As the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Shunzhi was high on top, but he couldn't help himself from his marriage. In the eighth year of Shunzhi, on the strong recommendation of Xiaozhuang and Dolgun, Shunzhi married Wu Keshan's daughter Borjigit Mengguqing as his queen, but empress Mengguqing's arrogance and willfulness made the Shunzhi Emperor miserable. In the end, Shunzhi ignored the strong opposition of Empress Xiaozhuang and the ministers, and even did not hesitate to destroy the friendly relations between the Daqing and the Horqin tribes, and resolutely deposed Meng Guqing as empress.
The following month, the Rebbe suggested that the Shunzhi Emperor should be elected as soon as possible on the grounds that "the empress's throne should not be vacant for a long time". After the Shunzhi Emperor nodded, the choice of empress once again fell to the Horqin Borjigit family. Although the candidate for the empress was also from the Horqin Borjigit family, unlike the last time, the empress candidate was carefully selected by the Shunzhi Emperor, rather than "unselected".
So why did the second empress still come from the Mongolian Horqin League? First, in order to repair the mother-son relationship, after all, Shunzhi did not hesitate to disobey Empress Xiaozhuang and depose the first cousin empress; second, in order to stabilize the political situation, eliminate the dissatisfaction of the Horqin league, and ease the relationship between the two sides.
In this way, in the eleventh year of Shunzhi, this woman, who was still surnamed Borjigit, became the second empress of the Shunzhi Emperor, which was later Empress Xiaohuizhang. Among the eleven empresses of the Qing Dynasty, although Empress Xiaohuizhang's sense of existence was relatively low, she was the longest reigning empress dowager of the Qing Dynasty, and she was made empress at the age of fourteen and empress dowager at the age of twenty-one, serving as the empress dowager for nearly fifty-seven years. Empress Xiaohuizhang can be said to be a legendary woman.
So, this legendary queen, what was her life experience?
Empress Xiaohui was three years younger than Shunzhi, and her father was the Duke of Horqin. She was the niece of Empress Xiaozhuang and the cousin of the former deposed empress, that is to say, she married her cousin.
The new empress is young and beautiful, kind by nature, and has no quarrel with the world. However, she did not gain the favor of the Shunzhi Emperor. On the contrary, just two years after the big wedding, the Shunzhi Emperor married Dong Eshi again, and the talented, gentle and considerate Dong Eshi soon gained all the love and love of the Shunzhi Emperor. Although Empress Xiaozhuang tried her best to promote the conjugal relationship between her son and daughter-in-law, Emperor Shunzhi still sent the empress into the cold palace of affection, and Emperor Shunzhi also had the idea of letting Dong Eshi replace the empress, but was fortunately dissuaded by Dong Eshi.
However, Empress Xiaohuizhang, who had just escaped the disaster, encountered another huge crisis. In the fourteenth year of Shunzhi, Empress Xiaozhuang was seriously ill and moved to Nanyuan for convalescence, the Shunzhi Emperor waited day and night, racking his brains to treat the empress dowager,the concubines also often went to visit the empress dowager,And Borzigit, as an empress, was also the niece and granddaughter of the empress dowager, and should be taken care of day and night, but Empress Xiaohuizhang rarely visited the empress dowager, and was not as good as ordinary concubines. Therefore, the Shunzhi Emperor was greatly annoyed. The following year, the Shunzhi Emperor finally attacked Empress Xiaohuizhang. According to the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty:
"In the first month of the fifteenth year, the empress dowager did not hesitate, and after the superior responsibility, the etiquette was neglected, and the order should be stopped and should be entered into the middle palace note table, and the kings, baylors, and ministers should discuss the action."
This means that in the first month of the fifteenth year of Shunzhi, Shunzhi stopped Empress Xiaohuizhang's middle palace notes on the grounds that "during empress Xiaozhuang's illness, Empress Xiaohui did not fulfill her filial piety".
Later, due to empress dowager Xiaozhuang's intercession, Empress Xiaohuizhang's zhonggong notes were restored. According to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty, the empress, as the head of the six palaces, often led concubines to the Cining Palace to greet the empress dowager and serve meals. In addition, on major festivals, concubines were also led to pay homage to the empress dowager, and these red tape and countless rules and precepts were a huge mental pressure for the empress from the Horqin steppe and only a teenager, which was really unbearable. To this end, in order to prevent the Shunzhi Emperor from finding the empress's mistake again, the shrewd Empress Xiaozhuang allowed the empress to go to the Cining Palace to greet her on weekdays and festivals. It can be seen that Empress Xiaozhuang took good care of the empress.
For Empress Xiaohuizhang, although she was a righteous empress, she could not win the love of the Shunzhi Emperor, especially after Dong Efei entered the palace, the Shunzhi Emperor favored Dong Efei, and Empress Xiaohuizhang was equivalent to abolishing it, so she never gave birth to children. In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi, the Shunzhi Emperor died, and Empress Xiaohui, who was only twenty-one years old, became the empress dowager, but this became a turning point in her life.
In the second year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor's biological mother, Empress Xiaokang, died of illness, and the Kangxi Emperor was only ten years old at the time, so Empress Xiaohuizhang assisted Empress Xiaozhuang in taking care of the young Xuanye. From then on, Empress Xiaohuizhang not only paid great respect to Empress Xiaozhuang, but also took good care of Xuan Ye. Empress Xiaohuizhang's selfless maternal love, kindness, kindness, and considerate care to Xuan Ye left an indelible impression on the kangxi emperor's heart. Although Kangxi was not the son of Empress Xiaohuizhang, she regarded the Kangxi Emperor as if she had already come out, and the Kangxi Emperor also treated Empress Xiaohuizhang as a birth mother, and a deep mother-son relationship was established between them.
In particular, after the death of Empress Xiaozhuang, the Kangxi Emperor poured all his filial piety into Empress Xiaohuizhang, for example, building the Ningshou Palace for Empress Xiaokangzhang, traveling with Empress Xiaohuizhang, long chongqing birthday for Empress Xiaohuizhang, and repeatedly wearing insignia.
For Empress Xiaohuizhang, although she did not receive the grace of the Shunzhi Emperor, she lived to the age of 77, enjoyed the glory and wealth of the imperial family, and won the filial piety and respect of the Kangxi Emperor throughout his life. Although Concubine Dong E, who favored the harem, had peach blossom luck, she was not blessed. In contrast, Empress Xiaohuizhang was the biggest winner in the harem.