In ancient times, the greatest desire of women should be to become a queen, because becoming an empress means becoming the most honorable woman in the world. Not only can you enjoy endless honor and glory, but your own family can also benefit a lot.
But there was such an empress in the Tang Dynasty, who not only did not enjoy these glories and riches, but also wandered outside for more than forty years. Although four generations of emperors searched her many times during this period, the final results were nothing. The empress who became famous for her "disappearance" was Shen Zhu, the Ruizhen Empress of the Tang Dynasty.
I. The Tang Xuanzong period
Shen Zhu was born during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, and her family was not an ordinary family; since her grandfather's generation, she has held important positions, and her father's highest official is Dalizheng. It is a well-known local family with a head and a face. And Shen Pearl herself is beautiful and tall, so it has naturally become the selection object of the royal family.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, most of the concubines of the emperor's grandsons and some of the female officials who needed special needs were women selected from the families of the imperial court ministers. First, it can be pulled into the relationship with the ministers of the DPRK, after all, many ministers with rebellious intentions think that their daughters and the royal family have in-laws.
The second is that the female family that can be elected as a concubine or female official must be pure for generations, but it must not be too poor and depressed, which means that the quality of the women who enter the palace can be guaranteed. Therefore, it can be seen that Shen Zhu can be selected into the palace, and her family and herself are outstanding. Such selected women are often collectively referred to as good family members.
Shen Pearl is proficient in all kinds of paintings and calligraphy, and it is not a problem to compose poems and chants; coupled with her gentle and beautiful appearance. Soon she was taken in by Tang Xuanzong's son Li Heng, but he did not look up to herself. He was still the crown prince at the time, and his son Li Li naturally became the emperor's eldest grandson, and Shen Zhu was also given to Li Li, who later changed his name to Li Yu.
Shen Zhu became Li Yu's concubine, but only a side concubine rather than a concubine; the concubine was Cui, and Yang Yuhuan was her aunt. The story of Yang Yuhuan and Tang Xuanzong was not only the talk of the future generations after the tea and dinner, but also the world-famous love model at that time. Therefore, Cui Shi relied on this relationship to show that Shen Zhu was not pleasing to the eye, but Li Yu could not say anything.
II. During the reign of Emperor Suzong of Tang
Shen Zhu had been watching Cui's eyes with her tail between her legs until she gave birth to Li Yu's eldest son, Li Shi, who thought that she could no longer be bullied by her mother. But he did not think that the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Yang Guifei committed suicide, and the Tang Dynasty was seriously injured.
In desperation, Tang Xuanzong could only flee from Chang'an with Li Heng and others. Later, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang passed away, and Li Heng succeeded him as Emperor Suzong of Tang. At that time, when he fled, he was in a critical moment of survival, Li Shi, as a royal son, was naturally taken away and fled with him, and Shen Zhu was not an important member of the royal family, so he was ruthlessly abandoned by them, and Shen Zhu could only be separated from his son and husband.
Li Yu actually feels guilty about Shen Zhu, because Shen Zhu is the person he really loves; Shen Zhu has his own unique views on many things, and can also provide Li Yu with a lot of ideas to solve problems. In his free time, he can also play the piano and chess with him to kill time; and Cui Shi is only because his birth and family are more prominent, but he is stubborn and selfish, and he only cares about himself and never cares about others.
Therefore, after returning to Luoyang, Li Yu looked around for the whereabouts of Shen Zhu, but on the one hand, Luoyang had just undergone the baptism of war and chaos, and there were many more foreigners. Even if he was already a prince at that time, trying to find someone was like finding a needle in a haystack. Finally, after day after day of searching, the Emperor did not pay off and he successfully found Shen Pearl.
The two lovers who had been reunited for a long time naturally wanted to stick together all the time, and Li Yu also wanted to take Shen Pearl back to the palace. Unfortunately, at that time, his own foundation was unstable, so he could not act hastily, otherwise he might hurt her.
3. The Tang Dynasty
During Li Heng's reign, Li Yu could only secretly gather his men to look around for Shen Zhu's whereabouts; but later Luoyang experienced a second war. Shen Pearl, who had been living an ordinary life waiting for her husband to visit her from time to time, was once again gone. Although Li Yu later led his troops to rehabilitate the war, shen pearl was never found after the war.
Soon after, Emperor Suzong of Tang died of daily hardship due to state turmoil, and Li Yu, as crown prince, succeeded to the throne smoothly. After succeeding to the throne, in addition to dealing with major state affairs, most of his time and energy was spent on finding Shen Pearl. Unfortunately, this time did not go well as the last time, and he could not see his lover again until his death.
Li Yu also constantly regretted that he had not quietly taken Shen Zhu back or found a safer place to settle down. So much so that later, it was not known whether Shen Zhu was alive or dead after that, and most likely died in the war; otherwise, although it would take some time to find someone with the emperor's strength and means, it would always be possible to find it.
4. The Tang Dynasty
Li Shi, as Li Yu's eldest son, suffered some hardships, but was eventually made crown prince; after Li Yu's death, he succeeded to the throne as Emperor Dezong of Tang. He was fourteen years old when he fled, and the ancients had matured earlier, and his father Li Yu gave birth to his mother Shen Zhu when he was fifteen years old.
Therefore, Li Shi, who was fourteen years old at the time, was almost the same as an adult today; the memory and understanding of his mother were naturally very sufficient. He remembers more deeply than the forced separation from his mother, who was excited to learn that he was still alive, but lost news because of the war.
When his father Li Yu was still alive, he searched around, but he never heard from him; Li Shi continued to search for Shen Pearl after he succeeded to the throne. For his mother, he also felt deeply indebted, filial piety was the first, and the ancient people regarded filial piety as extremely important. It is like although the emperor is the co-lord of the world, he still has to ask the empress dowager and the empress dowager for peace.
Although Tang Dezong Li Shi stood on the throne of the Ninth Five,000 emperors, he did not let his mother enjoy the treatment of empress dowager. Even more because he also knew that his mother was bullied by Cui's family when she was young, her life was not good, and the exiled people experienced human suffering. Every time I think of this, Li Shi's heart is like a knife. He is also like his father, except that one is looking for a wife and the other is looking for a mother.
5. Summary
When she was still alive, she did not receive the title, but after Li Chun succeeded to the throne, she still searched for no results, and then posthumously crowned her grandmother as Empress Ruizhen, and Li Chun was Li Shi's grandson, for Tang Xianzong. In this way, a woman who should have enjoyed the honor of empress, empress dowager, or even empress dowager did not live a life of wealth and nobility.
On the contrary, he has spent most of his life wandering and wandering, and he does not even know when he will experience another war and parting. The story of Shen Zhu is a unique chapter in the history of China's feudal dynasty. She did not rely on the power of Wu Zetian to let future generations remember; nor did she rely on the love story of Yang Yuhuan and Emperor Tang Ming to pass on the praises of future generations; she also won the exploration of future generations with the most special "disappearance".