(Mingshenzong Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun portrait detail)
In the ninth year of Wanli, in 1581 AD, Wanli Emperor Mingshenzong Zhu Yijun was eighteen years old.
I don't know how many months of this year, the emperor went to his mother Xiaoding Empress Dowager Li's Cining Palace to ask for peace, and on the way back after asking for peace, the emperor happened to meet a handsome palace maid, the name of this palace maid is unknown, only known as Wang.
Wang's appearance, fresh and refined, has a unique flavor, Wanli is an eighteen-year-old young man, it is the stage of infinite curiosity and exploration of the world of the sexes, seeing Wang's delicate and lovely, Wanli did not hold back, pulled Wang to a side hall, and gave her luck on the spot.
This matter, Wanli did it very secretly, he patted his ass and left after the Wang family, neither promoted the position of the Wang family, nor left any tokens for the Wang family, because Wanli meant at the time that he would be pulled down after the luck was finished, I will continue to be my emperor, and you will continue to do your palace maid, we have nothing to do with each other.
First, the emperor is young, eighteen years old, he doesn't have too much responsibility, and he doesn't want to take any responsibility for an ordinary palace maid, he doesn't want to be detained as a frivolous Meng Lang because of this matter, and secondly, at that time, his mother Empress Dowager Li was very strict with him, if his mother initiated a ruthless attack, let him kneel for three or five hours, it would be a common thing, and Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the cabinet in the ninth year of Wanli, was not dead, he did not cultivate himself in the palace, but casually came to the palace maid, if Zhang Taiyue knew, You have to educate yourself hard.
Therefore, Wanli chose to hide the dewy love affair of this spring breeze.
Wanli could hide it, but the palace queen clan obviously couldn't hide it, because after being lucky, the Wang family soon became pregnant.
This was not very obvious when she was first pregnant, but as time passed, Wang's belly became bigger and bigger, and Empress Dowager Li soon found out the clue.
(Ming Xiaoding Empress Dowager Li image)
Moreover, this Wang is not an ordinary palace maid in Cining Palace, she belongs to the close attendant, who is responsible for serving the life of the Empress Dowager Li, and the Empress Dowager Li saw that the queen of this palace has a good yellow flower girl's belly, how can it make people bigger, so she immediately asked the Wang family to confess honestly, of course the Wang family did not dare to lie, so she had to tell the matter as it was.
After Wang finished speaking, Empress Dowager Li must find her son Wanli to verify the authenticity, so he immediately called Wanli to Cining Palace to confront him, but he didn't expect that at this time Wanli played a hooligan, pretending to be stupid and ignorant of three questions, and refused to admit that he had a relationship with Wang.
If people don't know, unless you didn't do it, you say you didn't do it, and the living note has the final say.
You must know that there is a unit called the clerical room in the palace of the Ming Dynasty, and the little eunuchs in the clerical room, their main job is to monitor the emperor's every move, and record it in time, the emperor is 24 hours a day, what he eats and drinks, where he goes, who he meets, and even who he has slept with, will be recorded, which is equivalent to a human monitor.
Therefore, despite Wanli's quibbles, Empress Dowager Li took out the "Living Note" and threw it on the ground, Wanli immediately became honest and quickly confessed his criminal behavior, admitting that he had indeed made Wang's stomach bigger.
After Wanli admitted it, she thought that Empress Dowager Li would scold her with her head and face, but the old lady was already overjoyed.
Because, Wanli didn't have a son at that time, and the Wang family is now pregnant with the dragon seed, if he is born a boy in the future, first, the old lady can hold her grandson, and second, this can be regarded as a blessing for the community.
(Ming Dynasty "Living Note" detail)
But obviously, Wanli has a rather disgusted attitude towards the Wang family and the child in Wang's belly, so at that time, Wanli said next to him, saying that the Wang family is a palace maid with a low status, how can he be worthy of being my (the emperor's) woman?
Wanli didn't like the Wang family, but the Empress Dowager Li recognized this palace maid and immediately retorted:
Do you think she has a low status, can't you just seal her up?
As soon as Empress Dowager Li said this, Wanli felt that the old mother was setting herself up, but now there is no way to do it, he had to stubbornly promote the Wang family from the palace maid to Concubine Gong, and this Concubine Wang Gong was also very competitive, and gave birth to a baby boy that year, named Zhu Changluo.
Zhu Changluo, this is Wanli's first son and the eldest son of the concubine.
