There is such a paragraph in "The Legend of Zhen Huan": Yongzheng took the initiative to promote the position of the favored Nian Shilan (at this time Concubine Hua), so when he asked for the queen Yixiu the next day, all the concubines took the initiative to ask for Nian Shilan. Nian Shilan was a little arrogant, and took the initiative to ask the queen: What position will the emperor give herself?
Yi Xiu said: Above the concubine is the concubine, and above the concubine is the imperial concubine, and the emperor's mind is roughly like this.
Nian Shilan was very domineering and deliberately provoked the queen: The queen is wrong, what about the queen above the imperial concubine?
Yi Xiu, as the queen of the world, naturally couldn't be provoked at will, so he said with a smile: Ao, why is my sister interested in my queen's position?
Nian Shilan said: The concubine didn't dare, but I heard that the position of the imperial concubine was very noble, and the position was more than the deputy queen, and I heard that when the Shunzhi Lord was there, Dong E's family was named the imperial concubine, and she was very favored, and even the queen Borzigit clan had no place to stand?
01
Although Nian Shilan was quick to speak, in the end Yongzheng did not canonize her as an imperial concubine, but a concubine.
Because the position of the imperial concubine in the Qing Dynasty is indeed very noble as Nian Shilan said, and the position is the same as the deputy queen, if there is a queen, it will not be easy to canonize the imperial concubine. Unless the concubine is seriously ill or there is no queen in the harem, the imperial concubine will be canonized. For example, during the Kangxi Dynasty, after the death of Empress Xiaochengren and Empress Xiaozhaoren, Kangxi no longer canonized the queen, but canonized his cousin Tong Jiashi as the imperial concubine, in charge of the affairs of the six palaces, and only canonized him as the queen when Tong Jiashi was seriously ill.
During the Yongzheng Dynasty, Nian Qianyao's sister Nian was named a concubine when Yongzheng ascended the throne, and was named an imperial concubine when she was seriously ill.
During the Qianlong Dynasty, after Empress Xiaoxianchun died of illness and the Nala clan fell out of favor, Qianlong canonized Wei Jia's family as the imperial concubine to govern the six palaces, and it was not until the fifteenth son of the emperor Yongyan was officially canonized as the crown prince that Wei Jiashi was posthumously named the queen.
Therefore, in the Qing Dynasty, it was generally not possible to canonize imperial concubines. Like in "The Legend of Zhen Huan", when Queen Yixiu was alive, Concubine Duan was directly promoted to the imperial concubine, which would not happen at all. Of course, this is only the imperial concubine during the Qing Dynasty, and the meaning of the imperial concubine in the Ming Dynasty is very different from that of the Qing Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial concubine was only second only to the queen, either because she was favored and sat in the position of the imperial concubine step by step, or because she gave birth to the eldest son, the eldest son was named the prince in the absence of a concubine, and the prince's biological mother and mother would be named the imperial concubine by virtue of the child.
The definition of imperial concubine in the Ming and Qing dynasties is not exactly the same, in fact, it is also because the title of imperial concubine actually began in the Ming Dynasty.
The first officially canonized imperial concubine recognized in history was Wan Zhen'er Wan Huang Guifei, who was favored by Ming Xianzong all her life;
The first person to receive the title of imperial concubine was the concubine Sun who was favored by Ming Xuanzong, but Sun was later crowned as the successor;
But in fact, the first person in history to be officially canonized as the imperial concubine was the Tang family, the favorite concubine of Zhu Qiyu of the Ming Dynasty, but the Tang family was implicated by the emperor and was abolished as the imperial concubine. Daizong was the only emperor who was not buried in the imperial tomb after the Ming Dynasty moved the capital, and it was also the emperor who did not enshrine the Taimiao except for Emperor Jianwen. Implicated by Daizong, Empress Suxiao Hang became the only unrecognized empress in the history of the Ming Dynasty, while Tang became the only unrecognized imperial concubine in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
In this article, let's take a look: What kind of existence is the Tang Imperial Concubine? Why can no children and no daughters be named imperial concubines?
02
Tang is a native of Nanfeng, Jiangxi, his father Tang Xing learned a good martial arts, and after his daughter Tang was born, he went to relatives, and became a brocade guard with his kung fu. Tang's mother, Gan, is also from Nanfeng, very beautiful, and ingenious, good at singing and dancing. With such a mother, Tang has been exposed to it since she was a child, and she has slowly been cultivated into a boudoir woman with great cultural connotation.
As the daughter of Jin Yiwei, she is naturally qualified to participate in the draft. However, there are two theories about the time when Tang entered the palace:
The first theory is that the Tang family entered the palace in the seventh year of Jingtai, and in the year of entering the palace, she was named the imperial concubine because of the favor of the harem, and the next year when she was named the imperial concubine, she was implicated because Zhu Qiyu was demoted to the king of servants, and was demoted to the concubine of the king of servants.
The second theory is that the Tang family had entered the palace at least in the first year of Jingtai, and he was only 13 years old when he entered the palace.
