At dusk on January 12, 1875, more than a dozen princes and ministers received an edict and hurried into the palace to wait for the order in the West Pavilion of the Yangxin Hall. It turned out that the tenth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Ai Xinjue Luo Zaichun, the Tongzhi Emperor, had come to the end of his life. At the time of the unitary hour (17-19 o'clock) that night, the Tongzhi Emperor swallowed his last breath and died in the East Warm Pavilion of the Yangxin Hall at the age of 19. Don't look at the Tongzhi Emperor is not very old, he already has several concubines, what will be the fate of these people?
According to historical records, the Tongzhi Emperor held a grand wedding in September 1872, and he had a total of five concubines, namely Empress Arut, Huifei Fucha, Xun Concubine Arute, Yu Concubine Hesheli, and Xilin Jueluo. By the time Emperor Tongzhi died of illness in 1875, the Empress was 21 years old, Concubine Hui was 16 years old, Concubine Xun was 18 years old, Concubine Yu was 19 years old, and Concubine Yao was 19 years old. At that time, these concubines were not very old, but their lives were already destined to be a tragedy.
Princess Hui was deeply loved by Empress Dowager Cixi and once became a candidate for empress, but the Arut clan was supported by Empress Dowager Ci'an. The decision was in the hands of Emperor Tongzhi, who had a very poor relationship with his birth mother, Empress Dowager Cixi, but got along well with his mother-in-law, Empress Dowager Ci'an, so after the election, Emperor Tongzhi chose the Alute clan. However, thanks to the support of Empress Dowager Cixi, Princess Huifucha was taken care of, and by 1894, she was made a noble concubine of The Dunyi Rongqing Emperor. Ten years later, Fucha died of illness at the age of 46.
Concubine Xun and empress were both surnamed Arut, belonging to the Mongolian Zhenglan Banner, which was famous, and the two were still aunts and nephews. Concubine Xun's father was Sai Shang'a, and the empress's father was Chongqi (Sai Shang'a's third son). Although Concubine Xun was the empress's aunt, she was born in the side chamber, so her status was not high, and she was three years younger than the empress. After being widowed, the concubine was also promoted, and in 1913 she was honored as a noble concubine of Zhuang he and the emperor, and finally died of illness in 1921 at the age of 65.
Speaking of Yu Concubine, she was born in the Manchurian Zhenglan Banner, and was successively promoted to yu concubine, Yu guifei, and Yu huang guifei, and in 1913 she was honored as the jingyi emperor's concubine, until 1932, when she died of illness at the age of 76. She had the lowest status when she entered the palace, but became the longest-lived of the Tongzhi Emperor's concubines, and she was successively named Concubine, Concubine, Concubine, and Concubine Ronghui, and died of illness in 1933 at the age of 78. Although these concubines became victims of the feudal etiquette system, there was one person who was worse than all of them, and she was the empress!
Empress Arut's family was of noble origin, their grandfather and father were all important courtiers of the imperial court, not only that, her mother was from the clan and was the daughter of Duanhua the Prince of Zheng. DuanHua was one of the eight ministers of the Xianfeng Emperor before his death, and was a political enemy of Empress Dowager Cixi, and probably for this reason, Empress Dowager Cixi had always opposed the establishment of Arut as empress. However, out of rebellion, the Tongzhi Emperor chose the Alut clan as empress.
The relationship between the Tongzhi Emperor and empress Alute was very good, which aroused the disgust of Empress Dowager Cixi, who actually interfered in the private life of the emperor and empress many times, resulting in a very tense relationship between mother and son and mother-in-law and mother-in-law. After the death of The Tongzhi Emperor, Empress Dowager Cixi did not establish an heir for her son, but the son of Prince Li as emperor, that is, the Guangxu Emperor. Therefore, Cixi's identity is still the empress dowager, but the identity of the Arut clan is somewhat awkward, she is only the sister-in-law of the new emperor, and is honored as the Jiashun Empress.
More than seventy days after the death of the Tongzhi Emperor, news came from the palace that Empress Jiashun (that is, the Arut clan) fell ill and died. The official interpretation of this in the Qing Dynasty was that "the emperor of the Great Passage of the Great Passage of the Dragon rides the guests and destroys too much", that is, the death of excessive grief. However, this claim is not credible, and an official at the time pointed out in the recital that the queen committed suicide by hunger strike, and there is also a theory that the queen died by swallowing gold. All in all, the death of the Aluth clan is not so simple, it must be related to Empress Dowager Cixi!
References: 1. "Diary of Weng Tonggong"; 2. "Records of Qing Dezong"; 3. "Draft History of Qing"