Know all about the secrets of the harem

Chapter 22
After Chang'an was restored, Xuanzong returned to the capital.He touched the scene everywhere, and still missed the imperial concubine deeply, and specially asked him to draw a portrait of the imperial concubine to hang in the palace, looking at it day and night.Unexpectedly, this "unswerving" love was completely buried in the political tragedy caused by him.At this time, Tang Xuanzong, full of remorse, finally died of depression on April 762, the first year of Baoying ([-]), with lingering affection for the imperial concubine.As it is said in "Song of Everlasting Sorrow": "The sky will last forever, and this hatred will last forever."

In the later period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, because he favored Concubine Yang Guifei, he caused a corrupt political situation, which led to another foreign relative disaster in Chinese history, and should be punished.However, the sincere and dedicated love story between Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty and Concubine Yang Guifei has become a good story through the ages, and it is understandable that people generally sympathized with it later.

What a poignant love story!How touching it is for a king to cry for his sweetheart, but have you ever thought that this is actually another kind of betrayal?From the perspective of a bystander, Xuanzong was still a loving and righteous king.But as a woman, from the perspective of Yang Yuhuan, how do you feel?People who once pampered themselves and swore to each other couldn't protect themselves?The wide sleeves blocked Yuhuan's begging gaze, did he not bear to look at it, or did he not dare to look at it?Love, in the end is just a foot of white silk?Then?Xuanzong was still his emperor, and still lived a carefree life. Occasionally recalling Yang Yuhuan, sighing with emotion and frowning, he got the reputation of an infatuated man.Life is still the same as before, only one Yang Yuhuan is missing.

After a week of big and small: the beauty is unlucky

When is Chunhuaqiuyue, how much do you know about the past.The small building was windy again last night, so the country was unbearable to look back at the middle of the moon.

The carved columns and jade masonry should still be there, but Zhu Yangai.Asked how worried you can be, just like a river of spring water flowing eastward.

A woman, but also a beauty, cannot be protected by her own man, but has to rely on her appearance and body to protect her own man. It is a sad thing for both men and women. "Ask how much sorrow can you have?" Xiao Zhou, who was devastated, finally couldn't bear it and sank, leaving only mourning...

Li Yu, whose style name is Chongguang, was the ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the late Five Dynasties, known as Empress Li in the world.When Song soldiers broke through Jinling, they surrendered and were poisoned to death.Li Yu can write poems, music, calligraphy and painting, especially in the name of Ci.The language of the poems is vivid, full of lamenting emotions about life experience and current situation.In terms of subject matter and artistic conception, his works broke through the stereotype of eroticism in late Tang and Five Dynasties Ci.

In the late Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Li Jing, the lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, died, and his sixth son, Li Yu, came to the throne.Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was a talented man, who was recognized as "clear in talent and knowledge, excellent in calligraphy and painting, far beyond the usual flow, and beyond the unexpected".However, Li Yu is not just a wit, fate made him the monarch of a kingdom.Li Yu in the history books always seems to be indifferent to political affairs and extremely stupid, but some scattered fragments make people vaguely feel the other side of this talented man.

Deep in Li Yu's heart, he knew very well what he was facing.When Li Yu came to the throne, the Southern Tang Dynasty was already a vassal state of the Song Dynasty.Facing the pressure of the Song Dynasty, he resigned himself to it.In fact, Li Yu was not willing to admit that he was a vassal of Song Dynasty.In his own palace, he still wore a yellow robe, and all the regulations followed the emperor's grade. He even wrote to Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin to ask for his father to restore the title of emperor and build a mausoleum.These behaviors reflect his true psychology.Of course, he also knew very well that the strength of his country was far inferior to that of the Song Dynasty, so whenever the Song envoy came, he would take off his dragon clothes and change into a purple robe.What Li Yu did was not just changing clothes to have a good time, but more things made the Song Dynasty uneasy about Li Yu, thinking that he "although he showed awe and obedience outwardly, he repaired the rituals of vassals, but he actually repaired armor and recruited soldiers." , to prepare for war", so he never let go of his vigilance.

