Due to the length of the article, it is divided into two parts: the first part is about Zhu Qiyu of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Jianshen of the Ming Xianzong, Zhu Youzhu of the Ming Dynasty and Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty. The next part tells about the other five emperors who ascended the throne as concubines: Ming Muzong Zhu Zaikun, Mingshenzong Zhu Yijun, Mingguangzong Zhu Changluo, Ming Xizong Zhu Youxiao, and Ming Sizong Zhu Youzhen.
The third son of Ming Shizong Zhu Houxi: Ming Muzong Zhu Zaikun
In fact, Emperor Sejong (Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi) personally crowned three queens in his life, but none of the three queens gave birth to a son-in-law:
Empress Chen of Xiaojiesu is the wife of Sejong, who entered the palace through the draft in the first year of Jiajing and was directly canonized as the queen of the middle palace; In the seventh year of Jiajing, when Sejong was drinking tea with Empress Chen, he glanced at the arms of the other concubines, and Empress Chen was jealous and threw the cup directly. Sejong was furious, and Empress Chen was terrified. In fact, at this time, Empress Chen was already pregnant, and she was scared by Sejong to have a miscarriage and bleed. Sejong wanted to abolish Empress Chen directly, but he was opposed by the ministers before giving up, but he moved the seriously ill Empress Chen directly out of Kunning Palace, and Empress Chen died of illness in October of that year.
Empress Zhang: Empress Zhang entered the palace with Empress Chen and was named Concubine Shun, and after Empress Chen was deposed, Zhang was named the successor. However, in the thirteenth year of Jiajing, Empress Zhang was deposed, lived in another palace, and died of illness in the cold palace in the fifteenth year of Jiajing. In the eighteenth year of Jiajing, Sejong resumed his status as a successor.
Empress Xiaolie Fang: In the ninth year of Jiajing, the Fang family was elected to the palace, in the tenth year of Jiajing, he was named a concubine, and in the thirteenth year of Jiajing, Empress Zhang was abolished, and after the Fang family was named the successor. Jiajing 21 years in the "Renyin Palace Change" saved Sejong's life, Sejong is very grateful to the other queen, Jiajing 26 years Empress Fang died of illness, Sejong insisted on burying Queen Fang according to the specifications of the original queen, and enshrined its god card with the temple.
Of the three empresses of Sejong, except for the Empress Chan of Hyoje-su, the other two empresses were not pregnant. Although Empress Chen was pregnant, she did not give birth to a son-in-law.
The first to give birth to a prince for Sejong was the Yan family, who was named Concubine Li at the beginning, and was named Concubine Li because she gave birth to the emperor's eldest son, but the eldest son of the emperor died in only two months, and was posthumously named Prince Aichong by Sejong. Yan was promoted to imperial concubine in the fifteenth year of Jiajing, and died of illness in the nineteenth year of Jiajing.
The second prince of Sejong was the Wang family, who was named Zhao Concubine at the beginning, and gave birth to the second son of the emperor in the fifteenth year of Jiajing. Due to the death of the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Jae-gu was the de facto eldest son of Sejong and was named the crown prince. And Wang's mother was also named a concubine by virtue of her son Guijin. In the nineteenth year of Jiajing, he was promoted to the imperial concubine, but it is a pity that the second son of the emperor, Zhu Zaiyu, died of illness in the twenty-eighth year of Jiajing at the age of 14. The following year, Wang also died of illness.
The first two princes of Sejong have died one after another, so the third son of the emperor is the actual eldest son, the third son of the emperor Zhu Zaikun was born to Concubine Du Kang (when she gave birth to a concubine, she was named Concubine Kang, and her mother was named Concubine Kang by virtue of her son), in fact, Concubine Du Kang was not favored. In the year of Zhu Zaikun's birth, Sejong also got the fourth son, the fifth son, and the sixth son, which means that Sejong added four princes at once this year; The following year, the seventh son was born, but the fifth, sixth and seventh sons of the emperor all died young.
In the eighteenth year of Jiajing, the third son of the emperor Zhu Zaizhen was named King Yu, and the fourth son of the emperor Zhu Zaizhen was named King Jing.
In the twenty-eighth year of Jiajing, the crown prince Zhu Zaiyu died of illness, and it stands to reason that the third son should be crowned the crown prince. However, Sejong thought that so many of his sons died because he established the prince too early, and listened to the words of the Taoist priest that "the two dragons do not meet", not only did not make the third son of the emperor Zhu Zaikun the crown prince, but also did not meet the two princes as much as possible.
