Recently, the popularity of the costume TV series "Daming Fenghua" has made many viewers have a strong interest in the historical figures of the Ming Dynasty, and today we will talk about what kind of person Sun Ruowei, the female number one in the play, is in history, and how her experience is different from that in "Daming Fenghua".
Sun Ruowei's historical figure is based on Emperor Xuanzong's second empress Dowager Sun (孝恭章皇后), whose specific name is unknown. According to the character setting in "Daming Fenghua", Sun Ruowei is the eldest daughter of Jingqing, the imperial master of the Jianwen Dynasty, and the sister of the second female Hu Shanxiang. However, the ending of Jingqing in real history is much worse than in "Daming Fenghua", he was arrested for planning to assassinate Zhu Di, in addition to his own tragic death, the entire clan was slaughtered, and his relatives were impossible to be spared, so the historical "Sun Ruowei" had no half-cent relationship with Jingqing.
However, the identity information forged for her by Sun Ruowei's adoptive father Sun Yu in "Daming Fenghua" is consistent with the historical "Sun Ruowei": Sun Shi, a native of Zouping, Shandong, and the daughter of Sun Zhong, the master of Yongcheng County.
Sun Ruowei in "Daming Fenghua" is "Jing Nan Orphan", she lurked in the capital in order to avenge her parents, waiting for the opportunity to assassinate the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, but the result was that she met Zhu Di's grandson Zhu Zhanji by chance, and the two agreed to eventually become married. But the first half of the life of "Sun Ruowei" in history did not have such ups and downs.
Sun's natural beauty, Xiuwai Huizhong, the history books call it "Jiao And Hui". In the early years, her father Sun Zhong served as the chief bookkeeper in Yongcheng County, and Sun Shi lived with his father in Yongcheng County. One day, Lady Peng Chengbo, the mother of Crown Princess Zhang (Empress Akihito Ofejong Shōshō Zhang, a native of Yongcheng, Henan, i.e., Crown Princess Zhang Yan in "Daming Fenghua"), happened to see Sun Shi and was immediately interested in this beautiful little girl. Soon, Zhu Di ordered that he should be prepared to choose a spouse for the emperor's grandson Zhu Zhanji, and Lady Peng Chengbo immediately recommended Sun Shi to the palace, and this year Sun Shi had just turned ten years old.
According to the records in the "Records of the History of Tong of the Sheng Dynasty", after Sun Entered the Palace, the Crown Princess Zhang personally taught court etiquette for seven years. This is doubtful, because Empress Zhang, who was known for her virtuousness in history, did not like the Sun clan very much, and later embarrassed the Sun clan everywhere, and it is reasonable to say that if the Sun clan came from her disciples, it should not be so. Of course, there is also a possibility that Empress Zhang reluctantly undertook the task of raising her in order to cope with her mother's arrangement.
In the fifteenth year of Yongle (1417), Si Tianjian reported that Houxing would appear in Shandong, and Zhu Di immediately ordered eunuchs to go looking for them, only to find that Hu Shanxiang, the third daughter of Hu Rong, a former Jinyi wei baihu who was idle at home, was the houxing as shown in the celestial signs, so he ordered her to enter the palace. In the same year, Zhu Zhanji was married, and Hu Shanxiang was crowned as the emperor's concubine, and Sun Shi was crowned as the emperor's concubine. Judging from the origins of Hu Shanxiang and Sun Shi, it is presumably clear to everyone that these two people are not sisters as mentioned in "Daming Fenghua".
Hu Shanxiang in "Daming Fenghua" is scheming, the city government is very deep, and he is a veritable snake and scorpion beauty. However, the historical Hu Shanxiang is a dignified, unattractive and simple person, that is, the type of virtuous wife and mother that most men like. However, women with good wives and good mothers are often prone to losses, and although Hu Shanxiang is very virtuous, he has never been able to make Zhu Zhanji really touch her. On the contrary, as the concubine of the emperor's grandson, the Sun clan was favored by thousands of people. Although it cannot be proved that Sun Shi is a cunning, it can be seen from her pampered status that her means are definitely much higher than Hu Shanxiang.