Many years later, Song Zhenzong once asked Pan Shenxiu, a former minister of the Southern Tang Dynasty: "Is Li Yu really a cowardly and incompetent person?"

Pan Shenxiu replied: "If he is really an incompetent and ignorant person, how could he guard the country for more than ten years?"

Even so, we should still respect the reality at that time: wanting to return to heaven does not mean being able to return to heaven.

Li Yu is a talented man with a delicate and keen mind, but like his elder brother Li Hongji, he has a suspicious and suspicious temperament, and he always uses it inappropriately.As time goes by, the youthful vigor when he ascended the throne is gradually worn away by reality, and Li Yu also understands more and more that he and his country will be swallowed up by strong neighbors one day, so it is better to have fun in the beautiful days now .So the ministers advised him to cheer up, but he turned a deaf ear to it, and even sent those who advised him to jail.The lord, who was already proficient in this way, was getting more and more involved in political affairs, and he was spending more and more energy on pleasure.In this way, how can the national strength not be weakened?

The main person who accompanies Li Yu to have fun in Jinling City without asking about world affairs is Li Yu's first wife Zhou Ehuang.This Zhou Ehuang was originally the concubine of Li Yu's father Tang Yuanzong. She is not only beautiful, good at writing, but also well versed in rhythm and can play the pipa well.According to records, after listening to the pipa she played, Li Jing was very appreciative, and specially gave her the "burning trough pipa" he used.

This Zhou Ehuang, not only cannot be regarded as a worthy empress, but can even be classified as a charming king.It is said that she likes to be in the fragrant wind and mist, so Li Yu set up a class of incense ladies for her. The incense utensils she uses are all made of gold, silver and jade, and there are as many as dozens of famous utensils.She didn't care about how the people of the Southern Tang Dynasty lived outside the palace.However, I have to admit that Li Yu, Zhou Ehuang's husband, is also more like a genius than a king.They are really a nearly perfect pair of gifted men and beautiful women.Li Jing, who is full of literati temperament, may have thought of this when he tied the red line for the young couple. He never imagined that fate would push this young couple who are only suitable for "rich and idle people" to the throne after God.Perhaps, this can only be said to be God's will.

One thing that people must admit is that almost all talented people in the world have a common problem. The talented woman in their minds must be a person with both talent and appearance, and Li Yu is of course no exception.And Zhou Ehuang is not only a talented woman, but also a superb beauty. The history books solemnly call her "national beauty", which is the level of a peerless beauty.More importantly, this peerless beauty is also well versed in the way of beauty and beauty, and has created original makeup looks such as "high bun and slender clothes" and "head on the temples", which fully show her peerless beauty and graceful figure. They all think of them as fairies.Naturally, Li Yu was fascinated even more. Therefore, among the concubines in the harem, only Zhou Ehuang had the favor of a special room.

The direct effect of "the favorite of the special room" is that Zhou Ehuang has been giving birth to Li Yu uninterruptedly, and has given birth to three sons in a row.Seeing that his descendants are flourishing and his children are handsome and elegant, Li Yu is full of love and affection for his wife.

Among the three sons born to Zhou Ehuang, Zhou Ehuang's favorite is the youngest son Zhongxuan.Originally, as a queen, the work of raising children was undertaken by servants and servants, but Zhou Ehuang really loved Zhongxuan so much, she had to take care of the child's food, clothing, housing and transportation, and personally raised the youngest son to grow up.

Just like all the lovers in the world who are intoxicated with family love, Li Yu and Zhou Ehuang never thought that their marriage in the world is actually coming to an end.

Legend has it that the end of this marriage was foreshadowed.

The famous Daqu "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes Song" in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty has never been able to reproduce its melodious sound since the chaos of the Tang Dynasty.Li Yu knew that Zhou Ehuang loved music, so he worked hard to get the music score.However, in the process of spreading this song, there were many variations and it was not complete. After Zhou Ehuang learned about it, he studied it and made a series of additions, deletions and adjustments, and finally made this big song reproduced, which won a lot of admiration.However, Xu Xuan, a member of Zhongshushe, was surprised after listening to it, and privately discussed with the musician Cao Sheng: "The lingering sound of this song should end slowly, but now it ends so quickly? Please change the old score to this. I'm afraid it's not a good omen." Sure enough, not long after, news spread from the palace that Empress Zhou fell ill.

