On August 12, 1627 (the seventh year of the Apocalypse), Emperor Mingxi was seriously ill, and the "Carpenter Emperor" felt that his time was short, because he was childless, and he decided to pass the throne to his younger brother, Zhu Youguan, the Prince of Xin. In front of the imperial bed, Ming Xizong took his brother's hand and said:
"My brother, be Yao Shun!"
Two days later, Emperor Mingxi died, and his brother Zhu Youjian ascended the throne as the Chongzhen Emperor. This is the 16th emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty (excluding the Southern Ming).
Interestingly, when Zhu Youjian was summoned to the palace by his seriously ill brother, his heart was full of fear, not worried about his brother, but worried that the eunuch Wei Zhongxian would be unfavorable to him. In order to prevent Wei Zhongxian from poisoning Zhu Youjian's meals in the palace, Zhu Youjian's wife, Princess Zhou of Xin, personally burned two wheat cakes and let her husband carry them into his arms and feed them in the palace.
As a crown prince, he did not dare to eat the food in the palace, but secretly ate flapjacks, which is very rare throughout history. Zhu Youjian's wife, Zhou Shi, was later known as Empress Xiaojie Liezhou, and although she was the empress of the fallen country, she was still a model for ancient women.
In this article, the author will share with you the life of Empress Xiaojie Liezhou, and interpret a different history from the empress of the fallen country.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > first, the Zhou family has a daughter, born expensive</h1>
In the sixth year of the Ming Dynasty's Apocalypse, Zhu Youjian, the King of Xin, was 16 years old, and Emperor Mingxi planned to choose a concubine for his younger brother. Since Zhu Youjian's birth mother died prematurely and his eldest sister-in-law was his mother, Emperor Mingxi asked Empress Yi'an (Mingxizong's wife) to help his younger brother choose.
Since Emperor Akihito, the Ming Dynasty has chosen concubines for the crown prince, generally choosing the daughters of small officials with ordinary families and no background. Zhu Youjian was no exception, at that time, there were three candidate women, and Empress Yi'an saw a woman with a thin body, thought she was weak and could not help the wind, and wanted to eliminate her. Unexpectedly, Princess Liu (The Concubine of the Wanli Emperor and The Grandmother of Zhu Youjian) said that although the woman was small, she had not yet grown up (15 years old), and she had a noble face and was the best candidate. Empress Yi'an listened to the words of the princess and made her a sister-in-law and married her to Zhu Youjian. This thin woman was the later Empress Zhou.
Empress Zhou's father, Zhou Kui, was initially only a minor official, and her mother was a continuation of her father. One day, Chen Renxi, a great Confucian of the Ming Dynasty, came to Zhou Kui's house as a guest, and when he happened to see the young Empress Zhou, he said to Zhou Kui:
"Noble people in the world!"
Therefore, Chen Renxi took the time to teach Empress Zhou the book of scriptures and history, and explained to her the Zizhi Tongjian. When Empress Zhou grew up, she knew the book and was generous. Due to her mother's illness, Empress Zhou has been running the house since she was a child, and her surrogate mother presided over the feeding.
Facts have proved that Liu Taifei's vision is still unique. Empress Zhou was of modest origin and lived in the mansion (Xin Wangfu), and later she became empress and still maintained her true character as a commoner.
Empress Zhou was in the harem, often did not wear brocade, she ate vegetarian food, wore cloth clothes, often spun thread and weaving, even the Chongzhen Emperor's intimate clothes, she had to sew by hand. Not only that, Empress Zhou also took the time to cook and cook her own food, as if she regarded herself as a peasant woman. Therefore, the literary scholar Zhang Dai believes that:
Since the ancient sages, most of them have been queens, but they can sew clothes and cook, spin and weave cloth, and often do so, which is indeed rare.
Empress Zhou was very frugal, during the Chongzhen years, external worries and internal troubles continued, the national treasury could not make ends meet, Empress Zhou had just entered the middle palace, donated all her dowries for military expenses, and also ordered the abolition of the harem.
