When the Chongzhen Emperor succeeded to the throne, his sister-in-law Zhang Yan, who was later called "one of the five peerless empresses", was only 21 years old.
At this time, how to determine the status and honorific title of this imperial concubine became a headache for the ministers of ceremonies.
After all, since ancient times, the orthodox throne has been inherited by the son, and regardless of whether the child is the emperor's biological child, it is logical that after ascending the throne, he must honor the previous emperor and empress as his parents.
But Emperor Chongzhen was different, he inherited his brother's position, and how to place his imperial sister-in-law became a big problem.
In the end, the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen personally honored his sister-in-law as "Empress Yi'an" and let her spend the rest of her life in the palace.
People who make a living in the court and in the deep palace have always been easy to be snobbish, and many people initially thought that Chongzhen's dignity for Zhang Yan was just a showmanship, and who could a widow who could rely on after losing her husband.
A chief eunuch during the Chongzhen period, with his official position, deliberately made an excuse to enter Zhang Yan's palace when she woke up in the morning, wanting to see her beauty with his own eyes.
He thought that the emperor would not calculate with himself, but he did not expect that after Zhang Yan reported the matter the next day, the Chongzhen Emperor directly drove him to the Ming Xiaoling Tomb to grow vegetables.
For this imperial concubine who contributed so much to Daming, Chongzhen gave her the best courtesy.
He entered the palace at a young age and tried to preserve the throne
When Zhang Yan entered the palace, she was only fifteen years old, and in modern times, she was only a junior high school graduate, but she sat in the position of empress and assumed the responsibility of motherhood.
Her husband, Zhu Youxiao, Emperor Mingxi, was a very sentimental person, and other emperors were worried about the inheritance of the throne at the end of their lives, but Zhu Youxiao was worried that the next emperor Chongzhen treated Zhang Yan poorly, and specially instructed Chongzhen to give an edict.
As the so-called "Cheng Ye Xiao He defeat is also Xiao He", because of the heavy feelings, Zhu Youxiao trusts Zhang Yan 100%.
It was also because of his heavy feelings that Zhu Youxiao allowed the nursing mother Hakka to gain power, resulting in a nest of snakes and rats between the Hakka clan and the traitor Wei Zhongxian, who had been a scourge for the dynasty for many years.
Because there was still Zhang Yan, the empress, on the side, Wei Zhongxian's party always wanted to get rid of it quickly.
Zhu Youxiao's nursing mother Hakka even made up rumors that Empress Zhang Yan was not Zhang Guoji's biological daughter, but a certain criminal courtier, which spread everywhere, and also found courtiers to impeach Zhang Guoji.
Fortunately, Zhu Youxiao did not believe the rumors, and severely punished the impeachment, and Wei Zhongxian and the others did not dare to act rashly.
Zhang Yan and Zhu Youxiao became pregnant two years ago, and as a pregnant woman, Zhang Yan often felt unwell, which allowed those villains to seize the opportunity.
They bought a maid who served Zhang Yan and asked her to deliberately hit Zhang Yan's waist when she massaged her back, causing Zhang Yan to have a brutal miscarriage at a young age.
Abortion and childbirth of ancient women are no less than walking through the ghost gate, even in today's science and technology is quite advanced, these two things are sloppy.
Zhang Yan was lucky that she had once again survived under Wei Zhongxian's frame, but for her who was only seventeen years old, one thing was extremely unfortunate - that is, she could no longer have children.
Since there was no evidence directly pointing to Wei Zhongxian, even if Zhu Youxiao punished the palace maid, it would be of little use.
Zhang Yan is quite proud as an empress, and after the blow of this matter, she not only did not slump, but became more combative.
Once, Zhu Youxiao went to visit Zhang Yan and saw a book on her desk, so he asked her what she was reading.
Zhang Yan replied that it was "The Biography of Zhao Gao".
Zhao Gao is the villain in the idiom "referring to the deer as a horse", and the allusion we all know Zhu Youxiao is of course clearer, he understands that Zhang Yan is using this book to mention himself, Wei Zhongxian is not a good person.
In the face of Empress Zhang Yan's point, although Zhu Youxiao did not refute, he only smiled awkwardly and prevaricated the topic.
This is where Zhu Youxiao does things mediocre, he does not allow Wei Zhongxian to hurt his wife Zhang Yan, nor does he want to completely clean up the court, which makes people feel that "hating iron is not steel".
Although Zhu You's proofreading of "Zhao Gao" was only perfunctory in the past and did not pay attention to it, "Zhao Gao" himself was not.
Wei Zhongxian, who heard about this, became angry and angry, and actually installed a group of outsiders with weapons in the palace, and deliberately guided Zhu Youxiao to find out personally.
Zhu Youxiao was furious, and immediately handed over the matter to the East Factory led by Wei Zhongxian to handle and investigate.