Zhou Ehuang on the hospital bed was afraid that his disease would infect his son Zhongxuan, so he moved his 4-year-old son Zhongxuan from his palace to another palace.This was originally a good intention of his mother, but it was unexpected that Zhongxuan had a sudden illness just after moving out of the Queen's Palace, and died within a few days.

After learning that his son had died, Zhou Ehuang almost fainted in the hospital bed.The heart of a mother is the same whether it is a queen or a commoner woman. However, most poor women who have suffered so much can still face the same pain of bereavement. Zhou Ehuang, who has been happy all his life, cannot bear it no matter what.In this situation, her condition became more serious.

In fact, it was not only the death of his beloved son that made Zhou Ehuang's condition worse. There was another blow to Zhou Ehuang's worsening condition: she knew the news that her sister Xiao Zhou had an affair with her husband.Xiao Zhou was 14 years younger than her sister, who was only 15 years old at the time.Li Yu has always favored Emperor Zhou E, and all the concubines and concubines turned a blind eye. For some reason, he fell in love with this little sister-in-law, and took advantage of the opportunity of Emperor Zhou E's illness to bring her into the palace and have a romantic relationship with her.Unexpectedly, although Xiao Zhou was outstanding in talent and appearance, he was young and ignorant. Not only was Zhou Ehuang discovered the trace, but he also told Zhou Ehuang the truth that he had been in the palace for several days.The husband empathizes with his younger sister, and his beloved son dies, and a generation of beauties fall into grief and indignation.

Watching flowers, drinking wine, carpe diem

As the world had predicted, after Zhou Ehuang's death, her younger sister Zhou Shi became the successor candidate recognized by Empress Dowager Zhong (called "Supreme Empress").It's just that this little girl is too young to even support the dress, so Empress Dowager Zhong had to keep her in the palace, waiting for the day when she grows up.Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager Zhong also passed away the next year, so Xiao Zhou could only continue to wait in the palace.

In the fifth year of Qiande in the Northern Song Dynasty, and three years after the death of Empress Da Zhou, the Xiao Zhou family was established as the Empress of the country, known as Empress Xiao Zhou in history.She was 19 years old this year, exactly the age when her sister married Li Yu.

When Xiao Zhou later married Li Yu, the situation in the Southern Tang Dynasty had long been in decline, and Li Yu had no interest in state affairs, and devoted himself to the luxury of money.Although he still dotes on his little wife in every possible way and calls it a "special room", but in terms of emotion and life, it has not returned to the grand occasion of Zhou Ehuang.

Unlike her elder sister, Empress Xiao Zhou is not good at dancing, but empress Xiao Zhou is not inferior to her elder sister in talent and appearance, and has her own characteristics.

Xiao Zhou is very fond of burning incense. She came up with an ingenious idea to make incense burning utensils. Every day, she hung incense to burn incense, filling the hall. She sat in it, as if she was in the clouds, looking like a fairy.After Xiao Zhou racked his brains, he came up with a way to steam agarwood with goose pear and put it in the tent, which will not cause the danger of smoke and flames, but also refreshing and intoxicating.In particular, the steamed agarwood from the goose pear becomes a kind of sweet fragrance when it meets human sweat, which is called "the incense in the tent" after Xiao Zhou.

Xiao Zhou likes green very much, and the clothes she wears are all green.Xiao Zhou, who is gorgeously made up and wise, wears green and green clothes. The skirt flutters and feels more swaying. The concubines, officials and officials all follow suit.There was a rich man who dyed a piece of silk and put it in the sun in the garden. He forgot to collect it at night and it was stained by dew. The next day, he saw that the color was very bright. The queen and Xiao Zhou met and praised it together .So the concubines and officials all collected dew and dyed green for their clothes. Li Yu and Xiao Zhou also gave this kind of blue silk a name, called "Tian Shui Bi".

