Preface
Seeing that His Royal Highness is surrounded by Uncle Hou and admired by thousands of people, who is not moved? Mixing in the harem, becoming the emperor's confidant and confidant, and being favored by all kinds of love, isn't all this the beautiful dream of an ordinary woman?
However, the top of His Royal Highness is not accessible to everyone, and the road to becoming the mother of a country is full of thorns.
Step by step, crawling and rolling, and finally get a glimmer of life
In ancient times, the birth of a woman foreshadowed the fate of the main mother, ordinary families only hoped that their daughters would marry out as soon as possible, and wealthy nobles hoped that their daughters could fly to the branches. Compared with most ordinary women, the girls who are lucky enough to break into the palace seem to be standing at the pinnacle of life, beauty and wealth are close at hand, they only have to abide by the rules and regulations, and they will eventually get the greatest thanks.
However, even at this point, the road ahead is still difficult. Thousands of women poured into the imperial city, all hoping to become the emperor's confidant, and countless girls would be eliminated just around the corner, leaving only the strongest to compete for the emperor's favor.
The Palace Draft is certainly difficult, and the first hurdle can be daunting. The eunuchs paid attention to the law and were eliminated at the slightest flaw. The women were carefully examined from neck to toe, and all those with disabilities and diseases were repatriated, and even those with ugly faces were not spared.
The rest of the people were meticulous in their appearance and etiquette, and those who were slightly negligent were immediately dismissed. Since you want to be the emperor's personal concubine, you naturally have to be dignified and generous, knowledgeable and courteous to be worthy of this status. They had to live in the palace for a period of time, be trained by the eunuchs of the palace, and learn Xi court etiquette and rules.
Faced with the difficulties and pickiness of the eunuchs all day long, many girls secretly shed tears, but they understood that only by swallowing their anger could they have a chance of survival. Some girls are pampered on weekdays, and they can't stand such a test at all, and they fall ill in bed within a few days, and finally have to be kicked out of the palace. Those who can really survive to the end are all women with strong psychological quality.
When the emperor heard the news, he was furious and punished the eunuchs for being too harsh in their assessments, and immediately sent the imperial doctor to come for treatment, and sent someone to escort all the sick girls home. However, this did not shake the strict rules of the imperial palace, and these young girls had to pass the examination in order to get a chance to see the emperor's face.
After a lot of tempering, they finally became qualified palace maids, or they were fortunate enough to be summoned by His Royal Highness the Emperor. They had been waiting for this moment for a long time, and even if the road ahead was still winding, at least they had managed to stand on the first step.
It is difficult to escape the poisonous hands
After being selected for the palace, these women immediately became the focus of competition among all parties. Their every move is noticed, and the slightest mistake will be targeted.
The comparison and calculation between female officials in the palace has always been the most complicated, and jealousy is everywhere. Some palace ladies are jealous that they may be favored after entering the palace, so they always speculate about their whereabouts, and report to the top if there is any omission; Some eunuchs were dissatisfied with being controlled by those who came from behind, and they also tried every means to trouble them. Not to mention the women who were eliminated, who held a grudge and just wanted to be able to drag others into the water to be buried with them.
But even if these women knew that the harem was so sinister, they had no choice but to live in fear. Her mother and father have high hopes for their daughter to soar as soon as possible. And she herself is even more bent on getting ahead and gaining the favor of the emperor.
So they were cautious and took precautions, for fear that they would be calculated by the traitor and succeed. Some secretly offered bribes in order to win the eunuchs' attention, hoping that they would praise them more in front of the emperor; Some befriended the more powerful palace maids and county lords, praying that they would intercede to reduce the possibility of being targeted...... Endless calculations have exhausted them, but this has become the unspoken rule of the palace, and they have to comply in order to find a place in this mixed court.
Finally summoned fortunate Luan Feng Chengxiang
After all the twists and turns of the ark, the girl finally looked forward to this once-in-a-lifetime day - the emperor personally approved the will of the concubine.
