There was such an empress in the Qing Dynasty, who had been living in the harem since she entered the palace at the age of fourteen, and lived for seventy-seven years, and she had neither favor nor childbearing before she died. But life was very happy, because her titular emperor's son was extremely filial to her, and this son was only fourteen years younger than her. From being empress dowager at the age of twenty to the age of seventy-seven, the emperor's son fulfilled his filial piety for fifty-seven years. As a result, she became the longest-reigning empress dowager of the Qing Dynasty and the second-longest-lived empress besides Qianlong's biological mother, Empress Xiaoshengxian. This empress was the successor of the Shunzhi Emperor, borjigit, also known as Empress Xiaohuizhang, also known as Empress Renxian, and was also the concubine of Kangxi. Empress Xiaohuizhang's popularity is not high, and even in literary works and film and television dramas, she basically does not appear, but her life is much more perfect than that of the concubines who often appear.
Empress Hyo Hye-chang stills
Seeing the surname Borjigit, everyone may have thought of her origin, yes, she is from the Mongolian Horqin steppe like Empress Xiaozhuangwen. She was also a relative of Empress Xiaozhuangwen, who was the first empress of the Shunzhi Emperor and the only cousin of the deposed Borjigit clan of the Qing Dynasty. The deposed empress dowager was empress xiaozhuang's niece, so empress xiaohuizhang wanted to call empress xiaozhuang's aunt and grandmother, that is, her cousin's grandmother.
Empress Xiaohuizhang's life is both plain and legendary, and her life explains what is called "no dispute is contention". She has an indisputable personality throughout her life, so she not only has a high life but also a wonderful life. Because of her noble status, she indirectly let her mother's family be stained, and her mother's family was originally a collateral family (the concubine was Empress Xiaozhuang's brother Wu Keshan). Because of her status, she once surpassed her concubine Wu Keshan, and since her, the Qing dynasty royal family has frequently married her family seventeen times. The family reached its peak under her influence, and these glories were all due to the fact that she had a nominally good son, Kangxi.
Kangxi stills
However, before she became the empress dowager, she did not live satisfactorily, even very depressed, always in danger of being deposed, fortunately she was cautious and cautious, only promises, plus her aunt supported her, otherwise she would be abolished in minutes. The Shunzhi Emperor, under the rule of Dolgun and Empress Xiaozhuang, chose Empress Xiaozhuang's niece as the Yuan Concubine. The Shunzhi Emperor was a very rebellious young tianzi who was dissatisfied with the political marriage chosen by his uncle and mother. He longs for freedom and does not want to live under the sound of others, so he does not want to see the original queen at all. Later, he simply found all kinds of reasons to depose the empress as a concubine and not give his mother face at all, perhaps he hated Dorgon even more, so he sprinkled all his anger on the head of the empress Borzigit.
A year after the abolition, the Middle Palace could not be left without a master, and Empress Xiaozhuang and the Hundred Officials gave him Zhang Luo a family affair. The range was to choose one between the Manchus and the Mongols, and finally the niece and granddaughter of Empress Xiaozhuang's mother,D., the Duke of Horqin Town, were chosen as concubines. It is conceivable that the Shunzhi Emperor will certainly not be satisfied, just drove away a Mongol empress, and then came two, or sister flowers. Empress Xiaohuizhang and her sister Shuhuifei were sent to the palace at the same time, and after entering the palace, the two were first made concubines, and the sister was made empress in June of the eleventh year of Shunzhi (1654). The speed is very fast, people are coming to enter the main palace, faster than the speed of the rocket, directly step into the sky.
Although Shunzhi did not like this cousin niece and wife, he still maintained a good fatherly relationship on the surface, as can be seen from the fact that Empress Xiaohuizhang fell ill once in the twelfth year of Shunzhi. This time the illness was very serious, Shunzhi was very concerned, sent the imperial court minister Soni into the palace guards, and even praised Sonny: "It is because the empress is in danger of illness." I'm really worried... Sui'er did not take medicine and became more and more aware of the concerns of the Virgin. The intention of comforting the subjects looking up. The heart is overwhelmed. ”
Stills of Shunzhi and Empress Xiaohuizhang
However, after a year, Shunzhi did not want to see her, because of the appearance of Concubine Dong. In the thirteenth year of Shunzhi, Dong Eshi, the daughter of the minister of the interior, entered the palace and was made a concubine, and in September, she was promoted to imperial concubine, and her speed was comparable to that of Empress Xiaohuizhang. Shunzhi is a personality tianzi who does not love Jiangshan and loves beauty, and since he had the concubine Dong E, who spoiled the sixth palace, he disliked the empress even more, and even once wanted to abolish the determination of the empress to set up a favored concubine. In the case of an empress, the imperial concubine is not clearly in preparation for the abolition!