Empress Li, who was with Empress Xiao Zhou, not only named Bi Juan, but also came up with a new kind of ornament on the attire of concubines and officials—made flower cakes with camellia seeds that Suyang paid tribute to, or Big or small, in all shapes.The concubines and concubines were ordered to wear light makeup and wear plain clothes, and put gold on the face, and use this flower cake to decorate their foreheads, which is called "Hundred Flower Makeup".Groups of court ladies all wore onyx clothes, gold ornaments on their temples, and flower cakes on their foreheads. When they walked, they looked like Guanghan fairies from a distance.

These behaviors are very pleasing to Empress Li.

In this way, Empress Li and Empress Xiao Zhou discussed new ways to pass the time every day.Empress Xiao Zhou accompanied Empress Li to live a happy, joyous and romantic life.In a few years, the Song family regime flattened several other small countries, and set its next target at the Southern Tang Dynasty.According to Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin's statement: "What is the crime in the south of the Yangtze River, but the whole world is a family, and how can others be allowed to sleep soundly beside the couch." In the seventh year of Kaibao (974), Taizu finally sent General Cao Bin to lead the army to attack the Southern Tang Dynasty.

After the country's subjugation, the fate can only be sad
Li Yu is slightly different from the king who completely indulges state affairs and sits and waits to die.In his heart, he always longed to keep half of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Facing Song Taizu's idea of ​​attacking the Southern Tang Dynasty, he passively resisted Song Taizu's surrender edict time and time again.But as a literati who always wanted to escape from reality, Li Yu, who was "drunk today with wine", had no interest in state affairs, and only wanted to indulge in pleasure and religious anesthesia. He would rather wait for death than take a risk.

At this time, Li Yu made the biggest mistake in his life, and fell into the countermeasures of the Song Dynasty.

In November of the eighth year of Kaibao, Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, surrendered to the Song army, and the Southern Tang Dynasty perished.

In the first month of the second year, Empress Li was conferred the title of "Marquis of Disobedience", and lived a lonely life with long sighs and short sighs. Fortunately, he was accompanied by Empress Xiao Zhou, which finally increased his confidence and courage to live.Song Taizong came to the throne, removed Li Yu's "Marquis of Disobedience", and changed his title to "Longxi Duke".On the surface, it seems to mean that Li Yu's status has improved, but this is not the case.Song Taizong often insulted Li Yu with words, which made Li Yu feel very embarrassed.Although facing Taizong's humiliation, he still forced a smile on his face, but felt infinite pain in his heart.

The most painful thing for Li Yu is that "the remaining Li flowers in the south of the Yangtze River were also forced by the king."During the Lantern Festival in the third year of Taiping Xingguo, Song Taizong ordered all the wives to enter the palace to congratulate.Xiao Zhou also went to the palace to celebrate as usual.Unexpectedly, Xiao Zhou entered the officialdom after the Lantern Festival, and after a few days, he still didn't come back. Li Yu sighed and walked up and down at home anxiously.

It was not until the end of the first month that Xiao Zhou came back from the palace in a sedan chair.

Li Yu hurriedly greeted her in the room, with a smile on her face, and asked her why she just left office today?But she didn't say a word, she just lay down on the bed, covered her face and wept bitterly.Li Yu quietly asked Xiao Zhou about the reason, and Xiao Zhou was still crying, pointing at Li Yu and scolding: "You only wanted to be happy at the beginning, but didn't know how to seek cure, so that the country was ruined and the family was ruined. Humiliation. What else do you want to ask?" Li Yu didn't dare to say a word after hearing this, bowed his head and endured it, and turned to avoid it.It turned out that that day he went to the palace to congratulate Taizong, and Taizong saw that Empress Xiao Zhou was beautiful, so he kept her in the palace and forced her to serve banquets and bedtime.Xiao Zhouhou was a weak woman who had no room to resist, and she had no choice but to obey Taizong, so she entered the palace from the Lantern Festival to the end of the first month before letting her out.Li Yu sighed and cried up to the sky.How helpless he was at that time...

