Late one night in the second year of Yongping (509 AD) of Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei, a pregnant concubine of Emperor Xuanwu was burning incense, praying that she could give birth to a prince for the emperor, so that she could "mother and son".
This concubine was the famous Empress Dowager Hu Ling in the history of Northern Wei, also known as Empress Xuanwuling.
In the harem of the royal palace, if a concubine wants to improve her status, the only way is to give birth to a prince. Once this prince is made a prince, then for his biological mother, it is the best time for salted fish to turn over.
However, the Northern Wei period in which Empress Dowager Hu Ling lived was a relatively special dynasty.
In 386 AD, Tuoba Jue, who was born in the Xianbei clan, occupied a vast area north of the Yangtze River and formally established the Northern Wei Dynasty, known as Emperor Wudi of Dao, which was the first regime established by an ethnic minority in Chinese history.
However, since the founding of the Northern Wei Dynasty, there has been a cruel system, that is, the system of "the son establishes the mother and dies".
The so-called "son and mother die" system means that if a son born to a harem concubine is canonized as a prince, then she will be executed.
In this context, if the harem concubines at that time were pregnant, they all burned incense and prayed to bless their daughters in their stomachs.
However, Empress Dowager Hu Ling prayed differently than other concubines, she wanted to give birth to a son, and was willing to use her weak body to fight against the court system that had lasted for more than a hundred years, which also doomed her to have a different fate in life than other concubines.
Why did Emperor Daowu formulate the system of "son establishing mother death"?
In the sixth year of Tianci (409 AD), the Daowu Emperor Tuoba Jue decided to canonize a prince as the crown prince to be the successor of the next emperor, and he chose his eldest son, Tuoba Hei.
Therefore, Emperor Daowu called Tuoba Si to his side and said, "Emperor Wudi of Han killed his biological mother Lady Hookyi in order to make Liu Fuling crown prince, and this can prevent the dictatorship of foreign qi. Now I plan to make you crown prince, and in order for you to sit on the throne for a long time, I must give your birth mother to death. ”
The reason why Emperor Wudi of Han wanted to kill Lady Hookyi was mainly because he was worried about the dictatorship of foreign qi, and this worry was not unreasonable.
In the second year of the reign of Emperor Wudi of Han (87 BC), Emperor Wudi of Han was already 70 years old, and his son Liu Fuling was only 8 years old. Because Liu Fuling was too young, even if he sat on the emperor's throne, he was not capable of handling imperial politics, and his biological mother Lady Hookyi was bound to obey the government.
Moreover, the young Lady Hook Yi may not be able to bear the loneliness in the palace, and will inevitably cuckold the dead Emperor Wudi of Han.
In addition, when Mrs. Hook Yi obeys the government, she will undoubtedly reuse a group of her own clansmen. At that time, these foreign personnel will hold great power, and if they have evil intentions, they can erect the young Liu Fuling at any time.
The dictatorship of Empress Lü in the early Han Dynasty is a living example.
Emperor
Therefore, although the Han Dynasty did not have a rule that "if a son is made a prince, his biological mother must be executed", Emperor Wudi of Han still caught the small mistake made by Lady Hookyi and took the opportunity to kill her.
Emperor Daowu, the founding emperor of Northern Wei, believed that in the long-term interests of the entire country, we should continue to follow the example of Emperor Wudi of Han and continue to implement it for a long time.
When Emperor Wudi of Han killed Lady Hookyi, he had to look for a little reason as an excuse.
And Emperor Daowu's approach was simple and clear, he did not have so many excuses, but directly declared to the outside world: "Because my concubine gave birth to the prince, I will execute her!" ”
From this moment on, Emperor Daowu issued an edict writing this system into the legal provisions of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
In this way, the system of "son establishing mother death" was passed down in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Although Emperor Daowu single-handedly formulated the system of "death of the son and mother", he also killed Tuoba Si's biological mother Liu Guiren. However, this behavior not only did not stabilize the political situation of the Northern Wei court, but became the source of a civil unrest.
It was in this civil strife that Emperor Daowu also lost his life.
Emperor Daowu died under the system he created
When Liu Guiren was given death by Emperor Daowu, the crown prince Tuoba was already 17 years old. At the time, 17 years old was not too young, and it was difficult for him to accept the fact that his mother was given death.
Thinking of his late mother, Tuoba Si was very sad and washed his face with tears and cried all day long.
According to the book "Weishu Taizongji", Emperor Ming Yuan (Tuoba Hei) was a man of pure filial piety, and when his biological mother Liu Guiren was just executed, she cried day and night, which caused great dissatisfaction from his father Emperor Daowu.
