Horse, refers to the son-in-law of the ancient emperor, in the concept of many people, the horse can be said to be the most enviable profession, not only married the delicate princess as a wife, but also embarked on the pinnacle of life, from ancient times to the present, there are many young talents on this road to follow, expecting themselves to be favored.
In ancient times, when monogamy and multiple concubines were practiced, most people would take a few concubines after having a wife, from the emperor to the commoners, but everyone who had this ability was the same.
So the question is, can a concubine who has become the emperor's son-in-law continue to take concubines after marrying a princess? After all, this social atmosphere is like this, and the concubine is also a human being, and it is impossible without this idea.
In fact, in ancient times, once you became a concubine, whether you could take a concubine was not something that the concubine wanted, even if it was a noble status, but as a member of the royal family, it was more about considering the emperor's face rather than his own wishes, and more importantly, whether the concubine dared to take a concubine depended on whether the princess would agree.
As a result, the ancient concubine in the matter of concubines, basically will not be allowed, after all, marrying the emperor's daughter, if you take a concubine without consent, then waiting for the concubine, it will be a severe punishment, and may even lose your life, but there are exceptions to everything, there are a few concubines in history, but the ending is not very good.
The earliest concubines did not refer to the emperor's son-in-law, but to the officials responsible for protecting the emperor's safety.
The word "horse" comes from the official position "Captain of the Horse", the specific work of this official position is the adjutant in charge of the accompanying vehicles when the emperors are driving, because they are also responsible for the safety of the emperor's travel, so it is generally a person who is extremely trusted by the emperor can serve as it.
In the Three Kingdoms period, the princess of Jinxiang of Wei married the minister He Yan, after marrying the princess, He Yan took the official position of "Captain of the Horse", after all, he was a son-in-law and half a son, and it was more appropriate for him to be responsible for the security of the emperor.
Not only in the later dynasties, the emperor will appoint the son-in-law after marriage as the position of "Horse Captain", including nomadic regimes such as the Liao State, they have also followed suit, and over time, the title of the emperor's son-in-law has gradually evolved into "Horse".
But no matter how the title is changed, one thing that cannot be changed is that the princess marries the concubine, which is called "next marriage", and the concubine marries the princess, which is called "Shang Zhu".
It can be seen from the meaning of these two words that the status of the horse and the princess is not equal, this inequality has been around for a long time, no matter how good the horse's background is, but as long as the princess is married, it is the relationship of "husband and wife in bed, monarch and minister under the bed".
If you meet a reasonable princess, it's fine, but if you meet the kind of unreasonable, even nonsense princess, and then use the identity of the princess to suppress the horse, then the final result is that the horse family is in trouble, not peaceful, serious, and even killed.
During the Han Dynasty, Ban Shi, the grandson of the famous diplomat Ban Gu, was after marrying the princess, and finally couldn't bear the humiliation and killed the princess in anger, but his whole family was also beheaded.
The princess married by Ban Shi was the sister of Emperor An of the Han Dynasty, Princess Yincheng, who thought that the two would be able to fall in love after marriage, but they didn't know that this princess of Yincheng was a person who was "difficult to fill".
After a long time, this princess relied on her noble status and didn't take Ban Shi seriously at all, and even in order to satisfy her own fun, she openly led the male pet to her home and had fun in front of Ban Shi.
Who can stand this? But Ban Shi still held back, after all, the princess's identity is not ordinary, but his forbearance, in the eyes of Princess Yin Cheng, is a sign of cowardice and retreat, so he is even more presumptuous.
Until one day, Princess Yin Cheng was at home, but she happened to be bumped into by Ban Shi who went home, this is not the end, Princess Yin Cheng didn't know whether she liked heavy taste or deliberately provoked, and actually used a commanding tone to let Ban Shi also participate, so Ban Shi was enraged, took out a short sword from his arms, and ended Princess Yin Cheng's life on the spot.
And afterwards, the Ban Shi family was all executed by Emperor An of Han because of this incident.
Although in ancient times, three wives and four concubines were the right of every man, but once they became a concubine, in this kind of thing, they still had to weigh and weigh, even if the concubine did not want to save face, the emperor still wanted to save face, if the concubine dared to do this kind of thing without asking for consent, then it was not only he who suffered.
The main reason for this situation is that the relationship between the princess and the colt cannot be treated as an ordinary couple.
Marriage pays attention to equal treatment, but the marriage of the princess is destined to be unequal from the moment it begins, and the first tone of two people before the identity of husband and wife is that the husband and wife in bed and the monarch and the minister under the bed, that is, even if the princess is married, the husband and wife cannot change and ignore the courtesy of the monarch and the minister.
Therefore, although in ancient times, although men were inferior to women, this clause was useless for princesses and horses, and the princess of the golden branches and jade leaves, as the daughter of the emperor, had a natural attribute when she got along with the horse, that is, rank suppression.
This situation is even more obvious in the Tang Dynasty, because most of the princesses in the Tang Dynasty are relatively strong, therefore, the Tang Dynasty's concubine is really very difficult, and they have to be careful to get along with each other on weekdays, let alone take a concubine, it is really a fantasy.