How did Shunzhi find the Empress Stubble? In the winter of the fourteenth year of Shunzhi, Empress Zhaosheng (Empress Xiaozhuang) violated the Eucharist, and Concubine Dong served every day, while the Empress dowager treated her as if she were a person. Shunzhi had already hinted at the ministers that they were going to abolish the empress, but Empress Xiaozhuang would not sit idly by, her niece had already been deposed, and she did not want to be deposed again. Concubine Dong also asked Shunzhi not to abolish the empress, and even said that if the emperor did not live after the abolition, it is estimated that Empress Xiaozhuang had frightened Concubine Dong.
Shunzhi and Dong Efei stills
In the first month of the fifteenth year of Shunzhi, Shunzhi again used empress dowager Xiaozhuang's body to be ill, and Concubine Dong performed filial piety in front of the empress dowager, personally serving Tang Yaoyi without untied service, but the empress was not satisfied. "The empress's title and the treasure shall be left as usual, and they shall be entered into the Middle Palace and other items, and temporarily stopped."
This action of the Shunzhi Emperor was definitely not a good thing for the empress, and the situation was not good! Stopping many of the privileges that the empress should have, it was almost empty, which was obviously going to be abolished again. Immediately after that, Shunzhi added: "The empress did not serve the empress dowager diligently, violating filial piety, and the ministers of the kings and ministers discussed the matter of abolition. This did not bring the matter of the abolition to the surface again, and Shunzhi's operation made the empress frightened and frightened out of her illness. Shunzhi once said that "in the future, she will be simple in heart, and gu will lack long talents", which means that the empress is honest and honest, and she has no special skills, and she is an ordinary woman who can no longer be ordinary.
In February, the empress fell ill, and the imperial concubine Dong Eshi "did not look at eyelashes for five days and nights" until the empress recovered.
Princess Dong Efei was still relatively kind and knowledgeable, and did not look at no one because of the emperor's favor, but on the contrary, she was repeatedly recorded in the history books that she was friendly and knew the rules. Both she and the empress were victims, sandwiched between the emperor and the empress. Princess Dong Efei must have had a conversation between the five days and five nights of taking care of the empress, and Concubine Dong did not want to leave herself infamous because the empress was deposed. Therefore, after she strongly advised Shunzhi not to abolish it, she finally retained the position of empress dowager with the efforts of the empress dowager and Concubine Dong. The status and privileges that the empress should have been restored were also restored, and "when she obeyed the empress dowager's notes and other items, she was sealed as usual."
In the seventeenth year of Shunzhi (1660), Princess Dong' favorite concubine Of Shunzhi died on August 19, shortly after suffering the loss of her son. Shunzhi broke the ancestral system and posthumously honored her as Empress Xiaoxian. The queen was still directly posthumously posthumously sealing the side chamber as the queen, which was a thorn in the naked look down on the queen, and at the same time was disgusted with the mother. The death of his own favorite concubine made Shunzhi devastated and heartbroken, and only more than three months had passed since the death of Concubine Dong, and on the seventh day of the first month of the eighteenth year of Shunzhi, the Shunzhi Emperor also died after the favored concubine. Xuan Ye, the third son of the emperor who was only eight years old, succeeded to the throne as Emperor Kangxi and was entrusted to the care of his mother, Empress Xiaozhuang.
Stills of Empress Xiaozhuang and Shunzhi
After Kangxi succeeded to the throne, he gave his elders the title of empress dowager, and his grandmother was Empress Zhaosheng, and the descendants still used to call her Empress Xiaozhuang or Empress Xiaozhuangwen. At this time, Kangxi had two mothers, both concubine and birth mother, and Kangxi honored his concubine Borjigit as "Empress Renxian" and lived in Ciren Palace. His biological mother Concubine Tong was the Empress Dowager, and the upper emblem was Called Ci and Empress Dowager, that is, the two palaces stood side by side.
