Speaking of the Qianlong Emperor's favorite woman, many history lovers must first think of Empress Xiaoxian Fucha. Indeed, the woman Qianlong loved most in his life was the original wife Fu Chashi.
However, just like Yuan Shu, he can write such sentimental sentences as "Take the second flower bush lazy review, half edge cultivation and half edge Jun" for his deceased wife, and he can also have a love pulse with Pei Shu who continues the string, and eyebrows with the prostitute Xue Tao. Qianlong, who has been a gentleman all his life, can also think of his deceased wife while strolling through the kaleidoscope of flowers, his body stained with countless petals and blades of grass. If this were not the case, how could Qianlong have reserved a place for other concubines when designing his own tomb with the Fucha clan?
Although it is not mentioned in the main history that a certain concubine was favored by Qianlong, from the two important indicators of the speed of promotion of the concubine and the frequency of childbirth, we can basically infer whether a certain concubine is favored. For example, the Concubines Yi and Concubines that Kangxi liked, and the Concubines that Yongzheng preferred, were deliberated in this way by later generations. After all, an emperor is willing to have multiple children with the same woman, even at the frequency of "one a year", or if a concubine is infertile, but her rank in the harem is still constantly improving, and we cannot find any other reason than that the concubine is favored in the harem.
In the same way, in Qianlong's harem, there are as many as thirty-seven concubines with noble titles or above, and according to the method mentioned above, if we examine the harem women of Qianlong, we will find that only five of them are favored by Qianlong, they are Empress Xiaoxian, Empress Xiaoyi, Emperor Huixian, Emperor Zhexian, and Shujia. It is because these five women are the favorite of the Qianlong Emperor that they are eligible to be buried in the Yuling Underground Palace after their deaths, and they are buried in the Qianlong Emperor for a long time.
It should be known that in the final Manchu Qing Dynasty, only two emperors arranged the position of concubines in the underground palace except for the empress, except for Qianlong, the other was Yongzheng. Even the Yongzheng Emperor only allowed The Young Noble Concubine to enjoy such a special honor, and Qianlong actually allowed three noble concubines to die with him, which was unique in the Qing Dynasty.
So, what kind of women can qianlong break the routine, what kind of women are these concubines?
The first thing to say is definitely Qianlong's original wife, Fu Chashi.
Fucha's character is excellent and highly acclaimed. She gave birth to her second son, Yonglian, for Qianlong. Previously, Qianlong did not appoint the eldest son of the emperor as the crown prince, because the eldest brother belonged to shu out, and he was contemptuous and disliked by Qianlong. Yonglian's birth gave Qianlong a new hope. What struck Qianlong was that the second prince Yonglian, who had high hopes, unfortunately died prematurely when he was nine years old. Qianlong was very sad, he had already secretly decided to make Yonglian the Crown Prince, but now he and Yonglian were separated. In order to express his grief and grief, Qianlong posthumously honored Yonglian as Crown Prince Duanhui.
After the early death of his concubine, the Fucha clan, who had not given birth for fifteen years, had to consider giving birth to a child for Qianlong again, so the Fucha clan became an "elderly mother" and gave birth to Longzi Yongchun at the age of thirty-four. Unfortunately, Yong Chun did not escape the doom of premature death, and died of smallpox at the age of two. Qianlong lost his sister-in-law again and was grieving. Qianlong sadly wrote in the edict:
"Yong Chun is talented and intelligent, I originally wanted to train him to be a prince, but unfortunately he died early due to smallpox." Yong Chun was too young, so the hope that Yong Chun had placed on him was far less than that of Crown Prince Duanhui, and the original funeral specifications of Yong Chun should be simple. However, considering that Empress Fucha was always virtuous and kind, although she did not have the opportunity to perform filial piety to the former emperor, she took care of the empress dowager like a birth mother, and for more than ten years, she was a rare good empress. Therefore, Yong Chun's funeral does not have to be simple, everything is excellent. ”
After the edict was issued, Qianlong posthumously honored Yong Chun as the Prince of Zhe.
Although Yong Qun's early death was a great blow to Qianlong, for Yong Qun's birth mother Fu Cha, the pain of losing her son was unbearable for her. In the process of accompanying Qianlong on his southern tour, the Fucha clan was always unable to let go of the pain of losing his son and died depressed. Qianlong lost his beloved son and Empress Yuanbei one after another, and his grief was inexplicable. Despite this, the empress's funeral could not be delayed, and the life of Empress Fucha was ended by Qianlong with the nickname of "Filial Piety". Speaking of the title of "Filial Piety", it is necessary to talk about the Huixian Emperor's noble concubine.
Emperor Huixian's noble concubine Gao Shi was of very low origin, and her parents were bannermen. In Manchu, wrapping is the meaning of servant. Yongzheng felt that Gao's character was good, so he gave it to Qianlong, who was still the Prince of Bao at that time. Gao's gentle and virtuous, beloved by Qianlong, after Qianlong ascended the throne, he promoted her to a noble concubine and carried her family from a coat to a yellow flag. Ten years after Qianlong, Gao Shi was infected with a vicious disease and was sick in bed. In order to allow Aifei to recover as soon as possible, Qianlong crowned Gao Shi as an imperial concubine. Unfortunately, within three days of becoming an imperial concubine, Gao shi died.