Before Chongzhen ascended the throne, every festive day in the palace, he would invite the opera class to sing, and Empress Zhou had been empress for 17 years, and the Forbidden City had only sung two plays. The first time occurred in the fifth year of Chongzhen, Empress Zhou's birthday, and the Chongzhen Emperor secretly invited Empress Zhou to perform a "West Chamber" in the drama class, hoping to surprise Empress Zhou. Another time occurred in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, when the palace performed a play "Jade Hairpin". Shi Zai, these two times, the harem was empty of people. In fact, "The Tale of the West Chamber" and "The Tale of the Jade Hairpin" are common drama texts, because people in the harem usually do not have the opportunity to watch, so they are rare. History:
After the sex is cautious, each cut suppresses the grace of the foreign family. The number of ceremonies in the palace is tightened in the old. Positioning for several years, give Huang Nai dare to obey
Empress Zhou's governance of the harem was very strict, with clear rewards and punishments, and none of the harem concubines were dissatisfied. She was cautious, and every time Chongzhen wanted to reward her mother's family, she stopped her.
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, when the Ming Dynasty was about to fall, Chongzhen said to his ministers:
"The kings of the fallen kingdoms are all the subjects of the subjugated countries!"
Although the Chongzhen Emperor was not a emperor, he always liked to find reasons in others, and in the author's opinion, Empress Zhou was at least not a "minister of subjugation".
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, imperial couple, Qinse and Ming</h1>
The Book of Stone Kui once commented on Chongzhen:
The kings of the ancient kingdoms, there are those who die with wine, those who die with color, those who die with tyranny, those who die with luxury, those who die with poor soldiers, those who die with poor soldiers, those who seek treatment with anxiety, those who eat and drink, those who work hard...
The Chongzhen Emperor was a special emperor, and when he succeeded to the throne, he inherited the mess left by the Ming Xi Sect, the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party had been fighting for many years, and the Ming Dynasty caught up with the rare "Xiaoice River Period", disasters and plagues were frequent, and the Ming Dynasty was worried about internal and external troubles. The Chongzhen Emperor was clothed and fed, but he was not able to turn the tide.
Unlike other subjugated monarchs, the Chongzhen Emperor did not indulge in wine, nor was he extravagant, and the author published his own views in previous articles: The Ming Dynasty fell, although the Chongzhen Emperor was responsible, but if he changed to someone else to be the emperor, it was difficult to avoid the fate of the fall of the country.
According to the "Testament of the Lie Emperor";
The Chongzhen Emperor deeply felt that the state affairs were not going well, the chickens were chirping, the night was not sleeping, and they were often anxious and sick. There is almost no feast in the palace...
The Chongzhen Emperor was a diligent emperor, however, he faced too many problems, often putting him in trouble. At this time, the existence of Empress Zhou was Chongzhen's greatest consolation.
Empress Zhou knew that Dali, as early as when she was a princess in the submerged residence, she was deeply hearted by Chongzhen, and later Chongzhen ascended the throne, and Empress Zhou's mother was in the world, and she still regarded relieving her husband's worries as the first priority. Shi Zai, Chongzhen and the empress have a very strong relationship, and whenever Chongzhen has difficulties, Empress Zhou always tries to persuade her.
Chongzhen reigned for 17 years, a total of 7 times issued a criminal edict, Chongzhen seventeen years of the first month, because the Fengyang Imperial Tomb was excavated by the peasant army, chongzhen emperor edicted himself, he did not eat meat for several months, said that he and the world's generals suffered together, but the body could not support in the end, Empress Zhou's bitter persuasion was fruitless, very distressed. In order to persuade Chongzhen to take good care of her body, Empress Zhou lied that she dreamed of Empress Xiaochun (the biological mother of the Chongzhen Emperor), the Ming Shi Yun:
"In the night dream of filial piety and empress dowager return, the emperor of the language wept, and said: 'For my emperor of the language, food is not bitter.' ’”
After the Chongzhen Emperor listened, he burst into tears at his mother's portrait and then decided to eat well. Empress Zhou personally served, "tears are full of tears", tears are dripping on the table.
One summer, empress Zhou was combing her hair after getting up, and the Chongzhen Emperor secretly walked behind his wife and stroked her hair, and the empress did not know who it was, and she was shocked, and her sleeve was thrown, just hitting the face of the Chongzhen Emperor. This scene was just seen by the palace maid, the empress was embarrassed, but the Chongzhen Emperor smiled frankly, which showed that for this empress, Chongzhen was still very fond of him in his heart.
