Preface
There was a special woman in the history of the Ming Dynasty - Wan Guifei. She was not from a famous family, nor was she beautiful, but she was able to capture the heart of Emperor Ming Xianzong with her meekness and virtuousness, and became his favorite woman.
However, even if Concubine Wan Guifei has such an important position in the emperor's heart, she failed to become the queen in the end, but dreamed of being a queen all her life, but she could only live a life as a concubine who was not a queen and was better than a queen.
Why would Ming Xianzong be so fond of a humble palace maid? Why did Ming Xianzong depose his designated empress Wu, but he never dared to appoint Wan Guifei as the official queen? What kind of complex power struggles and human entanglements are hidden in this? How did they end up?
1. Ming Xianzong's beloved - Wan Guifei
In 1430, Wan Zhen'er, a little girl from a poor background, was born in a small county town in Hebei. Her father, Wan Gui, was a local official, and his family was poor and his life was not well-off. However, this seemingly ordinary girl eventually became Ming Xianzong's favorite woman - Wan Guifei.
Wan Zhen'er has been hardworking and kind since she was a child, and she is liked by the people around her. When her father was implicated in some relative's affairs and had to be exiled to other places, it was suggested that Wan Zhen'er should be sent to the palace, which might bring unexpected opportunities. Wan Gui thought about it again and again, and finally decided to send this daughter to the palace.
This decision can be said to have changed Wan Zhen'er's life. After entering the palace, Wan Zhen'er was quickly loved by Queen Sun of Xuanzong with her well-behaved obedience and diligent work, and was arranged to serve by her side.
When Ming Yingzong was captured because of the "Civil Change", and Xuanzong hurriedly established Ming Yingzong's son Ming Xianzong as the crown prince, Wan Zhen'er was arranged to go to the East Palace to take care of the two-year-old little prince.
In 1449, Ming Xianzong ascended the throne and became the ninth emperor of the Ming Dynasty. And Wan Zhen'er was also named "Wan Guifei" at this time. This woman from a humble background, with her meekness and virtuousness, captured the heart of the young emperor Ming Xianzong and became his favorite woman.
Even though Concubine Wan Guifei is over thirty years old, sixteen or seventeen years older than Ming Xianzong, and even a half-old, Ming Xianzong is still obsessed with her. His favor for Wan Guifei reached an unprecedented level, and he even did not hesitate to oppose his biological mother, the Empress Dowager Zhou, and finally deposed the empress Wu who was originally designated by the first emperor, just to let his sweetheart Wan Guifei get the status he deserved.
However, even though Ming Xianzong loved Concubine Wan so much, she still failed to become an official queen in the end. What kind of power struggles and human entanglements are hidden in this?
2. Strive to override the public opinion and depose the Empress Wu
In 1449, when Ming Yingzong was seriously ill, he wanted to choose a suitable crown princess for the two-year-old crown prince Zhu Jianshen. It stands to reason that this should be a long and cumbersome draft process, but Ming Yingzong is already terminally ill and has no time to personally inspect these three final candidates.
So, before he died, he had to instruct Queen Qian and Empress Dowager Zhou around him to choose the most suitable one among the three girls and let the prince marry as soon as possible.
Among the three final candidates, one is Wan Zhen'er, who came from a humble background. However, at that time, Ming Xianzong had already fallen in love with this palace maid Wan Zhen'er at first sight, and the two were already in love. However, what Ming Yingzong wanted in his heart was obviously not an ordinary palace maid, but a woman with a prominent status and outstanding character, so that she could take on the heavy responsibility of being the crown princess and the future queen.
So, half a year after the death of Ming Yingzong, the 18-year-old Ming Xianzong had to make Wu the queen at the strong request of his mother-in-law, Empress Dowager Qian, and his biological mother, Empress Dowager Zhou. Although Wu is not illustrious, he is also one of the most suitable candidates among the three candidates.