Tang Zhongzong's second daughter Princess Yicheng, named Li Xiangqiu, her concubine is called Pei Xun, this Pei Ye, I don't know if I can't bear the loneliness or eat the leopard gall, for a certain period of time, I want to take a concubine, but he knows that he can't offend the princess at home, so he secretly raised the concubine outside, but the paper can't hold the fire, and finally was learned by Princess Yicheng.
And Princess Yicheng's next operation surprised everyone, and really made people see what it means to be jealous.
"Princess Pei Xun of Tang Yicheng has a foreign favorite, and the princess sent eunuchs to hold on to it, cut off her ears and nose, peel off her pubic skin and spread her face, and cut off her hair, so that the judge will be judged, and the bureaucrats will watch it. ”
Princess Yicheng's revenge was very simple, she caught Pei Xun and the woman together, and ordered someone to cut off a piece of skin from each of them, exchange it and stick it on each other's bodies, and at the same time let people come to visit, and Pei Xun had to go to work in this posture, and the little concubine, who was so humiliated, finally hanged herself.
Not only in the Tang Dynasty, but also in the Ming Dynasty, this kind of thing happened, in order to marry the princess, the emperor even forced the minister who already had a family to divorce his wife in order to marry the princess.
When Zhu Di was the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, there was a general named Song Sheng, who was in trouble when Zhu Di raised troops to Jingjing, guarding Hexi, because he did not send troops to recruit the Yan army, so he was grateful to Zhu Di, after Zhu Di ascended the throne, in order to win over Song Sheng, he wanted to marry the princess to Song Sheng's son Song Hu.
But at this time, Song Hu already had a wife, but the emperor's order was difficult to disobey, Zhu Di personally ordered Song Hu to "give out his wife, and still be the master", and finally Song Hu "got his wish" and married the princess.
There are countless examples like this in history, whether it is the domineering and unreasonable of Princess Yicheng, or the toughness of Zhu Di's "marrying a daughter", they all show a common feature, that is, the status of the concubine is really not high, plus the princess's maiden family is the royal family, in this case, even if the concubine does not consider himself, he must also consider his family, so he definitely does not dare to take a concubine privately.
But in the history of thousands of years, it is not uncommon for a concubine to take a concubine, and there are always a few people who are still alive and well after taking a concubine.
During the Song Dynasty, there was a concubine named Wang Xu, who was born in a noble family and married Princess Baoqing, the sister of Song Shenzong, Princess Baoqing was a virtuous and filial woman, and she was also a very "traditional" woman, so after marriage, Wang Shu accepted four concubines in succession, but Princess Baoqing was not jealous, but served her husband as before.
In fact, the reason for this is very simple, because Princess Baoqing once gave birth to a son for Wang Xu, but died soon after birth, and since then, Princess Baoqing has never been able to give birth to children, therefore, in line with the traditional idea of continuing incense, Princess Baoqing took the initiative to persuade Wang Shu to take a concubine.
It can be seen that if the princess agrees, the concubine can also take a concubine, but whether or not to take a concubine is often in the hands of the princess.
So if the princess dies first, can the horse continue the string? In principle, yes, but there can be a price to pay.
In the Ming Dynasty, there are relevant regulations, if the princess is unlucky, the horse will go one step first, the horse will face the problem of whether to continue the string, if the string is continued, there can be no problem, but sorry, the horse will hand over the property given by the royal family, and the title will also be cut off, in short, all the rewards received because of the princess will be erased.
However, the "Da Ming Law" also takes into account the situation similar to the aforementioned Princess Baoqing, after all, there is no heir, which is a big thing in ancient times, so there is a special provision, that is, "All men who are forty and have no heirs have to take concubines".
Including in the Qing Dynasty, it was also to follow the Ming system, whether the concubine could take a concubine, and also considered the situation of the heirs, such as Heshen's son Fengshen Yinde, after marrying Qianlong's daughter Gulun and Princess Xiao, it was also due to the death of the child born by the princess, and the princess could not have children, so Fengshen Yinde accepted several concubines one after another after Princess Zhengde agreed.
Generally speaking, in principle, ancient concubines would not and did not dare to take concubines, the main reasons are:
First, the combination of the concubine and the princess is not only an ordinary husband and wife, but also a political marriage, so the concubine is equivalent to sweeping the face of the royal family;
Second, the strength of the princess, because the princess is of noble birth, so in terms of personality, she will naturally have a superior posture, if she has a concubine, it will make the strong princess be greatly stimulated;
Third, the horse has some scruples, after all, there is a family behind the horse, if because of this matter, let the emperor blame, it will bring about a catastrophe, so the horse is never afraid to take a concubine privately, the truth of the rat taboo, most people still understand.
On the other hand, it is recorded in history that the concubines have a major premise for their behavior, that is, they must obtain the consent of the princess, otherwise everything is not to be discussed, and the reason why the princess will agree is that most of them involve the issue of heirs, and there is basically no other reason.
The ancient concubine, in outsiders seems to be very beautiful, the identity is respected, and the wife is still a golden branch and jade leaves, it is simply on the pinnacle of life, but in fact, the sourness behind the ancient concubine is also obvious to all, once it becomes a concubine, first of all, it is not possible to take a concubine privately, and secondly, the career is basically hopeless, and finally no matter what the princess is, you must maintain respect for the royal family, and the etiquette of the princess can not be less, after all, between the two, first the monarch and minister, and then the husband and wife, so that under this kind of husband and wife relationship, concubine is really a thing that can only be thought about。