In the history of the harem of the Qing Dynasty, there were four women who were martyred for the emperor, the first was the grand concubine Abahai of the Qing Taizu Nurhaci, the second was the concubine of the Shunzhi Dynasty, the third was Yongzheng's birth mother, Empress Xiaogongren, and the fourth was Empress Xiaozheyi, who will be talked about today.
Empress Xiaozheyi, the only empress of Emperor Muzong of qing, was also the last Mongol empress in history.
Regarding the family lineage of Empress Xiaozheyi, it is necessary to say that the origin of this Empress of the Qing Dynasty can be said to be very special.
First of all, from the perspective of flag and ethnic composition, Empress Xiaozheyi Alute is a woman from the Mongolian zhenglan banner, the ancestor of the flag is named Berteyi, from Berteyi down seven generations, the Alute family is very general, most of them are white, until the eighth generation, this family has produced a big figure, this person is named Sai Shang'a.
Sai Shang'a was appointed by the pen-and-paste style in Jiaqing for twenty-one years, entered the military aircraft department in the Daoguang Dynasty, and was reused during the First Opium War as a co-founder university scholar. After Xianfeng succeeded to the throne, he became the foreman of the military aircraft, but in the subsequent suppression of the Taiping Rebellion, Sai Shang'a, who was appointed as the minister of Chincha, was defeated by the Taiping Army, which discredited him, and he was immediately dismissed from his post and raided, and even Sai Shang'a's three sons lost their jobs.
Among the three sons of Sai Shang'a, the third son was named Chongqi, who could only study behind closed doors after losing his job, but unexpectedly was appointed by Empress Dowager Cixi in the third year of Tongzhi, which made the Arut family once again reach its peak. This Chongqi was the father of Empress Xiaozheyi.
However, compared with her father Chongqi, Empress Xiaozheyi's mother was even more important. Her mother was the daughter of Duanhua the Prince of Zheng, that is, Empress Xiaozheyi was the niece of the Great Qing Iron Hat King, and Empress Xiaozheyi's mother was also a cousin of Empress Dowager Ci'an, that is, Empress Xiaozheyi was the cousin niece of Empress Dowager Ci'an.
This complicated relationship with the Manchu Qing royal family became the key to Empress Xiaozheyi's accession to the Middle Palace.
In the eleventh year of Tongzhi, the empress dowager of the two palaces ordered to hold a draft to select the empress candidate for the upcoming marriage of Tongzhi, in addition to Empress Xiaozheyi, there was also a show girl who came from no small place in this draft, she was the daughter of the Yellow Flag Fengxiu, Fu Chashi. This woman came from the Fucha clan, a top magnate of the Eight Banners of Manchuria, and was the sixth granddaughter of the university Shimaqi, and the family was extremely prosperous during the Kangqian period, producing big figures such as Empress Xiaoxian, Fu Heng, and Fu Kang'an, and Cixi seemed to be extremely satisfied with the fucha clan and wanted her to become her daughter-in-law.
Unexpectedly, Tongzhi ultimately chose the dignified and talented Empress Xiaozheyi. In this way, Empress Xiaozheyi was fortunate to become the third empress of the Qing Dynasty to be carried in from the Great Qing Gate.
However, from the very beginning, Empress Dowager Cixi's attitude doomed the marriage between Emperor Tongzhi and Empress Xiaozheyi not to be too beautiful. Sure enough, since Empress Xiaozheyi entered the palace, Empress Dowager Cixi has made difficulties for this daughter-in-law from all aspects, and even interfered in the conjugal life of Emperor Tongzhi and Empress Xiaozheyi. In desperation, the Tongzhi Emperor had to live alone in the Yangxin Hall, and under durability, he even walked out of the palace and came to the huatian wine land.
In December of the thirteenth year of Tongzhi, tongzhi died of illness at the age of 19 due to smallpox, and what was unexpected was that Empress Dowager Cixi actually chose Tongzhi's cousin Zai Xiang to inherit the throne as the Guangxu Emperor. In this way, Empress Xiaozheyi was no longer the empress dowager, and she was named Empress Jiashun and became the imperial concubine of Guangxu, and her identity was extremely embarrassing.
As a result, less than three months later, the news came that Empress Xiaozheyi had suddenly died in Chuxiu Palace.
There are many theories about the death of Empress Xiaozheyi, and the most influential one was that she was poisoned by Cixi. The author believes that the possibility is still very small, first of all, at that time, Empress Dowager Ci'an was still alive, and she must not watch her niece be killed. Secondly, Empress Xiaozheyi posed no threat to Empress Dowager Cixi, and there was no need for Cixi to kill her. So, how did Empress Xiaozheyi die?
The author believes that it is very likely that he committed suicide.
At that time, Empress Xiaozheyi's only patron, Emperor Tongzhi, was no longer alive, and if she continued to live, she might have to suffer many hardships. Instead of this, it is better to cut off oneself, which is equivalent to the martyrdom of husband Jun Tongzhi, which is somewhat similar to Yongzheng's birth mother, Empress Xiaogongren. In any case, Empress Xiaozheyi finally ended her 22-year life journey and was subsequently buried with the Tongzhi Emperor in Huiling.
However, seventy years later, in 1945, the Huiling Tomb of the Tongzhi Emperor was stolen, and at that time, Empress Xiaozheyi was still intact, and the bandits actually cut open her stomach in order to find gold, and the intestines were left on the ground, and the fate was extremely miserable. This Empress of the Qing Dynasty, who had suffered a lot of hardship before her death, did not get even half a bit of peace after her death, which really made people sigh for this!
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Records of the Qing Dynasty, Easy to Know in The Mausoleum, History of the Great Qing Under the Imperial Tomb