In the third year of orthodoxy, Tang was born;
In the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, Zhu Qizhen of Ming Yingzong was captured by the Warat people, and although Zhu Qiyu was reluctant, he was still pushed to the throne, because Zhu Qiyu was the only younger brother of Ming Yingzong. When Yingzong was captured, his eldest son Zhu Jianshen was only 3 years old, for the "lord Shaoguo suspicion", Empress Dowager Sun (Yingzong) decided to let Zhu Qiyu, the king of servants, ascend the throne, known as Ming Dynasty Sect, the year name Jingtai.
According to the record of "Ming Yingzong Record": In December of the first year of Jingtai, the reason why Jinyi Wei Tang Xing's position was hereditary was because he was already a relative and the father-in-law of Ming Dynasty Zong. And Tang Xing is Tang's father, that is to say, before December of the first year of Jingtai, Tang had entered the palace and became the concubine of Daizong. It's just that before Jingtai was named the imperial concubine in the seventh year, the specific position was not determined.
It is said that when the Tang family entered the palace, except for the Gan clan (Tang's maternal grandmother's family) to send it off, no one from the Tang family came to send it. Because they didn't know whether the Tang family's entry into the palace was a blessing or a curse, they were worried that they would be implicated by the Tang family in the future.
After all, Daizong's throne is not inherited in order, is it really a good thing for the Tang family to enter the palace and become Daizong's concubine?
But whether it's good or not, the Tang family entered the palace like this.
And indeed because he became the concubine of Daizong, he made his father and younger brother rise to prominence.
03
From the fourth year of Jingtai to the fifth year of Jingtai, Tang Xing was implicated in a land dispute case, which turned out to be a grange given to his father-in-law by the Ming Dynasty, not without an owner. The owner of Zhuangtian was unwilling to suffer a loss like this, so he decided to go back to his Zhuangtian with Tang Xing. These Zhuang Tian were all given by Dai Zong, Tang Xing naturally refused to give in, so the matter became bigger and bigger, in order to calm the matter, Tang Xing had to take the initiative to return Zhuang Tian.
After that, Daizong promoted his father-in-law many times, and Tang Xing took the position of commanding the affairs from the commander of Jinyiwei.
The reason why Tang Xing is so valued by Daizong is naturally because of his daughter's favor.
To what extent is the Tang family favored?
According to historical records: once Daizong took Tang to ride a horse with him, but the horse was frightened, and Tang fell off the horse. Seeing that his Tang clan was frightened, Daizong ordered that the imperial stable select the best horse, train this horse every day, and wait for the concubine to ride this horse next time she plays. For such a trivial matter, Daizong is so attentive, which shows how much Daizong loves the Tang family.
In August of the seventh year of Jingtai, Daizong ordered Wuqing Marquis Shi Heng to be the chief envoy, and Hu Hu, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, to be the deputy envoy, and to canonize the Tang family as the imperial concubine.
In the harem of this era, there is no queen, Daizong's wife Xiaoyuan Wang Empress was abolished by Daizong in Jingtai three years, and Daizong's successor Su Xiaohang Empress has also died of illness in Jingtai seven years, so that the imperial concubine is the highest status in the entire harem, acting as the queen.
In this way, the Tang family became the first officially canonized imperial concubine in history.
And this year, the Tang family was only 19 years old, and he had already favored the six palaces and had the real power of the queen.
If the Tang family gives birth to a prince in the coming day, it is very likely that she will be directly canonized as the queen.
The daughter was in the position of the imperial concubine, and Tang Xing's natural status was also improved, and he was awarded the position of the governor of the left capital of Zhengyipin. And Tang Kehuan's younger brother Tang Kehuan was awarded the position of commander of Zheng Sanpin, and it can be said that the Tang family at this time has become a hot family of relatives in the court.
04
But apart from the deceased prince Zhu Jianji, no other prince was born, which is not a good thing.
In the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, Empress Dowager Sun canonized her own grandson Zhu Jianshen (the eldest son of Yingzong) as the crown prince while helping Zhu Qiyu to ascend the throne, and inherited the throne after the death of the emperor's uncle in the future.
Zhu Qiyu, the Daizong who had been on the throne for three years in Jingtai, became more and more dissatisfied, so he decided to abolish his nephew's crown prince and crown his son Zhu Jianji as the crown prince. Because of this matter, Daizong also abolished the position of queen of his wife Wang, because Wang advised Daizong not to do this, Daizong was very angry and abolished the queen directly, and immediately canonized his son as the crown prince.
and canonized Zhu Jianji's biological mother, Hang, as his successor.
In the fourth year of Jingtai, Zhu Jianji died of illness;
In the seventh year of Jingtai, Queen Hang died of illness.
The Ming Dynasty believed in orthodoxy, and most of the ministers believed that Daizong should return the throne to Yingzong and restore Zhu Jianshen to the crown prince. Guizhou Provincial Superintendent Yushi Zhongtong said for this: The prince died suddenly, you can know that the destiny of heaven is like this! Daizong was very angry and sent Zhong Tong directly to prison and died with a cane.
