In China's feudal society, the emperor could have "three palaces, six courtyards and seventy-two concubines", and the number of wives and concubines can be imagined. So, how do they live? In some film and television literary and artistic works, this mysterious "forbidden zone" has been fabricated at will, and many unreasonable and bizarre stories have been created. Some say that the emperor has to "summon" a concubine every night, and he wants to summon a concubine to sleep, and the eunuch carries or carries her to the emperor's lodging to sleep, and some say that the emperor's bed is not wrapped in horns, and the concubine who is fortunate to be summoned will climb in from under her feet after stripping naked, etc., these are unreasonable and fabricated out of thin air. In fact, in different dynasties, the emperors and concubines in the harem served the emperor in a variety of ways, and they were different.
The concubines of the Zhou Dynasty slept with the emperor and paid attention to the day
During the Zhou Dynasty, there was no eunuch in the courtesy room, and the emperor's affairs were decided by the sun, moon, stars, and stars. The people of the Zhou Dynasty liked to determine the order of things according to the celestial bodies, yin and yang, and the number of calendars. Even the order in which the concubines and the emperor share the bed must be determined according to the cloudiness of the moon.
The so-called cloudy and sunny days according to the month should first be clarified, the moon will gradually be full from the first to the fifteenth day of each month, and the last fifteen days from the fifteenth to the thirtieth will gradually become short. From the first day to the fifteenth day of the new year, the object of favor progresses from the lower status to the higher status, and the second half of the month is just the opposite, from the high status to the low status.
According to the "Book of Rites", the concubine system of the Zhou Dynasty was: "After the Son of Heaven, there were six palaces, three ladies, nine concubines, twenty-seven world wives, and eighty-one royal wives." It means that the Son of Heaven has six palace maidens, three ladies, nine concubines, twenty-seven wives, and eighty-one wives, adding up to one hundred and twenty-six wives of various ranks and names. With this so-called concubine system, the Sons of Heaven naturally enjoyed it and passed on this unreasonable thing from generation to generation. Just like the false truth, when it was passed on, it changed from the original "one hundred and twenty-six" to "three thousand". Among the more than 3,000 beautiful women, the emperor summoned Empress Xing and the three first-class ladies naturally have absolute priority. When the nine concubines and below serve the emperor, they are all accompanied by nine people to sleep with the emperor. One man sleeping with nine women is ridiculous and unimaginable. How many harem women, their youth, talent, and beauty have become victims of the ruler's lust!
Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty's harem was restrained
After the Yuanfeng coup d'état in the Han Dynasty, Huo Guang's power reached the point where no one could restrain him, and the Huo family's foreign relatives completely controlled the inside and outside of the Han court, the government and the opposition. Although Huo Guang does not have the name of an emperor, he has already acted as an emperor. The Huo family was autocratic, and even the official concubines of Emperor Liu Fuling of the Han Zhao Dynasty were also controlled by Huo Guang. Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty was only eight years old when he ascended the throne, and four years later he made Shangguan his empress. Empress Shangguan was Huo Guang's niece and was six years old at the time.
After Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty Liu Fuling was a little older, he was surrounded and locked up by Huo Guang's cronies on the left and right. Outside, Huo Guang's two sons-in-law served as palace guards to protect the emperor's access, and inside, the empress, Huo Guang's niece, was watching. The palace personnel all obeyed Huo Guang's will, and even signaled the imperial doctors to let the emperor "forbid" on the grounds of the emperor's infirmity, prohibiting the emperor from living with other concubines, let alone summoning luck. Huo Guang also stipulated that all women in the palace must wear pants with front and back crotch, and are not allowed to wear skirts. Moreover, the front and back crotch pants worn must be tied with a few more trouser belts, so as not to make the young emperor have a sexual impulse and be fortunate to other concubines, in order to let Emperor Zhao of Han only focus on his niece, let Empress Shangguan give birth to a boy and a half girl for Emperor Zhao, and the heir to the throne must have the blood of the Huo family. In this way, except for Queen Shangguan, many harem beauties are not allowed to serve the emperor. However, although Empress Shangguan was good at pampering in the special room, she did not give birth to a prince and a princess, which directly led to Emperor Zhao's thirteen-year reign. but they had no children. What's even more absurd is that since Huo Guang announced that concubines in the harem are not allowed to wear skirts and tie trouser belts, several concubines have unfortunately died unjustly in Huangquan for violating this regulation.
