Know all about the secrets of the harem

Chapter 24
These words slowly spread to Emperor Qianlong's ears.After hearing this, Emperor Qianlong laughed loudly: "I don't believe that Concubine Xiang will be so ungrateful as to assassinate me!" Emperor Qianlong still has a deep affection for Concubine Xiang.He rewarded Concubine Xiang in various ways, such as Ruyi, purses, pearls, gems, opals, diamonds and other small objects that women like, were all delivered to Concubine Xiang at the right time.When there was an opportunity to go out for a tour, Emperor Qianlong also asked Concubine Xiang to accompany him.The height of Mount Tai, the depth of the Confucian Temple, the majesty of the paddock, and the prosperity of Shengjing all gave Xiangfei a new feeling.But when she thought of the vastness of the Western Regions, and the majesty of the desert, Xiangfei was silent again, with tears in her eyes.

Women have no beauty or ugliness, and they are jealous when they enter the palace.Emperor Qianlong was so devoted to Concubine Xiang, and at the same time, he was tolerant to Concubine Xiang in a different way. The other concubines saw it in their eyes and hated it in their hearts.They don't understand, a remarried widow, a woman from a foreign land, what is there to be so obsessed with by the emperor?They also couldn't figure out what tricks and tricks that Concubine Xiang had to make the emperor fall in love with her.They were jealous, they were confused, and they tried their best to get rid of Xiangfei and then hurry up.Those women who ate and had nothing to do all day long found Emperor Qianlong's mother, the empress dowager, and slandered her, saying that the fragrance on Concubine Xiang's body was evil, and she used it to fascinate the emperor.If not dissuaded, it will endanger the dragon body Shengan.

The empress dowager felt that it made sense, so she personally found Emperor Qianlong, advised him in many ways, and persuaded him to stay away from the concubine Xiang.Emperor Qianlong said with a smile: "My son asked Concubine Xiang that the fragrance on her body is not evil. It is because she often ate a kind of flower and took a kind of flower bath when she was a child." The queen mother said curiously: "Have you asked her?" , what flower?

What flower bath did you take? Emperor Qianlong said: "According to her, it is a golden flower with silver leaves growing on copper rods."As for what kind of flower bath to take, according to Erchen's speculation, it may be a secret beauty recipe in folklore, which is often used by Wu Zetian's favorite daughter, Princess Taiping.The method is to pick peach blossoms every year on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, dry them in the shade, grind them into fine powder, and collect chicken blood on the seventh day of the seventh month to blend them and use them to apply on the face and body.It is said that it can make people white as snow, smooth and soft, and full of fragrance. "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" said that peach blossoms 'make people look good'. "

The queen mother said again: "Where is that kind of flower? Show me it." Emperor Qianlong said: "The kind of peanut is in Xiangfei's hometown." The queen mother thought that Emperor Qianlong deliberately lied to her, but she still had doubts.Several times, the Empress Dowager wanted to ask Concubine Xiang face to face, but Emperor Qianlong tried to stop her.

The fact that Concubine Xiang was carrying a white sword was passed on to the ears of the Empress Dowager.The empress dowager believed that it was a great threat to the emperor's safety and decided to punish Xiangfei.