Wei Zhongxian planned to use this incident to falsely accuse this group of people who were arranged by Zhang Guoji, and once the matter was completed, Zhang Yan's family would have no way to return to heaven.
When he rushed to his confidant to discuss the matter, the man reminded him: "The Lord is ashamed of everything, and he is not thin between husband and wife and brothers, and if he is not careful, my generation will leave nothing behind." ”
This means that although Zhu Youxiao is not clear in the handling of many things, he only attaches great importance to the blood relationship between husband and wife and brothers and brothers, and once this matter fails, then these people who only rely on flattering the emperor to survive will have no way to live.
Hearing this, Wei Zhongxian was also afraid, so he gave up the idea of framing Zhang Yan's family, and randomly found a few people to deal with.
The harem Hakka is the only largest, and often arranges some palace maids to serve the emperor, but harem concubines rarely give birth.
When Zhu Youxiao's life was about to end, the Hakka found a pregnant palace maid and told Zhu Youxiao that she was pregnant with his bloodline, and if she gave birth to a boy, she would be able to succeed to the throne as emperor.
Originally, Zhu Youxiao was very happy that he had someone to follow, but he still had to discuss such important matters with Zhang Yan, but Zhang Yan righteously refused.
It stands to reason that the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics, let alone such a major event as the succession of the country.
But at this moment, Zhang Yan's eyes were full of determination, and she persuaded Zhu Youxiao not to trust the Hakka clan, and should pass the throne to her younger brother Zhu Youzhen, so that at least the royal bloodline could be guaranteed.
Looking at his wife's undoubted expression, Zhu Youxiao's heart was angry from the beginning, and slowly turned to admiration and pity.
In the end, Zhu Youxiao agreed to Zhang Yan's suggestion, thinking that he understood more or less how hard and difficult Zhang Yan was to save Daming because of his indecision in the matter of Wei Zhongxian.
Zhu Youzhen, who was temporarily notified of the succession, also admired this imperial concubine in his heart.
Entrusted by the elder brother, Chongzhen courtesy
The relationship between the royal brothers is the most complicated, those who can succeed to the throne are afraid that others will have ambitions, and those who cannot succeed to the throne are afraid that they will be suspected, and they are wary of each other.
The succession to the throne is a sensitive topic, and there are too few brothers and brothers and such facts, so Zhu Youzhen is extremely careful about the succession and does not dare to agree easily.
But time does not wait for anyone, who knows what bad ideas Wei Zhongxian and his party are planning, for the sake of the country's great cause, Zhang Yan personally came forward to persuade Zhu Youzhen, which made him agree.
Before dying, Zhu Youxiao called his younger brother Zhu Youzhen to the hospital bed, and told Zhu Youzhen in a serious manner: He and Zhang Yan have a good relationship, Zhang Yan is also an honest and far-sighted person, although she as a harem woman will talk about the imperial government and advise the emperor, but her words are very beneficial to governing the country, in the future, Zhang Yan will be widowed at a young age, you (Zhu Youjian) must treat her well.
Still
It can be said that Zhu Youxiao was worried that Zhang Yan would be bullied alone at the last moment of his life, and although this remark was short, he explained Zhang Yan's behavior to Zhu Youzhen, intending to make Zhu Youjian must trust Zhang Yan, otherwise, if the emperor cannot be Zhang Yan's backing, she will definitely suffer a lot of grievances.
In fact, even without Zhu Youxiao's instructions, Zhu Youjian would not treat Zhang Yan poorly.
Although Zhu Youzhen is only five years younger than Zhang Yan, he also watched how the imperial sister-in-law grew up "fighting" with Wei Zhongxian, and the bystander Qing knew the talent and difficulty of the imperial sister-in-law, so Zhu Youzhen has respected Zhang Yan very much since he was a child.
Without Zhang Yan's persuasion, it would be difficult for Zhu Youxiao alone to let Zhu Youjian succeed to the throne this time.
In his eyes, above political affairs, the imperial brother is not as "reliable" as the imperial concubine, which shows that Zhu Youzhen admires Zhang Yan from the bottom of his heart, so not long after Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne, he honored the imperial sister-in-law Zhang Yan as Empress Yi'an and gave her residence in Ciqing Palace.
At that time, many palace people thought that Zhang Yan was just an "old person from the former dynasty", and did not respect her very much, and often lazy and lazy when serving Zhang Yan.
Zhang Yan knew the truth of a son of heaven and a courtier, and did not care very much about this kind of thing.
But after Zhu Youzhen found out, he either let Empress Zhou deal with it, or personally came forward, and he would not tolerate the adulterer.
Coupled with the fact that the chief eunuch who coveted Zhang Yan's beauty before was sent to the imperial tomb to grow vegetables, Zhu Youjian maintained Zhang Yan's position in the harem extremely stable.
Then what Zhu Youzhen wanted to do was to rectify the rulers, Zhang Yan had a lot of evidence of Wei Zhongxian's crime, all the human evidence and material evidence, Zhu Youjian ordered Wei Zhongxian's arrest.