However, this arrogant Empress Wu is obviously not satisfied with just being an unworthy queen. As soon as she ascended to the throne, she began to act recklessly, and scolded Ming Xianzong's favorite woman in public, Wan Zhen'er.
In Ming Xianzong's view, this is undoubtedly a slap in the face. He was furious, first went to the queen's palace to vent Wan Zhen'er's anger in person, and then began to plot to depose Empress Wu.
However, Wu was not an empress who could be easily deposed, as she was one of the three candidates appointed by the first emperor and could not be easily replaced. What's more, Ming Xianzong also knew that if he directly said that it was for Wan Zhen'er to be abolished, he would definitely be drowned in the saliva of the two queen mothers and ministers.
So, Ming Xianzong decided to start with the legitimacy of Empress Wu. He instructed Jin Yiwei to force Niu Yu, a eunuch beside Ming Yingzong, to say that the queen originally designated by Ming Yingzong was another girl named Wang, not Wu, but Wu's father bribed Niu Yu, which led to this wrong posting.
In this way, Empress Wu, who was originally appointed by the first emperor himself, was said to have ascended to the throne by cheating, and it was natural that she was deposed.
In 1452, the Wu clan was officially deposed and could only reside in the West Palace, but still enjoyed royal offerings. And in the years when she was deposed, Ming Xianzong's beloved Wan Zhen'er became his concubine and gave birth to his eldest son, but unfortunately the eldest son of the emperor died soon after.
Immediately afterwards, Bai Shi, one of the three candidates, also gave birth to a second son for Ming Xianzong and became a virtuous concubine, but the second son also died shortly after being made the crown prince. There is another little prince in the West Palace, who is the third son of Ming Xianzong, named Zhu Youzhang.
Why this little prince Zhu Youzhu was placed in the West Palace, instead of being raised in the East Palace with other princes, there are different accounts in history. According to the records of the Ming Dynasty, Concubine Wan was jealous and could not tolerate the birth of a prince by other people in the harem.
So after Ji became pregnant, she sent someone to give Ji medicine in an attempt to kill the child. However, the Ji family was lucky to save the child and hid in the West Palace to give birth to Zhu Youzhang. And Wan Guifei and Ming Xianzong didn't know anything about the existence of this child.
Other historical records show that Xianzong was worried that Concubine Wan Guifei would be unhappy, so he hid the pregnant Ji family in the West Palace, and sent someone to take care of her and the newborn Zhu Youzhu throughout the process. Under this version, many people, including Ming Xianzong, knew about the existence of this child, but they were just hiding it from Concubine Wan.
No matter what the truth of history is, the deposed Wu family participated in the upbringing of the little prince Zhu Youzhang, which also laid the groundwork for her later treatment.
In 1458, Ming Xianzong officially took the 6-year-old Zhu Youzhu back to the palace and made him the crown prince. This little prince, who was originally placed in the West Palace, finally got the attention of Ming Xianzong.
3. Queen Wang: Both affection and grace
After deposing Empress Wu, Ming Xianzong had to choose a new empress. Considering his infatuation with Wan Zhen'er, Ming Xianzong naturally hoped to make her queen. However, the rules of the Ming Dynasty were that the empress could not be deposed and elected at will, and the consent of the two empress dowagers was also required.
At this time, the attitude of Empress Dowager Qian and Empress Dowager Zhou became the key. Empress Dowager Qian is Ming Yingzong's mother-in-law, and she has always disliked Wan Zhen'er very much, so naturally she will not agree with Ming Xianzong to make her queen.
Although Empress Dowager Zhou is the biological mother of Ming Xianzong, she does not agree with this decision. After all, as queens, they naturally prefer to see a woman with a prominent background and good conduct, rather than a palace maid of unknown origin.
Under the strong opposition of the two queen mothers, Ming Xianzong had to give up the idea of making Concubine Wan as the queen. In the end, he chose the gentle and forbearant Wang and became the new queen.
Unlike Empress Wu, Empress Wang never competed with Concubine Wan for jealousy. She understood that she was just a helpless move by Ming Xianzong, just a vain queen, so she never had the luxury of being favored by the emperor. In the 23 years of getting along, Ming Xianzong has favored her only a handful of times, but she has never complained.
