In February of the eleventh year of Tongzhi (1872), Emperor Zai Chunqin was appointed empress dowager of the Two Palaces: he was elected to serve the Arut clan of Chongqi in the Hanlin Temple. Originally, on the issue of choosing an empress, Ci'an Cixi had different opinions, and Ci'an chose the Alute clan and Cixi chose the Fucha clan, the daughter of Fengxiu, a member of the yuanwailang. If there is no dispute, it is chosen by the emperor himself, so Fang Ding's Alute clan can be seen as Cixi's personality, and even his own son is not in the same heart as her. It was also decided to hold a grand wedding ceremony in September, and then the empress dowager of the two palaces withdrew the curtain and 'returned to the government'.
At the age of seventeen, the ceremony of the emperor's wedding was extremely solemn. After the empress is chosen, she must first perform the bride price and the great levy, and when she marries, she must perform the ceremony of the book, the ceremony of consecration, the ceremony of the union, and after the marriage, the ceremony of seeing the pilgrimage, the celebration ceremony, and the feast ceremony. Before the big wedding, the Hanlin Court had to prepare the empress's books and treasures; the ceremonial department had to make gold books and treasures, as well as prepare the bride price and various wedding supplies; the Qin Tianjian had to choose an auspicious day to perform the ceremony; and the entire imperial court had to get busy.
The so-called dowry is the ceremony held when the bride price is presented to the queen's family. The main gifts were horses, armor, cloth and the like. The officials of the Ministry of Rites, the Hongxu Temple, and the Cabinet were busy according to the procedure, and then under the leadership of the emperor's main and deputy envoys, the ceremonial and vast procession traveled to the Empress's residence. The Queen's family will hold a feast, and the princes and ministers will go to the banquet to congratulate and gather together.
Before marrying the empress into the palace, there is also a 'big ceremony', that is, to send a big wedding gift to the queen's family, and to notify the queen to officially enter the palace. This time, the gifts were: 220,000 pieces of gold; 1 golden tea barrel; 2 silver pots of silver tea; and a number of various silk satin horses; and 60 horses of royal horses and 20 pairs of armor. There are also special gifts for the queen's parents, which is about halved by the big wedding.
The most solemn ceremony is the ceremony of ceremony and the ceremony. The emperor and empress were carried out day and night for the first and last two days, and the ceremonial procedures were cumbersome enough to choke. On this day, the streets of The whole city of Beijing must be cleaned and tidy, and every household will be illuminated to show the celebration of all the people. The royal roads passed through the palace are paved with red felt, the door god couplet is renewed, the whole palace is hung with red lights, and colorful sheds are built everywhere, hanging double happy characters and colorful silk, and the people above and below are full of joy.
September 14 is the day of the ceremony of the Great Wedding Book of Zaichun. One day earlier, the emperor had sent officials to pay homage to heaven and earth and the harem of the Taimiao Temple; the empress's crown dress was sent to the empress's house by Luan Yiwei in advance, and the phoenix used by the empress and the middle gate of the Qianqing Gate were sent to the Qianqing Palace to be arranged in the middle and south. Four hair-tied princesses or Fujin and The Lady of Fortune led the female officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Kunning Palace to arrange the cave room. All requirements must be magnificent, joyful royal style. The vases, pearls, rubies, gold and silver coins, gold and silver ruyi, and yuan treasures are inexhaustible, just like Liu Grandma entered the Grand View Garden.
In the morning, the inside and outside of the palace were properly prepared, and the two palaces were set up outside the Cining Palace, and the Empress's ceremonial car was displayed from the Taihe Gate to the Noon Gate. When the auspicious time came, the official of the ceremonial hall guided the emperor out of the palace, first read the book and treasure, and then ascended to the throne of the palace, played the music with a whip, and made the prince Yi Xie and the deputy envoy Belle Yi xi face north to listen to the announcement, and after the festival, the emperor returned to the palace, and the main and deputy envoys held the festival to welcome the empress, escorted by various people and horses, and the party arrived at the empress's house in a mighty way. The empress's family is also illuminated, according to the procedure of the book ceremony, the queen's royal dress kneels on the seat of worship to listen to the reading of the book and the treasure text, and then received the salute, carried in through the middle gate of the Great Qing Gate, welcomed to the palace. Cixi was worried that she was not the empress of the main palace who had been carried in through the middle gate of the Great Qing Gate, which was an afterword. The Emperor and Empress performed ceremonies in front of the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces of Cining Palace, and the Imperial Princess and the Palace accepted the greetings of hundreds of officials. In the meantime, there are many red tapes such as how to stand, walk, sit, ascend, and even how to take the apple, ruyi, and hand over the treasure bottle in the queen's hand.
The emperor's cave room is also because there are too many people serving people, the etiquette is too cumbersome and tasteless, the two only sit, the eunuch palace girl on the side, the princess Fujin ordered the woman to do whatever they want, and there are many trifles that symbolize the peace after marriage, eat longevity noodles and eat the children and grandchildren, all day long, the emperor and empress two just want to rest early, alas, the program Na...
The next day, the empress went to the shrine table to offer incense, and the empress had to hold firewood to make a shaman to preserve (this 'chai' and 'cai' homophony, the meaning of fortune, the folk are also popular), and then eat a reunion feast, and then take a palanquin to the Jingshan Shou Emperor's Hall to see the portrait of the ancestor. After returning to the palace, he first went to The Empress Dowager Ci'an of the Zhong Pu Palace to deliver ruyi, performing three kneeling and nine prostrations, and then to deliver the ruyi ceremony before Empress Dowager Cixi of changchun palace. After returning to the Heart Hall, the emperor ascended the throne, the empress handed ruyi to the emperor, the emperor returned the ruyi, and the concubines and princesses also went to the emperor to pay tribute and deliver ruyi. Oh my God, why do so many wishful thinking!
The empress actually only stayed one night in the cave room of Kunning Palace, and after that she lived in the Chu Xiu Guan in the West Sixth Palace. Then it was the concubines, princesses, fujins, and concubines who prayed and congratulated, and handed them to them, and at this point, the ceremony was over.
On the third day after marriage, the pilgrimage ceremony, the fourth day celebration ceremony, and the fifth day of the feast ceremony were all carried out through various ceremonial procedures under the guidance of the officials of the Ministry of Ceremonies, during which the courtiers were feasted and the imperial court was happy. Someone calculated that after this whole set of tricks and hundreds of ceremonies, the cost of the marriage of the Tongzhi Emperor had generally exceeded 10 million taels of silver, and this was only a well-documented and proper expense.
At this time, the Qing Dynasty has already set over the Western Mountains, which shows that the Qing Dynasty rulers have always been accustomed to squandering the people's fat and people's anointing. Shortly after Tongzhi's great marriage, the empress dowager of the two palaces officially returned to the government on the 26th day of the first month of the following year.