The concubines living in the ancient imperial palace, on the surface, looked glamorous, but in fact, they were under tremendous psychological pressure, and if they were not careful, they might anger the dragon's whiskers, accept the punishment of demotion, and some even ended up with a bad ending. The concubine I want to talk about today is full of tragedy, she was demoted two levels in a row because of angering Tianzi, and in her later years she was scared to death alive, and this concubine was the concubine of the Daoguang Harem.
Concubine Chang, surnamed Hesheli, was a Manchurian blue flag bearer, born in the ninth year of Jiaqing (1804), and her father was Rong Hai, an envoy of Guangdong Province.
Hesheli is a very old surname in Manchuria, this surname appeared in the Kangxi Dynasty a prominent family, that is, Kangxi originally matched with the family of Empress Xiaochengren, Empress Xiaochengren's grandfather Sony was the first assistant in the early years of Kangxi, and Sony's son Soetu was also an official to the university, but later Soetu participated in the party struggle and won the throne of the crown prince Yin, and finally ended up with a miserable ending, and the Herschel family also declined.
However, Empress Xiaochengren's Hesheli clan belongs to the Manchurian Yellow Banner, while the Changfei Hersheli clan belongs to the Manchurian Blue Banner, so the two families are basically not related by blood, at most they are just the same surname.
In the second year of Daoguang (1822), Changfei participated in the court draft as a Manchurian blue flag showgirl, and a total of four showgirls stood out in this draft, in addition to Changfei, the other three were quan concubines, xiang guiren and mugui. However, it turned out that these four women were not the masters of an fen, and the court struggle in the Daoguang Early Harem was mainly around these people.
It is worth mentioning that The title that Concubine Chang obtained for the first time was a precious person, and she was not very noble.
Of the four concubines who were selected into the palace in the second year of Daoguang, three were more favored, the first in line was quan concubine, and the Xianggui and the precious people (Chang Concubines) were roughly equal, ranking two or three respectively, and the Mugui people were the most unpopular. This can be seen in their promotion and fertility status.
First of all, Quan Concubine was promoted to Quan Guifei in just a few years, and then gave birth to three children for Daoguang, and Xiang guiren did not hesitate to let go, rising to Xiangfei and also giving birth to three children for Daoguang. Although Precious Man was unable to bear children for the Emperor, she was promoted to Zhen Concubine and Zhen Concubine in the fourth year of Daoguang and five years of Daoguang.
However, things are uncertain, and we are all just pawns.
On November 22, the sixth year of Daoguang, the Daoguang Emperor suddenly decreed that Zhenfei would be demoted to Zhenfei, and that the golden seal of the golden book and the golden seal for Zhenfei be returned to the furnace and melted. On the ninth day of June in the ninth year of Daoguang, the governor Hao Jinxi once again issued a decree: "Zhen Concubine is demoted to a changgui person." "If so, Chang Guiren was completely beaten into the Cold Palace, and the final Daoguang dynasty never made a comeback."
As for the reason for Chang Guiren's demotion this time, there is no record in the historical data, and it is speculated that it is most likely related to the harem battle between Quan Guifei and Xiang Concubine. Xiangfei was later demoted to a nobleman (祥贵人), and the Mugui who entered the palace together in the second year of Daoguang were even demoted to official women, and the victor of this harem battle undoubtedly belonged to Quan Guifei, who sat on the throne of empress dowager after the death of Empress Xiaoshencheng in the thirteenth year of Daoguang, that is, the famous Empress Xiaoquancheng.
However, the story of Chang Guiren is not over, although Chang Guiren lost his grace, but her vitality is very tenacious, and after the death of the Daoguang Emperor, she was made the concubine of the newly succeeded Xianfeng Zun as the concubine of the Emperor Kao Chang.
In August of the tenth year of Xianfeng, the Anglo-French coalition army invaded the Yuanmingyuan, and Xianfeng had already fled to the Rehe Mountain Resort with his concubine, but for some reason, Chang Concubine stayed. Chang Concubine was so frightened to see the coalition troops wreaking havoc in the garden, and she died at the age of fifty-three. Due to the special circumstances at that time, the relevant officials had to temporarily bury Chang Concubine in the Tamura Funeral Palace.
A year later, the six-year-old Tongzhi Emperor succeeded to the throne, and the empress dowagers Ci'an and Cixi posthumously honored Chang Concubine as Imperial Concubine Chang in the name of the Tongzhi Emperor, and then buried her in Mu Dongling.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Records of Emperor Xuanzong of the Qing Dynasty, Manuscript of the Concubines of the Qing Dynasty