Another time, Empress Zhou taught a small eunuch in Kunning Palace to read, and after two hours, the eunuch actually forgot all about it, and Empress Zhou was very angry and punished the eunuch to kneel on the steps. Just when the Chongzhen Emperor saw it, he joked: "I ask mr. for him (the eunuch) to intercede, does mr. give him face?" ”
After Empress Zhou listened, she blushed and scolded Chongzhen, "Broken my rules!" Chongzhen saw the situation and laughed.
The author believes that if Chongzhen is not an emperor, if Empress Zhou is not an empress, if they are born in an ordinary family, such a couple may be envied.
There were also times when there were contradictions between husband and wife, once, Chongzhen and Empress Zhou had a dispute, Chongzhen scolded Empress Zhou, threw away her sleeves, Empress Zhou covered her face and cried, crying and shouting "Believe in the King", Chongzhen listened, her heart was full of mixed feelings, and rushed back to pull up the empress, a burst of comfort.
When Empress Zhou first married Chongzhen, Chongzhen was the "King of Faith", chongzhen heard the empress call him the title of the submerged residence, and the husband and wife's kindness immediately overcame the anger, and the two reconciled as before.
In fact, the reason why Empress Zhou was able to gain chongzhen's weight was because he always regarded Chongzhen as a husband, not an emperor, which was difficult for ancient empresses to do.
In feudal thought, women are always required to be tolerant and cannot be a "jealous woman", and Empress Zhou has achieved the ultimate in this regard. Chongzhen's Concubine Tian angered Chongzhen for some reason, and Chongzhen closed Tian Concubine in the Qixiang Palace and thought about it, and was not allowed to come out for three months. When Empress Zhou saw that Chongzhen was unwilling to reconcile with Concubine Tian, she invited Chongzhen to enjoy the flowers and deliberately took Concubine Tian out to meet her.
Empress Zhou, like a big patriarch, hoped that the family would be harmonious.
The Ming Dynasty is a very special dynasty, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, each with its own characteristics, there are mature female controllers, there are Taoists, there are carpenters, but there are 16 Ming Dynasties, most of the empresses are very wise. As the last empress of the Ming Dynasty, Empress Zhou's personal qualities were first-class. If she was not the empress of the fallen country, she might be praised by the Ming courtiers as "a generation of virtuous queens".
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, the building will fall, giving death a red face</h1>
In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, when the Chongzhen Emperor had just succeeded to the throne, the ministers had prepared 4 era names for Chongzhen, one of which was "Xingfu", and Chongzhen felt bad because he was afraid that he would not be able to be the "Lord of Zhongxing". In the end, he chose "Chongzhen".
In fact, although the Chongzhen Emperor was afraid that he would not be able to be the "Lord of ZTE", he had been preoccupied with the word "ZTE" since he ascended the throne. Three months after the Chongzhen Emperor succeeded to the throne, he gained a firm foothold and immediately eradicated the "castration party". At that time, disasters were frequent, the national treasury was empty, and Chongzhen Qiao's wife was difficult to cook without rice, so he dismantled the organization and saved money, but the situation became worse and worse. Coupled with the fact that The Jurchens were staring at the tiger outside the Guan, the peasant army was on fire, and the Chongzhen Emperor was exhausted, bent on saving the defeat, but unable to return to heaven.
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the empire reached a critical juncture, some ministers suggested moving the capital to Nanjing, but Chongzhen refused, "the son of heaven guards the gate of the country", Chongzhen refused to move the capital, and even refused to send the prince to Nanjing, at this time, he planned to "die the king".
The Biography of The Later Concubines of the Ming Dynasty records that Empress Zhou was the mother of the country for 17 years, and she never interfered in the affairs of the dynasty, but in the last moments of the empire, Empress Zhou euphemistically mentioned moving south. "Biography of Ming Shi Houfei" Yun:
Posterior strictness. Tasting Kou Qian, he whispered, "There is still a home in WunanZhong." The emperor asked, so he did not speak, and Gai intended to move south. As for his political affairs, he did not expect it.
This means that Empress Zhou was usually cautious in her words and deeds and never interfered in state affairs. At that time, the situation was urgent, and Empress Zhou said softly: "My family still has a house in the south. Chongzhen listened and hurriedly asked her what she meant, probably afraid of being blamed, but Empress Zhou did not continue.
On March 18, 1777, Li Zicheng's army attacked the city of Beijing, and the Manchu Dynasty fled in the wind, and the eunuchs sent by the Chongzhen Emperor to defend the city also took the opportunity to rebel and surrendered to Li Zicheng. Those loyal Donglin people, when the dynasty changed, quickly abandoned the old lord and threw themselves into the arms of Li Zicheng.