In the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, King Jing Zhu Zaizhen died of illness, and the following year Shizong died of illness, Zhu Zaikun inherited the throne, known as Ming Muzong in history.
The third son of Ming Muzong: Zhu Yijun of Mingshenzong
When Ming Muzong was the king of Yu, the princess he married was Li, Jiajing was named the princess of Yuwang in the 32nd year, and gave birth to the eldest son and eldest daughter, but unfortunately the eldest son and eldest daughter died young, and Li also died of illness in the 37th year of Jiajing, only 25 years old. After Mu Zong succeeded to the throne, he posthumously named his wife as "Empress Xiaoyi", and after Zhu Yijun succeeded to the throne of Mingshenzong, he posthumously named his mother as "Empress Xiaoyizhuang".
After Li's death, Chen was elected as the successor princess of King Yu, and after Mu Zong succeeded to the throne in the first year of Longqing, Chen was named empress.
Although Chen is young and beautiful, he is not favored, and the reason why he is not favored is because Chen is a queen who dares to speak out, and everything is important to the government. However, Mu Zong was suppressed for many years in the Sejong Dynasty, and finally sat on the throne himself, so he naturally wanted to indulge in vocal music unscrupulously. Empress Chen persuaded Mu Zong: Don't live up to the trust of your ancestors, and take care of your health.
Mu Zong not only did not listen to the persuasion of the queen, but moved the queen directly out of Kunning Palace, and had the intention of abolishing the queen. Chen was sad and angry and fell ill directly, but fortunately, the ministers persuaded Mu Zong one after another, and Mu Zong relented: wait until the queen's health improves, and let her return to the middle palace.
However, although the Chen family is virtuous, beautiful, and kind, he was snubbed because he did not go with Mu Zong, so how could he be pregnant?
However, the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Yijun, is very filial to the Chen family, and in addition to asking the emperor's father and biological mother every day, he will definitely go to his mother's palace to ask for peace, and the Chen family is very happy about this.
After Zhu Yijun succeeded to the throne, he respected his mother-in-law Chen as the queen mother, and died of illness in the twenty-fourth year of Wanli, and was posthumously named "Queen Xiao'an" by Shenzong.
In this way, neither of Muzong's empresses left a concubine.
The eldest son of Mu Zong was born to the palace maid Li Caifeng, Li Caifeng entered the palace of King Yu to serve by King Yu's side, Jiajing gave birth to the eldest son Zhu Yijun in the forty-second year of Jiajing, as for the name of the eldest son of the concubine was actually in the first year of Longqing, because Sejong believed in Taoism very much in his later years, and no one dared to establish a prince in front of him. Naturally, no one dared to tell him about the birth of his eldest grandson, until the first year of Longqing, when Mu Zong took the throne and named his eldest son Zhu Yijun.
Mu Zong named his eldest son Zhu Yijun, which is also very meaningful:
The holy king controls the world, just like the turning of a weapon
At this time, although Zhu Yijun was the eldest son, he had not yet been crowned the crown prince, and Mu Zong's name "Jun" was to give him high hopes and let him inherit the throne. In fact, Mu Zong is still in the prime of life, and the queen is young, so she may not be able to give birth to a son-in-law.
But Mu Zong can do this, which shows that he is still very fond of the palace maid Li Caifeng.
In the second year of Longqing, Mu Zong named his eldest son Zhu Yijun as the crown prince, and his mother Li Caifeng's mother was later named a concubine by virtue of her son.
In the sixth year of Longqing, Mu Zong died of illness at the age of 36.
Zhu Yijun ascended the throne at the age of 10, known as Mingshenzong in history, with the year name Wanli, and respected his biological mother and grandmother as the queen mother.
The eldest son of Mingshen Zongshu: Mingguangzong Zhu Changluo, the shortest reigning emperor of the Ming Dynasty
The reason why Zhu Changluo of Mingguangzong is called "the Son of Heaven in January" is because he died of illness after a month of reign, and he was the shortest reigning emperor among the 16 emperors of the Ming Dynasty. Not only that, Zhu Changluo can also be called the saddest emperor, in the case of the queen without a concubine, he should be the rightful crown prince, but because of the existence of Zheng Guifei, not only can he not read, he almost became an illiterate person, and even if he was finally named the prince, he still lived under the abuse of Zheng Guifei for many years.
What's going on here?
