Feudal society is strict in etiquette, strict in rank, and the most important is respected and inferior, which makes the marriage of men and women the most important to the door, the family background is the first, and other things such as appearance and talent must be in the back row.
Ordinary people's families are still like this, not to mention that in the inner courtyard of the palace, almost all the people who can enter the palace as concubines in the past dynasties are the ladies of the official eunuchs' families, and as for becoming the lord of the six palaces in the mother's world, the requirements for the family are higher.
Therefore, most of the empresses came from a large family of power and opposition at that time.
But throughout the feudal society for more than two thousand years, there was a dynasty that was quite "maverick", and almost all the empresses were born of commoners.
This dynasty is the Ming Dynasty
Ming dynasty empresses of commoner origin
Some people question this, thinking that it is pure fabrication, so let's give a few random examples: the empress of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, who we are most familiar with, known as the "Bigfoot Horse Empress", is the righteous daughter of Guo Zixing of the Red Turban Army, although Guo Zixing had the name of a marshal at that time, in fact, he made a small fuss and did not become a climate, this birth is not noble!
Emperor Xuanzong's empress Dowager Hu was from a family of low-ranking military officers, and her father,"Father by daughter gui" was also an official of the Sanpin, not worth mentioning, after the death of Hu, Emperor Xuanzong set up the Sun clan as the queen, and this time it was even more "outrageous".
Sun's father was only a knife and pen official, not even a grade; of course, the most famous was none other than the Zhengde Emperor, whose love story with Cinderella is still a "regular" on the big screen.
For example, the Empress Zhou of the Chongzhen Emperor was also a commoner, and the empresses of other dynasties were similar, so we will not list them all.
Of course, some bar spirits will jump out to show that the empress of Chengzu Zhu Di is the daughter of Xu Da, the first hero of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, why don't you say this? Please note that when Xu Married Zhu Di, Zhu Di was still a prince, and if he had not launched the "Battle of Jingnan", Xu Shi would not have become an empress.
So why were most of the Ming empresses born from commoners?
This actually originated from an edict issued by Zhu Yuanzhang, according to the "Biography of the Later Concubines of the Ming Dynasty": After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he revised the "Female Training" as the "family law" for the management of the concubines, in which he stipulated: "After the Prince of Tianzi, concubines, and concubines, carefully select the daughters of the good family, and those who enter the house are blessed, and the concubines and the people of the later concubines are more colorful."
The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang set such special rules was to prevent the occurrence of "foreign relatives interfering in politics."
Since ancient times, "foreign relatives interfering in politics" has been an important reason for the dynasty's transformation from prosperity to decline or even demise: the Tang Dynasty's transformation from prosperity to decline began with the Anshi Rebellion, and the Anshi Rebellion was caused by the foreign relative Yang Guozhong's interference in the government; The Western Han Dynasty's foreign relative Wang Mang even changed dynasties and established a new dynasty!
The list of other similar situations is endless.
In order to avoid the emergence of a new emperor, the mother is strong and the son is weak, and the situation of foreign relatives interfering in politics is also "each strange move", the most ruthless is "Lizi killing mother", according to the "Book of Han": Emperor Wu of Han set up a son Liu Fuling and killed Lady Goge to avoid the situation of foreign relatives interfering in politics.
Although there have been ways to avoid foreign relatives interfering in politics throughout the dynasties, foreign relatives are still forbidden to do evil, only in the Ming Dynasty in the 276 years of the State Zuo, there has never been a situation of foreign relatives interfering in politics, the reason is that Zhu Yuanzhang cut off the possibility of foreign relatives doing big from the root!
Was the Ming Dynasty too hasty after such an election?
On the contrary, although the Ming Dynasty stipulated that the empress should be born of a commoner, the criteria for the post-election were not ambiguous at all, and there were four rounds after the Ming Dynasty's election, starting with the "national audition".
Select girls of the right age with dignified character nationwide to bring back to the Beijing Division, and these girls will undergo three rounds of examination after entering the palace, from appearance to posture to voice, one by one, the standard is high to outrageous!
Imagine that only one empress can be elected by the strength of the whole country, even if this empress is born a commoner, she is not inferior to the lady of the official eunuch family, and even especially victorious, although the lady of the official eunuch family is born noble, but the room for choice is extremely small, how can it be compared with the "best" selected nationwide!
brief summary:
In fact, people familiar with history know that the Ming Dynasty is the most "maverick", the most "hardcore" dynasty in the past dynasties, although the Sixteenth Emperor of the Ming Dynasty also produced some faint and incompetent people.
But no matter how unsuccessful the emperor is, the whole country is extremely backbone, throughout the entire Ming Dynasty, never peace, never negotiate peace, never yield in the face of foreign enemies, just when the Ming Dynasty "sunset on the western mountains" can defeat the Netherlands, known as the "sea coachman".
How can such a dynasty not be loved, and it is no wonder that after the fall of the Ming Dynasty so many years later, there are still a large number of benevolent people in the Qing Dynasty who still remember "anti-Qing and restoration"!
And all this stems from Zhu Yuanzhang, the most "lowly" emperor in history, who was born poor, so he knows the suffering of the people, he is born poor, so he loves the people, he is born poor, so there is a provision that "the empress needs to be born as a commoner"!
References: Biography of Ming Shi Houfei, Book of Han