When The Chongzhen Emperor heard that the city gate had been broken, he knew that the great trend had gone, he came to the harem, saw Empress Zhou, and cried bitterly, Chongzhen said: "You are the mother of a country, you must not be insulted by thieves, and you should kill yourself quickly." ”
Since ancient times, when men could not protect women, they asked women to keep their virginity and end themselves, which was a common disease of that era.
After Empress Zhou received the "Holy Will", she held the three children and cried for a while, and then said to Chongzhen:
"Your Majesty has been a concubine for eight years, and she has not listened to a word, and to this day." (From Ming Shi Liechuan II)
Empress Zhou meant to say: I married you for 18 years, I married my son, and strived to be a virtuous empress, but for so many years, Your Majesty never listened to a word of advice from me, and only then did I have such an ending!
After saying that, Empress Zhou resolutely turned around and locked the door, and after a while, the palace maid in the room rushed out crying and shouted: "The empress has already committed suicide by taking the will to hang the beam!" After Chongzhen listened, the memories of 18 years came to his heart, and he was devastated and burst into tears.
Before Chongzhen was finished, he first begged the emperor's sister-in-law (Empress Yi'an of emperor Mingxi) to commit suicide, and after the imperial concubine bowed to Chongzhen, she hanged herself. Chongzhen forced Yuan Guifei to hang herself, because the rope was broken, and Chongzhen raised his sword to kill her. Chongzhen wants to be the king of the country, but he also wants to preserve the woman's honor, looking at the 6-year-old Princess Zhaoren, Chongzhen swung his sword and stabbed it. Princess Changping, a 15-year-old, was cut off by her father's arm.
In the middle of the night, Chongzhen sent away his three sons, and then took the eunuch Wang Cheng'en to the crooked neck tree of coal mountain and ended his life in the same way as Empress Zhou.
When Chongzhen died, I don't know if I would remember my brother's words "My brother, be Yao Shun".
Time flies, the crooked neck tree is still there, but the dynasty has collapsed, and it is difficult to harvest the water.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >4, birth and death</h1>
Chongzhen died, and Li Zicheng spent a lot of effort to finally find the body of Emperor Chongzhen in houshan. Li Zicheng left Chongzhen with some dignity, and he had the willow coffin prepared and buried the bodies of Chongzhen and Empress Zhou.
Those old Ming courtiers, such as Zhou Zhong, the Shujishi of the Hanlin Yuan, were once Chongzhen's vassals, and when he passed by the coffins of Chongzhen and Empress Zhou, he flew away, without worship, without silence, without even looking, a new master who was going to be loyal to the Dashun Dynasty.
Because Chongzhen did not repair the tomb for himself before his death, Li Zicheng decided to bury him in the tomb of Chongzhen's deceased concubine Tianfei. Half a month later, the Chongzhen Emperor and Empress Zhou were buried, and the two of them, together with Concubine Tian, were crammed into the same tomb, which formed another scenery of the empire - the Siling Tomb of the Ming Tombs.
Later generations believe that although the Chongzhen Emperor was diligent in his administration and had good clothes and food, he "had neither a strategy for governing the country nor the art of appointing others", which the author agrees with.
As for the specific reasons for the fall of the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that I can't say 10,000 words, but for Empress Zhou, the evaluation of her by later generations is mostly positive.
After the Qing army entered the customs, the regent Dolgun once commented:
"Chongzhen's death, the number of days has been determined. At that time, even if there were good ministers, they could not help. ”
The author believes that Empress Zhou may be Chongzhen's "good minister". She was a thrifty, broad-minded, virtuous and virtuous empress.
The author believes that although Empress Zhou is worthy of respect, she is after all a funeral companion of feudal society, and the ancient emperors hoped that women would be virtuous and generous, regardless of political affairs, and under specific standards, Empress Zhou seemed to be a model for ancient women.
The author often thinks that if a woman like Empress Zhou did not marry into the imperial family, she might have a husband and a godson for the rest of her life, and perhaps her name would not be in the history books, but at least, she could have a happy ending.
However, history does not assume that when people curse Chongzhen for the fall of the country, how many people will independently look at a woman in his harem? History is dialectical and cruel.