After Zhu Zhanji became emperor, Hu Shanxiang was crowned empress, and Sun Shi became Sun Guifei. On the surface, Hu Shanxiang seems to be the lord of the middle palace, but in fact, it is Sun Guifei who really has the absolute right to speak in the harem. Hu Shanxiang is not in contention, which makes her even more snubbed.
In the spring of the third year of Xuande (1428), Zhu Zhanji deposed Hu Shanxiang as empress dowager on the grounds that empress Dowager Hu Shanxiang had no sons and was in poor health. In the same year, Sun Guifei was crowned empress and became the hostess of Emperor Xuanzong's harem. The history books do not say how Sun Shi ascended to the throne, but it is very clear that Hu Shanxiang was deposed for no reason. Although the personal will of Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji played a decisive role in this, Sun Shi must have also done a lot of hard work here. The famous historian Cai Dongfan's evaluation of Sun Shi is: "The posture is charming, the temperament is cunning, and the little is like nature." He did everything to please Shangyi and toyed with Emperor Xuanzong in the palm of his hand. ”
Sun Shi, who became empress, embarked on the peak of her life, but there was one more thing that made her angry at this time. It turned out that Hu Shanxiang became a Taoist nun after being deposed, but still lived in the palace. At this time, Zhang Shi, who had become empress dowager, was very sympathetic and did not love Hu Shanxiang, so whenever the harem held a banquet, Empress Zhang would arrange for Hu Shanxiang to sit on the first seat below her, above Empress Sun, who was very unhappy about this, but also helpless, after all, she did not dare to openly confront her mother-in-law, Empress Zhang.
On the third day of the first lunar month of the tenth year of Xuande (January 31, 1435), Emperor Xuanzong of Ming died. On the ninth day of February of the same year, Zhu Zhanji and Empress Sun's eldest son Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne as emperor as Emperor Yingzong of Ming. Empress Sun was revered as the empress dowager, and the woman who lived in the harem reached the position of Empress Sun, which was also considered to be a complete life, but her story did not end.
In the fourteenth year of orthodoxy (1449), Emperor Mingying personally conquered Walla, but was unexpectedly defeated and captured. In desperation, Empress Sun had no choice but to agree to let Zhu Zhanji's second son Zhu Qiyu (born to Concubine Wu Xian) ascend the throne as emperor for emperor of the Ming Dynasty. In her later years, the loss of her beloved son made Empress Sun, who had enjoyed most of her life's glory and wealth, feel bitter, although at this time her identity was still the empress dowager, but the emperor was no longer her own son, so her empress dowager's value was also greatly reduced. What was even more infuriating was that after Zhu Qiyu became emperor, he tried every means to prevent the Wallachians from releasing Ming Yingzong, but Empress Sun knew about this but there was no way.
However, it didn't take long for the Wallachians to realize that Ming Yingzong was a "hot potato" in his hands. After some haggling, the Wallachians accepted a very low ransom from the Ming ministers and released them to Emperor Ming. The reunion of mother and son made Empress Sun very happy, but it made Emperor Ming quite annoyed, after all, there were two emperors in a court. In the years that followed, Empress Sun and Emperor Mingyingzong, who was revered as Emperor Taishang, were closely monitored by Emperor Ming's henchmen, and there was no freedom to act.
In the eighth year of Jingtai (1457), with the support of Empress Sun, Ming Yingzong and his cronies Shi Heng, Xu Youzhen, Cao Jixiang and others launched the famous "Change of Taking the Door" in history. Afterwards, Emperor Yingzong re-ascended the imperial throne, and Empress Sun also became the rightful empress dowager again.
On the fourth day of the first month of September in the sixth year of Tianshun (1462), Empress Sun finally completed her relatively complete life. There is a big difference between the historical "Sun Ruowei" and Sun Ruowei in "Daming Style", especially in terms of character personality, but the real life experience of "Sun Ruowei" can be said to be more ups and downs than in the TV series, and the excitement is continuous.
It is worth mentioning that after the death of Empress Sun, Emperor Mingyingzong announced that Hu Shanxiang, who had long since died, had been restored to the title of empress. From this point, it can also be seen to what extent Hu Shanxiang was suppressed by Empress Sun before his death.
References: "History of the Ming Dynasty", "Records of the History of Tong of the Sheng Dynasty"