In 1398, before Zhu Yuanzhang's death, he left an edict: All concubines in the harem were martyred in the imperial tomb. The 46 concubines were strangled one by one by the guards with ropes, and the whole palace was wailing. At this moment, the dying Zhu Yuanzhang's pupils suddenly widened, and at the last moment, he spared a concubine.
The burial system was originally the previous funeral system of the Qin and Han Dynasties, but because it was too inhumane, it led to anger and resentment, and it was not until Liu Bang became emperor that this bad habit was completely abolished. After Zhu Yuanzhang created the Ming Dynasty, the martyrdom system was revived, and the number of taizu martyrs was recorded according to the "Records of Tong Shi Shi" written by Mao Qiling at the end of the Ming Dynasty, "Taizu buried Xiaoling with forty-six concubines, of which only a dozen people were martyred in the palace. ”
When Zhu Yuanzhang's edict was announced, and everyone was stunned, the old emperor had already given up and returned to the west. Faced with this ruthless and irrevocable holy will, the female relatives of the internal servants who knelt on the ground went from sobbing quietly to crying, and some of them could not withstand the blow and directly passed out, and the guards simply omitted the procedure and carried them directly into the coffin.
Looking at the scene of slaughter and cruelty in front of her, it was as if the woman who had woken up from a nightmare hugged the girl next to her tightly and cried uncontrollably.
This concubine, whose original name was Zhang Xuanmiao, was not of high status, but only a beauty. She survived only because she gave birth to a daughter she thought was useless, and precisely because of her uselessness, the child helped her escape the fate of the funeral.
She is the sixteenth daughter of Zhu Yuanzhang, the famous Princess Baoqing in history. Zhang Xuanmiao's family lineage is not prominent, in Zhu Yuanzhang's twilight of the Western Mountains, she won the favor with her youthful beauty, in order to consolidate her position and enjoy the second half of her life, Zhang Meiren went around seeking medical treatment and medicine, hoping to get some rewards for the old emperor to give birth to a son.
Who knows, the heavens did not go according to people's wishes, she gave birth to a daughter. Zhu Yuanzhang was naturally ecstatic and very fond of Princess Baoqing, but Zhang Meiren seemed a little lonely: what is the use of a daughter, a lifetime of bitterness is tied to the man, and he can't do it at all.
Originally, Zhang Meiren still wanted to work harder, who knows, in April 1398, Zhu Yuanzhang fell ill. The doctors were helpless, and could only watch the old emperor gallop towards the road of death without hesitation.
When he was sick, Zhu Yuanzhang was especially afraid of the issue of life and death, which was the same as before the death of Qin Shi Huang's Yingzheng Dune, and it was also their last struggle when they were terminally ill. Princess Baoqing, who was childlike and unscrupulous, came to Zhu Yuanzhang's side and asked in a milky voice, "Father Emperor, what is wrong with you?" ”
Zhu Yuanzhang caressed his younger daughter's head and asked, "Father Emperor is sick, do you think you can still be cured?" Zhang Meiren's smile suddenly froze on her face, and her heart was shocked, afraid that if the three-year-old child said something disrespectful, their mother and daughter would come to an end. As a result, Princess Baoqing said, "When I am sick, I will sleep well, and my father and emperor will be fine!" ”
Zhu Yuanzhang was softened by the innocent fairy tales and revealed a rare smile, while Zhang Meiren next to him was relieved, and he was vaguely aware that it was actually good to have a daughter.
The surrounding sounds were noisy, people were panicked, Zhang Meiren fell to the ground to reminisce about the past, and then looked at the young girl next to her, thousands of emotions swept through this young, fragile, crying woman. She suddenly understood that Zhu Yuanzhang's move to be martyred was to open the way for the throne of his grandson Zhu Yunjiao and put an end to all the possibilities of "Wu's" follow-up. To understand this, Zhang Meiren is glad to have a daughter, otherwise her end can only be to go to the mother to keep the child.
Zhang Meiren's fear of death and the feeling of the rest of her life, in every dream in the future, always eroded her will, so Zhang Meiren, who survived by chance, did not accompany Princess Baoqing to grow up. In the Records of Emperor Taizong of Ming, it is recorded: "Born and Taizu collapsed, the mother Zhang Shi also died." She escaped martyrdom, but she did not escape heart disease, and she died shortly after Zhu Yuanzhang's death.
Xu is blessed by heaven, and Princess Baoqing's blessings have been protecting her until she reaches adulthood. When Ming Chengzu Zhu Di succeeded to the throne, Princess Baoqing had just turned eight years old, and he held this sister in the palm of his hand and loved her, pampering and pampering her. In 1413, Princess Baoqing was 19 years old, and Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Cheng, passed by the Jinchuan Gate, and at a glance he took a fancy to Zhao Hui, the guard of the city gate at that time, and the Ming Shi Vol. 121 Liechuan No. 9 recorded: "In the eleventh year of Yongle, Hui guarded the Jinchuan Gate with a thousand households, and when he was more than twenty years old, he was magnificent in appearance, so he chose to be the lord of Shang. ”
Zhu Di thought that Zhao Hui was handsome, so he took the initiative to recruit Zhao Hui as a donkey. For this wedding, Zhu Di did not hesitate to break the royal marriage regulations, and the dowry given to Princess Baoqing was "extra thick" than other princesses, ten times more, and the crown prince sent Princess Baoqing to the horse residence.
Zhao Hui's family saw that the emperor valued the princess so much, and they did not dare to slack off. However, Princess Baoqing's blessings also ended here, and Zhu Di's carefully selected pony was a prodigal son, bullying the market, befriending powerful people, and taking concubines in his lifetime.
Zhao Hui was a native of Jiangdu, the capital of Yangzhou, and his father Zhao He followed the Ming army on an expedition to Annam in his early years as the "head of a thousand households", and died in the line of duty, and the imperial court rewarded him, so he let Zhao Hui attack the seal and became the head of a thousand households.
Originally, the head of a thousand households was a small official, but Zhao Hui had mediocre ability in his post for many years, so he could not be promoted. Until he was favored by Zhu Di because of his excellent looks, he embarked on the peak of his life.
According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, The Horse Master could enjoy the imperial court's feng lu and various economic treatment, but in order to prevent foreign relatives from monopolizing power, he was not allowed to participate in government affairs, and Zhao Hui was allowed to manage things because he was princess Baoqing's horse, Zhu Di Aiwu and Wu allowed him to manage things, so he sent him to supervise the repair of the imperial tomb, and it was really a husband and wife.
In the eighth year of Xuande, the 39-year-old Princess Baoqing died, and was buried by Zhu Zhanji as an imperial grandmother, and was renamed as the eldest princess. And Zhao Hui, because of the death of the eldest princess, was uncontrolled and began to release himself.
As a donkey horse, he could no longer marry after losing his wife, but there was no explicit stipulation that he could not take concubines, so Zhao Hui's life began to decay, while taking Dan medicine to strengthen his body, on the other hand, he frequently took concubines, and also monopolized the silk business in Nanjing under the sign of the imperial relatives.
According to the "Ming and Qing Imperial Approval Case", in the three years of orthodoxy, Zhao Hui forced more than 3,000 acres of mintian for his own use as the emperor's aunt and grandfather, and during the reign of Emperor Ming Yingzong, he also privately bought eunuchs, and after being denounced, the emperor had to reply to the royal face: "Gu Zhihui is guilty, and if he is a man, he will not be forgiven for his sins." ”
Ironically, Zhao Hui lived to be ninety years old.