Kangxi's birth mother, Empress Xiaokangzhang, was a poor and unblessed woman who was not favored at all, and fortunately her son became emperor. He could have enjoyed the blessings of his son and let his son perform filial piety before his knees, but he died two years after becoming empress dowager, only twenty-four years old. Kangxi was only ten years old, and his mother's death left him devastated, and his liver and intestines were broken. Every day for my mother to guard the mausoleum, every day weeping, almost crying and bleeding. Until later, Kangxi recalled that he had not fulfilled a day of filial piety in front of his parents since he was a child.
Kangxi had no father when he was eight years old, and no mother when he was ten years old, and now the closest elders are only his grandmother and his mother-in-law. After that, Kangxi always put filial piety on the two elders, and because he did not have the opportunity to perform filial piety to his birth mother, he gave all the filial piety that he originally gave to his mother. However, Empress Xiaohuizhang did the same to Kangxi, she herself had no children, and naturally regarded Kangxi as her own son. The feelings of their mother and son are recorded in the history books in a lot and in great detail, and the matter of mother's kindness and filial piety has been staged.
The history books record that three generations of empress xiaozhuang, empress xiaohuizhang, and empress xiaochengren (empress dowager Kangxi Yuan) went to the xiaoling tomb in Shunzhi to pay their respects. Such a thing as three generations worshipping ancestors together is rare in the royal family, which shows that the relationship between their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is very harmonious.
On the third day of October in the nineteenth year of Kangxi, it was the fortieth birthday of Empress Xiaohuizhang, and Kangxi made an exception for not going to work all day, so he specially gave his mother a birthday. The whole palace is bustling with activity and entertainment, and it's time for dinner. Four generations of Empress Xiaozhuang, Empress Xiaohuizhang, Kangxi and crown prince Yinrong's grandchildren sat at a table to celebrate the empress dowager's birthday. Empress Xiaohuizhang was sincerely happy to see that the entire family was full of children and grandchildren, and she also thanked her son Kangxi for his filial piety to her. In the future, as long as the empress dowager has a full birthday, Kangxi will definitely have an indication, and he will personally make words and give gifts to wish. Every time Kangxi wanted to give his mother a birthday feast, he was rejected by the empress dowager, who advocated frugality.
However, the empress dowager stopped feasting and drinking because she was still thrifty.
In the twenty-sixth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the Emperor's grandmother, Empress Xiaozhuang, died at the age of seventy-four, and Empress Xiaohuizhang and Kangxi were both sad. Kangxi cut his braids to express his thoughts for the emperor's grandmother, and the empress dowager cried even more sadly, almost unable to get up from crying.
The empress dowager's mother and son mourned, Empress Renxian wept and could not get up, and the Kangxi Emperor also cut his braids and mourned to show filial piety.
After the death of Kangxi's dearest empress dowager, he respected the empress dowager, the elder of the second relative, and did his best to perform filial piety in front of the empress, taking into account the feelings of his mother in everything, and as long as the empress dowager's health permitted, he had to travel with respect. As long as the empress dowager wanted to do anything, Kangxi would basically take the time to personally accompany her, and Kangxi meant that as long as the queen mother was happy, she could do anything.
The Qing History Manuscript, Liechuan, Volume I, Empress Dowager, records: "Empress Dowager Shangfeng, Empress Dowager Xiaoling, Xingshengjing, Gurudwara Fuling, Zhaoling, Out of Gubeikou to escape the summer, fortunately Wutai Mountain, all served by the Empress Dowager." ”
In the twenty-second year of Kangxi, Kangxi accompanied the imperial grandmother out of the plug, and the empress dowager did not accompany her, but Kangxi did not forget the empress, but always thought of her. One of the hunts, shooting a deer, Kangxi personally cut off the best deer tail, and then selected the best piece of venison to marinate, let people quickly send it to the Forbidden City for the empress to taste. The empress dowager was in a good mood when she received the venison, and directly praised the emperor's filial piety, and asked people to bring letters to the empress dowager and Kangxi to greet an.
"In the twenty-second year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the empress dowager went out of the way, but the empress dowager did not serve, shot a deer in the middle of the way, broke her tail and salt, and personally chose hazelnut to enter the empress."
Kangxi was afraid that his mother was lonely and lonely, and handed over the fifth son of the emperor born to Concubine Yi to her to raise, Yin Qi did not participate in the "Nine Sons and Concubines" behind Yin Qi, and Yongzheng was very good to this fifth brother after he succeeded to the throne.