Even some ministers couldn't look past it, and wrote to ask Ming Xianzong to get the rain and dew evenly wet, and not to ignore the queen too much. But the queen has always held back and never taken the emperor's favor seriously.
Although Ming Xianzong greatly favored Wan Guifei, he never cut the treatment of the queen and the queen, nor did he intend to let Wan Guifei or other concubines override the queen. At this point, the position of the queen is still very solid.
Not only that, Ming Xianzong also took special care of Queen Wang's family. Queen Wang's father and brothers were promoted all the way, and even after the death of Queen Wang's father, he was posthumously named a duke, which can be regarded as an excellent treatment among relatives in the Ming Dynasty.
This also made Queen Wang the biggest winner in the harem of Ming Xianzong even though she had no favor in her life. After the death of Ming Xianzong, she was promoted to the empress dowager as the mother of the new emperor, and lived until the death of Ming Xiaozong, and served as the empress dowager for another 13 years, before dying of illness at the age of 70.
In contrast, even after Empress Wu was deposed, she has been living well, and although Concubine Wan has been extremely favored by Ming Xianzong in her life, she has never been able to become an official queen, and her highest status is only that of a concubine. It can be said that in this harem game, the queen who is good at forbearance finally won the biggest winner in life.
Fourth, Wan Guifei who was abandoned by fate
As Ming Xianzong's favorite woman, Wan Zhen'er can be described as ill-fated. As we mentioned earlier, Wan Zhen'er came from a humble background and was just an ordinary palace maid. She is sixteen or seventeen years older than Ming Xianzong, and she looks like a half-old, but she can capture the heart of this young emperor.
Perhaps this is the uniqueness of Concubine Wan, although she does not have the beauty of the city and the country, but with her meekness, virtue and kindness, Ming Xianzong fell in love with her at first sight and regarded her as a treasure.
However, it seems that it is destined to be a very difficult thing for this low-born woman to become an official queen. First of all, the age gap between her and Ming Xianzong is too big, which was a big obstacle in ancient times. What's more, in terms of childbirth, Wan Zhen'er also failed to leave a healthy son to Ming Xianzong, which was regarded as a great fault at the time.
Just when Ming Xianzong loved Wan Zhen'er the most, his biological mother, Empress Dowager Zhou, was full of jealousy and hatred for this daughter-in-law. Empress Dowager Zhou once wanted to replace the loyal Empress Qian in the history books, and of course she would not want to see her son Ming Xianzong so obsessed with a woman from humble backgrounds who was much older than herself.
What's more, Wan Zhen'er also killed several sons of Ming Xianzong one after another, which was an unforgivable sin in the eyes of Empress Dowager Zhou. In addition, there are some upright ministers around Ming Xianzong, such as Shang Chen, who have always expressed dissatisfaction with Concubine Wan's status.
After all, in their opinion, a lowly palace maid can squeeze out the efforts and resources of Ming Xianzong by her own means, which is an offense to the entire Ming Dynasty.
Fifth, the ending of Wan Guifei
Even if Ming Xianzong was so fond of Wan Guifei, under the strong opposition of his biological mother, Empress Dowager Zhou, and ministers, he still couldn't really make Wan Guifei an official queen after all. In the end, Ming Xianzong could only compromise and chose the relatively prominent Wang family as the queen, and named Wan Guifei as the concubine.
Such a result is undoubtedly a huge blow and disappointment for Wan Guifei, who is infatuated with Ming Xianzong. Her greatest wish in life is to become the official empress of Ming Xianzong and the supreme ruler of the harem. But the reality gave her a heavy blow, so that she could only maintain the name of "concubine" and live a life no different from the queen.
However, even if she can't become the queen as she wishes, Concubine Wan is still a unique position in Ming Xianzong's heart. Ming Xianzong's love for her has never diminished in the slightest, and even the Empress Wang cannot compare with it. Ming Xianzong often visited Concubine Wan's palace in person, playing with her, and was inseparable.
