Speaking of the longest-lived empress dowager in Chinese history, no one can bypass Wang Zhengjun, she was the longest-lived empress dowager in the Western Han Dynasty, and some people also said that she was the most incompetent empress.
Wang Zhengjun, stills
Wang Zhengjun was a native of Yuancheng County, Wei County (present-day Daming, Hebei), and it is said that when her mother was pregnant with her, she dreamed of a moon falling into her arms, and then gave birth to her.
To say that she was unlucky, her original family was very unfortunate, and her mother remarried because she could not stand her father's alcoholism. When she grew up to be fourteen or fifteen years old, the man who was originally betrothed suddenly fell ill and died, and everyone said that her life was hard and ordinary people could not hold it down. When king Dongping heard about this, he wanted to take her as a concubine, but Wang Zhengjun had not yet started, and King Dongping also fell ill and died.
After two fiancés died in a row, her father asked someone to give her divination, and the result was that the king was too precious to speak of. Her father decided that Wang Zhengjun was destined to be the lord and noble, let her learn various talents, and when Wang Zhengjun was eighteen years old, he offered her to the palace as a palace maid. Although this king was beautiful, there were too many beauties in the palace, and she was not very brilliant.
She said that she was lucky because after more than a year in the palace, Sima Liangdi, who was favored by crown prince Liu Yi (shi), unfortunately died of illness (Liu Yi was the son of Emperor Xuan of Han and Xu Pingjun, and the eleventh emperor of the Western Han Dynasty). Before her death, Na Liangdi said to Liu Yi that "the death of the concubine was all due to the fact that other concubines cursed her to death", so Liu Yi became angry with the other concubines and never entered the backyard again.
When Emperor Xuan of Han learned of this, he asked the empress to choose a suitable palace maid in the harem to give to the crown prince. So the empress brought a few beautiful ladies for the prince to choose, including Wang Zhengjun. The partial prince didn't even look at the right eye and followed one person, that is, Wang Zhengjun. So Wang Zhengjun seized the opportunity and bore a son for the prince. This was the first son of the crown prince, and Emperor Xuan of Han was so pleased that he personally named the child Liu Xiao. After the death of Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Yi ascended the throne as emperor for Emperor Yuan of Han.
After Emperor Yuan of Han ascended the throne, Wang Zhengjun's mother was promoted to empress by virtue of her son Gui, and Liu Xiao was also made crown prince. However, although she was made empress, Emperor Yuan did not like her much, and Emperor Yuan's favorite concubine, Fu Jieyu, also gave birth to Liu Kang the Prince of Dingtao, which posed a serious threat to the status of Wang Zhengjun and crown prince Liu Xiao. However, Wang Zhengjun was very tolerant, and under the protection of the traditional idea of standing up for a long time and not standing for a young person, and not establishing a concubine, Emperor Yuan of Han did not depose Liu Xiao until his death. After that, Liu Xiao became the emperor, that is, the historical Hancheng Emperor, and Wang Zhengjun also became the empress dowager for many years.
Wang Zhengjun, stills of the mother's world
Speaking of Emperor Hancheng, many people think of Feiyan Hede, who was obsessed with the beauty of Emperor Hancheng promoted the Wang family under the advice of Wang Zhengjun, setting a record of five waiting for ten generals, which can be called the strongest foreign relative! Wang Zhengjun, as a brother-in-law demon, had no political brains, only knew how to reuse the Wang family, and there was a younger brother Wang Man who died early and did not catch up with the marquis, so she let Wang Man's son Wang Mang inherit the title, and also took special care of her nephew Wang Mang. In this way, the Wang family used their relationship with Wang Zhengjun to dominate the government and control the important positions of various parts of the Western Han Dynasty.
Fei Yan Hede
It is reasonable to say that the emperor is not afraid of foreign relatives and chaos, because the emperor always lives longer than the empress, but Wang Zhengjun is really too capable of living. The story of Feiyan Hede, whether it is the history of Zhengshi or Yeshi, I believe that everyone has heard a lot, in short, Emperor Hancheng ascended the throne for many years without heirs, and finally died in Zhao Hede's room. Emperor Hancheng died, but the Western Han Dynasty could not do without an emperor (at this time, Emperor Hancheng's brothers Liu Kang and Liu Xing had also died early), so Wang Zhengjun made Liu Kang's son Liu Xin emperor, which was the Han Emperor.
Emperor of the Han Dynasty, stills
After the Han Emperor ascended the throne, Wang Zhengjun and the Wang family began to decline. Fu Yao, the grandmother of the Han Emperor, as a woman who worked against Wang Zhengjun when she was emperor of Hancheng, squeezed out the Wang family everywhere after gaining power, seeing that the Wang family was about to lose power, and did not think that the life of the Han Emperor was not long. Wang Zhengjun, as the most senior empress dowager, once again took power and enabled his nephew Wang Mang to regain power in the dynasty. This time she learned to be smart, and found a nine-year-old Liu Yan as emperor, for the Hanping Emperor. Sima Wang Mang began to control the government, and the Wang family ushered in the second spring of politics.
As a result, Emperor Ping of Han also died, and Wang Zhengjun survived the death of five emperors before and after, when she was also older, and her nephew Wang Mang usurped the Han to establish a new dynasty, so the Wang family completely destroyed the Western Han.
In short, in the eighty-four years of Wang Zhengjun's life, she held power for more than sixty years, but in her hands she was nepotistic, listened to rumors, and carried the infamy of future generations.
Taking history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall, history is like a textbook, only by correctly understanding history, drawing wisdom from it, studying hard, and adhering to practice, can we be worthy of the times and the people!