At this time, Daizong was in good health and was in his prime, so he naturally still had a chance to give birth to a prince, so the question about the heir to the throne was not prominent. However, except for Zhu Jianji, the crown prince born to Empress Hang, and the two princesses born to the abolished Wang family, none of the other concubines in the harem gave birth to a son and a half daughter for Daizong.
Even the favored Tang clan did not, so there was no prince in Daizong to inherit the throne.
Naturally, the throne of Daizong was not so solid, and sure enough, when Jingtai was sick in bed in the eighth year, his health was getting worse and worse. The ministers of the court and the central government made many statements, asking Daizong to restore the deposed Zhu Jianshen as the crown prince. In this way, after the death of Daizong, the nephew can inherit the throne of the imperial uncle.
However, Daizong was not willing to return the throne to his elder brother Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, so he refused to agree.
There is even such a theory in Beijing: Wang Wenzheng, a scholar, is persuading Daizong to pass the throne to Zhu Qiyong, the eldest son of Zhu Zhandong, the king of Xiang, who is the youngest son born to Empress Chengxiao Zhao and the half-brother of Zhu Zhanji of Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty. If this is the case, the scholar Wang Wenzheng will have the merit of supporting.
As for the other ministers of the court, such as Hu Hu, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Yu Qian, the secretary of the Ministry of War, after some discussion, they still decided to jointly ask Daizong to restore Zhu Jianshen's position as the crown prince. It was already evening when they wrote it, so they decided to propose it the next day when they went to court.
However, there are two such people who can't wait to make immortal achievements, these two are the eunuch Cao Jixiang and Wuqing Marquis Shiheng, these two want to welcome Yingzong of Nangong to re-ascend the throne, so that the two of them have made great achievements and have been rewarded. Sure enough, that night, after getting the consent of the Empress Dowager Sun, the two launched a change to seize the door and welcome Yingzong to the throne.
In this way, Yingzong returned to the throne and imprisoned his younger brother Zhu Qiyu in Xiyuan.
Zhu Qiyu, who was already bedridden, died suddenly shortly after being imprisoned in Xiyuan.
After Yingzong was reinstated, he demoted his younger brother back to the rank of King Yu, and after his brother's death, he gave his younger brother a vicious "戾". As a result, everything related to Zhu Qiyu has also changed:
Zhu Qiyu's biological mother, Wu, was honored as the queen mother when her son ascended the throne, and was demoted to Xuanzong's virtuous concubine by Yingzong at this time;
Zhu Qiyu's successor, Empress Hang, although she had died of illness, Yingzong did not intend to let go of the crown prince's biological mother, and ordered the destruction of her mausoleum, Shouling. Hang's coffin was also missing, and finally ended up with no bones. And although Hang has been the queen for four years and was posthumously named Queen Suxiao by Daizong, because Yingzong hated her, he did not recognize her as the queen. didn't even recognize her identity as a concubine of the king, so much so that Hang became the only unrecognized queen in the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Qiyu's wife, Wang, was demoted to the princess of the palace and died a good death; Because the Wang family was deposed because he advised Daizong not to abolish Yingzong's son Zhu Jianshen's crown prince, he was favored by Yingzong and Queen Qian. And the Wang family is also the only one among all Zhu Qiyu's concubines who was not martyred.
As for the Tang family, although she was the imperial concubine who "collected three thousand favors in one" during the reign of Daizong, after Yingzong was reinstated, she was demoted to the concubine of the Emperor of Yu. Even if the Tang family was favored before, even if the Tang family was only 20 years old this year, he had to be martyred for Zhu Qiyu. Like Queen Hang, she ended up with an ending that was not recognized by history.
Although the Tang clan was the first imperial concubine in history to be officially canonized, it was not recognized, and all this was not up to the Tang clan to decide
epilogue
In fact, at the beginning, when Yingzong was discussing with his courtiers about the funeral of his concubines for Zhu Qiyu, Yingzong wanted Zhu Qiyu's wife Wang to be martyred. It's just that the scholar Li Xian doesn't agree, because the Wang family has long been deposed, and there are two young daughters to raise, which is really not suitable for martyrdom. Yingzong only then promised not to let the Wang family be martyred, as for the Tang family, the honorific title of the imperial concubine has been abolished, and there is nothing to do, so naturally no one in the court and the central minister has spoken for the Tang family.
Yingzong will naturally issue an order, and the Tang family will be martyred.
In the eighth year of Tianshun, Yingzong abolished the concubine burial system that had existed in the Ming Dynasty for many years. In this way, the Tang family became the last batch of martyred concubines in the history of the Ming Dynasty, and the only martyred imperial concubine in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
Resources:
《Kokuyu》
"Ming Palace Ci"
"Ming History Chronicle Ben Mo (Dai Zong)":
"Records of Ming Yingzong"
History of the Ming Dynasty, The Twelfth of the Benji, Later Chronicles of the Emperor Yingzong
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