Once, Emperor Qianlong went out, and the Empress Dowager asked to find Concubine Xiang.After entering the post-official position, Concubine Xiang felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere.I saw warriors with swords hanging on both sides of the queen mother, each with a murderous look.Look at the empress dowager again, with a straight face and a serious face.After paying her respects, the queen mother asked sharply: "Ipal Khan, are you guilty?" The concubine Xiang replied: "Report to the queen mother, what is the crime of the concubine?" The queen mother said angrily: "You brought the evil spirit into the palace. , Disturbing the court, the crime cannot be punished!" Xiangfei argued: "The concubine is a human being, why is there a demon?" The queen mother sneered and said: "You said you are a human being, so let me ask you, why do you have a fragrance on your body? Why not?" Xiangfei asked, she was at a loss for words, it was something she had thought about countless times but didn't think clearly!Seeing that Concubine Xiang didn't answer, the Queen Mother asked again: "You are already the emperor's concubine, why don't you accept the emperor's favor? Is this the attitude of a concubine?" When Concubine Xiang heard this, she was shocked, knowing that today It was a bad comer, thinking of my bitterness over the past few years, and thinking of my ex-husband who had become a ghost, I couldn't help crying. "Speak!" the Queen Mother ordered.Concubine Xiang felt compelled, so she broke her heart and said: "The concubine is a married person, and her ex-husband is your sinner, who has died under your knife. The concubine does not want the emperor's holy body to be polluted, so I can't Called!" The queen mother sneered and said, "It's clearly a sophistry. Since ancient times, have there been few people who remarry emperors? Which one is like you? You are clearly contemptuous of the heavens by repeatedly pushing back! I heard that you still have a sharp knife in your body. Want to assassinate the emperor and avenge her ex-husband? Such a man without husband and king, what's the use of keeping it! Someone, take this traitor down and let her go to see her ex-husband!" Poor Concubine Xiang, a cup of tea The poisoned wine will be sold out and the jade will die.

By the time Emperor Qianlong rushed to the harem when he got the news that the queen mother had summoned the concubine Xiang, everything was irreversible.Emperor Qianlong was very sad, and finally decided to send the coffin of Xiangfei to his hometown for burial with concubine ceremony.Concubine Xiang believes in Islam, so verses from the Koran were specially engraved on her coffin.All the previous rewards were buried together, and there were a lot of other rewards.

after death.Her body was transported back to her hometown for burial, so, in the desert, there was a tomb of Xiangfei.

Precious concubine: a bleak life in the harem

In the history of the late Qing Dynasty in China, apart from Cixi, Concubine Zhen was the most legendary and most eye-catching concubine.Although her life was only a short 20 years, people are still talking about her story more than 100 years after her death.

Concubine Zhen is the most beloved woman of Emperor Guangxu, the most jealous concubine of Empress Longyu, and the most hated woman of Empress Dowager Cixi.She was a trendy figure in the reform movement and a poor victim in court struggles; she was well-educated and punished for violating the system many times, and she had extraordinary political ambitions, but she died because of it; After being imprisoned for many years, she was thrown into the cold well water, but after her death, she enjoyed all the glory that even she herself could not have imagined.

What is Zhenfei's tragic life like?

Enter the palace to be favored
Concubine Zhen (1876-1900), surnamed Tatara, was born in Manchuria with a red banner. Her grandfather was Yutai, governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and her father, Chang Xu, was the right servant of the household department.His uncle, Chang Shan, was a general in Guangzhou. Concubine Zhen and her sister, Concubine Jin, grew up with Chang Shan in Guangzhou.Although General Changshan of Guangzhou was a general, he liked to make friends with literati. He once hired Wen Tingshi to teach his two nieces to read.Wen Tingshi is a celebrity of his generation, and he won the second place in the high school rankings.When Concubine Zhen was ten years old, Changshan resigned as General of Guangzhou, and the two sisters returned to the capital with them.

The arrival of Concubine Zhen brought light to Guangxu's life and fresh breath to the dreary palace.According to the description, Concubine Zhen is beautiful, intelligent, sensible, and kind, making Guangxu, who had been lonely and melancholy since childhood, suddenly seem to have obtained a treasure.The two of them loved with all their heart and soul, day and night, before the flowers and under the moon, they were extremely tender and lingering.This was the most glorious time in Guangxu's life.

Why Guangxu likes Concubine Zhen is said to be because Empress Longyu fell out of favor with Guangxu after her wedding, and Concubine Jin has a loyal temperament and will not curry favor with others.Concubine Zhen's beauty, talent, and understanding made Guangxu very fond of her.Guangxu was only seventeen or eighteen years old at the time. He went to court at Yinshi every morning and returned to the palace at noon. He worked for seven or eight hours, which was very hard.Concubine Zhen waits around every day, thinking of ways to adapt to Guangxu's love, such as dressing up as a boy like a beautiful official. In addition, she can play chess, eat, drink and have fun with Guangxu. She has no relationship with men and women. He cared about it, so he won Guangxu's special favor. "Dezong especially loves him, and he is not very friendly with the queen." ("Guowen Beicheng") Concubine Zhen is also very generous, rewarding the eunuchs in the palace from time to time, and the eunuchs try their best to flatter this " Little Master".Concubine Zhen is very popular.

Concubine Zhen has a cheerful personality and strong curiosity.She dislikes the red tape and rigid way of life in the palace, especially the intrigues and intrigues in the palace.She likes new things and likes to live a chic and unrestrained life.Concubine Zhen's character is influenced by innate factors and also related to her growth environment.Above, we briefly mentioned some. When she was young, she lived for a long time in the mansion of her uncle Changshan, who was a general in Guangzhou.At that time, Guangzhou was the most important port city for the five-port trade. It was the first to open up, the earliest to have the most contact with the Western capitalist world, and the most affected. Its thinking was much more open than that of the mainland.In addition, I am good at making friends with celebrities and scholars, many of whom are famous people with advanced ideas, all of which have had a huge impact on the formation of Concubine Zhen's thoughts and personality.Furthermore, his two elder brothers Zhirui and Zhijun are also relatively open-minded people, and her mother is also very open-minded. The influence of the whole family is a crucial factor for her.

In fact, at the very beginning, even Cixi liked this pretty and lively little girl very much.I feel that she has the shadow of my youth, and I admire the vitality brought by her laughter to the cold harem.

Concubine Zhen also has something that Cixi appreciates, that is, she is ingenious and can write very beautiful big characters.So that for a long time, during the New Year and festivals, Cixi simply asked Concubine Zhen to write "Fu" and "Shou" on her behalf, and bestowed them on the ministers.

Regarding the tedious etiquette in the palace, the empress made mistakes repeatedly, but Concubine Zhen not only learned it quickly, but also did it gracefully, which added a layer of satisfaction to Cixi's heart. She even began to let Concubine Zhen serve her by her side to review memorials up.

Although the life of the palace is surrounded by jewels and greenery, and the prosperity and wealth are endless, but the rules and regulations are more suffocating and depressing after all.Cixi also likes to go to Zhongnanhai, Beihai, Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan, Jingyiyuan and other places to relax in her spare time.Almost every time she would call Concubine Zhen, because Concubine Zhen's innocence can add a lot of laughter and happiness to the usually quiet royal garden.

However, after all, the fortified palace cannot tolerate such arbitrary behavior.Since ancient times, beauties attract jealousy, and big trees attract wind.

If Guangxu who dotes on Concubine Zhen and cares about Concubine Zhen's courteous style can remind Concubine Zhen of many taboos in the palace, at least many conflicts will not come so quickly.However, history is always independent of human will. For Concubine Zhen, happiness is so short-lived, followed by more and more severe reproaches and punishments.She has always been favored by the heavens, but her fate seems to have turned around since then...

Such partiality for Emperor Guangxu aroused resentment from the empress, and she often complained to Empress Dowager Cixi.Empress Dowager Cixi didn't really like this niece, but thinking that she was her natal family after all, the emperor's indifference to her would definitely affect the momentum of her natal family, so she often persuaded Emperor Guangxu to get close to the queen.However, although the Empress Dowager Cixi could persuade Emperor Guangxu to become an empress official, she could not make Emperor Guangxu fall in love with her, and the empress still stayed silent for a long time.

More importantly: at this time, the Empress Dowager Cixi preferred Concubine Zhen among the concubines of Emperor Guangxu.On this point, it has been mentioned above.

For quite a long time after Emperor Guangxu got married and took charge of the government, the official life was maintained in such a seemingly harmonious state.This is probably because Emperor Guangxu and Concubine Zhen were very obedient at this time.

When Concubine Zhen entered the palace, photo technology had already been introduced to China.But at that time, cameras were considered dirty things that could take people's souls and cause them to lose their lives.Concubine Zhen, on the other hand, was able to accept photography and became the first one among upright officials and concubines to take pictures.At that time, Concubine Zhen bought a camera from a foreigner through her relationship, took pictures casually in the palace, and taught Guangxu and many eunuchs how to take pictures.

In addition, she also took a lot of men's clothing photos.For taking pictures, she was very interested and never tired of taking pictures.However, Concubine Zhen likes to walk around Fuli in men's clothes, which makes Cixi very incomprehensible, thinking that she has lost face to the royal family.In fact, Concubine Zhen was a very cheerful and generous woman, but it was not tolerated in the harem at that time, and such a situation never happened.Because of this, there was still a gap between Cixi and Concubine Zhen.But the estrangement is the estrangement, and Cixi has no heart to kill Concubine Zhen.

There is a system of upright officials, the queen's annual silver is no more than a thousand taels, and it is reduced to the rank of concubine, only 300 taels a year, and 200 taels for concubines.Concubine Zhen didn't have enough expenses, and she didn't know how to save. The deficit was getting worse, so she had to find ways to make money.

At this time, Concubine Zhen thought of a way. She used photography, which was still a rare thing at that time, to privately ask an eunuch named Dai Anping to open a photo studio outside Donghuamen, hoping to make money more comfortable.

Later, Empress Longyu accidentally found out about this incident.Empress Longyu immediately told Cixi after she caught the handle of Concubine Zhen.Cixi was very angry when she knew about it, "thinking that the official concubine should not do it", thinking that Concubine Zhen just liked Guangxu, so she didn't take herself, the Lafayette, into her eyes at all.So he severely criticized Concubine Zhen and beat Dai Anping, the eunuch who opened the photo studio, to death on the spot.

The harem under the control of Cixi cannot allow people with independent thinking to exist. Guangxu can't even have his own ideas, let alone Zhenfei?Concubine Zhen's status in the palace took a sharp turn for the worse.

Concubine Zhen's first disaster was on November 1894, 11, when the Chinese side suffered a crushing defeat in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 26-[-].

Emperor Guangxu was young and vigorous, eager to rejuvenate the rule of the dynasty. In most cases, the ideas of Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu were the same, but there was a huge difference in actual operation.In the eyes of the Empress Dowager Cixi, no state affairs are as important as her own honor.During the Sino-French War from the 11th to the [-]th year of Guangxu, she insisted on seeking peace even though the Chinese army won a big victory.

The defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-] was a stimulus to both Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi.Since it was Emperor Guangxu himself who sealed the seal, his emotions were even more intense.The country's disastrous defeat stimulated the Empress Dowager Cixi, but it was far less important than she thought that the damage to her honor was—the Emperor Guangxu, who had nowhere to vent, punished Li Hongzhang in the middle of the war, giving him three-eyed feathers, yellow jackets, Dismissal and stay in office and other punishments, and once proposed to use the Empress Dowager Cixi's birthday money for military use, but the Empress Dowager Cixi put her own personal interests above the interests of the dynasty and the country. Filial piety, so extremely dissatisfied with Emperor Guangxu.Decided to give Emperor Guangxu a little color.

Empress Dowager Cixi, who decided to teach Emperor Guangxu a lesson, found a breakthrough in Concubine Zhen.Concubine Zhen at this time has lost the favor of Empress Dowager Cixi.

That day, the Empress Dowager Cixi summoned the ministers alone in the Hall of Yiluan to discuss the situation after the fall of Lushunkou, the Beiyang naval base. The Empress Dowager suddenly announced that she would demote Concubine Jin to a nobleman.

