In July of the second year of Zhenghe, Emperor Wu of Han's second empress, Empress Xiaowusi, Committed suicide in the palace. As a famous empress in history, Wei Zifu accompanied Emperor Wu of Han for 49 years and his mother yi tianxia for 38 years, during which he never made any major mistakes, and even Taishi Gong praised him, while his brothers and nephews Wei Qing, Huo Zhiyi and others were even more favored during the period of Emperor Wu, and their merits were outstanding. So why did Wei Zifu end up committing suicide in his later years, and what is the reason behind it, today Xiaobian will take you to understand it together.
Although Wei Zifu was later made empress, her origin was not high. Wei Zifu was a native of Pingyang County, Hedong County, and his mother Wei Mi was a domestic servant of the Marquis of Pingyang, because of his mother, Wei Zifu was sent to pingyang Marquis to learn song and dance, and when he grew up, he naturally became a singer in the Marquis of Pingyang. Originally, it was difficult for an identity like Wei Zifu to have a head start in her life, but the arrival of a person changed her life, and this person was Liu Che, the Emperor of Han Wu at that time.
TV series Wei Zifu image
After Liu Che ascended the throne, he went to Bashang to worship his ancestors, and on the way back to the palace, he came to the Marquis of Pingyang to visit his sister Princess Pingyang. Although Liu Che had many concubines, he had no heirs for many years, which made his sister Princess Pingyang very anxious, so he wanted to send some women to be dedicated to Liu Che, but Liu Che was not satisfied with the women selected by his sister, but instead looked at the singer Wei Zifu who was sung at that time. After the two met, Liu Che was fortunate to have Wei Zifu, and then Princess Pingyang sent Wei Zifu into the palace.
Emperor Wu of han Liu Che
Although Liu Che fell in love with Wei Zifu at first sight, after returning to the palace, he seemed to gradually forget this palace girl, and did not summon her again for a year, and the loneliness of the palace made Wei Zifu deeply worried, and then she took the initiative to request Emperor Wu of Han, hoping to allow her to leave the palace. Wei Zifu's self-recommendation also won himself an opportunity, and Emperor Wu of Han saw that this woman was very pitiful, so he came to her again, and Wei Zifu became pregnant.
Emperor Wu of Han and Wei Zifu
Emperor Wu of Han had no heirs for many years, and he was naturally more pampered to wei zifu, who was now pregnant, and soon after that, Wei Zifu gave birth to his first child for Liu Che, which was the later Princess Wei Chang, which was also the favorite daughter of Emperor Wu of Han in his life. Since there were many disputes in the harem in ancient times, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty's exclusive favor for Wei Zifu naturally attracted the dissatisfaction of many concubines, especially Empress Chen at that time, who was extremely jealous of this.
Empress Chen
Empress Chen is the historical Chen Ajiao in the Golden House, Empress Chen is the cousin of Emperor Wu of Han, is the daughter of Princess Guantao, the aunt of Emperor Wu of Han, in the struggle for Emperor Wu of Han to ascend to the throne, Princess Guantao is quite high, and Empress Chen has also become very arrogant because of her mother's merits. Jealous of Wei Zifu's favor, Empress Chen ordered people to use witchcraft and magic tricks on him in an attempt to use this to invite favors, but the matter was soon exposed, and Empress Chen was abolished and relegated to a remote suburb.
Empress Chen's curse on Wei Zifu
In 128 BC, Wei Zifu, who had been favored for 10 years, gave birth to the first prince for Emperor Wu of Han, which was the historical crown prince Liu Zhao, whose birth made Emperor Wu of Han very happy, and then he followed the advice of his main father And made Wei Zifu the empress of the Eastern Palace, after which Wei Zifu's maternal line also gained greater favor by relying on her relationship. However, the Wei family did not rely entirely on nepotism to ascend to the throne like many foreign relatives in history, Wei Zifu's younger brother Wei Qing and nephew Huo Fuyi were soon entrusted with heavy responsibilities after being promoted, and were ordered to command the Northern Expedition xiongnu war, under their leadership, the Xiongnu forces in the north were gradually disintegrated, the border problems of the Han Dynasty were consolidated, and the Wei clan also reached its peak in history at this time.
Famous general Wei Qing
But no family can prosper for a long time, with the death of Wei Qing, Huo Zhiyi and others, the glory of the Wei family has also faded, and with the aging of Wei Zifu's countenance, the favor of Emperor Wu of Han has gradually shifted, more and more devoted to other young and beautiful concubines, but in the face of a huge gap, Wei Zifu is not jealous and resentful, still honored and spoiled, with a balanced mentality and good virtue to deal with affairs, in the 38 years of his service as empress, there has never been a jealous woman in the harem, Not to mention the bad incidents caused by the jealousy of concubines, Wei Zifu's virtue also made Emperor Wu of Han very appreciative, and he has always been very courteous and respectful.
Wei Zifu with a sad ending
Originally, Wei Zifu and Emperor Wu of Han could have gone on in harmony and perfection, but the subsequent scourge of witchcraft completely ended all this. Emperor Wu of Han in his early years was a man of great talent and exerted great efforts to govern, but in his later years he became more and more superstitious about the art of witchcraft, as Emperor Wu of Han became more and more elderly, his body was seriously ill, and the traitor Jiang Chong at that time framed the prince under the pretext of the matter of wu jiao because he had a gap with the crown prince Liu Zhao, Liu Zhi, in fear, decided to send troops to attack Jiang Chong, but was mistaken by Emperor Wu for a rebellion, and then mobilized a large army to suppress it, and the father and son also turned against each other, and in the war, the crown prince Liu Zhao was killed, and Wei Zifu also died after learning the news. Suicide. Wei Zifu accompanied Emperor Wu of Han for more than 40 years, always respectful and humble, but in the end he ended up with such a fate, which inevitably made people sigh.