Many people like to watch the palace fight drama, because the concubines in it are fighting openly and secretly, and the plot is wonderful and exciting. In the end, the winner of the palace fight can support his son to ascend the throne, and then sit in the position of the empress dowager and enjoy the taste of victory.
Nowadays, a large number of palace fighting dramas are concentrated on using the Qing Dynasty as the theme, including the Yongzheng Dynasty and the Qianlong Dynasty. However, we found that Kangxi was the longest-reigning emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and also the most concubines and sons, but there were not many palace fight dramas in his dynasty.
The large number of sons led to the seizure of concubines by the nine sons of Kangxi in his later years, and the large number of concubines was easy to cause palace fighting. So there were so many sons and concubines of Kangxi, why did nine sons take the concubine, but there was no palace fight?
In fact, in history, it is difficult to have a palace fight phenomenon. Because the harem is run by the empress, the queen is in the middle palace and has extremely high power. Sometimes what happened in the harem, even the emperor had no right to inquire. Especially in the Qing Dynasty, during the Kangxi period, Kangxi made the harem system more explicit, and it was impossible for ordinary concubines to dare to provoke the empress.
Secondly, the empress dowager fought for power and the throne, not only for her own position, but also for the benefit of her son. In the dynasty dominated by the "primogeniture system", the concubines born to concubines had no hope of succession, and they had no need to compete for the throne. In a dynasty like the Qing Dynasty, which was "established as a virtuous person without standing up for a long time", after Yongzheng established the "secret reserve system", it also made the palace fight meaningless.
In general, the phenomenon of palace fighting in film and television dramas is almost invisible in history. However, in ancient times, there were so many concubines serving the emperor alone, it was impossible to say that there was no competition for the wind and jealousy. So Kangxi had 65 concubines, so why did the harem always have peace and quiet? There are three main reasons.
First, although Kangxi's biological mother, Empress Xiaokangzhang, died early, he still had his mother-in-law, Empress Xiaohuizhang, alive. In addition, above the empress dowager, there is also a highly respected empress dowager Xiaozhuang. The authority of Xiaozhuang in the harem, needless to say, there is her town, the concubine of the harem who still dares to make a second.
After Xiaozhuang's death, There was also Empress Xiaohuizhang in the harem. Although she was not as authoritative as Xiaozhuang, Kangxi's mother, Zhi Xiaoxiao, still obeyed this concubine. According to the Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Xiaohuizhang's will can even be equated with the emperor's holy will. Unless the harem concubines suspect that their own lives are long, how dare they provoke a harem war.
Second, as mentioned earlier, the empress is in the middle palace and is the ruler of the harem. In addition, during the Kangxi period, a harem system with strict hierarchy and clear dignity and inferiority was established, and no one dared to provoke the empress easily. Then there are the two old ladies mentioned earlier, and the empress dowager does not want to try to protect herself, it is good, palace fighting, it is impossible to fight in the palace.
Third, the Kangxi Emperor himself has always taken precautions against the matter of palace fighting. For example, he was very good to his three queens, and he was not afraid of making them too favored. Because the more favored the empress was, the more secure her position in the harem, the rest of the concubines did not dare to make waves.
As for concubines, Kangxi never did it for the sake of pampering. For example, Kangxi favored Concubine Hui, but when Princess Hui's son Yin Zhen was imprisoned, Princess Hui actually offered to execute Yin Zhen, in order to gamble on Kangxi's love for Her calves and save Yin Zhen's life. It can be seen from this that the status of Huifei is also limited.
For example, he favored Concubine Liang, but after Concubine Liang's son Yin Yu fell out of favor, he was scolded by Kangxi: "Born of a lowly woman of Xin Zhiku, she has a high and sinister heart since childhood." From this, it can be seen that even if Concubine Liang and Yin Yu were favored before, they were always inferior.
In summary, it is precisely because the Kangxi Dynasty had empress dowagers and empresses who were shocked, and there were noble, well-loved, and virtuous empresses in charge, as well as the preventive measures taken by Kangxi himself, so there was no palace fight in this dynasty. Unfortunately, there was no Palace Fight, but there was a nine sons and a wife, which was enough for Kangxi to have a headache.
(References "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", "Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty")