Such a bizarre story is recorded in the "Divine Anomaly", which is related to Dou Jiande's tomb robbery.
In the seventh year of Daye, the Sui Emperor Yang Guang conquered Goguryeo, which is today's Korea, but Dou Jiande knew that his troops were too late to go to conquest, and he also launched a rural uprising. For this incident, there are also records in history, that is, the "New Book of Tang" described that "hundreds of dead soldiers and civilian proletarians were recruited, so that Anzu led them, and entered the high chicken as a thief." ”
However, the uprising needed funds, so Dou Jiande thought of Cao Cao, Cao Cao had used to touch the gold lieutenant to raise funds for himself, why could not he, so he followed Cao Cao's example of digging treasure. However, in the process of robbing the tomb, I don't know whether it was providence or coincidence, he actually stole the palace tomb of Empress Cao Piwen Zhaozhen of Wei Wendi.
Even more bizarre is still behind, when Dou Jiande opened the tomb, he actually found a young woman in the tomb, this woman looks lifelike, dressed naturally not in the style of the Sui Dynasty. Therefore, Dou Jiande took her out of the tomb and took her home to be carefully raised. What was surprising was that this woman was able to speak after three days, and the language was like a big girl.
She said to Dou Jiande, "I am actually the palace daughter of Empress Zhen of Cao Pi, naturally, I know everything about the affairs of Empress Zhen's life, because after Empress Zhen's death, I have no intention of staying in the palace, so I chose to accompany the empress to the funeral, as for how long I stayed in the tomb, I have no way of knowing." Immediately, Dou Jiande adopted her as a concubine and was very fond of her.
Later, when Li Shimin heard about this, he wanted to take her as his harem concubine. However, she resolutely refused to comply, and said: "It was Dou Jiande who saved my life, and I have today, and I cannot forget his grace of regeneration." Later, the woman remained depressed and unhappy, and eventually, she died with hatred. When Li Shimin heard about this incident, he felt sorry for her for a long time.
Of course, this is just a story, and you don't have to take it seriously.
In history, Zhen Mi is a woman who combines beauty and virtuousness, not only has a moving posture, but also is proficient in poetry and song, which can be called a rare talented woman in the Three Kingdoms period. She was originally the original wife of Yuan Shao's second son Yuan Xi, and after Yuan Shao was defeated by Cao Cao, she remarried to Cao Pi and gave birth to a son, Cao Rui. After Cao Rui became emperor, he posthumously honored his mother as Empress Wenzhao.
Historically, there are two theories about Zhen Mi's death:
The first is that Guo Shi (Cao Pi's concubine) competes with Zhen Mi for favors, because the empress dowager is deliberately trying to get rid of Zhen Mi. Because, guo did not leave a son for Cao Pi, so he was very jealous of Zhen Mi's birth to Cao Rui. Cao Rui is a premature baby, and Guo Shi uses this to shake his lips and drum his tongue, slandering Zhen Mi for marrying Cao Pi after she became pregnant, and the identity of Cao Rui's father is questionable.
Cao Pi was afraid that he would be wearing a green hat, so he confronted Zhen Mi. Zhen Mi married Cao Pi earlier than Guo and Li Guiren, and was originally very dissatisfied with Cao Pi's favor for the newcomer, and heard that Guo Shi secretly framed himself, so he was very sad and indignant. Zhen Mi, enraged, gambled with Cao Pi and loudly reprimanded Cao Pi for suspecting his own son, which was really an insult to the Cao family's door style.
The two quarreled fiercely, and an enraged Cao Pi gave Zhen Mi to commit suicide, and the following year he made Guo Zheng empress.
The second theory is also that Zhen Mi was given death by her husband, but for another reason. As mentioned above, Zhen Mi is proficient in poetry and song, and has a good understanding of the harem environment, and understands that she is on the cusp of the harem struggle. Although Zhen Mi had the heart to reunite with her husband, because the two lived separately, Zhen Mi rarely saw Cao Pi on weekdays, so she had no chance to be favored.
In desperation, Zhen Mi had to pin her emotions on the verses and write a legendary work "Tang Shangxing":
"Pu Sheng I am in the pool, its leaves are far away. He can do benevolence and righteousness, and Mo Ruo's concubine knows herself. The mouths of the people are shoveled with gold, and the king is separated. When Nian Jun came to me, he was always sad and miserable. I want to see the color of the king, and I feel sad and sad. Nian Jun is often miserable and cannot sleep at night. Why not give up the love of the donor? Don't give up onions and herbs with fish and meat? Don't give up Suga and Kushi? Out is also full of pain, and in is also full of sorrow. There are many sad winds on the border land, and the trees are full of wind! From the king to the unique pleasure, prolong the life of thousands of autumns. ”
Cao Pi has been well educated since childhood, naturally not an illiterate, it is reasonable to say that he can clearly see Zhen Mi's longing for herself in this poem. When a normal man reads this poem, it is inevitable that he will recall the past with his wife and thus remember his old feelings. Unfortunately, Cao Pi did not know the style, and after reading this song "Tang Shangxing", he was angry and felt that Zhen Mi resented him.
This incident planted a seed in Cao Pi's heart, and in the second year of his ascension to the throne, he ordered someone to take a pot of poisonous wine to the city of Ye, where Zhen Mi was located, and give his wife to commit suicide. After Zhen Mi's death, Cao Pi still did not understand the hatred, and when Zhen Mi was buried, he ordered someone to spread her hair, cover her face, and stuff her mouth with rice bran.
In fact, no matter what reason Zhen Mi died, Cao Pi's actions were puzzling.
According to historical records, Zhen Mi was a very virtuous woman, who was devoted to her husband and son after marrying Cao Pi, and was not humble in the harem. Although Cao Pi had many concubines, Zhen Mi never embarrassed other concubines, and advised those favored concubines Zhen Mi to be active, and often advised and guided the concubines who had fallen out of favor.
Every time there was a banquet, Zhen Mi would advise her husband on the table: "In the past, the reason why the Yellow Emperor was full of children and grandchildren was because he had many wives and concubines, so you must marry more gentle and virtuous women in order to make the Cao family's descendants full of halls." ”
Once, Cao Pi wanted to get rid of his concubine Ren, and Zhen Mi stood up and begged her husband: "The Ren family is a famous and prestigious family, and the Ren family is much better than me regardless of appearance and character, why should we drive away the Ren family?" ”
Cao Pi replied, "Her personality is too grumpy, not gentle at all, and she has hated me for more than a day or two, so I must get rid of her." ”
Zhen Mi cried and said, "You have always loved me (at this time Zhen Mi is deeply favored by Cao Pi), everyone knows it, then drive her away, everyone will think that it is my reason, this is to ignore me, I hope you can carefully consider." ”
Cao Pi did not comment, and in the end, he drove Ren away.
During Cao Cao's western expedition, his wife Lady Bian contracted a vicious illness and was left in Mengjin to recuperate, while Lady Bian's son Cao Pi and daughter-in-law Zhen Mi remained in Yecheng. At that time, Lady Bian's health was deteriorating, and Zhen Mi could not wait by her mother-in-law's side at all times, and she could not even eat food in a hurry. When Lady Bian heard about it, she sent someone to tell Zhen Mi that her body had healed.
However, Zhen Mi couldn't listen to it, and said, "When Madame was at home, she often fell ill, and every time she fell ill, it took a long time to get better, and this time it was impossible to heal so quickly, you are lying to me." ”
Later, Lady Bian personally wrote a letter, and Zhen Mi put her heart into her stomach.
In 212 AD, Lady Bian came to Yecheng, and Zhen Mi personally came to the city gate to greet her, and when she saw that Lady Bian was unwell, she burst into tears. Lady Bian saw that Zhen Mi was so concerned about herself and said, "Daughter-in-law, are you afraid that my old disease will be difficult to heal?" It's just a minor illness, not enough to worry about, you see how good my looks are. Then he sighed, "It's really rare to have such a filial daughter-in-law." ”
In the Book of Wei, Zhen Mi is dying, but the statement of the Book of Wei is not agreed by historians, after all, if Zhen Mi really died at the hands of her husband, for Cao Pi, it would be a very evil crime to kill such a virtuous wife, so the historian modified the cause of Zhen Mi's death.
In general, the truth of this secret matter of the palace is hidden in many mysteries and difficult to see, and at the beginning of the founding of the Wei Dynasty, there was no room for a woman, and the things involved in it were really bizarre, and people who read history could not help but find the reason.
Resources:
"Divine Anomaly", "New Book of Tang", "Tang Shangxing", "Book of Wei"