Know all about the secrets of the harem

Chapter 36
This edict is a comfort to Yin Lihua, but a stimulus to Guo Shengtong.Liu Xiu was mourning for Yin Lihua, while Guo Shengtong was mourning for himself.She couldn't figure out why Yin Lihua, who was not as good-looking as her own, was so important in her husband's eyes. Ten years of hard work, she still couldn't really replace Yin Lihua's position in her husband's heart.

So, after she and Yin Lihua's sons grew up, she finally couldn't control it anymore.He started to quarrel with Liu Xiu.Once vented, years of pent-up anger can never be brought back.Guo Shengtong's resentment towards Liu Xiu, jealousy towards Yin Lihua, and even her suspicion towards the children born to Yin Lihua could not be controlled.Yin Lihua, who was on the cusp of the storm, had no choice but to temporarily avoid Guo Shengtong's anger and move to a palace outside Luoyang in order to calm down family conflicts.It is a pity that Guo Shengtong's emotions have lost control, and what is even more unfortunate is that Guo Shengtong is indeed right, Liu Xiu can leave her, but cannot leave Yin Lihua.So the husband and wife became more and more noisy.No matter what Liu Xiu said, Guo Shengtong would not listen.In the end, the entire harem became an enemy in her eyes.What made Liu Xiu even more unbearable was her extremely bad attitude towards the children.I thought to myself that I am still here, so she is like this, and when I am gone in the future, relying on the power of her first wife, Yin Lihua and Liu Zhuang, can they still have a way out?On October 17th, Jianwu Year [-], Liu Xiu, whose patience had finally reached its limit, had a sudden attack and issued an edict to abolish the Empress.

Liu Xiu's abolition edict ended Guo Shengtong's nameless anger.She finally found that she had completely lost everything she once had.The thing I was most afraid of, finally happened to me.She could almost foresee that the next step would be the cold palace, exile of the family, and the death of mother and child together.Such records are almost commonplace in the Western Han Dynasty where her mother was born.Liu Xiu had a special relationship with Yin Lihua and Guo Shengtong. The founding elders of the Eastern Han Dynasty and all the civil and military officials were very clear. Facing the current situation, they had nothing to say.

Just when Guo Shengtong was panicking, another edict from Liu Xiu came to her.She originally thought that this must be demoted to the cold palace or even forced suicide.

Who knows that everything is completely beyond her expectations.Liu Jiang continued his crown prince, and Liu Fu, the second son of the Guo family, was promoted to King Zhongshan, and an additional county was added to the fief - the income of this county was prepared for Guo Shengtong's living expenses. She was renamed "king of Zhongshan" by the queen. Empress Dowager, living with her son.

Probably because the memory of the scene of Yin Lihua changing from wife to concubine to concubine is still fresh in his memory. Liu Xiu didn't want to see another wife change from wife to concubine again. The decision to avoid further harm to Guo Shengtong in addition to the blow of divorce.

Probably because she felt that her husband's abolition of the empress edict was a bit too much. In order to further comfort Guo Shengtong and the Guo family, and also reassure Liu Jiang, Queen Yin Lihua also made some suggestions to her husband.As a result, Liu Xiu's unexpected edicts flew out one after another, making people dazzled.

However, the more kind Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua were, the more stimulated Guo Shengtong was.After learning the news that his son was treated so favorably, Guo Shengtong finally passed away on Dingmao Day in June of that year.She was younger than Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua, but died earlier than them.

In February of the following year, 62-year-old Liu Xiu died of illness in the front hall of the Nangong Palace in Luoyang.When he was dying, his wife Yin Lihua, who had been in love with him for 34 years, was by his side, and the deposed prince Liu Jiang and his heir Liu Zhuang died together for his father.

Ten years later, Yin Lihua, who was also 10 years old, passed away.Her birthday is the same as her husband's.On Gengshen Day in February, Empress Guanglie Yin Lihua was buried in Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiuyuan's mausoleum, and she met her husband after 62 years in another world.The lifelong love legend between Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua also came to an end.

Ma Mingde: a high-spirited "commoner queen"

As the saying goes, behind every successful man stands a great woman, but not every successful emperor has such a virtuous queen and concubine silently supporting him.For the second emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Han Mingdi, he was very lucky to have such a woman.

