The most important thing is that the identity background of the two people is different, although they are the daughters of the emperor, but the identity status of the mother of the two is very different, and now it is a society of spelling fathers, but in the ancient imperial family, sometimes it was more "spelling mother".
Although Emperor Wen of Han also had a large number of wives and concubines, he did not have many children, a total of two daughters. The eldest daughter was Princess Guantao, born to Empress Dou Yifang, and the second daughter was Princess Daiyi.
According to relevant records, although Emperor Wen of Han was very fond of Princess Daiyi, the historical data did not record in detail who Princess Daiyi's birth mother was.
According to the ancient Chinese custom of recording royal history, if a concubine has a high status in the imperial palace, or the mother's family has a high status, it will generally have a name. If the nameless and surnameless are mostly elected show girls, or lowly palace women, there may also be hidden feelings that are inconvenient to record in the historical materials.
Although Empress Dou did not have any background in her family, the conjugal relationship between Empress Dou and Emperor Wendi of Han was not comparable to that of ordinary people.
According to relevant records, Empress Dou's father returned to the hermit village forest during the rebellion at the end of Qin, and later fell into the river and died while fishing. In order to eat, Empress Dou drafted into the imperial palace, and in the case of coming and going, she arrived at the Daiguo, and the Daiwang was the later Emperor Wen of Han.
After Empress Dou came to Daiguo, she was deeply loved by Dai Wang, and during this period she gave birth to a daughter and two sons for Dai Wang, the daughter was Liu Yan, the Princess of Guantao, and the two sons were Liu Qi, the later Han Jing Emperor, and Liu Wu, the Prince of Liang.
Although Emperor Wen of Han had also married a queen and had four children before that, neither the queen nor the four children survived. It was precisely because of this that Empress Dou became the most important woman around Emperor Wen of Han.
Because Princess Guantao was the first daughter born by Empress Dou to Emperor Wen of Han, after birth, she was held up as a pearl in the palm of her hand by Emperor Wen of Han and was deeply loved by Emperor Wen of Han. Coupled with the fact that Emperor Wen of Han was particularly fond of Empress Dou and Wu, it was only natural that Princess Guantao would be pampered.
Princess Daiyi's mother has no information at all in the Han Dynasty historiography. Therefore, Emperor Wen of Han's liking for Princess Daiyi was purely his father's liking for a daughter, because Emperor Wu of Han had only two daughters in total, not like other emperors with many children and grandchildren. Nor can we say that Emperor Wen of Han did not favor Princess Daiyi, but only that Princess Daiyi deserved so much under certain circumstances.
Of course, if you compare, the gap between the two people is still very obvious.
For example, in the matter of choosing a husband, Princess Guantao's husband was Chen Wu, who had been enfeoffed with 2,000 households, and Princess Daiyi was married to Zhou Shengzhi, the son of Zhou Bo, who had an eight-thousand-household fief.
Although at first glance, emperor Wen of Han gave the best resources to Princess Daiyi in the matter of choosing a husband, but in fact it was to use Princess Daiyi to win over the Zhou family. Because in theory, Princess Guantao was born to the empress, Emperor Wen of Han should have preferred to find a better husband for Princess Guantao, and the reason why he did not marry him to the Zhou family was that he did not want Princess Guantao to become a tool of political sacrifice.
At that time, it was the Zhou family and other ministers who recaptured power from Lü Hou and returned it to the Liu family, although Emperor Wen of Han was the king of a country at that time, but the power of the Zhou family in the dynasty should not be underestimated, if the Zhou family wanted to rebel, then Emperor Wen of Han was difficult to resist, and the marriage was only to win over the Zhou family. It seems that this is a door-to-door marriage, but Princess Daiyi is to some extent a political victim of Emperor Wen of Han.
Later, when Emperor Wen of Han cleaned up the Zhou family, he was once ready to kill Zhou Bo, and he did not think of Princess Daiyi at all. In order to avoid the Zhou family being raided, Princess Daiyi would find Emperor Wen of Han and tearfully intercede with Emperor Wen of Han, and the Zhou family could be considered to have retained the fiefdom, but the power had been seized in their hands.
Although Princess Daiyi was credited with saving the Zhou family, after all, the Zhou family resented Emperor Wendi's actions, so Princess Daiyi did not have a very good life in the Zhou family. Later, Zhou Shengzhi was demoted again and stripped of his title for killing people, and the status of the Zhou family also plummeted.
Although she was a princess, in ancient times, she paid attention to "marrying beggars and begging, marrying and begging", so Princess Daiyi also followed the decline in social status of Zhou Shengzhi, and the relationship between Zhou Shengzhi and Princess Daiyi became more cold after being demoted and demoted.
In addition, Princess Daiyi's mother did not have any power in the imperial court, which also became one of the reasons why Princess Daiyi's sense of existence in history was very low.
Princess Guantao is different.
Although the status of the husband she married is not high, after all, her mother is an empress of the dynasty, as long as there is Empress Dou, Princess Guantao's life will not be too bad, and others will not dare to be difficult for Princess Guantao in the face of Empress Dou.
What's more, after Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Jing of Han inherited the throne, although Emperor Jing of Han was the king of a country, he was always the younger brother of Princess Guantao, and the two brothers and sisters had such a blood relationship after all. Therefore, after Emperor Jing of Han became emperor, the social status of Princess Guantao did not decline, but was improved.
And Princess Guantao is also more clever, especially will please her brother, every three to five to send his brother a beautiful woman, so the relationship between Princess Guantao and the Han Jing Emperor is not bad.
Princess Guantao, as Empress Dou's only little cotton jacket, often accompanied Empress Dou after her marriage. Because Liu Qi and Liu Wu were busy on weekdays, the one who accompanied Empress Dou the most was Princess Guantao.
When Emperor Jing of Han was emperor, Empress Dou controlled the state government to a certain extent, so Princess Guantao, who accompanied Empress Dou, also had a certain right to speak, which also led to her particularly high sense of existence above the imperial court.
Princess Guantao was also particularly good at running herself, and she ensured her position in the imperial court and the power in her hands. She even intended to match her daughter Ah Jiao xu with the current crown prince of the Han Jing Emperor. However, this matter was opposed by the crown prince's mother, so Princess Taoguan Tao joined forces with Wang Meiren to depose the previous prince and re-establish the later Emperor Wu of Han as emperor.
Emperor Wu of Han was particularly fond of Ah Jiao, and even said, "If you marry Ah Jiao, you should build a golden house and hide it." Princess Guantao also used this relationship to directly betroth her daughter Xu to Emperor Wu of Han, and after Emperor Wu of Han became emperor, Ah Jiao was made empress, and Princess Guantao successfully became the aunt of Emperor Wu of Han.
With this relationship, the status of Princess Guantao in the imperial court is even more prominent, and it is not uncommon for Princess Guantao to have a high sense of existence in history.