At that time, Emperor Daowu often took cold food to disperse, so his personality became very irritable, and he often caught out the mistakes of some old subordinates, thus indiscriminately killing many loyal generals.
Moreover, if he found that any minister was dissatisfied with him, Emperor Daowu would send someone to arrest the minister, beat him severely, and put the body in front of the Tian'an Hall to set an example.
Under this circumstance, hearing Crown Prince Tuoba Si crying bitterly every day, Emperor Daowu was naturally very disgusted. Therefore, he sent someone to declare the edict Tuoba Hei into the palace, wanting to teach this incomplete prince a lesson.
It is said that after receiving Emperor Daowu's edict, Tuoba Si was preparing to enter the palace to meet his father, but was blocked by the ministers around him.
"Filial piety to the father, small punishments are accepted; If it is a major punishment, it should be avoided. Emperor Daowu is angry, if you go over, I am afraid that something will happen, which will put the emperor in an unrighteous situation. It's better to go out for the time being to avoid the limelight, and when Emperor Daowu's anger subsides, you will come back, and it will not be too late to enter the palace by then. ”
After hearing these words, Tuoba Si sensed the seriousness of the situation, so he followed the minister's advice and quietly sneaked out of the city to avoid the limelight.
Emperor Daowu was very disappointed to learn that the crown prince had escaped from the city, but someone still had to inherit the rivers and mountains of Northern Wei, so he had the idea of "abolishing Tuoba and creating a new prince".
This time, Emperor Daowu targeted his second son Tuoba Shao, who was only 16 years old at this time.
Under the legal system of "the death of the son and mother" at that time, if Tuoba Shao was made crown prince, his biological mother Lady He was about to become the next victim.
Mrs. He's identity is more special, she is the sister of Empress Xianming, the mother of Emperor Daowu, and according to the generation, Mrs. He is also the sister-in-law of Emperor Daowu. When Emperor Daowu went to the Helan Division, he fell in love with the young and beautiful Lady He at a glance, but she was already a human wife. Emperor Daowu ignored the dissuasion of his mother, Empress Xianming, and secretly sent someone to kill Lady He's husband and forcibly marry her into the palace.
Although Emperor Daowu loved Mrs. He very much and had the deepest affection, after all, it was his own system of "son and mother death", and he could only endure the pain of cutting his love.
On October 13, the sixth year of Tianci (November 6, 409), Emperor Daowu sent people to imprison Lady He in the deep palace, preparing to execute her. However, since it was late that day, Emperor Daowu did not order the immediate execution of Madame He, waiting for dawn the next day before disposing of it.
In fact, as the king of a country, if Emperor Daowu was determined to kill Mrs. He, he naturally didn't care about dark or dawn. He still had feelings for Mrs. He, so he was reluctant to give the order.
However, it was because of his delay that Tuoba Shao was given the opportunity to rescue his mother.
That night, Mrs. He hurriedly asked someone to send a letter to her son Tuoba Shao, telling him to find a way to save him.
Seeing that his mother was in danger, Tuoba Shao was so anxious that he first bought out the eunuchs and guards in the palace, and then led his warriors to jump over the wall and into the palace, launching the famous palace coup in the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
In fact, Tuoba Shao's original intention was to rescue his mother, Mrs. He, and as soon as they arrived at the Tian'an Temple, they were discovered by the guards beside Emperor Daowu. Emperor Daowu woke up from his panic and quickly got up, wanting to pick up the bow and arrow or scimitar beside him, but he couldn't find these two weapons.
In desperation, Tuoba Shao had to strike first and kill Emperor Daowu who had no weapons in his hands.
Although the "son and mother die" system came from the hands of Emperor Daowu, he also paid with his life, and a generation of emperors fell at the age of 39.
When the crown prince Tuoba Si, who was outside the city, learned that civil strife had broken out in the palace and that Emperor Daowu had died, he immediately joined other forces to kill the palace, killed Tuoba Shao and Lady He's mother and son, and ascended the throne as emperor, known as Emperor Mingyuan.
Topa Jue
Empress Dowager Hu Ling gave birth to a prince and was strictly guarded
In the Northern Wei law after Emperor Daowu, the system of "son and mother death" did not end, but was implemented in the hands of successive emperors of Northern Wei for more than a hundred years.
Therefore, for the harem concubines at that time, no matter how prominent and noble their maiden family was, and how favored they were by the emperor, as long as they gave birth to a prince, it became the most feared nightmare in their hearts.
