One day in February of the twelfth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, spring blossomed, everything recovered, the Imperial Garden of the Forbidden City was particularly lively, and two thirteen-year-old women dressed in clothes were selected as palace maidens at the same time. They looked at each other, subconsciously looked back and smiled, not knowing that what awaited the two was different life experiences, one gave birth to the Great Qing Tianzi and was honored as the empress dowager, and the other lived for 97 years, ranking the crown of the Qing Dynasty's concubines.
1. Kangxi's favorite concubine with six children in ten years
The palace maid who gave birth to the Great Qing Tianzi was surnamed Wu Ya (乌雅氏), named Ma Zhen (马琭), a woman dressed in a robe from the Zhenghuang Banner of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, whose father was a mighty warrior for the protectors.
Uya's great-grandfather was named Ebugen, and when Taizu Nurhaci was raised in the palace, Nurhaci regarded him as a nephew. Uya's grandfather, named Echan, was initially the head of the dining room of the Ministry of internal affairs, and later became the minister of the interior.
Of course, whether Ebugen was really raised in the palace by Nurhaci, and whether Ebony was really a minister of the interior, remains to be examined, perhaps this is just a one-sided statement of the ruler, the purpose is nothing more than to improve the status of the mother's family.
The author believes that the Wuya clan should have a period of harem resume, from the twelfth year of Kangxi to the sixteenth year of Kangxi, because in the sixteenth year of Kangxi, when Kangxi first sealed the harem, there was no name of Wu Yashi in the list of concubines who were crowned. Therefore, it is very likely that the Wuya clan was favored by Kangxi sixteen years later.
On October 30 of the seventeenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the Wuya clan gave birth to a son for Kangxi, the fourth son of the emperor, named Yin Chan, who was later the famous Yongzheng Emperor.
Yes, this Wu Yashi, who was favored by Kangxi and gave birth to the fourth son of the emperor, was the yongzheng Emperor's birth mother, Empress Xiaogongren. However, at that time, Uya was just an ordinary concubine.
Of course, to say ordinary, in fact, is not ordinary, because Kangxi treats the Uya clan is indeed different, for example, after giving birth to the fourth son of the emperor, Kangxi issued a decree in the following year, and the Uya clan was named a separate concubine, and the Kangxi Dynasty, Kangxi rarely canonized the concubines alone, and the Uya clan was one of them.
Subsequently, things went beyond people's imagination.
After Wu Ya gave birth to the fourth son of the Emperor Yin Chan, he was out of control, and successively gave birth to the Sixth Son of the Emperor Yin Zuo, the Seventh Daughter of the Emperor, the Ninth Daughter of the Emperor Princess Gulun Wenxian, the Twelfth Daughter of the Emperor, and the Fourteenth Son of the Emperor Yinzhen.
During this period, the status of the Wuya clan in the harem was also rising, and she was crowned as a princess in the twentieth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, ranking third among the four concubines.
At that time, the highest ranking in the Kangxi harem was the imperial concubine, that is, the later Empress Xiaoyiren, and then the noble concubine Niu Hulu, that is, the Wen Concubine, the fourth concubine belonged to the third echelon, which was a restraining force that the harem could not ignore, which was already very rare for the Wuya clan from the palace, and the Jun did not see, the Same Palace Lady Zhang Jia (Min Concubine), although she gave birth to three children for Kangxi, she was still a concubine.
Although the position of the Wuya clan has never changed since the twentieth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, her two sons, Emperor Yinchen and The Fourteenth Son of the Emperor Yinzhen, have become the best of Kangxi's many sons, especially the Fourteenth Son of the Emperor, Yinzhen, who was highly regarded after kangxi deposed the crown prince in fifty-one years, and was even appointed as the Great General Wang, leading the army to quell the rebellion of Alabutan.
However, in the end, it was the fourth son of the emperor, Yin Chan, who was the Yongzheng Emperor.
Although Yin Chan was born to the Wuya clan, he was brought up by the imperial concubine Tong Shi (Empress XiaoYiren), so the feelings between him and the Wu Ya clan were relatively weak, and Yin Zhen was different, he was raised by the Wu Ya clan by his own hands, and he was also the younger son, and he would naturally be favored more.
After Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, although Wu Yashi was honored as Empress Renshou, in her heart, she always believed that her younger son Yin Zhen was the best successor. Moreover, after his younger son returned to The Capital Division, he was imprisoned by his eldest son Yongzheng, so Wu Yashi made a series of unnatural moves, such as refusing to accept the title of empress dowager, refusing to accept worship, refusing to move out of Yonghe Palace, and so on.
On May 23 of the first year of Yongzheng, only half a year after Kangxi's death, the Wuya clan suddenly collapsed at the Yonghe Palace. Regarding the death of Wu Yashi, it is rumored that Yongzheng forced him to crash into a pillar and die, but the author believes that Yongzheng will not act to force his mother, which will not do any good to stabilize his rule, and it is very likely that Wu Yashi committed suicide.