It can be said that as the heart of Ming Xianzong, Wan Guifei's life is indeed much happier than that of the official queen Wang. Although she cannot have the title of queen, her actual status and power far exceed that of the titular queen. In the eyes of Ming Xianzong, she is the irreplaceable favorite.
However, even if she received such a favor, Wan Guifei's heart was not always calm and peaceful. She once had the luxury of becoming the official queen, but in the end she was struck by the unforgiving reality. As a woman from a humble background, she was lucky to be able to enter the harem, and it was beyond her imagination to be favored by the emperor, but after all, she still couldn't realize her greatest wish.
This kind of unrealizable dream may have been tormenting Wan Guifei's sensitive heart. Although she is high on the surface and lives a life that is not inferior to the queen, she must have a faint pain in her heart. After all, as a woman, whether or not you can become an official queen is closely related to your status and dignity.
Perhaps because she couldn't stand this kind of torture, Wan Guifei, who was only 59 years old, died of illness. From this point of view, fate is particularly cruel for this woman.
Sixth, the struggle for the queen's throne
In the story of Ming Xianzong's deposition of Empress Wu and Empress Liwang, we can see that the struggle for the position of empress often involves some complex power struggles and interpersonal entanglements.
First of all, Ming Xianzong's own choice of the queen candidate was not entirely based on his true personal preferences. As we can see, he originally wanted to make his beloved Wan Guifei the queen the most, but in the end he had to make a compromise and chose the more prominent Wang family. Among them, the opposition of the two Empress Dowagers, Empress Dowager Qian and Empress Dowager Zhou, undoubtedly played a key role.
As representatives of the two powerful families of the Ming Dynasty, Empress Dowager Qian and Empress Dowager Zhou did not want to see a palace maid from humble background ascend to the throne. In their opinion, how can a woman who doesn't understand the rules and comes from a humble background be qualified to be the master of the harem? Therefore, they did not hesitate to oppose Ming Xianzong's appointment of Wan Guifei as the queen, and even did not hesitate to confront their son Ming Xianzong.
In addition to the obstruction of the queen mothers, the attitude of the ministers is also crucial. We mentioned earlier ministers like Shang Shi, who have always expressed dissatisfaction with Concubine Wan's status. In their opinion, this woman from a humble background was able to monopolize the favor of Ming Xianzong, which was undoubtedly a blasphemy against the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, they naturally would not support Ming Xianzong to make Concubine Wan as the queen.
For the fate of Empress Wu, it was also affected by these complex factors. As one of the three empress candidates designated by the first emperor, Empress Wu should have been a relatively safe candidate. However, her arrogant personality and dissatisfaction with Ming Xianzong's preference for Wan Guifei eventually led to her confrontation with Ming Xianzong.
In the end, Ming Xianzong could only choose the more moderate Wang from the other two candidates. Although Wang was not the emperor's first choice, she was able to meet the wishes of the empress dowager and the ministers, and avoided another fierce struggle for power.
It can be seen that the choice of empress in the Ming Dynasty not only depends on the emperor's personal wishes, but also needs to balance the interests of all parties. The attitude of the Queen Mother, the tendencies of the ministers, and even the Queen's own character and ability to deal with the world will have a significant impact on the final choice. Only by finding a balance among these complex factors can a solid position as a queen be established.
epilogue
From these stories of the harem during the Ming Xianzong period, we can see the interweaving of power struggles and human entanglements. A woman from a humble background, with her meekness and virtuousness, was able to capture the heart of the young emperor Ming Xianzong and became his favorite woman.
However, after all, he still couldn't successfully ascend to the queen's throne, and could only dream of being a queen all his life. History may teach us that in the complex interpersonal relationships and power struggles, wisdom and resilience are often more valuable and important than simple beauty and favor. Only by being able to deal with all kinds of contradictions and achieve a balance between all parties can we truly win the ultimate victory in life.