- Emperor Tuoba's biological mother Empress Xuanmu Liu Guiren;
- Lady He, who was implicated in the Tuoba Shao coup;
- Taiwu Emperor Tuoba Tao's biological mother Empress Mi Du Shi;
- Jingmu Emperor Tuoba Huang's biological mother mourned Empress He;
- the biological mother of Emperor Wencheng Tuoba Huan, Empress Jingmugong of the Yujiulu clan;
- Emperor Xianwen Tuobahong's biological mother Empress Wen Chengyuan of the Li clan;
- Empress Si, the biological mother of Emperor Xiaowen Tuobahong, the Empress Li;
- Tuoba Xun's biological mother Empress Xiaowenzhen of the Lin clan;
- Emperor Xuanwu's biological mother Empress Xiaowenzhao Gao Zhaorong.
It can be seen that since Emperor Daowu established the Northern Wei Dynasty, one harem concubine after another became a victim under the system of "son and mother death" because they gave birth to a prince.
However, it was not until the appearance of Empress Dowager Hu Ling, the biological mother of Emperor Xiaoming Yuanxuan, that this feudal system, which had lasted for more than a hundred years, was broken.
When Empress Dowager Hu Ling became pregnant, the maid who served her persuaded her: "You are already pregnant, and if the son born is made crown prince, according to the death system of the son of the dynasty, you will be executed." ”
This is indeed the case, under the cruel system of "the death of the son and the mother" during the Northern Wei Dynasty, the concubines who gave birth to the crown prince all died in pools of blood without exception.
At that time, "giving birth to a prince" had become synonymous with death.
Out of fear of death, the concubines of the harem prayed to give birth to daughters, never sons.
Coincidentally, Yuanchang, the eldest son of Emperor Xuanwu and Empress Shun at that time, died at the age of three. If Empress Dowager Hu Ling gave birth to a son, she would undoubtedly become the only candidate for the crown prince.
Sure enough, on March 14, the third year of Emperor Xuanwu's Yongping (April 8, 510), Empress Dowager Hu Ling gave birth to a son as she wished, later Emperor Xiaoming.
Facing this newborn little prince Yuanxuan, Emperor Xuanwu was naturally very happy. But for Empress Dowager Hu Ling, she will also be in great trouble.
Thinking of this, whether Empress Dowager Hu Ling will regret her idea of giving birth to a son is now unknown.
Even, some concubines of the harem gave ideas for Empress Dowager Hu Ling, saying to her: "While this little prince has not yet been made a prince, you can let him suddenly die violently, so that your life can be saved." ”
In the harem of the Northern Wei period, this kind of thing was not uncommon, and only a very small number of the royal descendants of the Northern Wei dynasty could grow up, often dying suddenly at the age of two or three.
And among these violent royal descendants, I am afraid that many are related to the "son and mother die" system.
After listening to the various self-preservation methods proposed by the other concubines in the harem, Empress Dowager Hu Ling did not adopt them, so she had no chance to attack the little prince at all.
Shortly after the birth of the young prince Yuanxuan, Emperor Xuanwu feared that something bad would happen to him, so he sent people to keep him under close supervision, even Empress Dowager Huling and any concubines in the harem were not allowed to approach.
In this way, regardless of whether Empress Dowager Hu Ling had such crooked thoughts, she had lost any opportunity and could only wait in desperation for her son to be made crown prince, and then she would be executed.
Empress Dowager Hu Ling discovered a change in the system
"(Empress Dowager Hu Ling) is intelligent and versatile by nature, and her aunt is a nun, relying on each other as a child, and has a little bit of the great righteousness of the Buddhist scriptures. See the thousands of opportunities and make a decision. ”
Empress Dowager Hu Ling was both civil and martial, proficient in Buddhism and righteousness, and quite a politician.
Once, Empress Dowager Hu Ling had a banquet at the Faliu Hall in the Xilin Garden in the palace, and hundreds of civil and military officials gathered together. During the banquet, she asked everyone to compete in archery, and whoever missed the shot would be punished.
Empress Dowager Hu Ling personally participated in the competition, her archery skills are very high, and every arrow can hit the bullseye.
How could such a female politician who was all-round in civility and martial arts and extremely politically strategic ignore the system of the imperial court and risk her life to give birth to a prince, is it just with her own blood?
Of course not!
In fact, the reason why Empress Dowager Hu Ling went against other concubines and voluntarily gave birth to a prince was because she had a certain degree of certainty.
From the "death of the son and mother" written into the legal system of the Northern Wei Dynasty, all harem concubines who gave birth to the crown prince had already been executed. However, Empress Dowager Hu Ling gave birth to the prince at this time, and on the surface, her life was already hanging by a thread.