In the forty-seventh year of Kangxi, the "Nine Sons and Concubines" became white-hot, the crown prince YinRong was deposed, and Kangxi was physically and mentally exhausted by a bunch of sons. He talked to his mother about the abolition of the prince, and the empress dowager had watched Yin Rong grow up, and she was very reluctant to let this eldest grandson grow up. Kangxi understood the meaning of the empress dowager, so he decided to restore Yinrong as the crown prince, and he said in front of the civil and military officials that the restoration of Yinrong as the crown prince was also the meaning of the empress dowager, and the ministers knew that Kangxi was a great filial piety, so they did not object.
The "Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty" records an important event that Kangxi paid tribute to the birthday of his mother, and in the second year of the restoration of the crown prince, the sixteenth day of the first month of the forty-ninth year of Kangxi, it was the seventieth birthday of the empress dowager, and Kangxi held a grand birthday banquet for his mother. The pomp was very grand, and he invited the foreign clans, Belle, Beizi and all the princes, ministers, and all the Fujin and ladies who had come to Beijing to gather at the Ningshou Palace to wish the empress dowager a happy birthday. Not only that, Kangxi also danced the Manchu python dance with the music, and while dancing, he frequently knelt down to toast the mother and celebrate the birthday. If you want to think that Kangxi is almost fifty-six at this time, the empress dowager is naturally very happy, and she said that the emperor was breaking the fee. Seeing that his mother was so happy, Kangxi was also happy.
In the forty-sixth year of Kangxi, the twenty-eight-year-old emperor's seventh son, Yin You, was seriously ill, and Kangxi was afraid that the nearly seventy-year-old empress dowager would be sad, and he told his sons not to tell their imperial grandmother about this matter, so as not to make her old man sad.
Kangxi was also very concerned about the residence of the empress, the empress dowager's residence Ningshou Palace was relatively old, Kangxi considered that the empress dowager would be uncomfortable, so he built a new palace for the empress.
"The old palace of Ningshou, where the empress dowager resides, has been built for many years, and the new palace has been specially built, which is more splendid and splendid than the old, and now that it has been completed, it should be immediately honored to the empress dowager and moved to the palace."
On the day that the empress dowager moved to Xinning Shou Palace, Kangxi personally led the princes and ministers to kneel down to greet her mother.
When Empress Xiaozhuang was alive, because the Rehe Summer Resort had not yet been built, she did not go to Rehe to escape the summer. However, the mother queen was still alive, and Kangxi put filial piety on the empress, and every summer, Kangxi would serve the empress dowager to go to Rehe to escape the summer. Every time, I arrived at the halfway point and took some of my sons and ministers to go first, and first went to the summer resort to arrange everything. When the empress dowager arrived, Kangxi led the princes and princes and ministers to kneel down to greet the empress.
On July 29, 37, Kangxi personally served the empress dowager on a tour of the outside of the province, this time different from the past, this time to the Horqin steppe. This is Kangxi's filial piety to his mother-in-law, specially arranged for the empress dowager to go home to see, this time is also the first time that Empress Xiaohui has set foot on her hometown after more than 40 years of leaving her hometown, and her excited mood can be imagined. They first came to the Karaqin Mongol Ministry, where they lived in the mansion of Princess Heshuo Duanjing (the fifth daughter of Kangxi), and in early September, the empress dowager came to the Horqin steppe where she was born, and was fortunate to be in the mansion of Princess Horqin and Princess Chunxi of Shuo. During this period, they received the various Mongol princes and tribes who came to see each other. From Horqin, Kangxi went to Shengjing to worship his ancestors.
The "Maxim of the Kangxi Emperor's Family Training" records that in the fifty-second year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the empress dowager's sister Princess Shuhui died at the age of seventy. The empress dowager felt very sad, she was more than seventy years old, her hair was pale and her teeth were gone, and her heart was unhappy. Kangxi found that the mother's state was not right, and quickly asked An, the empress dowager said: "The teeth are shaken, and those who have fallen out are painful, and those who have not fallen off, the pain is unbearable", she told Kangxi that her teeth that have fallen out will no longer hurt, and the pain that will shake and not fall out is unbearable, and she is also telling Kangxi that she is old.
