When it comes to the harem of the Kangxi Dynasty, it is absolutely wonderful, and it can be described in one sentence, this is a harem dominated by the magnates. The heads of the successive harems of the Kangxi Dynasty are all from prominent families, such as the three empresses of Kangxi, Xiaocheng, Xiaozhao and Empress Xiaoyi, and The Concubine Wen Xi, who briefly ruled the Six Palaces, is the sister of Empress Xiaozhao.
In the first ten days of July in the 28th year of Kangxi, Empress Xiaoyi, who had just been ordained as empress for only one day, died of illness in Chengqian Palace, and Empress Xiaoyi was not only Kangxi's wife, but also Kangxi's cousin, and the two naturally had a deep relationship, and empress Xiaoyi's illness and death made Tong Jia's dominance in the harem disappear suddenly. As a result, Kangxi decided to include Empress Xiaoyi's sister Xiao Tong Jia (小佟佳氏), who was the noble concubine of Emperor Wuhui.
In the twenty-ninth year of Kangxi, the 22-year-old Xiao Tong Jia was included in the harem by Kangxi, and as soon as he entered the palace, he was made a concubine, but for some reason, Kangxi did not give this cousin a canonical ceremony, but the position of Xiao Tong Jia was still a concubine, and the treatment was no different from that of The Fourth Concubine of Kangxi, Hui Yi Derong.
At that time, the highest ranking in the harem was Wen Xi's concubine, but this Wen Xi noble concubine was not a long-lived woman, and she died in the thirty-third year of Kangxi. After that, the Kangxi harem appeared in a six-year ownerless era, during which the affairs of the six palaces should be handled more by the four concubines of Kangxi, after all, they were more senior.
However, this situation soon changed.
In the thirty-ninth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Kangxi again made three concubines, the 32-year-old Xiao Tong Jia was crowned as a noble concubine, the birth mother of the Eight Brothers Yin Yu was made a good concubine, and the Guar Jia clan, who had just been elected to the court, was named a concubine. If so, Xiao Tong Jiashi became the woman with the highest rank in the harem, and even the old qualifications of the fourth concubine were beyond the reach of the four concubines, who let the family be relatives of the emperor and the state!
From the thirty-ninth year of Kangxi to the sixty-first year of Kangxi, the ruler of the harem of the Qing Dynasty should be Xiao Tong Jia, and Kangxi gave this cousin full trust, and the affairs of the harem were safely entrusted to her. Moreover, it is unexpected that at the end of Kangxi's life, Xiao Tong Jia would have a strange relationship with an imperial grandson.
It was in the spring of the sixty-first year of Kangxi, Kangxi was invited by his son Yin Chan to go to the Yuanmingyuan to admire the peonies, and his mood was particularly comfortable, and what made him even happier was that he met an imperial grandson he had never met, he was Yin Chan's fourth son Hongli. Kangxi immediately fell in love with this wise and clever emperor, and immediately decided to take Hongli into the palace to raise him, and Kangxi also specially arranged for the noble concubines Xiao Tong Jia and The Concubine Guar Jia clan to take care of Xiao Hongli.
After Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he naturally had great respect for these two mother concubines who had taken care of their sons, and Xiao Tong Jia was also the sister of Yongzheng's adoptive mother Empress Xiaoyi, that is to say, Xiao Tong Jia was Yongzheng's aunt, so Yongzheng honored Xiao Tong Jia as the imperial concubine.
After Qianlong succeeded to the throne, these two grandmother-level old concubines were treated with unparalleled kindness, and Xiao Tong Jia was honored as the Imperial Ancestor Shouqi Emperor Gui Concubine. However, at this time, Xiao Tong Jiashi was already old, his health was not as good as before, and he was often sick.
On the first day of April in the eighth year of Qianlong, Xiao Tong Jia died of illness in the palace at the age of 76, and was given the title of Noble Concubine of emperor Huihui.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, Four Genealogies of the Qing Imperial Family