In the eyes of many people, Concubine Wang Gong is lucky, there are thousands of palace maids in the Forbidden City, not to mention a huge class leap like Wang, there is basically no direct work from palace maids to concubines, many palace maids are looking forward to the emperor's luck, and they may not be able to see the emperor for the rest of their lives.
This view is actually unfair to Wang.
Because, the Wang family is first a woman, and then she is a palace maid.
She is not very old, she is innocent, she is a good little girl, she has a relationship with the emperor for no reason and unprepared, and then she is pregnant, gives birth, and becomes a husband and wife with an emotionless person, and this strange husband seems to look down on her and dislike herself.
There are those who are willing to marry the emperor, and there are those who are unwilling to marry the emperor, we often make up the Wang family to marry Wanli happily, but who knows if she is sad and sad, whether she resists in her heart, but there is no way to get rid of the wheel of fate?
However, take 10,000 steps back, in this harem, the mother is expensive by her son, and Concubine Wang Gong gave birth to a little prince, it stands to reason that her status should be improved, and the emperor should be more pampered by her, but the reality is just the opposite, Wanli's favorite concubine is Zheng Guifei, one of the nine concubines.
(Ming Gong Ke Hui Rong and Emperor Jing Guifei Zheng image)
To what extent did this emperor favor the Zheng family? When Zheng asked Wanli to go to the moon for nine days, Wanli definitely did not catch turtles in the five oceans, Zheng asked Wanli to pick the stars in the sky, and Wanli had to build rockets overnight.
Don't say that Wanli only loves the Zheng family, but there is no Zheng family, Wanli has always been disgusted with Concubine Wang Gong.
Because, for Wanli, Concubine Wang Gong is a stain on his youth, this stain reminds him all the time, the emperor, you are young and don't study well, and you sleep with the palace maid casually, this past makes Wanli's majestic image can not be maintained, and the existence of Concubine Wang Gongfei and her son Zhu Changluo makes Wanli like a thorn in the back, like sitting on pins and needles.
Therefore, Wanli never summoned Concubine Wang Gong, and the two basically never met, let alone any emotional support and humanistic care.
The food and clothing that the emperor gave to Concubine Wang Gong were the most ordinary and cheapest, why did the author say so? Because later, the Dingling Tomb of Wanli was excavated, and in the coffin of the Dingling King Gongfei, there were few burial goods, and the archaeologists searched again and again, but only found a worn-out kettle, which was still silver.
On the top of this kettle, it is written "Ming Wanli Renwu Year System", then according to the time calculation, the year of Renwu is 1582 AD, this year is exactly the day when Wang was named Wang Gongfei, that is to say, this silver kettle should be the reward when the concubine is sealed, Wang Gongfei died, in 1611 AD, this nearly 30 years, Wanli should have never given Wang Gongfei any reward, so that when Gongfei was buried, there was only such a silver kettle that was full of traces of use.
Even if the living treatment is not good, in the later period of Wanli, Concubine Wang Gong was directly placed under house arrest in Jingyang Palace, and she was not allowed to contact anyone.
Friends who have been to the Palace Museum may know that Jingyang Palace is located in the east of Zhongcui Palace and north of Yonghe Palace, and its geographical location is very remote, and it can be said that it is the most deserted courtyard in the six palaces in the east and west.
To put it bluntly, Wanli is equivalent to sending Concubine Wang Gong into the cold palace.
(A corner of the Forbidden City, photography)
A husband and wife, and gave birth to children, how much hatred do you say you have, why do you treat Concubine Wang Gong like this?
There is certainly a reason for this.
Wanli's favorite concubine Zheng has a third son, Zhu Changxun, whether it is the emperor himself or the Zheng family, they have always wanted to establish Zhu Changxun as the prince, but the problem is that the ministers must not do it, because the Ming Dynasty has always been the primogeniture inheritance system, Wanli has no son-in-law, so the eldest son Zhu Changluo is the most suitable heir in the legal sense.
Wanli wants to support Zhu Changxun, and the ministers want to support Zhu Changluo, the emperor and the ministers have been very unhappy because of this matter, and it has been pulling back and forth for as long as fifteen years, in these fifteen years, Wanli can be said to do everything, both soft and hard, he has thought about any method, he has used any method, the first assistant does not support himself, he will change the first assistant, the officials of the six ministries will change the chief if they do not support themselves, the Beijing officials will be transferred if they do not support themselves, and the magistrates will be punished if they do not support themselves... But even so, Wanli failed to compete with the civil official group, and finally aggrieved and reluctantly set Zhu Changluo up as the prince.