Kangxi hurriedly comforted: "The empress dowager's holy birthday is more than seventy years old, and her grandson and great-grandson are more than a hundred, and the grandson of the empress dowager must be white and her teeth will fall, not to mention that her grandmother is enjoying such a high age." I went to my ancestors, and it was often said that the teeth of the elderly fell out, which was beneficial to the descendants, and this was the empress dowager's blessing and longevity."
This means that the empress dowager has more than seventy years of life, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are more than a hundred people, and your grandchildren are already about to lose their hair and teeth. Ancestors said that the loss of teeth by the elderly is beneficial to the descendants, which is a good sign for the descendants of the mother and queen Fuze! When the empress dowager heard Kangxi say this so well, her mood was suddenly very good, and she smiled and said: "The emperor's words, all my old concubines should hear it and be happy!" "These words spoken by the emperor make my old lady very happy in her heart!"
In the fifty-sixth year of Kangxi (1717), on the fourth day of the first month of December, the empress dowager was critically ill, and Kangxi was not in good health at that time, coupled with the physical and mental exhaustion of Kangxi caused by the "Nine Sons and Concubines", his feet were puffy and almost unable to walk. Wrapping his feet in handkerchiefs, he came to Ningshou Palace in a palanquin to visit his mother. Kangxi knelt in front of the bed and held the empress's hand in both hands and said, "Empress Mother, the sons and daughters are here." The empress dowager held Kangxi's hand tightly and kept her eyes open as she watched him, at this point she was too weak to speak.
Two days later, he became Empress Xiaohuizhang of the Fifty-Seventh Empress dowager and died at the age of seventy-seven. For a month before and after the empress dowager's death, Kangxi lived inside the Cangzhen Gate and did not return to the palace as a sign of respect. He personally went to the Ningshou Palace to offer wine and sacrifice, and when he took the sacrifice text and began to read it, he was already crying and crying. After reading the altar text, I still couldn't stop crying.
Kangxi was a great filial son, and had a mother-son relationship with Empress Renxian for fifty-seven years. He reigned for a total of sixty-one years, Empress Xiaohuizhang was only fourteen years older than Kangxi, the empress dowager died at the age of seventy-seven, and Kangxi was already sixty-three years old, and it was only five years before his death. When recalling the feelings with his mother-in-law for more than fifty years, he is very sad and nostalgic, and often sighs:
"At this time, there are only those who honor and honor, and there are no people who love and sympathize with those who have fallen."
After empress Xiaohuizhang's death, Kangxi felt empty in his heart, and there were many people around him who honored him, but there were no people who loved him, which showed that their mother and son had a deep affection.
After the death of Empress Xiaohuizhang, some ministers speculated on the holy intention to honor Kangxi's biological mother, Empress Xiaokangzhang, and rose above her mother-in-law, Empress Xiaohuizhang, but was scolded by Kangxi, saying that this was to make future generations scold themselves for being unfilial. Finally, Empress Xiaokang and Empress Xiaoxian were buried together in the Xiaoling Tomb of the Shunzhi Emperor, and Empress Xiaohuizhang was buried in the east of Xiaoling, also known as Xiaodongling. Empress Xiaoxian, who shunzhi herself posthumously awarded to her favored concubine Dong Efei, did not receive the title of "Zhang" (Zhang was the title of Emperor Shunzhi, Shunzhi was called Emperor Shizuzhang, and his empress with his title was orthodox), which was tantamount to not recognizing her legitimacy. The only people in the temple were empress xiaokangzhang and her mother-in-law, empress xiaohuizhang, and there was no concubine Dong.
Empress Xiaohuizhang's life was worth it, she entered the palace at the age of fourteen, stayed in the harem for sixty-three years, and was an empress for seven years, and an empress dowager for fifty-seven years, at the age of seventy-seven. Her bad life was because she was spoiled and childless, but fortunately, her son, the emperor, had great respect for her, and the average emperor was not even so good to her birth mother.
Empress Xiao Kangzhang stills
Her advantages are just like Shunzhi's evaluation of her, "In the future, she is simple in heart, gu and lacks long talents", she is simple and has no heart, and there is no dispute with the world, which is her inadequacy and good character. She never interfered in politics and devoted all her feelings to her titular son, Kangxi, who was a well-known filial piety. Of course, the rewards she received were also very rich, and few people in the whole history could have had such an opportunity as her.