However, Empress Dowager Hu Ling was not bored with herself, but she discovered the changes under the system of "the death of the son and mother".
It is precisely because of this that she dares to fight to the death.
From the founding of the Northern Wei Dynasty by Emperor Daowu to the reign of Emperor Xuanwu, the period of more than 110 years, "can be generally divided into the early and late periods."
- Early stage: The emperor directly executed the biological mother who gave birth to the crown prince
In the early stage of the "son and mother death" system, the emperor implemented it relatively well, no matter how favored the concubine he became, all sons born to him were made crown princes, all of them were ordered by the emperor himself and dealt with in accordance with the laws of the imperial court.
There were three empresses personally ordered to be executed by the emperor, namely Liu Guiren, the biological mother of Emperor Tuoba of Ming Yuan, Empress Xuanmu, Empress Du, the biological mother of Emperor Tuoba Tao of Taiwu, and Empress Jingwei He, the biological mother of Emperor Tuoba Huang of Jingmu.
In fact, although these people are empresses, they were not empresses when they were alive. Instead, after they were executed, their sons became emperors before posthumously naming them empresses.
- Later period: Execution of the birth mother of the crown prince by the empress or empress dowager
In the later stages of the "death of the son and mother" system, the birth mother of the crown prince was no longer directly ordered by the emperor himself, but was executed by the empress or the empress dowager.
According to the records in the Book of Wei and Emperor Gaozong, the biological mother of Emperor Wencheng Tuoba Pu, Empress Jingmugong Yujiulu, was executed in November of the first year of Xing'an (452 AD), and her husband Jingmu Emperor Tuoba Huang died as early as 451 AD.
It can be seen that Empress Jingmugong Yujiulu was not directly ordered to die by Emperor Jingmu, but was executed by Empress Helian.
The other was the biological mother of Emperor Xianwen Tuobahong, Empress Li of Wen Chengyuan, who was executed by her husband Emperor Wencheng Tuoba Pu's nursing mother Chang Shi.
All in all, starting from the birth mother of Emperor Wencheng Tuoba Huan, Empress Jingmugong, Yu Jiulu, to the biological mother of Emperor Xuanwu Yuanke, Empress Xiaowenzhao Gao, the biological mothers of a total of five princes during this period were not executed by order of the emperor.
It can be seen from this that the emperor himself is no longer willing to continue to implement this "son and mother die" system.
Because the existence of this system is a murderous excuse to prevent foreign officials from interfering in politics, it is extremely cruel for the young prince and the prince's biological mother.
In the second year of Emperor Xuanwu's Yongping (509 AD), just in time for Empress Dowager Hu Ling's pregnancy, Emperor Xuanwu officially issued an edict explicitly prohibiting the slaughter of all pregnant creatures, including humans and animals.
Therefore, Empress Dowager Hu Ling saw the change in the system of "the son establishes the mother dies". She expected that even if she gave birth to a prince, Emperor Xuanwu would not kill herself.
Empress Dowager Hu Ling won and became the first person in the history of Northern Wei
Due to the existence of the "son and mother die" system, most of the emperors of Northern Wei had to experience the pain of losing their mother, and even if they were unwilling to implement this system later, the empress or empress dowager would still continue to implement it instead of the emperor.
On October 18, the first year of Emperor Xuanwu's Yanchang (512 AD), Yuan Xuan was only three years old at this time, and he was made crown prince by Emperor Xuanwu.
Sure enough, Empress Dowager Hu Ling's bet succeeded.
As she predicted, she was not executed by Emperor Xuanwu, but was more favored by Emperor Xuanwu.
Although Empress Dowager Hu Ling escaped the pass of Emperor Xuanwu, it did not mean that she was at ease. After giving birth to her son Yuanxuan, Empress Gao has always remembered her hatred, and even regarded her as a thorn in her side.
According to legend, Empress Gao often harbored a jealous heart, and when Empress Yu, Emperor Xuanwu's predecessor, suddenly died violently, some people suspected that it was Empress Gao's murderer.
Therefore, when the prince Yuanxuan was just born, Emperor Xuanwu sent people to protect him, largely out of precautions against Empress Gao and preventing her from harming the little prince.
Seeing that Yuan Xu was made crown prince, and Emperor Xuanwu did not abide by the "son establishes mother death" system, but loved the prince's biological mother even more, all this was seen by Empress Gao and hated in her heart.
