The Qing History Manuscript records that the Daoguang Emperor's concubine Heshelishi was actually scared to death, and for a long time thereafter, the corpses were decomposed and could not be buried. What's going on?
(Chang Fei stills)
The Herschel clan is a Manchurian yellow flag bearer, and she is from the oldest surname of the Qing Dynasty, the Herscheli clan, which can be regarded as a Manchu family.
In the early years of Daoguang, the Herschel clan entered the palace as a draft girl and was named a precious person by the Daoguang Emperor.
At first, Herschel was favored. Soon after entering the palace, she was given the title of Zhen Concubine, and the following year she was given the title of Zhen Concubine. However, in the ninth year of Daoguang, he was re-reduced to a precious person.
In fact, in the harem of Daoguang, the person who suffered this kind of encounter was not the Only One of the Herschels.
For example, Tong Guifei, who was promoted step by step from a noble person to a noble concubine, was also demoted to Tong Gui shortly after being canonized as a noble concubine. In addition, The Concubine Xiang, who also started from a nobleman, also had exactly the same opportunity as the Herschel Clan.
It is said that harem concubines generally only rise and do not fall, unless they make a particularly big mistake, they will be demoted. This situation will be recorded in the history books. For example, Qianlong's successor empress Huifa Nala was once beaten into the Cold Palace by Qianlong because of the "hair-cutting incident", and confiscated a total of four treasure papers from the empress, the imperial concubine, the concubine, and the concubine.
(Daoguang stills)
So what exactly did Herschel have done wrong, and what would have happened to him?
Speaking of which, being a concubine of Daoguang is really not a fortunate thing.
You know, Daoguang was the most picky emperor of the Qing Dynasty. He not only advocated frugality, but also embodied frugality everywhere.
For example, as early as when he was a prince, he and the Concubine Fujin Niu Hulu clan often shared a cup of tea and nibbled on the burnt cake as a meal.
After becoming emperor, Daoguang vigorously advocated frugality, and he himself had 4 dishes a day, and there was less meat and more vegetarian food. All kinds of birthdays and celebrations are also enough. The expenditure of the harem was also compressed to 200,000 taels of silver per year.
You know, after Puyi abdicated, the Beiyang government returned him 4 million silver living expenses every year, which had to be many times the cost of the Daoguang harem!
Therefore, it is not easy to be the queen of Daoguang. These 200,000 taels of silver are not enough at all, can only be carefully calculated, the emperor and empress have taken the lead in eating more vegetarian, eating less meat, what else can everyone say? Those with low status do not see meat until the New Year's Festival.
Because of this, some people speculate that the reason why Heschel was demoted is not unrelated to Daoguang's slamming of the door, why do you say so?
It turned out that the concubines of the Qing Dynasty had different positions, and the jewelry and clothes used were different. The higher the bit score, the better it is naturally used. However, in case the position is reduced, the quality of life will also decline, and jewelry and other items will also be returned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In this way, it seems that there are also savings.
Therefore, Herschel was demoted not because she made a big mistake, but because she met the emperor who slammed the door.
Herschel should not have been pretty or intelligent, so he never got favored after that, and Daoguang always stayed at the level of a nobleman when he was alive.
Thirty years after Daoguang, Daoguang died of illness, and the fourth son of the emperor, Yixuan, followed the secret edict of the succession to the throne and succeeded to the throne as Emperor Xianfeng.
(Xianfeng stills)
Logically, the concubines of the former emperors should be honored. But the Herschel clan was too low to receive the honorific title. Xian Feng could only compromise, raised her to the first rank, and was crowned as a concubine. Since she had no heirs, she could only be raised in the palace.
During Xianfeng's reign, the Qing Dynasty was already in a precarious situation. There were invasions by great powers on the outside, uprisings by the Taiping Army on the inside, and corruption in the administration of officials, which have become increasingly weak and western.
Herschel lived in the palace, the information was very closed, she did not know anything about the outside world, the only thing she enjoyed was to go to the Yuanmingyuan every summer to cool off.
In the Xianfeng decade, with the advancement of the Second Opium War, the British and French allies landed from the Dagu Pass in Tianjin and burned and plundered all the way to the city of Beijing.
Xianfeng, who was the emperor, was so frightened that before the Anglo-French army entered the capital, he fled to Rehe with many concubines under the name of "Northern Hunting".
Partial Herschel went to the Yuanmingyuan early this year, coupled with her low status, and she was a concubine of the former emperor, usually few people remember her, and now everyone only cares about self-preservation, and no one remembers her.
By the time Herschel heard the news, the Anglo-French coalition had already invaded the city of Beijing, and the soldiers in the city were in chaos, and there was no one to protect her back to the palace, and she had nowhere else to hide, so she could only stay in the Yuanmingyuan and ask for more blessings.
Soon, the British and French troops broke into the Yuanmingyuan like wild beasts. In addition to looting, there were also sets of fires everywhere.
Herschel had lived in the palace for many years and had never heard of such a terrible thing, so when she was among the many crazy foreigners, she was scared to death.
After the news of Herschel's death, Xianfeng felt greatly insulted, and on the one hand ordered severe punishment of officials who were ineffective, and on the other hand, he instructed the eunuchs to hurry up and do the aftermath.
However, the Yuanmingyuan was full of crazy foreigners, and even the colored coffin could not be carried in, let alone the funeral.
In desperation, the relevant people had to report to Xianfeng and temporarily postpone the burial of Herschel.
The body of poor Herschel was abandoned in the Yuanmingyuan, unable to be buried for a long time, and in the height of summer, it stinked.
Xian Feng was also at a loss, thinking about it, and had to issue an edict: "From the power of the general, it is forbidden to involve extravagance, causing him to change." ”
When the eunuch received the edict, he hired 10 porters to take advantage of the night to bury the Herschel in a coffin, carry it out of the city, and bury it hastily.
In a dynasty, when foreign enemies invade, the emperor only cares about fleeing for his life, and even the concubines in the palace have no time to take care of it, so how can he consider the people? Therefore, if the Qing Dynasty does not die, it is a rare thing.
(Reference historical materials: "Kiyoshi's manuscript"))