This woman, who entered the officialdom as the daughter of a criminal minister, won the favor of the emperor and the empress dowager with her integrity.It is said that this woman was given the opportunity to be selected as a post-officer because her husband's family resigned.

Although this woman has a face that is more beautiful than that of the Luohe River, she doesn't understand the principle of "three points of appearance, seven points of dress", and she only wears coarse clothes all her life.

This woman, who did not give birth to any heirs in her life, was able to be crowned as an empress official and mother of the world, and was deeply favored and respected by two generations of emperors.

What is even more surprising is that this woman is the mother of a country, but she never "implemented" any benefits to her natal family.

This woman is a legendary figure in "The Biography of Continued Women", the most kind and simple "commoner queen" in the hearts of the people of the Eastern Han Dynasty-Ma Mingde.

There are only a few records about this queen's deeds in the history books, but these are enough to make her rank among the ancient Chinese queens and admired by later generations.

The Ma family lost power
Ma Mingde is a great beauty.According to historical records, Ma Yuan has "beard and hair, and picturesque eyes". He is a genuinely handsome man. It seems that this Ma Mingde has all the good genes of his father.However, history tells us that Ma Mingde's ability to become a queen is not determined by her appearance, but by her inner quality.

Ma Mingde's ability to enter the palace and become a queen is not unrelated to the death of his father, General Fubo Ma Yuan.

Ma Yuan is a general who can recruit and fight well, and one of the famous generals who founded the Eastern Han Dynasty. "A husband's ambition is to be strong when he is poor, and strong when he is old," "A man should die in the wilderness and be buried in a shroud of horse leather" and other famous sentences that have lasted through the ages are all from his mouth.

However, this person has a fatal flaw, that is, he is too down-to-earth, not tactful in dealing with the world, and he speaks without restraint, thus offending many people.This also laid the groundwork for the later decline of the Ma family and Ma Mingde's entry into the palace.

It is said that not long after Liu Xiu sat on the dragon chair, Ma Yuan was granted the title of Marquis of Xinxi.One day, Ma Yuan fell ill, and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty rushed to visit him at his residence, and a man named Liang Song also went.Although Liang Song is young, his status is very noble, he is a dignified son-in-law.He came to Ma Yuan's sick bed and greeted him politely.

If he was a tactful person, when he saw the court consort saluting, he would have to act flattered and sincerely thank him, but Ma Yuan didn't even lift his eyelids, just said "um", without any gesture of reciprocating the salute.

After Liang Song left, Ma Yuan's son asked his father, "Why can't you be more polite to Liang Song? Anyway, he is also..." Before his son could finish speaking, Ma Yuan raised his head and said, "I am talking to Liang Song. His father is of the same generation, even if he is more noble than me, he is still a junior, have you ever seen an elder salute a junior?"

Liang Song lost face in public, and he couldn't help hating this old Ma who relied on the old to sell the old.Not long afterward, Ma Yuan wrote a letter to reprimand his nephew. In the letter, he commented on the court ministers, including the son-in-law.Unexpectedly, this letter fell into the hands of others and was presented to the emperor to prove that the courtier Du Jiliang was involved in illegal activities with his consort Liang Song and Dou.Liu Xiu was furious when she saw the letter, and immediately summoned her two sons-in-law to scold them severely.

Liang Song really hated Ma Yuan this time.But Ma Yuan was upright and upright, and did not do anything illegal.Therefore, before Ma Yuan died, Liang Song did not dare to act rashly.Later, Ma Yuan died of illness during the expedition.Liang Song wrote a letter immediately after hearing the news, saying that when Ma Yuan went south to conquer Jiaozhi, he took advantage of the chaos to rob a cart of folk treasures and hid them privately. He committed a heinous crime and should be severely punished.

This is pure framing!When Ma Yuan pacified Jiaozhi under Liu Xiu's order, he did bring back a cart of things, but it was a cart of barley, not any treasure.It's a pity that Ma Yuan has passed away, and there is no proof of his death.Therefore, those who Ma Yuan offended before his death began to use this matter to add fuel and fuel to the flames.Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu was famous all his life, but at this time he believed the villain's slander, pursued Ma Yuan's Xinxihou Yinshou, and forbade him to be buried in the ancestral grave.