Emperor Wu of Jin took a sheep cart to choose a concubine
In the later period of the Western Jin Dynasty, Emperor Wu Sima Yan's life was decadent and extravagant. In 273 A.D., a large number of virgins from the families of civil and military officials above the selected rank entered the palace. In the second year, 5,000 virgins from civil and military officials and ordinary scholars were selected to enter the palace. So far, together with more than 5,000 palace maids of Emperor Wei Yuan and Emperor Sun Hao of the end of Wu, there are more than 10,000 beauties in the harem. He was dazzled and at a loss, because every day he did not know who to choose to sleep, so he pulled the chariot with a sheep, and when the sheep stopped in front of the house where the concubine lived, he drank and had fun with the concubine, and slept in the room of the concubine. The concubines racked their brains to compete for favor and companionship, so some concubines inserted bamboo leaves by the door, and some soaked salt juice in the open space in front of the door, so as to attract the emperor's sheep cart, so as to get the emperor's favor. Achieve the purpose of serving and competing for favor. Hu Guifei in the harem is the favorite concubine of Emperor Wu of Jin, because Concubine Hu is not only beautiful and soft-tempered, but the most important thing is that she is good at luring sheep with a bow, so Emperor Wu of Jin often stays with her.
The harem of the Tang Dynasty paid attention to the order
People are accustomed to call "three thousand beauties in the harem", in fact, in the Tang Dynasty, three thousand was just an imaginary number, and there were tens of thousands of beauties in the harem of the Tang Dynasty. Due to the large number of beautiful women, the distribution of harem attendants naturally became a problem. However, the women of the harem of the Tang Dynasty had a clear status, in order: the queen, the four ladies: the concubine, the concubine, the concubine, the virtuous concubine (the above is the first product); the nine concubines: Zhaoyi, Zhaorong, Zhaoyuan, Xiuyi, contouring, Xiuyi, Chongyi, Chongrong, Chongyuan (the above is the second product); the twenty-seventh woman: Jieyu nine (for the third product), nine beauties (for the fourth product), nine talented people (for the fifth product); eighty-one royal wives: Baolin 27 (for the sixth product), 27 royal maids (for the seventh grade), 27 Cai Nu ( for the positive eight products). These high-status concubines, of course, there are many attendant female officials, palace maids, miscellaneous servants, etc., the number is very large. The order of the harem of the Tang Dynasty was formulated according to the full moon and the lack of the moon, which was similar to that of the Zhou Dynasty.
The first fifteen days of each month are gradually full, and the last fifteen days are gradually lacking, so from the first day to the fifteenth day of the new year, from the low status to the highest, and from the sixteenth to the end of the month, it is opposed to the turn of the high status to the low status, the queen and the fourth lady have priority, and the nine concubines and the following are "ninety-nine and royal", that is, every nine people share the favor for one night. To be more detailed, from the first day to the ninth day of the first month, there are eighty-one royal wives sharing one night with every nine people, thirteen is nine concubines, fourteen is the fourth lady, and fifteen is the queen's exclusive use; similarly, sixteen is the queen's exclusive use, and seventeen is the fourth lady. Eighteen is nine concubines, nineteen to twenty-one is twenty-seven wives, and every nine people share one night, and twenty-two to thirty are eighty-one royal wives every nine people. On the whole, two nights for the queen, two nights for the fourth lady, six nights for the world's wife, and eighteen nights for the royal wife are fair distributions for the concubines, but for the Son of Heaven, he can't choose freely, and he has to deal with several at a time, which is really not a pleasant thing. Although the rules for the harem concubines to accompany the imperial bed are clear, because there are many concubines, from time to time some people are unwell or menstrual affairs come, so the night on duty is very complicated and troublesome, so most of the palace set up a "female history" to manage the order of the concubines and concubines to serve the emperor.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there were many concubines in the Tang Ming Palace, so they dug out their hearts and came up with a strange trick - love with butterflies. Every spring, Emperor Tang Ming held a banquet in the palace all day long, let many concubines wear flowers, he caught a butterfly by himself, and then released it to see which concubine it fell on, and the concubine slept that night. Later, it wasn't until Yang Guifei was favored and the game of choosing a concubine to sleep with Butterfly Shi Ai stopped not being used.