Living in the harem of hooks and hearts every day, coupled with Empress Gao's tiger eyes, how should Empress Dowager Hu Ling spend the rest of her life safely?
- The first trump card: As long as Emperor Xuanwu is still alive, Empress Gao's rights are under Emperor Xuanwu, and naturally she does not dare to take Empress Dowager Hu Ling.
- The second trump card: Since the beginning of the reign of Empress Dowager Wen and the more than seventy years since then, the process of sinicization of the Northern Wei Dynasty has become more and more obvious. In Han culture, filial piety is emphasized, and after Empress Dowager Hu Ling's son Yuan Xuan ascended the throne as emperor, he would definitely protect her with all his might.
- The third trump card: Empress Dowager Hu Ling made many Sinicized officials on a daily basis, and she could also come in handy when necessary.
Under the protection of Emperor Xuanwu, when Yuan Xuan was made crown prince, Empress Gao's plan to eradicate Empress Dowager Hu Ling with the help of the "son and mother death" system was dashed.
However, she did not stop there, but silently waited for the opportunity.
On February 12, 515, Emperor Xuanwu, who was only 33 years old, died, Empress Dowager Huling's biggest backer collapsed, and Empress Gao finally waited for the opportunity to attack.
According to the later stages of the "death of the son and mother" system, the birth mother of the crown prince was executed by the empress or the empress dowager, and Empress Gao was no exception. Since Emperor Xuanwu was no longer there, her rights were the greatest, so she simply took this opportunity to execute Empress Dowager Hu Ling with the system of "death of the son and mother".
However, before Empress Gao could make a move, the eunuch Liu Teng learned the news in advance and immediately passed the news to the two ministers, Cui Guang and Yu Zhong.
- The first is to first transfer Empress Dowager Hu Ling to other places for temporary shelter;
- The second is to welcome the crown prince Yuan Xuan to the throne, and the history is called Emperor Xiaoming.
The reason why Prince Yuanxuan quickly ascended the throne was to prevent power from falling into the hands of Empress Gao. On the other hand, honoring his biological mother as the empress dowager in the name of Emperor Xiaoming, Empress Gao had no power to execute Empress Dowager Huling.
In this way, the system of "death of the son and mother" was implemented for more than a hundred years, and Empress Dowager Hu Ling became the first and only birth mother of the prince who was not executed in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Until the third year of Emperor Xiaowu's Yongxi reign (534 AD), the Northern Wei Dynasty officially died, and this once smelly "son and mother death" system finally became the dust of history.
Conclusion
Now it seems that the system of "son and mother death" created by Daowu Emperor Tuoba Jue is actually ironic, and he himself eventually became a victim of this system.
Emperor Daowu's original intention was to worry about the Empress Dowager's dictatorship and prevent foreign Qi from interfering in politics, but unfortunately, Northern Wei was the dynasty in which the Empress Dowager interfered the most in imperial politics. In the nearly 150 years of the existence of the Northern Wei Dynasty, four empresses came to the court to listen to the government, which is extremely rare in ancient Chinese history.
The four empresses were Empress Xianming, mother of Daowu Emperor Tuoba Jue, the founding emperor of Northern Wei, Chang Shi, the nursing mother of Wencheng Emperor Tuoba Pu, Empress Feng, and Empress Huling, the biological mother of Emperor Xiaoming Yuanxu.
It can be said that Empress Dowager Hu Ling was the luckiest woman in the Northern Wei harem, and she successfully got rid of the "son and mother die" system at that time.
In addition, after the 6-year-old Xiaoming Emperor became emperor, Empress Dowager Hu Ling began to control the imperial government, and the orders she issued were holy decrees, and she even called herself "Xuan", as if she was already a de facto female emperor.
However, after 13 years of control of the Northern Wei dynasty, Empress Dowager Hu Ling poisoned her own son Emperor Xiaoming on March 31, 528, and installed Yuan Baohui's son Yuan Zhao as emperor, known as the young lord.
In April of that year, Er Zhurong launched the famous Heyin Rebellion in the history of Northern Wei and led an army to attack Luoyang, the capital of Northern Wei, and both Empress Dowager Hu Ling and the young lord were sunk into the Yellow River and drowned.
It can be seen that the fate of Empress Dowager Hu Ling's life is both lucky and tragic!
bibliography
- "Weishu Taizongji"
- "The Book of Wei and the Biography of Empress"
- "Weishu Gaozongji"
- Headline Encyclopedia "Daowu Emperor Tuoba Jue"
[Friendly reminder: originality is not easy, without permission, it is forbidden to copy and copy in any form and publish it to other platforms, violators will be investigated!!! 】