Among the sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty, one is very special, he is Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen! The emperors of the Ming Dynasty had many concubines, all of whom entered the harem when they were young and beautiful, and were generally much younger than the emperor. However, Ming Xianzong was very special, the young and beautiful woman in the harem, he did not like it, but instead favored Wan Guifei!
Wan Guifei, named Wan Zhen'er, was born in the fifth year of Xuande (1430) of the Ming Dynasty, 17 years older than Emperor Xianzong of Ming. What was even more surprising was that Princess Wan Guifei was actually the same age as Empress Zhou, Ming Xianzong's birth mother, and even her birthday might be even older than that of Zhou! In other words, Ming Xianzong did not love beautiful women, and only favored Wan Guifei, who was the same age as his mother, which was really surprising!
Many people think that Ming Xianzong's taste is more "heavy", but in fact, there is a little-known story behind this, which is related to Ming Xianzong's tragic childhood experience! It is explained that Emperor Xianzong's father was Emperor Mingyingzong Zhu Qizhen, who personally conquered Wala in the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, and as a result, he defeated Tumu Fort and became a prisoner of the Wala people. Zhu Qiyu, who was in Beijing, took the throne and made Zhu Jianshen, who was only two years old, crown prince.
After Zhu Qiyu became emperor, he moved his mind, and he used various means to finally depose Zhu Jianshen as crown prince and install his son Zhu Jianji as crown prince instead. At this time, Zhu Mishen was in his infancy, and he could not meet his father, nor did he have very few opportunities to meet his mother, and the only one who served him was Wan Shi
Wan Guifei was not born tall, her ancestral home was a native of Zhucheng, Shandong, and later lived in Bazhou with her father. At the age of four, Wan Zhen'er was elected to the harem, initially serving Empress Xuanzong' grandson, who was also the mother of Emperor Mingyingzong. When Zhu Jianshen was first made crown prince, Empress Xuanzong sun specially sent Wan Zhen'er to take care of him, and the two formed a "love of life and death" from then on.
The young Zhu Mishen had neither father nor maternal love, and was still in a palace of intrigue and lacked the protection of his parents. At this time, Wan Zhen'er, who was 17 years older than him, naturally played the role of Zhu Mishen's parents. In this way, Wan Zhen'er became the most inseparable person for Zhu Jianshen in the process of zhu jianshen's growth. In the eighth year of Tianshun, Ming Yingzong fell ill and died, and the 18-year-old Zhu Jianshen succeeded to the throne.
At that time, Zhu Jianshen was not yet married, and after the recommendation of the eunuch Niu Yu, the empress dowager of the two palaces chose the 17-year-old Wu clan as empress for him. As a result, no one expected that Zhu Jianshen would depose Empress Wu less than a month after his marriage. The reason is very simple, because Empress Wu saw that Emperor Xianzong favored Wan Guifei alone, and she was a little jealous, so she beat Wan Guifei for some reasons. Later, Emperor Mingxianzong chose Wang Shi as empress, and Wang Shi was very sensible and "could entrust Wan Guifei with it".
In fact, Emperor Xianzong wanted to make Concubine Wan Guifei empress, but after all, she was too low in birth and too old, and she was opposed by the empress dowager of the two palaces. Since then, Wan Guifei has favored the harem alone, and even the empress does not dare to provoke. Empress Dowager Zhou, Emperor Mingxianzong's birth mother, was very incomprehensible, and once asked her son, "What beauty does he have, and how much is he to be blessed?" ”
In this regard, Ming Xianzong explained: "He touched Wu Anzhi, not in Maungya. That is to say, in Ming Xianzong's view, Wan Guifei was not beautiful, but as long as she was around herself, she would have a sense of security. This is because Ming Xianzong grew up under the protection of Wan Guifei since childhood, and this feeling was naturally formed. According to records, every time Emperor MingXianzong went out, Wan Guifei "would serve the saber and stand left and right" and "fly on every gu".
Princess Wan Guifei once gave birth to a son for Emperor Xianzong, but soon died prematurely, so she developed a psychopathy and did not allow his harem concubines to become pregnant, resulting in Emperor Mingxianzong remaining childless. This situation did not change until the birth of Emperor Mingxiaozong. In the first month of the twenty-third year of Chenghua, Wan Guifei fell ill and died. When Emperor Mingxian heard the news, he was very sad and said, "When the Ten Thousand Attendants have gone, I will also go." From then on, Emperor Mingxianzong was depressed and soon became seriously ill, and died in August of that year.
References: 1. Records of Emperor Mingxianzong, 2. History of Ming, 3. Compilation of Wanliye, 4. Records of the History of Tongshi of the Victorious Dynasty