"The wrath of the Son of Heaven, millions of corpses, and thousands of miles of blood" wrote the absolute authority of the emperor's position, no wonder countless people have dreamed of this position throughout the ages. In addition to power, he has three thousand beauties in the harem, and I don't know how many people yearn for it.
Of course, being an emperor actually has "troubles", facing so many concubines and palace maids every day, there is always a day of aesthetic fatigue.
The emperor invented many methods to find excitement in order to "freshness", and the concubines to compete for favor, so that the emperor could "have fun". Here are five of them.
1. Moon waxing and waning method
During the Zhou Dynasty, the harem of the king's favor was closely combined with astronomical meteorology, especially the waxing and waning of the moon.
From the first day of the month to the fifteenth day of the month, the moon gradually becomes round, and the status of the concubine favored by the monarch gradually rises step by step, and from the fifteenth day to the crescent moon, the king's status gradually decreases when he favors the concubine.
But on the fifteenth day of the new month, when the moon is round and absent, the monarch will not favor anyone. At that time, this kind of regulation was not only a simple superstition, but also a worship of the universe.
Second, the sheep cart hope luck method
The inventor of this method was Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty. There are many concubines in Sima Yan's harem, and he is worried about who to favor every night.
So, he thought of a way, sitting on a beautifully decorated sheep cart, wandering slowly on the road of the harem, letting the concubines wait at the gate of their respective palaces, and finally the place where the sheep cart stopped was where he spent the night that night. It is called "sheep cart hope".
Liu Yilong, Emperor Wen of the Southern Song Dynasty, imitated this practice. When Concubine Pan first entered the palace, she was young and beautiful, and her talents were excellent, but she never had the opportunity to meet the emperor and was not favored.
So she came up with a way to attract the sheep carts: sprinkle the salt water on the ground outside the door, and the sheep would stop to lick the salt water when they passed through the palace gate. So, Emperor Wen of Song pampered Concubine Pan Shu.
III. Butterfly method
This method was invented by Tang Xuanzong Li Longji, in addition to the story of Yang Guifei, there were also many women in his harem, and it is said that there were more than 40,000 people at its peak. In the face of so many concubines and palace maids, Tang Xuanzong, who could not be separated, also felt very pity.
And these women are all young and beautiful, which makes him guilty of "difficulty in choosing". So, he came up with a romantic method - the butterfly method.
He gathered all the concubines in the garden, put flowers on their heads, and within a certain period of time, the concubine whose butterflies finally stayed was the one who Tang Xuanzong would be pampered tonight.
In this way, it can not only solve the problem of the concubines sleeping that night, but also pass the time, which is really a win-win situation.
Fourth, the lantern method of seeking luck
The harem sleeping system in the Ming Dynasty was relatively fair, because many queens in the Ming Dynasty came from the people, and the identity gap between the concubines was not too large.
When night fell, the concubines would order the palace ladies to hang two red lanterns at the palace gate, and when the emperor came, the lanterns would be removed. In this way, the other concubines don't have to wait anymore and can go to bed as soon as possible.
Fifth, the flop
Unlike other dynasties, the Qing method seems to be more advanced, and there is no need for concubines to come and "recommend" themselves or wait for them.
But after dinner time, the emperor took the initiative to choose the concubine who went to bed that night, and I believe everyone often sees this scene in Qing court dramas. The eunuchs in the worship room would present the "green plates" with the names of the concubines written on them for the emperor to choose.
Then under the reminder of the eunuch, the emperor chose the person who was going to sleep that night. After the selection is completed, the concubines who will sleep that night will immediately begin to make relevant preparations, and after bathing, they will be wrapped in a quilt, and the eunuch will carry them to the emperor's bed and begin to sleep.
From the above methods, it can be seen that the emperor's attitude towards the harem concubines was extremely selfish and indifferent, and they treated these concubines as "toys" without any regard for their dignity.
This kind of life is an endless torture for the concubines in the harem.