"Qingcheng Wang Baizi" is a small story recorded by the Ming Dynasty historian Wang Shizhen in his notebook historical material "The Collection of Yishan Tang". Of course, no matter how brave this King Qingcheng is, he can't really have so many sons, "hundred" is not a real index, it is an exaggerated means commonly used by the ancients, such as "Hundred Sons" is the ancients' expectations for many children and many blessings, and the prosperity of the family, the prototype of the "Hundred Sons", King Wen of Zhou, cannot really give birth to 100 sons. However, judging from the historical records, the Qingcheng Wang family did have amazing fertility. Among them, those who made outstanding contributions were Zhu Zhongyi, the third generation of Wenmu King, and Zhu Biaoluan, the fifth generation of Gongyu King. King Qingcheng was crowned as Zhu Jixuan, the fourth son of Zhu Tang the Prince of Jin, and his fief was Fenzhou (汾州, in modern Fenyang, Shanxi).
Fenzhou in the Ming Dynasty, in present-day Fenyang City
In July of the seventh year of Jingtai, the second king of Qingcheng, Zhu Meidai, died. However, just the second month after his death, the court was still giving names to his sons. The Records of Emperor Ming Yingzong records that "(Jingtai 7th Year August Nonzi) gave King Qingcheng the tenth son named Zhong Zhen, the eleventh son named Zhong Jiao, and the twelfth son named Zhong Jiao", according to the order of the Jin Dynasty's name "Jimei Clock Strange Watch", these people named Zhong X are undoubtedly the sons of Mei Dai. It can be seen that even though the Meibei people are gone, there are still many young children who have not yet been named (in the Ming Dynasty system, the members of the clan could only ask for names from the imperial court when they were five years old). It was also from him that the Qingcheng kings of Daming began the fertility contest. In September of that year, the imperial court found that the tenth son of King Qingcheng, Zhong Zhen, who had just been given the name last month, had the same name as his brother, so they quickly renamed him Zhong Bo, it seems that there are too many sons in the Qingcheng Palace, and the ceremonial department has been messy.
In the second year of Tianshun, Zhu Meidai's eldest son Zhong Yi was crowned as the King of Qingcheng, and his wife Chen Shijin was made the Princess of Qingcheng, and the most courageous prince in the history of Daming appeared. According to the Records of Emperor Mingxianzong, in the first year of Chenghua, the imperial court gave Zhong Yi the name Qijian for his second son. In the second year of Chenghua, he gave King Qingcheng the third son name Qimo. In the fifteenth year of Chenghua, the seventh son of King Chengcheng was named Qi huan, the eighth son Qi Yinnuan, the ninth son Qi Ji, and the tenth son Qi Yi.
There are too many sons to restrain one by one, and there are outlaws who cause trouble everywhere. The Zhenguo generals Qi Jian, Qi Huang, and Zhong Hao raped adulterous women and robbed people of property, and Zhong Zhong, Zhong Zhong, Zhong Jiao, Zhong Jiao, Zhong Jiao, Zhong Jiao, Qi Huan, and Qi Mo invaded their husbands and invited good horses, and were reported to the imperial court by Yushi Qin, who was patrolling Shanxi, and Zhu Zhongyi protected his sons and hid from the evil deeds of his sons, but instead falsely accused Qin Xuan of unwarranted illegal matters, and finally the imperial court used Zhong Yi's godson To revolutionize two-thirds of qilu rice. From the records, it can be seen that these people are all sealed As Zhenguo generals, according to the Ming system, the remaining sons of the county king are all named Zhenguo generals, which shows that these people who are equal to Zhong Yi are the sons of the previous Qingcheng Wang Meidai, and those named Qi X are all the sons of Zhong Yi. It can be seen that the Qingcheng Wang family is huge.
