In some court dramas, those concubines who fail in the struggle often succumb to the cold palace, it is very miserable, those women in the real history, although the end is not so miserable, but the ending is not good, there are not a few, some people are found many years after death, for example, today the author wants to talk about Ma Changzai, Ma Chang is from the Yongzheng Harem.
Compared with other emperors of the Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng was a relatively pure-hearted emperor, during his reign, he devoted himself to reform, slept at night, basically did not have any good reputation, and even rarely went out of Beijing. According to relevant statistics, although there are about thirty concubines in the Yongzheng Harem, there are only eight concubines above the concubine level, they are Empress Xiaojingxian, Empress Xiaoshengxian, Emperor Dunsu, Concubine Chunyi, Concubine Qi, Concubine Qian, Concubine Ning and Concubine Mao, and the rest are basically some nobles, constant presence, and promise.
There is not much recorded in the historical records about Ma Changzai, she appeared in the archives in July of the seventh year of Yongzheng, and her identity was Ma Promised. Judging from the situation that the initial seal was promised, Ma Changzai should not be born in the Eight Flags, but a dressed woman from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who jumped into the dragon court because of her participation in the palace women's draft.
Perhaps because Ma Chang was somewhat in a posture, or because of the introduction from Empress Xiaojingxian, she was fortunate to receive the favor of the Yongzheng Emperor, and after the summoning, she became the emperor's woman, no longer a slave of the lower three or four, and Yongzheng gave her the initial name of the promise. Although the name was not high, at that time, Yongzheng was relatively fresh to Ma Changzai and often favored her, so just after Ma Changzai was sealed as promised for less than half a year, Yongzheng named it Changzai and called Ma Changzai.
At this time, if Ma Chang was able to seize the opportunity, he might be able to go further, however, what people did not expect was that while Ma Chang was in favor, Yongzheng had a serious illness, which lasted a long time and was very serious, so that Yongzheng arranged the aftermath until the autumn of the ninth year of Yongzheng.
However, after the recovery of the body, Yongzheng had a new joy, she was the same palace girl from the Liu clan, Liu clan favored, constantly promoted, she also gave birth to the crown prince Hongyao for Yongzheng, she was promoted to a concubine, became the most favored concubine of Yongzheng in his later years, and at this time Ma Chang had long been forgotten in a corner of the harem. However, with Ma Changzai's humble origins, he was able to gain the favor of the emperor, and sealing Changzai was already a good ending.
After Qianlong succeeded to the throne, although Ma Chang was a concubine of the former emperor, she did not give birth to a man and a half woman, so she did not receive the honorific title, but as a concubine, she also lived in Shoukang Palace and lived with her superior, Empress Xiaoshengxian, who was accompanied by three officials and women at that time.
In April of the 33rd year of Qianlong, after more than thirty years of her career as a princess, Ma Chang died of illness at Shoukang Palace, and her coffin was temporarily stored in the Tamura Funeral Palace. According to the palace regulations, after a period of storage (usually about one or two years), Ma Chang needed to be buried in the Yongzhengtai Mausoleum, but did not expect that the funeral palace officials forgot about this matter, until the forty years of Qianlong, the officials found that Ma Chang was still not buried, so they immediately played the matter to the Qianlong Emperor.
When Qianlong found out, he was furious at the officials' dereliction of duty, severely punished the relevant officials, and ordered ma Changzai to be buried immediately in the concubine garden.
Postscript: Ma Chang did nothing in his life, and the record left in history was only a few words, but because of his death, he wrote more in history, and it has to be said that it is a very sad thing, ah, she became a typical representative of the vast number of unloved concubines in the harem of the Qing Dynasty.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Records of emperors of the Qing Dynasty, Easy to Know Tombs