Preface
In ancient times, there were four beauties in the mainland, and their appearance was rare in the world, and they were found in countless drama works, but in the feudal era when women's rights and interests were low, beauty was not a good thing.
Otherwise, look at the four beauties, their lives are all tragedies, Xi Shi became a tool for revenge, Mink Chan tossed and turned in the war, Yang Yuhuan died at the hands of his lover, and Wang Zhaojun also dedicated his life to the so-called peace.
After Zhaojun came out of the fortress, the culture and art of the Central Plains were also brought to the Xiongnu, so she was supported by the Xiongnu, after Zhaojun died of illness, the Huns held a grand funeral for him, a mural in the Mogao Grottoes shows all this, it is really unbearable to look at it carefully.
1. Poor woman
In the southern county of the Han Dynasty, there was a person named Wang Xiang, who came from a humble background, and had difficulty marrying a wife when he was young, and then finally got married, but his wife had not been pregnant for a long time, and Wang Xiang in desperation prayed to God and Buddha every day, hoping that God would give him a spiritual child to continue the bloodline of the Wang family.
I don't know if God really heard Wang Xiang's prayer, and it didn't take long for his wife to get pregnant, and she gave birth to a daughter for Wang Xiang the next year.
Old man, Wang Xiang was excited, seeing his daughter's eyes were bright, blinking was very cute, named Zhaojun, Wang Xiang loved his daughter very much, it was really in his mouth for fear of melting, and he was afraid of falling in his hand.
At this time, Wang Xiang couldn't predict his daughter's future, he was immersed in the joy of being a father, if he knew in advance about Wang Zhaojun's bumpy life, I don't know if he would regret his decision.
Sure enough, Wang Zhaojun grew up slim and graceful, and became a famous beauty in Nanjun, and some people even regarded her as the first beauty in Nanjun, but her family was poor, Wang Zhaojun could not go to the next level, and could only enter the palace draft girl.
Wang Xiang felt very sorry for this, he couldn't make the decision about his daughter's life events, his guilt was overflowing, and someone comforted him, if Wang Zhaojun became the emperor's concubine, it would be regarded as a glorious lintel.
After entering the palace, a shocking thing happened, Wang Zhaojun was not selected, the reason was only because the harem concubines of Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty at that time crowned the entire Han Dynasty, and he was troublesome when he was fortunate to be a concubine, so he ordered the court painter to paint all the appearance of the concubines, and he selected according to the portrait.
This method is very concise, so Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty also applied it to draft girls, but he didn't expect it to breed corruption.
The painter in charge of painting the portrait of the show girl is named Mao Yanshou, he thought to himself, since the emperor is looking at the portrait draft girl, whether the show girl can be selected depends entirely on the painter's handwriting, so Mao Yanshou started his own paid portrait business.
The show girl of the rich and noble family is generous, even if she looks ordinary, Mao Yanshou can paint her as a beauty, but if it is a woman from a poor family, Mao Yanshou will not only not accurately depict her appearance, but will even deliberately smear it and make it ugly.
Wang Zhaojun fell in love with Mao Yanshou's way, where did she get the money to bribe this damn painter, there is no way, Wang Zhaojun failed to be a show girl, according to the rules, she can only enter the court as a palace maid and do the heavy work of the subordinates.
2. The emperor who regretted it a lot
In 60 BC, there was a split within the Xiongnu, and some of them came to the Yellow River Hetao area to form the Southern Xiongnu regime, which was very close to the Han Dynasty, and immediately expressed their willingness to submit to the Han Dynasty and become a vassal state of the Han Dynasty, paying tribute on time every year.
After Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne, the Southern Xiongnu's Hu Han Evil Shan Yu came to Chang'an to meet him, not only gave Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty a large number of precious gifts, but also expressed his willingness to surrender forever, before leaving, he also asked Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty to make peace.
Although in the Qing Dynasty, the princess of the Qing Dynasty married the Mongolian prince and grandson, which belonged to the intermarriage between the upper class, but in the Han Dynasty, the harmony was not the case, and a small regime like the Southern Xiongnu was not qualified to marry the princess of the Han Dynasty at all, and the emperor often assigned a palace maid to marry at will.
This time, Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty was still like this, he waved his hand, agreed to the request of Hu Han Evil Shan Yu, and ordered someone to choose a palace maid to come out in the court, and naturally, Wang Zhaojun, who had no background, was pushed out.
This is the first time Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty has seen Wang Zhaojun, he didn't expect that there was such a big beauty in his palace, and he immediately regretted it, but the gentleman couldn't chase after him, and he was even more golden-mouthed as the Son of Heaven.
Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty, who reacted, thoroughly investigated the matter, and he wondered why Wang Zhaojun did not appear in the portrait of the show girl, it turned out that it was the court painter Mao Yanshou who did evil, so that he lost his beauty and ordered Mao Yanshou to be executed.
After coming to the territory of the Xiongnu, Hu Han Xie Shan Yu was very good to Wang Zhaojun, and the two soon had sincere feelings, in order to help the herdsmen who were living in difficulty in the southern Xiongnu, Wang Zhaojun took out the seeds of Chang'an, she taught the local herdsmen to plant crops, and also took the women to be female red, and was deeply loved by the herdsmen.
III. Mogao Grottoes
When I first arrived in the Xiongnu, everything looked so beautiful, but as everyone knows, this is the beginning of Wang Zhaojun's tragic fate, Hu Han Xie Shan Yu treated her like a pearl in the palm of her hand, and gave birth to a son the following year, but just three years later, Hu Han Xie Shan Yu died of illness.
The pain of losing her husband was unforgettable, Wang Zhaojun cried so much that her eyes were about to burst, just when she mustered up the courage to raise her son well, the news of the death of Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty came from Chang'an, which made Wang Zhaojun see the expectation of going home.
After Emperor Han Cheng inherited the throne, he received a letter from Wang Zhaojun, and in the face of Zhaojun's request to return to the dynasty, Emperor Han Cheng hesitated.
Only because Zhaojun went out of the fortress, the relationship between the Han Dynasty and the border nomads became relaxed, and the policy of great unification was strengthened.
You know, the custom of the Xiongnu is that after the death of Shan Yu, his wife will marry the next Shan Yu, Wang Zhaojun was forced to marry his husband's eldest son, and the two started a marriage career of more than ten years, until Wang Zhaojun died in 20 BC.
It has always been rumored that after the death of Wang Zhaojun, the Xiongnu held a grand funeral for him to commemorate this great Han woman, but the specifications and content of the funeral were unknown, until the murals of the Mogao Grottoes were discovered, so that we saw the truth.
In "The Mourning of the Princes of the Nations", we see the people in the painting dancing feverishly, and on closer inspection, some people are cutting off their ears with knives, some are cutting off their noses, and some are even piercing their hearts with long swords.
This is the highest etiquette of the Xiongnu funeral, crazy people through self-harm to pay tribute to the dead, the more serious the degree represents the deeper the feelings, but also reflects the Xiongnu people's reluctance to Zhaojun from the side.