After making his equally hated son the crown prince, Emperor Wanli suddenly remembered the time when Empress Dowager Li made him kneel in the palace, and Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant, reprimanded him and took away his power, and even his eldest companion Feng Bao could give him a few sentences.
The painful memories of a whole decade of losing power have become fleeting nightmares, and any form of reliving will turn into painful spasms, so he hated the ministers and the civil bureaucracy very much, and it was they who made it impossible for him to become a monopoly emperor and be the master of the house, so Wanli did not go to court later, which should be said to be a more abstract revenge of the emperor against the bureaucrats to some extent.
By the way, Wanli also began to hate Concubine Wang Gong and Zhu Changluo.
Yes, if there is no Concubine Wang Gong, if there is no Zhu Changluo, then no one will hinder his idea of supporting Zhu Changxun, in Wanli's view, he has become what he is today, it is all the mother and daughter who are harmed!
It is precisely because of this that Wanli put Concubine Wang Gong under house arrest, did not arrange for her to be served, and blindly lacked two catties for her food and clothing, not to mention the other concubines of Wanli, even the eunuchs and maids in the palace and the envoys dared to bully her.
(Taichang Emperor Mingguangzong Zhu Changluo portrait detail)
In front of the third son Zhu Changxun, Wanli was kind and tolerant, rewarded constantly, and was extremely fortunate to this son, but in the face of Zhu Changluo, Wanli sneered, and would not even arrange for Zhu Changluo to teach him to read and write, so that Zhu Changluo almost became an illiterate.
Most of Zhu Changluo's time is free-range, and no one cares about him.
Wanli did not allow Wang Gongfei and her son Zhu Changluo to meet, and for a full ten years, the mother and son were almost out of touch, and neither of them could know the suffering of the other party.
In 1611 AD, the tortured Concubine Wang Gong was ill and could not recover, and life and death were in the mundane, but even so, Wanli still did not allow Zhu Changluo to visit his mother, Zhu Changluo knelt on the ground and cried, kowtowing violently, in exchange for the last opportunity to see his mother.
Concubine Wang Gong in Jingyang Palace, ragged and withered, because of long-term malnutrition, she has collapsed in bed for many years, and because she misses her son too much, she cries all day long, and now her eyes are blind from crying.
However, with her memory, Concubine Wang Gongfei stroked Zhu Changluo's face with both hands and still recognized that this was her son.
Zhu Changluo knelt under his mother's bed, and the mother and son hugged their heads and cried.
Yes, many years ago, the Wang family was just a palace maid in Cining Palace, and when she was released from the palace at the age of age, maybe she would marry another ordinary man who was honest and honest as a wife, and she would spend her life plainly and happily.
(Ming Wen Su Duanjing Chunyi Imperial Concubine Wang's portrait detail)
But she didn't, the encounter with Wanli many years ago changed the fate of the Wang family, and it also brought her countless tortures.
Wang was sad, collapsed, and disappointed, but at this moment, she got unprecedented tranquility, and at the last moment of her life, she stroked Zhu Changluo's side face and said the last sentence in her life:
My son has grown up like this, why do I hate to die!
My son has grown up and I have no regrets.
Before the words fell, Concubine Wang Gong died of anger.
Her withered and thin palm still stayed on Zhu Changluo's face, just like when she gave birth to this child, gently caressing the baby's immature face.
And Wanli, this irresponsible husband, indifferent father, he will not know all this.
In 1620 AD, Wanli died, and Zhu Changluo ascended the throne, known as Mingguangzong.
Guangzong died in the year he ascended the throne, and the ministers supported Guangzong's son Zhu Youxiao to ascend the throne, that is, Ming Xizong.
In terms of generation, Xizong is the grandson of Concubine Wang Gong.
(Three dragons and two phoenixes)
Although he had never met his grandmother, Xizong should have also understood the hardships of his grandmother's life, so he specially created a precious crown of three dragons and two phoenixes for his deceased grandmother as compensation for the suffering years of that year.
This phoenix crown, the gems alone are inlaid with ninety-five pieces, and the pearls are embellished with more than 3,000 pieces, and the gold filament is set and applied with Diancui, so it is not only very expensive to build, but also the craftsmanship is peerless.
It's just a pity that although the phoenix crown is expensive, its owner has never worn it, even for a day.