Shenzong Zhu Yijun's wife, that is, the queen sister, is Sister Wang Xi, who entered the palace through the draft, was named the queen of the main palace, and gave birth to a princess for Shenzong. After that, she did not get pregnant and give birth to children, and in the twenty-fourth year of Wanli, after Li Jingfei (Emperor Wanli's favorite concubine, second only to Zheng Guifei) died of illness, she raised the two princes left by Li Jingfei: Zhu Changrun, the sixth son of the emperor, and Zhu Changying, the seventh son of the emperor.
Sister Wang Xi was a very virtuous queen who often advised Shenzong. And in front of the Divine Sect, those upright and outspoken ministers spoke, and they also used their own expenses for disaster relief or as military salaries. It is precisely because Sister Wang Xi is so virtuous that she is called "Female Zhongyao Shun". Although Shenzong does not favor Sister Wang Xi, he respects her very much. Even if he loves Concubine Zheng again, he has no intention of abolishing the queen and letting Concubine Zheng be the queen.
For Sister Wang Xi, the only regret is that she did not give birth to a prince for Shenzong.
In this way, the eldest son of the emperor is very important.
Shenzong's first son was born to a palace queen, and the Wang family was not selected as a concubine in the draft, but stayed by the side of Empress Dowager Li (Shenzong's biological mother) in Cining Palace as a palace maid. In the ninth year of Shenzong, when Shenzong went to Cining Palace, he pampered her when he saw Wang, but he didn't expect that this time Wang was pregnant.
In fact, Shenzong did not plan to make the Wang family a concubine, so he did not tell the people around him about the favor.
But Wang's belly slowly grew and he couldn't hide it, and after the Empress Dowager Li learned about it, she asked her son if there was any such thing, and Shenzong wanted to pretend to be confused at first, but the Empress Dowager Li checked the "Living Note", and Shenzong had to admit that he was pampered by Wang. In this way, under the intervention of the Empress Dowager Li, Shenzong named Wang as Concubine Gong, and in August of the tenth year of Wanli, Wang gave birth to the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Changluo.
It stands to reason that the Wang family should be named a concubine when he gave birth to the emperor's eldest son, but Shenzong did not favor the Wang family, so he did not give the Wang family a title.
Although in the twelfth year of Wanli, the Wang family gave birth to another princess, Shenzong still had no plans to promote the throne for the Wang family. In this way, the Wang family stayed in the position of Concubine Gong for 24 years. Even if her son was named the crown prince in the twenty-ninth year of Wanli, her position was not promoted.
And it is worth mentioning that in the case of the queen Wang Xijie's delay in getting pregnant, the eldest son of the emperor should have been named the crown prince a long time ago, but Shenzong did not officially make him the crown prince until the emperor's eldest son Zhu Changluo was 20 years old, and he had very little time to study before Zhu Changluo was 20 years old.
And the reason why Shenzong did this was because of his favored Concubine Zheng.
Concubine Zheng Guifei is different from other concubines who keep to themselves, she has a lively personality, she is not afraid of Shenzong at all, and she laughs and plays with Shenzong like an ordinary couple. Shenzong is very fond of Zheng Guifei, Zheng Guifei has given birth to six princesses for Shenzong, because the second son of the emperor died, the third son of the emperor Zhu Changxun is the son of Zheng Guifei. With the third son of the emperor, Zhu Changxun, Concubine Zheng Guifei's ambition became bigger, and she wanted her son to be the crown prince. And Shenzong dotes on Concubine Zheng and also wants the third son of the emperor to be the crown prince.
But with the emperor's eldest son Zhu Changluo here, it is against the ancestral system for the third son of the emperor to want to be crowned the crown prince, so Shenzong simply delayed it again and again and refused to make the eldest son the crown prince. In the end, under the repeated persuasion of the ministers and the persuasion of the Empress Dowager Li, Shenzong reluctantly named the emperor's eldest son Zhu Changluo as the crown prince and the third son Zhu Changxun as the blessed king.
Since Zhu Changluo was named the crown prince, his biological mother Wang Gongfei was imprisoned in Jingyang Palace and was not allowed to be free.
Ten years later, Concubine Wang Gong died of illness.
Although Zhu Changluo was named the crown prince, with Concubine Zheng Guifei here, his life was very difficult. The "Attack Case" in the forty-third year of Wanli (someone rushed into the palace and beat people when they saw them) had an inseparable relationship with Zheng Guifei, but there was a god to protect Zheng Guifei, and Zhu Changluo was helpless. Fortunately, Zhu Changluo persevered until his father Zhu Yijun died of illness, and finally sat on the throne, known as Mingguangzong in history.
