"Step by Step" can be described as a classic Qing Dynasty court drama, in which the heroine Maltai Ruoxi, entangled among the many princes of Kangxi, died with great regret in the love and hatred with Yongzheng. It is often said that art comes from life, is there really a woman like Ruoxi in the Yongzheng Harem? Maybe there is, she is Ma Changzai.
1. Yongzheng harem pattern
In people's impression, Yongzheng is an emperor who has no good reputation and color, and his mind is focused on governing the country, which can be called the "labor model" among the emperors. Compared with his father Kangxi and son Qianlong, the number of concubines in the Yongzheng harem is much smaller, according to relevant statistics, there are about thirty concubines in the Yongzheng harem, most of whom are low-ranking concubines, and there are only eight concubines above the concubines.
They were Empress Xiaojingxian, Empress Xiaoshengxian, Emperor Dunsu, Emperor Chunyi, Concubine Qi, Concubine Qian, Concubine Ning, and Concubine Mao, except for Concubine Qian and Concubine Ning, the other six were all concubines of the Yongzheng Qiandi period. That is to say, in the harem of the Yongzheng Dynasty, if you want to get a top name, the difficulty coefficient is very high.
After all, there are very few cases like Concubine Qian, who is a clothed woman from Xin Zhiku, who was originally a palace maid who was selected to enter the palace, but was fortunately favored by Yongzheng. What is even more unexpected is that Liu Shi actually gave birth to his youngest son Hongyao for the 56-year-old Yongzheng two years before Yongzheng's death, and thus he was promoted to the title of humble concubine, and Qianlong succeeded to the throne and was honored as a humble concubine.
In addition, there is another newcomer in the Yongzheng Harem whose movements are not very clear, she is An Guiren.
An Guiren was a newcomer to the palace drafted by the Yongzheng Dynasty, and was once very favored, once promoted to a concubine, who knew that after Yongzheng's death, Qianlong immediately demoted her to a nobleman. It is speculated that in the late Yongzheng period, the An Gui people may have clashed with Xi Guifei, who ruled the power of the Six Palaces, and Qianlong was the son of Xi Guifei, and the reason for An Gui's demotion can be imagined.
2. Lucky palace girl
In the harem of successive Qing emperors, there will always be some concubines from palace women, who have changed their fate and their families after being favored by the emperor, and some have even given birth to the Tianzi of the Qing Dynasty, such as the concubines of the Kangxi harem and the concubines of the Qianlong harem, who are the successful people of the palace women.
So, where did these palace ladies come from?
There are two channels:
The first is the draft of the palace women of the Ministry of the Interior. The Qing Palace stipulated that all women in the Three Banners of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were required to participate in the Palace Women's Draft as long as they reached the age (usually 13 years old), and if they were selected, they were required to serve in the palace.
The second is the beauty of the tribute paid by foreign officials. From the beginning of the Shunzhi Dynasty to the Qianlong Dynasty, officials in the Jiangnan region often offered beautiful women to the imperial court, and these beautiful women were not all concubines, they were generally served as palace women, and those who excelled would be accepted as concubines.
Beginning in July of the seventh year of Yongzheng, in Yongzheng's harem archives, a horse began to appear, and Ma Promised's previous identity was most likely a palace girl, and he was favored by Yongzheng before he sealed the promise. Historical records do not record the family lineage of this horse promise, and it is speculated that the origin of this horse promise should be relatively low.
At that time, the concubines at the top of the Yongzheng Harem were all old and yellow, and only a young woman like Ma Promised could arouse the interest of the emperor. It is also true that in the two years from the seventh year of Yongzheng to the eighth year of Yongzheng, Ma Promised was still very favored, so that in the first month of the eighth year of Yongzheng, she was promoted to Ma Changzai.
3. Tragic aftermath
However, the eighth year of Yongzheng was a year of concern, first of all, Yongzheng's younger brother YinXiang the Prince of Yi died, and secondly, Yongzheng and the empress (Empress Xiaojingxian) fell ill, especially Yongzheng, whose illness was so serious that they had already confessed to the aftermath.
Fortunately, Yongzheng walked from the brink of death and returned, while his empress Uranara died in the ninth year of Yongzheng. By the autumn of the ninth year of Yongzheng, Yongzheng's condition gradually improved, but the empress passed away.
After Yongzheng recovered, it seemed that He had already left Ma Changzai behind, and poor Ma Changzai had fallen out of favor after only two years of favor.
Three years later, Yongzheng died in the Yuanmingyuan, and because Ma Changzai did not give birth to a man and a half woman for Yongzheng, Qianlong did not honor her. However, what is unexpected is that Ma Changzai remembers her in another way.
In the thirty-third year of Qianlong, Ma Chang, who had guarded the empty house for more than 30 years, died of illness in Shoukang Palace, and according to the custom, Ma Changzai's coffin should stay in the funeral palace for one or two years and then be buried in the concubine garden. However, who knew that the relevant officials of the Tamura Funeral Palace actually forgot about this matter, until October of the 40th year of Qianlong, when they found that Ma Changzai had not yet been buried, they immediately reported the matter.
When Qianlong learned of this, the thunder was furious, not because Ma Changzai was very important, but because through this matter, Qianlong was able to see that the officials were derelict in their duties, slack and lazy, which Qianlong could not tolerate. Therefore, Qianlong ordered that the relevant people be severely punished, and immediately buried Ma Changzai in Yongzheng's Tailing Concubine Garden.
Zichen said:
Historically, almost no one knows that there is such a person in the Yongzheng Harem, and Ma Changzai is just a small person in the Yongzheng Harem, she was only spoiled for two years, and she was not able to give birth to children for Yongzheng, so she was not remembered. But she may not have thought that because of her own death, she was depicted more in the history books, is this a fortunate thing, or a kind of sadness?
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Records of Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty, Records of the Qianlong Dynasty