And Wei Zhongxian knew that he could not escape death, and before he was captured and returned to Beijing, he hanged himself, and the Hakka and others who lost Zhu Youxiao and Wei Zhongxian were also condemned like dogs who lost their families.
So far, the Ming Dynasty has been preserved by Zhang Yan's efforts.
When Zhu Youjian was just pro-government, there were many things he didn't understand, but he knew one thing very well, that is, the harem was not allowed to interfere in politics.
After all, he had personally seen how the Hakka used the body of a woman to cause trouble in the harem, so he was quite jealous of this behavior.
In his eyes, except for Zhang Yan, who had done his best for Daming, no one else could be fully trusted.
But Zhang Yan and Zhu Youzhen are uncles and sisters-in-law who are separated by a layer in the end, and they still can't interfere in politics from time to time.
Zhu Youxiao did not mind Zhang Yan doing this during his reign because he valued the relationship between husband and wife more than the suspicion of the emperor, but Zhu Youzhen was not necessarily.
As the widow of the previous emperor, it was always bad for her to always interfere in the current holy court, so Zhang Yan found Zhu Youzhen's wife Empress Zhou, hoping to use Empress Zhou's mouth to mention Zhu Youjian.
Once Empress Zhou and Zhu Youzhen talked about the deception of some courtiers, Zhu Youzhen's face immediately became bad, he thought that Empress Zhou had moved something that should not be moved, so he asked her where she knew about these things.
Looking at Zhu Youzhen's dissatisfied look, Empress Zhou was very afraid, and immediately confessed that it was Empress Yi'an Zhang Yan who told her, afraid that the emperor would be deceived by villains, so she asked Empress Zhou to help persuade.
Sure enough, as soon as Zhu Youzhen heard that it was Zhang Yan who said it, he relaxed his heart and seriously adopted Empress Zhou's suggestion.
It can be seen that Zhu Youzhen also trusts and respects Zhang Yan.
Born as Daming, dead as Daming
The Chongzhen Emperor treated Zhang Yan so courteously, in addition to Zhang Yan's deep impression that he had helped the imperial government, there was also a very important point that Zhang Yan himself was also a very sensible person.
Although she has a true insight different from that of ordinary women of that era, she also has an extraordinary influence on Zhu Youzhen.
However, her honest and incorruptible character makes her very responsible and self-respecting, and she will not do anything wrong because of the emperor's weight, and she only makes some of her own contributions within the scope allowed by Zhu Youjian.
However, this also led to the fact that Zhang Yan's role in the Chongzhen period was not as great as in the previous dynasty, after all, Zhu Youzhen could not talk to the imperial concubine every day, but he could not trust Empress Zhou.
Therefore, Zhu Youzhen is a big help less than his brother Zhu Youxiao.
Unfortunately, in the late Chongzhen period, the Donglin Party had a situation of dominance, people were greedy, there was no check and balance of other hostile forces, and there were many corrupt people in the Donglin Party.
Chongzhen was far above the court, and it was difficult to have a deep understanding of the lives of the people at the bottom.
Just in time for the locust plagues and droughts in the Chongzhen period, the common people were already living in dire straits, and then let those corrupt officials exploit a layer of skin, and the rebel armies everywhere rose up one after another.
Before Zhu Youjian could properly resolve the domestic riots, the external Nur Hachi turned his eyes on Daming after unifying the Jurchens.
In the end, under the iron hooves of King Li Zicheng, the palace door of the Daming Palace was finally broken.
Zhu Youjian vowed to die rather than be a prisoner, and in order to prevent the royal bloodline from being trampled on, he first personally killed his daughter, and then ordered all kinds of concubines to hang themselves, including Empress Zhou and Empress Yi'an Zhang Yan.
Of course, as the emperor, Zhu Youzhen could not live alone, and after arranging this, he went far to the coal mountain and ended his life with a white silk.
Zhang Yan looked at the messy Daming Imperial Palace and sighed deeply, she raised her head to look at the sky, and reviewed her ups and downs over the years in her mind: "Husband, I have done my best." ”
Then, dignified and dignified, she walked onto Huangquan Road with firm steps, which was a sharp contrast with the palace people who were crying and fleeing around her.
Empress Yi'an Zhang Yan had a good life, and the Qing Dynasty writer Ji Xiaolan commented on her: "On the occasion of the founding of the country and Zhongxing, there was a history of the Holy Empress Hui Biantong. ”
Wei Zhongxian can't harm her, these foreign tribes don't want to invade her life, she is the empress of the Daming Dynasty, and naturally she will be martyred for Daming.
In this way, Zhang Yan, the "queen of a generation of virtuous", disappeared without hesitation on the land that gave birth to herself.
born, she witnessed the glory and storm of Daming; Death, she also fulfilled the pride and backbone of the royal family!