However, only a month after sitting on the throne, Zhu Changluo died suddenly because of the "Red Pill Case".
And the "Red Pill Case" is also inextricably linked with Zheng Guifei, fortunately, Zhu Changluo has given birth to many princes before his death, and after his death, his eldest son Zhu Youxiao inherited the throne, known as Ming Xizong in history. However, Zhu Youxiao was pregnant because of his nursing mother, although many concubines were pregnant, but in the end, they did not end up.
The eldest son of Mingguang Zongshu: Ming Xizong Zhu Youxiao
Guangzong Zhu Changluo's wife is Guo, Wanli was named the crown princess in February of the 30th year of Wanli, and two years later gave birth to the eldest daughter of the emperor for Zhu Changluo, who was still the prince, but the eldest daughter died at the age of 7, and Guo died of illness in the 41st year of Wanli. Because of the existence of Zheng Guifei, Guo's funeral specifications have not been set, and the ministers suggested that they be buried according to the specifications of the crown princess, but Zheng Guifei did not agree, and the Natural God Sect disagreed.
It wasn't until two years later that the "Attack Case" occurred, and in order to appease the crown prince, Shenzong finally ordered the burial of Guo with the specifications of the crown princess.
Guo was posthumously named "Gongjing Princess", and after Xizong Zhu Youxiao ascended the throne, he posthumously crowned his mother as Empress Xiaoyuanzhen.
After Guo, Zhu Changluo did not succeed the crown princess, so he did not canonize the queen after Zhu Changluo ascended the throne.
In this way, the eldest son is particularly important.
The eldest son of Guangzong was born to the queen of filial piety and the queen Wang, Wanli 33 years gave birth to the eldest son Zhu Youxiao (at that time for the selection of the servant), the mother with the son Guijin was named a talented person, and then gave birth to the second son, but unfortunately the second son died. In the forty-seventh year of Wanli, Wang died of illness, and after his son Zhu Youxiao inherited the throne, he posthumously crowned his biological mother as the queen mother of filial piety.
Because Zhu Youxiao's biological mother Wang died early, Shenzong asked Prince Zhu Changluo's Li Xuanzhi (Xi Li) to take care of Zhu Youxiao. After Zhu Changluo succeeded to the throne, he wanted to make his favorite Xi Li the imperial concubine, but Xi Li had ambitions to be the queen. However, before he could canonize Xi Li, Zhu Changluo died of illness.
After Guangzong died of illness, Xi Li lived in the Qianqing Palace at the instigation of Shenzong Zheng Guifei, and imprisoned his adopted son Zhu Youxiao, and asked the courtiers to hand over all the twists and turns to themselves, which had the intention of interfering in politics.
The ministers were worried that Xi Li and Shenzong's Zheng Guifei would listen to the government together, so they urged Xi Li to move to the palace. This is the "palace transfer case" in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, and finally in the ministers many times, Xi Li had to move out of the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youxiao was able to live in the Qianqing Palace, officially enthroned and called the emperor, known as Ming Xizong in history, and the year name Apocalypse.
After Xizong succeeded to the throne, he named his adoptive mother Xi Li as Concubine Kang.
Xizong was only 16 years old when he succeeded to the throne, and he had nothing to rely on in the inner court, so he named the nursing mother's guest room as the holy lady, and the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, who served him, was divided into the eunuch Bingbi, the celebrant and the eunuch. The Hakka family is Wei Zhongxian's rival, and the two colluded together, not only controlling the inner court, but also interfering in the government.
The ministers were worried that the Hakka would interfere in politics, so they drove the Hakka out of the palace.
However, Xizong trusted the Hakka and Wei Zhongxian very much, and soon recalled the Hakka family back to the palace.
According to the ancestral system, the Hakka should live in the West Ersuo as a nursing mother, but Xizong allowed the Hakka to live in the Xian'an Palace. And the Hakka would go to the Qianqing Palace every day to take care of Xizong's diet, and even later, Xizong didn't like the food in the imperial dining room, but only liked the food cooked by the Hakka family. The Hakka family served by Xizong's side, admiring the moon and flowers together, just like their own mother and son.
At this time, the Hakka family was dressed up every day and rode in a sedan chair, just like a concubine in the palace. Every time I go back to my private house, I need hundreds of guards to accompany me, and after leaving the palace, I change to an eight-carrying sedan chair.