Zhu Qijian was the second son of Zhong Yi, and the eldest son besides the heir of King Qingcheng, Qi Hun (the eldest son), who had been fined for a year for adultery and property robbery, but still did not repent, did not listen to his father's discipline and beat the common people to death, and finally was deposed by the imperial court as a Shuren, and ordered him to go to Taiyuan to guard the tomb of the old ancestor Zhu Tang. After Jong-hyun the Prince of Jin ascended the throne, he probably disliked this nephew and asked the imperial court to drive Qijian back to Fenzhou to guard the ancestral tomb of his ancestor King Qingcheng. Later, the Qingcheng Royal Palace Yibin fought with the Yonghe Wangfu Yibin of the same city and the generals Zhong Ju and Zhong Hao, and was punished by the imperial court. Because the generals of the Qingcheng King's Palace were too capable of causing trouble, so that the head of the Qingcheng King was always punished by the imperial court, so the Qingcheng King Zhong Yi complained to the imperial court, saying that there were too many sons in the family, and the Qilu was not enough to support the daily expenses, and MingXianzong took pity on him, so he ordered the restoration of Zhong Yi's Fenglu. In the entire Chenghua Dynasty, although he often caused trouble for himself because of the large number of sons he could not manage, this did not prevent Zhong Yi from working hard in the harem, and during this period he gave birth to a bunch of sons. In the first year of Hongzhi, the imperial court gave his 24th son the name Qiyi Opera, the 25th son named Qishu, the 26th son named Qiling, the 27th son named Qiyi Concubine, the 28th son named Qili, the 29th son named Qiyifa, and the 30th son named Qizhi. Maybe the rebbe is going to be bored to death, where to find so many words next to the water characters?
Because Zhu Zhongyi's son who rode the dust was too conspicuous, it finally aroused the suspicion of the imperial court, so in the fifth year of Hongzhi, the inspector of Shanxi's capital Yushi Yang Cheng played Ming Xiaozong, questioning that King Qingcheng had reported the birth of 94 children, I am afraid that there are sons with different surnames pretending to be relatives of The Ming Dynasty, in order to deliberately impersonate Lu Mi, so they asked the imperial court to send people to Fenzhou to investigate. However, what was shocking was that after the special investigation by the imperial court, it was concluded that the 94 children of King Qingcheng had reported were all zhu Zhongyi's own children, and none of them were impersonated. However, such a huge number of clan members, if one more person had to pay an extra piece of Lu rice, undoubtedly added a serious economic burden to the imperial court, so Emperor Xiaozong adopted the suggestion of the Ministry of Rites, in order to limit the population of the clan room, began to limit the number of wives and concubines of the clan, stipulating that the king of the county should not have more than four concubines, the general concubine room could not exceed three, and the lieutenant concubines should not exceed two.
Although the imperial court has made clear regulations on limiting the population of the clan, because our highness King Qingcheng is really too strong and healthy, he has more than a dozen sons after this regulation was introduced. In May of the sixth year of Hongzhi, the imperial court gave Zhong Yi the 31st son named QiyiHu, the 32nd son Named Qihuan, the 33rd son named Qihuan, and the 34th son named Qiyi Rail. Two months later, the imperial court again gave Zhong Yi the name Qiyuan for the 35th son, the 36th son qishu, and the 37th son qihun. In November, the 38th son of Zhong Yi was named Qi Yi Lin, and the 39 son was named Qi Pai. In December, he gave his 40th son the name QiYi Handan and 41 sons Qi Ju. In the seventh year of Koji, he gave his 42nd son the name Qi Shui and the 43rd son Qi Flood. Of course, as an ordinary county king, King Qingcheng is not a genealogy, and the names of all his children will not be recorded one by one. In the ninth year of Hongzhi, the King of Qingcheng, Zhong Yixue, according to the Records of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, he had a total of 44 sons in his lifetime, combined with Yang Cheng's previous performance, it can be learned that he already had 94 children in the fifth year of Hongzhi, including more than 50 daughters.
Zhong Yi's sons followed him and remained brave in their ability to give birth. Let's take a look at the child-bearing ability of some of Zhong Yi's sons, and here are a few examples:
The eldest son, Zhu Qixun, was the heir to the Qingcheng Royal Palace, and he was given the title of the eldest son of the Qingcheng King. Qi Hun had previously been stripped of his eldest son's crown belt by the imperial court for killing seven innocent civilians, and after repeated intercessions from his mother, Princess Qingcheng, the imperial court reluctantly agreed to restore the crown belt of his eldest son. In the eleventh year of Hongzhi, Zhu Qixun, the eldest son of King Qingcheng, was crowned as the King of Qingcheng, and his wife Hou Shijin was made the princess of Qingcheng. Later, Qi Hun reformed himself and was honored by Emperor Mingwu for filial piety during the Zhengde period. When Jiajing was over 70 years old, he was comforted by Emperor Mingshizong. Qi Hun also gave birth to many sons. In the sixteenth year of The Reign of Hongzhi, the imperial court gave his seventh son the name of Table Tree, and the eighth son of The Table Tree.
Second son Zhu Qijian: In the second year of Zhengde, the imperial court supplied 36 lumi to the wives and children of The Gejue Shuren of the Qingcheng Dynasty, that is, the wife and children of Zhu Zhongyi's second son Qijian, who was of poor character.
In the first year of the reign of Hongzhi, Emperor Mingxiaozong gave the Zhenguo general Zhong Jun's fourth son the name Qilu, the fifth son qiyihuo, and the sixth son qiyun party. The third son of the general Zhong Yu (钟鈅) was given the name Qi (奇淥), and soon after he was given the fourth son the name Qi Yu (奇渨). He gave Zhong Jian the eldest son the name Qihao. In the second year of Hongzhi, the imperial court gave the Zhenguo general Zhong Yu the fourth son named Qi, the fifth son named Qizhuan, and the sixth son Qixiang. In the fourth year of Hongzhi, the imperial court gave the Zhenguo general Zhong Bo the eighth son named Qi hao, and the ninth son named Qi Yu Su. And all that. It can be seen that the sons of the seed are just like the father, and each has at least seven or eight sons.
Finally, because the population in the palace was too large, King Qingcheng himself could not sit still. In the third year of Zhengde, King Qixun of Qingcheng said that the population of the province was too large, so he suspected that the generals had children of different surnames posing as indiscriminate reports, and asked the imperial court to send someone to investigate. In the tenth year of Zhengde, the Zhenguo general Qi Hao and 13 other people secretly left Fenzhou to Taiyuan to request the imperial court to distribute Lu rice, and Emperor Mingwuzong sent a decree to rebuke the officials of Fenzhou. According to the title of Qi Hao and others should be the sons of Zhong Yi, it can be seen that because the population of the clan is too large, the Lu rice of the imperial court has not been distributed in time, which forces them to risk even if they are punished by the imperial court to run away from Fenzhou privately.
In the fourteenth year of Jiajing, Emperor Ming created Qixun's eldest son, Luan, the King of Qingcheng, and his wife Zhang shi the Princess of Qingcheng. This King Of Qingcheng, more than his grandfather's level of childbirth, according to local records, he gave birth to 70 children, whether it was even a total of 70 daughters or just sons gave birth to 70, the history books do not clearly record, I think he gave birth to a total of 70 children, although not as good as his grandfather Zhu Zhongyi, but this ability to give birth to children is still the leader.
The order of succession of the kings of Qingcheng County in Daming is: Zhuang Hui Wang Ji Xuan - Gong Qi Wang Mei Li - Wen Mu Wang Zhong Yi - Duan Shun Wang Qi Hun - Gong Yu Wang Cousin Luan - An Mu Wang Zhi Huo Jian - Mourning King Xin Tu Ti - Rong Yi Wang Shen Zhong - Min Ni - Qiu Qi