After Gao's death, Qianlong personally drew up a nickname for him as "Hui Xian". When the empress dowager of the Fucha clan heard this title, she felt very envious. I couldn't help but shed tears at the thought that after I passed away, I would also be given a nickname. Qianlong was puzzled, and Fu Chashi explained: "My empress's title must have a filial piety character, so if I can be like the imperial concubine, the other word in the title is 'xian', I will definitely use this to motivate myself and make my behavior worthy of the title." "For the emperor, what nickname is not a matter of words?" Since fucha had already opened his mouth, Qianlong had no reason not to agree. Therefore, after the death of the Fucha clan, Qianlong recalled the conversation between the two of them and took "Filial Piety" as the nickname of Empress Fucha.
Emperor Zhe's concubine was also surnamed Fucha, and in order to distinguish her from Empress Xiaoxian, in this article, I no longer refer to Emperor Zhe's concubine as Fucha. Before Qianlong ascended the throne, Emperor Zhe mercy was given to Qianlong by the former emperor Yongzheng. Unfortunately, Emperor Zhe's noble concubine Fu Bo could not see the day her husband ascended the throne. Qianlong's feelings for The Noble Concubine of the Emperor Zhe mercy were relatively deep, and after he ascended the throne, he still did not forget this woman who had accompanied him for a period of time, and named her a Concubine Zhe. Later, Qianlong became more and more worried about the deceased Concubine Zhe, and made her a noble concubine of the Emperor of Zhe Mercy.
However, some scholars believe that the reason why Emperor Zhe mercy was posthumously honored twice after her death was because she gave birth to a big brother for Qianlong. In my opinion, this argument does not hold water. It should be known that Princess Yue, like The Noble Concubine of Emperor Zhe mercy, married Qianlong when qianlong was still a prince, and Princess Yue also gave birth to his favorite prince Yongqi for Qianlong. As a result, Princess Yu did not become a noble concubine during her lifetime, and after her death, she was only buried in the concubine garden with the specifications of a noble concubine, rather than being buried with Qianlong like the other five concubines. It can be seen from this that Qianlong's relationship with The Noble Concubine of the Emperor Zhe mercy is very deep, and there is no doubt about it.
Although the three women Qianlong liked died one after another, fortunately, there was also the Shujia Emperor's noble concubine Jin Shi by his side. The Noble Concubine of the Shujia Emperor was also born in a coat and did not have a high status. However, because she was very pleasing to Qianlong, after Qianlong ascended the throne, she was promoted from a nobleman to a concubine, and finally became a concubine. After the death of the Jin clan, Qianlong posthumously honored him as the noble concubine of the Shujia Emperor.
Judging from the situation of the first four concubines, Qianlong's emotional life was quite tortuous.
Fortunately, Concubine Wei accompanied Qianlong for many years, filling the gap in his feelings for him. Don't look at the author to downplay the promotion process of the Qing Palace concubines, the promotion process of the Qing Dynasty concubines is actually very complicated, timing, status, and the emotional basis with the emperor are indispensable. Concubine Ling was fortunate that she did not give birth to qianlong after entering the palace, but she was still able to continue to be promoted by virtue of Qianlong's favor, from a nobleman all the way to concubine Ling. It should be known that Ming Guiren struggled in the position of nobleman for nineteen years before becoming a concubine, Lin Guiren had the opportunity to be promoted after forty-three years of crawling and fighting in the palace, and Bai Chang had been a nobleman for forty-four years and finally became a nobleman when Fanghua was old. Concubine Ling failed to give birth to a dragon son for Qianlong, and her status soared all the way, how incredible it was!
However, from the twenty-first year of Qianlong, Concubine Ling's stomach finally moved. In the years that followed, Concubine Ling gave birth to children for Qianlong almost every year at a frequency of "one a year" and spread out the leaves for Ai Xinjue Luoshi. Thirty years after Qianlong, Concubine Ling, who had worked hard and performed a lot of work, was finally promoted to imperial concubine, and although she did not occupy the right position in the harem, she had taken over the power of the empress at this time. It should be known that it is rare for imperial concubines in successive dynasties to take charge of the harem, so it can be seen that Concubine Ling is not only favored, but her virtue is also recognized by Qianlong.
However, in response to the saying that "no red face is allowed to see white heads in the world", although Concubine Ling lived longer than the first four concubines, she still failed to support Qianlong until she was old and died in her prime. Sixty years after Qianlong, Jiaqing ascended the throne, and Qianlong posthumously honored his birth mother, Concubine Ling, as Empress Xiaoyi. Three years later, the eighty-eight-year-old Qianlong died peacefully. After Qianlong's death, Jiaqing buried his father in the Yuling Underground Palace. Finally, Qianlong was able to reunite with the five women he loved most in his life in the underground palace.
However, are there only these five favorite women in Qianlong's life?
Obviously not.
Combined with historical data, Qianlong frequently visited many concubines, including Emperor Chunhui's concubines, Qinggong Emperor's concubines, Xin Guifei, Ying Guifei, Dun Concubines, shu concubines, and so on.
However, speaking of Qianlong's most beloved women, it is none other than the five that the author mentioned today. If it were not for his most beloved women, the Qianlong Emperor's Yi would never allow them to be buried with him and let them continue to serve themselves in the underground palace. The ancients attached great importance to the "posthumous affairs", and the reason why Qianlong was buried with these five women was to meet with them in the next life and continue the frontier.
Resources:
["Qing History Manuscript Biography - Later Concubine Biography", "Qing Dynasty Concubine"]