The Qing Emperor summoned the concubine
Before the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Shengjing Imperial Palace had fewer residences, only the middle palace Qingning Palace and Guan Ju, Lintoe, Yanqing, Yongfu four palaces, the two halls of the Dazheng Hall and the Chongzheng Hall did not have a bed, so Emperor Taizong Taiji or in the middle palace, or could only go to a concubine's residence in the warm pavilion to spend the night, and did not sleep alone to summon a concubine to accompany him. However, after the Qing Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing, the situation has changed greatly, and there are more than 9,000 halls and palaces in the Forbidden City, in addition to the east and west palaces where the concubines live, the emperor also has residences, such as the magnificent Qianqing Palace or the Yangxin Palace. After the emperor got married, the queen lived with the emperor for three months, and had to spend the newlywed Yan'er period until she chose a place to live in the east and west six palaces. In addition to the queen, the emperor wants to summon a concubine to sleep, so he looks at the sign after dinner, and when he turns to a certain place, he is informed by the eunuch, and he will go to the emperor's bedroom at night to be happy. Every time the queen or concubine went to bed, a eunuch recorded the year, month and date in detail as evidence of conception. Every day after dinner, the imperial eunuch would put the green head tag with the concubine's name written on it in a silver platter, and then kneel on the ground and hold the silver plate high, waiting for the emperor's orders. If the emperor has no intention of finding a concubine to spend the night, he simply says "step down", and if the emperor takes a fancy to a concubine, he will reach out and turn her green head over the lot. After the imperial eunuch stepped down, he handed over the green-headed sign to the eunuch who was on an errand. Their task was to first inform the emperor's chosen concubines, let her wash and prepare, and then wrap her naked body in a special feather coat and carry her to the emperor's bedroom. After the emperor and his concubines went to bed, the eunuchs had to wait outside the palace. If the time limit is exceeded, the eunuch will shout "It's time" outside! If there is no reply from the emperor, the eunuch will shout again. This is repeated three times, the emperor must answer, and the concubines who are sleeping must be sent back. At the same time, the accompanying eunuch asked Emperor Ming if he would allow his concubines to spend the night to have children. If the emperor said "stay", then the eunuch would record the date in detail as evidence of a future conception, and if the emperor said he did not want to, he would immediately administer contraception to the concubine.
The queen who refused to be summoned by the emperor
For thousands of years, there have been many concubines in the emperor's harem, and the concubines have all done whatever it takes to get the emperor's favor, and they all take it as the greatest luxury to be called by the emperor. The reason is very simple, as long as you get the favor of the emperor, you can become the master of the harem, you can get glory and wealth, and you can have everything. However, it is unbelievable that someone refused to be fortunate to the emperor. This refusal was the empress of Emperor Wu of Yuan, Hongjira.
Queen Hongji is thrifty and diligent by nature, open-minded and cheerful, will not be jealous, and is strict with herself. The third empress Qi, who lived in Xingsheng West Palace, was favored by the emperor and often stayed with the emperor. The ministers and attendants on the left and right told Empress Hongjira about this, and she did not show jealousy or complaining. Once, Hongji Thorn went out of Beijing with Emperor Yuanwu to inspect, and on the way, Emperor Yuanwu sent an internal official to pass a decree to meet the Thorn Queen, but the Assassin excused himself too late at night. The internal official reported to Emperor Yuanwu, and Emperor Yuanwu ordered the internal official to say that he was serving the emperor, and repeated it several times, but he never agreed.
In history, not only Empress Hongjira, but also Luo Luo, the palace maid during the period of Emperor Yang of Sui, also refused to be fortunate many times. Once, after Emperor Yang of Sui was drunk, he toured the palaces and happened to meet the palace maid Luo Luo. Luo Luo knows the mystery very well and is afraid of Concubine Xiao, because Concubine Xiao made Han Jun'e disappear from the world not long ago and disappeared without a trace, and everyone with a discerning eye knows that Han Jun'e has gone to the Western Heavens, so he let Emperor Yang get close, and Luo Luo excused himself from serving the emperor on the grounds of "moon affairs".
For thousands of years, Chinese monarchs have practiced polygamy, and the concubines in the harem, less than hundreds, more than tens of thousands, is a huge "fandai" team, the exact number may not be clear. Regardless of whether they can get the emperor's favor or refuse to be lucky, the vast majority of them are the emperor's slaves and servants, consciously or unconsciously acting as tools of political struggle, as playthings for the emperor's pleasure and midwives for inheritance. Therefore, the tone of the life of the emperor and the concubines in the harem is sad and bitter, and their lives are more hateful than love, bitter than sweet. There is more mourning than joy, more crying than laughing.
Well, today's article ends here, thank you for having such a good temperament and come to see Xiao Jia's article, friends who like history and real estate knowledge, you can pay attention to Xiao Jia, and good articles ^_^ will be updated every day