Many of the ministers, large and small, and even the princes, were henchmen of the Hakka clan, and if they saw the Hakka coming, they would wait respectfully, and bow down together when the Hakka arrived, which was even more neat than when they greeted Xizong. When Xizong went to court, he would leave a phoenix seat next to his seat for the Hakka family. When Xizong retreated from the dynasty, the Hakka clan would also follow the dynasty.
It can be said that the Hakka family is like the "queen mother" of the harem, and they can also go to court together.
Xizong trusts the Hakka family, and the big and small things in the palace are taken care of by the Hakka family, just like the master of the harem.
The Hakka family was worried that the harem concubines would be favored by Xizong after giving birth to the prince, which would threaten their status. Therefore, they tried all kinds of methods to prevent the concubine from getting pregnant, or even if the concubine was pregnant, there was a Hakka family, and she could not give birth; Even if you are born, you can't grow big.
Xizong had three princes in his life:
Eldest son Zhu Ciran: Zhu Ciran was born to Empress Zhang of Xizong, and when Empress Zhang was pregnant, she suddenly had back pain and wanted to find a palace person who could massage herself to massage herself. Keshi found a masseuse to massage Queen Zhang, but she didn't expect Queen Zhang to give birth to a stillborn baby and was posthumously named Prince Huaichong, and then Queen Zhang was not pregnant.
Second son Zhu Ciyan: was born to Concubine Fan Hui of Xizong, and in the absence of a son-in-law, the second son born to Concubine Fan Hui is the eldest son of the concubine, a sure candidate for the crown prince. However, the second son died before he was a year old, and was posthumously mourned for the prince.
The third son, Zhu Cijiong: was born to Concubine Ren Rong of Xizong, and died less than a year old.
In addition to these three princes, there were also many pregnant concubines who were poisoned by the Hakka family and Wei Zhongxian:
Because Concubine Zhang Yu offended the Hakka family and Wei Zhongxian, she was imprisoned in another palace by Wei Zhongxian when she was pregnant, and she was starved to death.
Concubine Li Cheng was worried that she would end up like Concubine Zhang Yu, so she secretly hid a lot of food at ordinary times, and later Concubine Li Cheng was really imprisoned by the Hakka family when she was pregnant, and survived with these hidden foods, and later gave birth to the second daughter of the emperor; However, although the second daughter of the emperor was born, she died at the age of one.
In this way, Xizong reigned for seven years, although many concubines were pregnant and gave birth to princes and princesses, but because of the existence of the Hakka family and Wei Zhongxian, none of them grew up. When Xizong was seriously ill in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, he had to die with his brother and pass his throne to his fifth brother Zhu Youzhen. The reason why it was passed on to the fifth brother was because when Xizong was seriously ill, the second, third and fourth brothers had already passed away, and among all the younger brothers of Xizong, only Zhu Youzhen was still alive.
In this way, Zhu Youzhen became the sixteenth and last emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
epilogue
The first five emperors of the Ming Dynasty were all sons in law to inherit the throne, and later from Zhu Qiyu of the Ming Dynasty and Zhu Jianshen of the Ming Dynasty, most of them were concubines to inherit the throne. In the concubine to inherit the throne, it is also necessary to follow the order of the eldest and youngest. However, the eldest son (actually the eldest son) was not necessarily born to the emperor's favorite concubine, and the fact that he was not born to the empress inevitably made the emperor reluctant to make him the crown prince;
For example, Zhu Jianshen of Ming Xianzong wanted to make the fourth son of the emperor born to his favorite concubine Bai Xianfei the crown prince and replace the third son of the emperor Zhu Youzhu (the first two princes of Xianzong died young); However, because the ministers objected, they gave up.
Another example is Mingshenzong Zhu Yijun, because he favored Zheng Guifei, he wanted to make the third son of the emperor born to Zheng Guifei the crown prince, and for this reason, he had a fifteen-year dispute with the ministers for the crown prince, and finally he could only follow the "Emperor Ming Zu Xun" to make the emperor's eldest son Zhu Changluo the crown prince
Although these two eldest sons (actually the eldest sons) eventually sat on the throne, they were somewhat wronged for various reasons, especially Zhu Changluo of Mingguangzong.
In the late Ming Dynasty, there were two breaks in the heir to the throne:
One is Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao died without a queen, Zhu Houzhao was promiscuous and did not give birth to a son and a half daughter;
One is Zhu Youxiao of Ming Xizong, because of the re-nursing mother Keshi and the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, he died without a queen.
It is precisely because of this that the speed of the demise of the Ming Dynasty was accelerated.