Li Yu, who only cared about indulgence when the country was not yet destroyed, and only "crying to Guan'e" when the country was ruined and his family was destroyed, had a lofty consciousness at the most inappropriate time. "The carved railings and jade bricks should still be there, but Zhu Yan has changed. I ask you how much you can worry. It's like a river of spring water flowing eastward." Before the end of the song, the god of death has arrived.After Li Yu drank the wine given by Song Taizong, he was poisoned and died.At the time of death, "two hands and two feet are curled up and bent, and the head is bent or raised, like a weaving shuttle pulling the machine and never stopping."

Empress Xiao Zhou hugged him and asked him why he was uncomfortable, but the empress could not speak, and suddenly his face changed, so sad!Song Dazong named Li Yu "King of Wu" and buried him in Mangshan, Luoyang.

After Li Yu died unexpectedly, Empress Xiao Zhou lost her soul and was overwhelmed with grief.She ignored the clouds all day long, didn't think about tea and food, washed her face with tears, and finally passed away because she couldn't bear the torture of sorrow and fear.When Xiao Zhou died, she was 29 at the same age as her sister, Da Zhou.Although Xiao Zhou died tragically, she left behind a beautiful image of chanting love themes for later generations of literati.Until the Qing Dynasty, there were still people painting and reciting poems, praising her romantic past with Li Yu.

Concubine Dong E: The Eternal Love with Emperor Shunzhi

Empress Xiaoxian (?-1660), the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, also known as "Concubine Dong'e", Dong'e family, concubine of Shizu Fulin, daughter of Internal Minister E Shuo, sister of Fuyuan General Fei Yanggu. Entered the government at the age of 18.The ancestors were very generous to their relatives, and they favored the harem.

In August of the 13th year of Shunzhi (1656), she was established as a concubine Xian.In December, she became an imperial concubine, set up a book of ceremonies, issued an amnesty in an extraordinary way, and her father also became a third-class uncle.The following year, the fourth son of the emperor was born, who died in only three months and was not named.

Died on August 17th in the 1660th year of Shunzhi (1663).The ancestors mourned extremely, and made a condolence form to mourn.The posthumous posthumous posthumous titles are Xiaoxianzhuang and Zhide Xuanren Wenhui Duanjing Queen.In June of the second year of Kangxi ([-]), Xiaoling Mausoleum (Eastern Tomb of Qing Dynasty) was buried together.

There have always been many theories about Concubine Dong E's life experience.Among them, Dong Xiaowan, a famous Qinhuai prostitute, and Prince Xiang Fujin, are the most famous.So, are these two claims credible?Let's analyze them one by one.

Dong Xiaowan, a famous Qinhuai courtesan, said. Novels such as "The Romance of Upright Officials" and "Thirteen Dynasties of Upright Officials" all describe Concubine Dong E, Empress Xiaoxian, as Dong Xiaowan, a famous Qinhuai courtesan.The brief plot is: Hong Chengchou, commander-in-chief of the Qing army, was originally a womanizer. He had heard the names of "Qinhuai Bayan" (Ma Xianglan, Bian Yujing, Li Xiangjun, Liu Rushi, Dong Xiaowan, Gu Meisheng, Kou Baimen, Chen Yuanyuan) for a long time, and he especially admired Dong Xiaowan.When Hong captured Jiangnan, he really captured Dong Xiaowan, and hid in the mansion, trying to occupy him, but Xiaowan swore to die.Hong had nothing to do, and as a last resort, he dedicated Xiaowan to the imperial palace in the second year of Shunzhi (1645), and became the favorite concubine of Emperor Shunzhi.It is also said that Xiaowan was captured by Prince Yu Duoduo and sent to the palace.

Dong Xiaowan, a real person in history, named Bai, styled Qinglian, was born in the fourth year of Tianqi in the Ming Dynasty (1624), a famous prostitute in Qinhuai.In the 15th year of Chongzhen (1642), 19-year-old Dong Xiaowan was a concubine and married Mao Xiang, one of the famous "Four Young Masters" (Fang Yizhi, Chen Zhenhui, Hou Fangyu, Mao Xiang), who was 14 years older than her, as a concubine.The two have a sincere relationship and respect each other as guests.During the war, the husband and wife were displaced, and they depended on each other for nine years.Dong Xiaowan died of illness on the second day of the first lunar month in the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651) due to overwork.

(End of this chapter)