2. A spoilless concubine who lives a long life
Let's take a look at another palace maid who entered the palace with the Uya clan, her surname is Wan Liu Ha, and she is the daughter of Torbi in The Great Five Pins.
According to historical records, the WanliuHa family was originally a subordinate of Yue Le, the Prince of An (probably a slave of the royal palace), and later transferred to the internal affairs office to be a clothed slave of the imperial family, belonging to the yellow flag of the ministry of internal affairs, the same as the banner of Empress Xiaogongren's Uya clan.
Unlike wu yashi, who was favored by Kangxi soon after entering the palace, Wanliu Hashi was nameless after entering the palace, and she did not have any records in the harem until kangxi twenty-three years, until kangxi twenty-four years, the fate of Wanliuha changed, because on December 24 of this year, she gave birth to a son for Kangxi, that is, the twelfth son of the emperor, Yin Qi.
After Yin Qi was born, although Wan Liu Ha was still a concubine, there were countless concubines in the Kangxi harem, and Wan Liu Ha was different from them, she gave birth to a prince, as long as her son was safe, she had the hope of gaining fame.
However, wanliu ha clan this is 33 years, Kangxi fifty-seven years, Kangxi decided to canonize a number of concubines, those between the ages of 40 and 60 years old, who have given birth to the crown princess will have the opportunity to obtain the canonization, it is obvious that the name of Wanliu Ha clan is among the list of canonizations.
In this year, Wan Liuha was crowned as a concubine, and finally had a formal title, although it was only a concubine, but it was already very rare, you know, during the Kangxi period, the concubine was very valuable.
In addition, Wanliuha had an older brother named Tohchi.
In May of the 41st year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Toheqi was appointed commander of the infantry, the so-called Nine Gate Admiral, which was a key errand, in charge of the Nine Gate Guards of the capital, which was not available to the emperor's cronies. However, what people did not expect was that a banquet nine years later had knocked Toheqi into the abyss.
In the winter of the fiftieth year of Kangxi, Toheqi attended a banquet, and at the banquet, he probably drank a little too much, and even said the words of defending the prince (Yin Rong), Kangxi knew that after thundering anger, ordered Toheqi to be sent to prison. A year later, Tohezi died in prison, and after his death, he was frustrated and buried, and this case was historically known as the Toheqi meeting case.
It was after this incident that Crown Prince Yinrong was deposed for the second time by Kangxi and imprisoned in Xian'an Palace for life.
3. The same palace maid has no life
As you can see, the life trajectory of the Uya clan and the Wanliu ha clan is completely different, the Uya clan is deeply favored by Kangxi, giving birth to six children, the son Yongzheng inherited the throne, and she was honored as the empress dowager, but her old age was not happy.
Being in the harem, but seeing her two sons fighting to the death, even if she became the empress dowager who was admired by thousands of people, the younger son Yin Yu was still imprisoned by the eldest son in the high wall, how could she be happy?
In contrast, WanliuHashi is different.
Wan Liuha was an unloved person in the Kangxi harem, and throughout his life, he only bore Kangxi a son, and only mixed a concubine in his later years. But Wan Liu Ha Shi was already satisfied, because she knew that as long as her son Yin Was safe, she would be all right.
Sure enough, yin qi, under the guidance of Su Ma Lagu, kept his duty since childhood, and even though he had power in his hands, he did not participate in the struggle for concubines. After Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, Yin Qi's mother and son were treated kindly, and Wan Liu Ha was honored as The Imperial Concubine, and Yin Qi was made the Prince of Heshuo.
Princess Wanliuha lived to qianlong for twenty-two years, at the age of 97, and her life expectancy was ranked as the crown of the Qing Dynasty's concubines, and Yin Qi, the Prince of Heshuo, died in the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong at the age of 79, and because he had no children to inherit the title, Qianlong passed on his fourth son, Yongjun, to him as his grandson.
Mothers and children have a high life expectancy, which is extremely rare in the history of the Qing Palace.
Zichen said:
In the history of the harem of the Qing Dynasty, there were many palace women who were accepted as concubines by the emperor, but there were many legendary experiences such as Empress Xiaogongren's Wuya clan and Dingfei WanliuHa's clan, but it was rare, and it was estimated that the concubines of the Qianlong harem could be comparable.
From the perspective of status, the Wuya clan can be said to have completely overshadowed the Wanliu Ha clan, after all, it was the birth mother of the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and after her death, she obtained the title of empress, and the Wanliu Ha clan was only a concubine throughout her life.
From the perspective of happiness index, Wanliu Hashi surpassed Wuyashi, WanliuHashi and his son lived long and died, and they could enjoy the happiness of heaven in their old age, but Wuyashi could only watch his two sons fight for the throne, and finally fought each other.
Who is the winner? I believe that everyone has their own answer in their heart.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, Manuscript of the Concubines of the Qing Dynasty