The cause of the incident was that Yu Kuan, governor of Henan Province, sought the post of General of Fuzhou, and was informed by Li Lianying to Empress Dowager Cixi through the eunuch Gao Wanzhi to follow the path of Concubine Zhen.It is said that Empress Dowager Cixi summoned Concubine Zhen for an interview. Not only did Concubine Zhen frankly admit it, but she also asked: "Following the example, Lafayette did not set this precedent. Who dares to do this?" Such an answer can be described as pungent.Back then, it was an ordinary family, so talking to her mother-in-law was considered disobedience, not to mention her mother-in-law was Cixi.When two women like this come together, the ending is fate.

The two nobles Zhenjin restored the title of "concubine" in 1895.

If it wasn't for living in the treacherous end of the Qing Dynasty, if the Qing Dynasty's power was not exhausted, if the western powers hadn't crossed the Pacific Ocean... Whether the concubine Zhen was proud or fell out of favor, it was nothing more than repeating the fate that most empresses and concubines had.It's a pity that history has not left such an opportunity for Concubine Zhen, and Concubine Zhen's independent thinking and independent personality have long explained her bleak ending.

After getting along with Emperor Guangxu for a period of time, Concubine Zhen found that Emperor Guangxu was not willing to be a puppet. He also hoped to work hard to govern the country and the people, but because he was suppressed by Cixi for a long time, he had no power in his hands and could not achieve his ambitions.After the Sino-Japanese War was defeated and the land was ceded for compensation, Emperor Guangxu, under the influence of Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others, tried to reform the politics and enrich the country and strengthen the army.Concubine Zhen firmly supported the emperor's reform and was an important member of the "imperial party". She advised the emperor and gave great support to Emperor Guangxu especially spiritually.Especially at the most difficult moment in the late stage of the reform, Emperor Guangxu, who was confined in the Jiuzhong Palace, had only Concubine Zhen as his confidant, and Concubine Zhen became his spiritual pillar. This was the most intolerable thing for Cixi, and it buried the ground for her tragic ending. Foreshadowing.

The disastrous defeat in the Sino-Japanese War and the signing of the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" that humiliated the country greatly shocked and stimulated the Chinese people, and promoted the awakening of the Chinese people.Under the influence of the reformers represented by Kang You, Emperor Guangxu began to carry out drastic reforms in April of the 24th year of Guangxu (1898), but was quickly strangled by the diehards headed by Cixi. The reforms only lasted 103 sky.In August of this year, Cixi imprisoned Emperor Guangxu in Yingtai, Zhongnanhai, and imprisoned Concubine Zhen in a small courtyard next to Zhenfei Well.She ate like a servant, so she couldn't talk to others, and during festivals, the Empress Dowager Cixi would send eunuchs to reprimand her. In this way, Concubine Zhen lived here for two years.

In 1900, when the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked Beijing and Empress Dowager Cixi fled westward, a major event happened in the harem: Concubine Zhen was executed.Concubine Zhen drowned in the well.How did she die?Rongzi, an old court lady who served Cixi once made the following recollection of this incident:

That afternoon, as usual, I accompanied me in the dormitory, sitting on the golden brick floor with my back against the west wall of the dormitory. ...Suddenly, the old lady sat up and opened the curtain.Usually the maids do the lifting of the curtains, but today it was a surprise and I was taken aback.I quickly took a signal to greet other people.The old lady washed her face in a hurry, didn't smoke, didn't eat the iced pineapple that was served in a glass, walked out of Le Shoutang without a word, and headed north.I hurriedly followed.I felt a little nervous, so I hurriedly and secretly informed Xiao Juanzi (another maid of honor of Cixi).

Xiao Juanzi also came running, and we followed the Queen Mother to the middle of the West Corridor. The old Queen Mother said, "You don't need to wait on me."

(End of this chapter)