As soon as the book came out, the ministers bowed their heads and celebrated. The girl finally flew on the branches, completed the gorgeous turn of life, and became the hostess above ten thousand. However, this is only a small beginning in the life of the harem, and the real test is yet to come......
According to the rules, the new concubines who enter the palace must serve the emperor and live, but they must travel at night with candles and sleep in the dragon bed. They have always understood the rules and understood that they needed to be mentally prepared, after all, they were facing a saint who was admired by thousands of people.
The emperor has always had an erratic schedule, sometimes staying up all night to deal with political affairs, and more often he summons his favorite concubines to sleep after the day has taken care of everything. As soon as the news of the worthy of sleeping arrived, the concubines bathed and changed their clothes early, dressed up beautifully and waited in the palace.
When the eunuchs came to carry her, she was obediently wrapped in a blanket and gently placed on the dragon bed. Even if she knew that she was just following the emperor's whim, and the joy of fish and water was short-lived, she was willing to give her sincerity. Just to live a different life in this splendid palace.
After going to bed, she will be carried back to the palace again, and the night of spring dinner will be like water. They knew that they had already become a beautiful toy in the hands of the emperor, but so what? At this moment, she had already fulfilled her wishes and achieved the ultimate dream of countless women.
The ban is not as strict as expected
But no matter whether the concubines are favored or not, they can't escape a final fate - the hurdle of fifty years old. This level also severed the last trace of contact between them and the emperor, and it was difficult to go back to the past.
Many of the girls were still immersed in the warm bed of the previous night, but the emperor apologized to her and announced that she would not be allowed to sleep in the future. They looked at each other, surprised and reluctant, but they did not dare to disobey the holy decree. Although this is a cruel reality, they can only accept it.
In fact, behind this is not that the emperor sees them as old. This seemingly ruthless prohibition comes from a sincere and well-intentioned approach inside and out.
The first is to balance the power of the Minister of Military Aircraft. If the concubine's mother's family holds great power, pampering and arrogance will inevitably endanger the imperial power. Therefore, the emperor cannot favor a woman for a long time, nor can he allow her family to dominate because of personal feelings. He wants to balance the power of the factions on the left and right. This is a consideration of the overall situation, and it is a measure for the long-term stability of the society, and the concubines understand it in their hearts, but they have no choice but to accept it.
The deeper intention is for themselves. After the age of 50, a woman's body has aged, and it is extremely dangerous to get pregnant and have children. So in order to avoid a tragedy, simply use Zhu Pi to prevent them from having the opportunity to sleep. It may be cruel, but it is a compassionate protection of their lives.
Even if they are unwilling, the ban is still strictly enforced. The girls understood that the emperor was genuinely concerned about them, but they could not cross this hurdle after all, and could no longer climb the dragon bed that everyone envied.
Life is rare to be fulfilling, but it ends without regrets
If we stand in the perspective of a woman, we may sigh injustice. She gave her sincerity, but she was forced to part with her sweetheart.
But if we put ourselves in the emperor's shoes and think about the problem, can we figure out his unspeakable and difficult choices?
It takes unimaginable effort and courage for a monarch to make a ruthless determination to cut off the last trace of contact with his loved ones. Especially when that woman still gets along with her day and night, growing old together.
But a monarch is not an ordinary person after all, he shoulders not only his own life, but also the fate of tens of millions of grass people. Because he has a long-term perspective, he can't control the overall situation by personal feelings. Even though this choice was extremely cruel to himself and his lover, he could only muster up 120,000 points of perseverance to carry it out.
epilogue
No matter which side we think about, this is an imposing tragedy. The girl was unwilling to shed tears of regret, and the emperor also sighed his helplessness in the deep palace.
However, life is hard to come true, and all we can do is to strive for a little joy in the limited years and leave without regrets.
Although they have not been able to cross the threshold of 50 years old, they have also tasted the delicious food of the world in their lifetime, so why should they regret that they can't sleep? After all, this is also a legend of their life, a prosperous time.