maid, and along with wanliu Hashi, there was also a Wuya clan, who was the daughter of the counselor Wei Wu, that is, the later Empress Xiaogongren (Defei).
We have said before that during the Qing Dynasty, the eunuchs who served the emperor were all eunuchs, and the palace women would not meet the emperor privately, so they would certainly not meet the emperor in the imperial garden, so how were these palace women included in the harem by the emperor? There needs to be an introducer, usually an empress or an imperial concubine who rules the harem.
For example, after the death of Empress Xiaoyiren, there was a description in her posthumous text that "zhi is to enter the xian, and the flies are uneven and must be collected", that is, Empress Xiaoyiren introduced a number of concubines (originally palace women) to Kangxi, perhaps including Wanliu Hashi (Ding concubine).
Although the WanliuHa clan and the Uya clan were both from the same family and belonged to the same group of palace women, the treatment of the two was far apart. After Kangxi gave birth to the fourth son of the emperor, Yin Chan, in the seventeenth year of Kangxi, he was made a separate concubine, and Wanliu Ha was only a concubine, but Kangxi still occasionally favored Wan Liu Ha.
On December 24, 24, the 24th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Wan Liuha gave birth to the twenty-first son of Kangxi, with the twelve elder teeth and the name Yin Qi. However, due to Yin's humble origins and lack of parental qualifications, Yin qi was handed over to Su Ma Lama to raise soon after his birth.
Although Wanliu Hashi gave birth to The Crown Princess Yinqi, her origin was too low, Kangxi did not love her at all, and in addition, Kangxi was also more stingy in terms of canonization, so WanliuHashi was always a concubine, and this situation lasted for forty-three years.
In the fifty-seventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Kangxi decided to appoint a number of concubines between the ages of 40 and 60 who gave birth to princes, "although they were called concubines, they had not yet been knighted", and the names of Wan Liuha were on the list of canonizations. In this year, Wanliu Hashi was crowned as a concubine, and it should be known that at this time, WanliuHashi was already an old woman in her sixties.
The Imperial Princess of the Qing Dynasty who lived a long life
After Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, Yin Qi, who did not participate in the struggle to seize the concubine, was promoted to the title of King of Doroku County, and Wanliu Hashi also followed the light and was honored as the Imperial Concubine. In addition, according to the Kangxi testament, Yongzheng ordered Wan Liuha to move out of the palace and live in his son Yinqi Mansion.
What Wan Liuha did not expect was that since moving to his son Yin Qi's mansion, Yin Qi had been making small mistakes.
First, he was demoted to Gushan Beizi for "not being respectful in his administration", then he was demoted to the title of Duke of Zhenguo for "missing the mistake of "omitting the notes of Emperor Shengzuren and the golden book of concubines", and then Yin Fu was demoted to the title of Duke of Protectorate by "writing the surnames of Concubine Mao and Concubine Upside Down".
However, after that, Yin Qi retracted a lot, and by the eighth year of Yongzheng he was reinstated as the king of the county.
After Qianlong succeeded to the throne, Yin Qi, as the emperor's uncle, can be said to be respected by Qianlong, and was not only appointed to manage the affairs of the ceremonial department and the zongren mansion, but also was given the title of prince (裪王允裪) among the uncles of The Emperor, "The oldest of the uncles of the Lu County, with a solid heart, and intends to be promoted to prince".
At that time, Wanliu Hashi was already a concubine of the sacred ancestors of the high-lived, so every time there was a festival event, Qianlong would put WanliuHashi into the palace to celebrate together.
However, there is one thing that Wan Liu Ha Shi can never let go of, that is, the problem of the son of his son Yin Qi.
It is said that this Yin Qi had a total of nine wives and concubines, Concubine Fujin was a university scholar, the daughter of Count Ma Qi, Fu Cha, these nine wives and concubines gave birth to six sons and six daughters for Yin Qi, but none of these six sons grew up, and the eldest fifth son, Hongkun, only lived for 12 years and died in the fifteenth year of Qianlong.
Hongkun had always been loved by Princess Ding, Wanliu Hashi, but died early, and Wanliu Hashi was very unhappy, so Qianlong specially ordered Hongkun's funeral to be handled according to the system of shizi, and personally came to the palace to comfort Wanliu Hashi.
On the seventh day of April in the 22nd year of Qianlong, Wan Liuha died of illness at the age of 97, becoming the longest-lived concubine of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Qianlong was on a second tour of the south, and after returning to the Beijing Division, he specially came to the Yinqi Palace to offer wine to the Wanliu Ha clan. On October 25 of that year, Concubine Wan Liu ha was buried in the Jingling Concubine Garden together with Le Gui.
Six years later, on July 21, the 28th year of Qianlong, Concubine Ding's son Yin Pi died of illness at the age of 79, becoming kangxi's longest-lived son, and both mother and son can be said to have died of high life. Since Yin Qi did not have a son to inherit the title, Qianlong passed on his fourth son Yong Juan to Yin Qi as his grandson, and Yong Juan became the second generation of the King of Lu County, in addition, Qianlong also ordered prince Hongzhi and the fifth son of the emperor Yong Qi to wear filial piety, and then buried in the Capital Division Dongzhimen Outer Jia GeZhuang, later known as the "Twelve Tombs".
Zichen said:
Princess Wanliu Hashi was one of the very low-born concubines of the Kangxi Dynasty, and with her origin, it was simply a miracle that she could finally be crowned a concubine. Such a concubine who had not been favored by the emperor for decades could give birth to a prince for Kangxi, and the son born could become kangxi's longest-lived son, and it had to be said that the mother and son of the concubine were the lucky ones in the Kangxi harem. Of course, all of this may have a lot to do with the mentality of the concubine, look down on everything, let go of the heart, and then get a happy ending.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, General Genealogy of the Eight Banners of Manchuria, Records of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty