It was both fortunate and unfortunate for ancient women to enter the palace! Many people think that once a woman is favored by the emperor and has a son, she will fly on the branch and become a phoenix; However, there are also countless beauties who have entered the palace, who have not been fortunate by the emperor in their entire lives, and have been forgotten in the courtyard of the deep palace for their entire lives.
▲ The martyrdom system made countless concubines sacrifice in vain! (Schematic diagram/Taken from the encyclopedia entry)
However, this is not the worst, if you are born in a dynasty with a martyrdom system, when the emperor dies, it is very likely to be pulled to be martyred, and the way of martyrdom is different, each of which is very cruel, among them, the cruelty of being buried alive can only rank second.
The fourth "Imperial Poison Wine":
In this way, we often see when watching costume dramas, the emperor will prepare a martyrdom list before he dies, this list will not let others know except the person who executes, and when the emperor dies, the executive will gather the people on the list together and invite them to eat and drink, but the food and alcohol are poisoned, and after the poison dies, they are buried with the emperor.
▲ Costume dramas often see the plot of imperial poisoned wine. (Schematic diagram/Taken from the encyclopedia entry)
The third type of "Imperial Gift White Aya":
This method of death is very common in movies, not only martyrdom, but also the concubines who usually execute mistakes are also the imperial gift of Bai Aya, it is said that this is how Yang Guifei died; Generally, the death of Bai Aya was given by the executive eunuchs gathering the concubines on the list in a living room, persuading her to accompany the emperor on the road, hanging herself with the white Aya given by the emperor, and when they met unwilling concubines, the eunuchs would directly strangle them.
▲ Not only martyrdom, but also the punishment of giving white aya to the death of concubines who made mistakes in ancient times. (Schematic diagram/Taken from the encyclopedia entry)
The second type of "buried alive":
Compared with the previous two, this method of death is more cruel; After the emperor was buried in the mausoleum, the concubines were also driven into the mausoleum, and then the door of the tomb was sealed, and these concubines died little by little in hunger, thirst and despair.
The martyrdom system appeared as early as the Shang Dynasty, and according to archaeological findings, after the death of the Shang nobles, there were sometimes prisoners of war or relatives of the deceased and relatives and soldiers as martyrs, that is, human martyrdom, both voluntary and compulsory. The most serious martyrs in the Shang Dynasty were the Yin Tomb M1001 (the tomb of King Wuding of Shang) excavated in Xiaotun Houjiazhuang in Anyang, where there were more than 100 martyrs, while the scale of martyrs in the tombs of the middle and lower classes of the Shang Dynasty was usually only one or a few people.
The martyrdom system continued until the Ming Dynasty, such as the wife and concubine of his deceased son ordered by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty to be martyred, such as the Qin king Zhu Shufei Wang clan. When Emperor Ming died, more than a dozen harem women were martyred. Emperor Minghuizong commended and rewarded the families of the martyred palace women, and Emperor Mingrenzong had five concubines, including Guo Guifei, who had favors, three sons, and the title of marquis, and did not order the abolition of living martyrdom until Emperor Mingyingzong's death.
The first type of "mercury":
This one is the most terrifying; The method is to pour mercury into the concubine's body, which is a martyrdom method to ensure that the face of the concubine who accompanies the burial remains unchanged.
Because the process of pouring mercury was difficult, the eunuchs who carried out the order would first give the concubines a cup of potion to make them pass out, and when the concubines were asleep and unconscious, the eunuchs would cut a gap in their heads and bodies, and inject mercury into the cut part, and after pouring a certain amount of mercury, they would sew the cut part with needle and thread, so that the sleeping concubines would never wake up again.
References: "Zizhi Tongjian", "Shiji"