The Ma family declined in an instant, and Ma Yuan's children also changed from "the successors of the heroes" to "the successors of the criminals".In order to reverse the decline and save the lives of her children, Mrs. Ma Lin made a bold decision-send her daughter to the palace and marry the royal family!
Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu thought of Ma Yuan's contributions during his lifetime, and granted Lin's request, and chose Ma Mingde, the third daughter of Ma Yuan's age, to enter the womb of Ma Yuan's three daughters. "Mingde" is not Miss Ma San's boudoir name, and her real boudoir name has not been verified, so for the time being, she is called by her posthumous name——Mingde.

It is said that when Ma Mingde was young, he suffered from a serious illness, which lasted for a long time and never recovered.His mother, Lin Shi, was very worried, so she asked a fortune teller to come for divination.The fortune teller replied: "Although this girl has a sick face, she still can't hide her noble air. Her future wealth cannot be described in words."

After hearing this, the Lin family was dubious, and called a fortune teller to show all the daughters.After showing it to several Miss Ma, the fortune teller didn't say a word, and when he finally saw Ma Mingde, the fortune teller turned pale with shock, and said, "I will definitely bow down to this little girl in the future. This girl is a rich and powerful person." Ah." Hearing this, Lin was overjoyed.

When Ma Yuan died, Ma Mingde was only ten years old.Misfortunes never come singly. Not long after his father died, the two sons of the Ma family, Ma Keqing and Ma Huimin, also died early.Lin, who was hit repeatedly, became mentally disturbed due to excessive grief. Her condition went from good to bad, and she couldn't handle family affairs at all.In order to solve her mother's problems, Ma Mingde started to deal with housework. She treated people, consulted inside and outside, just like an adult, and handled everything in an orderly manner. The neighbors were all amazed.

Being so capable at such a young age, Ma Mingde's intelligence is naturally extraordinary.As a result, when she entered the palace, she was caught by Liu Zhuang's mother, Empress Yin Lihuahui, and discussed with Liu Xiu to let her enter the womb of the crown prince.

This decision was beyond the expectations of many dignitaries, but it was a big surprise for the Ma family.What was even more unexpected was that Ma Mingde received extra care from Queen Yin Lihua as soon as he entered the uterus.Empress Yin admired Ma Mingde's gentleness, politeness, dignified appearance, filial piety and gentleness, and she was always full of praise.Ma Mingde's character was also loved by the future emperor Liu Zhuang.When Ma Mingde appeared in front of the prince for the first time, the prince was 23 years old, and Liu Zhuang, who had read countless official fans, also had a lot of friends, concubines and concubines.However, Ma Mingde, who is pure, beautiful, and eloquent, gave him a heart-pounding feeling.He loved Ma Shi more than other concubines, and even let her live in the back room of his bedroom in order to see her every day.

Although Liu Zhuang almost exclusively favors Ma Mingde, Ma Mingde has never had a son or a half as a couple for many years.

This not only worried Liu Zhuang, but also worried Ma Mingde.

Later, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu died, and the 30-year-old prince Liu Zhuang succeeded to the throne, and Ma Mingde was canonized as a "noble man" second only to the queen.Why make her a nobleman instead of directly making her a queen?This is because Ma Mingde has not yet given birth to a boy and a half girl, and Liu Zhuang intends to make her the queen, but he is worried that the concubine who has a prince will object, so he pretends to be the father and keeps silent about the matter of making a queen.

After the new emperor ascended the throne, some princes and ministers sent their daughters to the palace one after another, hoping to become relatives of the emperor.Among the women in the bride's palace, there was a Jia family with a good appearance, who was favored by Liu Zhuang, and soon gave birth to the prince Liu Da for Liu Zhuang.

Although he gave birth to a son for himself, Liu Zhuang still doesn't have much feeling for Jia Shi, he still dotes on Ma Mingde.Seeing Ma Mingde's eagerness for his son, Liu Zhuang often wept alone, and felt very distressed.In order to comfort her lover, after the Jia family who gave birth to the prince was promoted as a nobleman according to the law, Liu Da, the son born by the Jia family, was also handed over to Ma Mingde to raise him, and he comforted her and said: "People don't necessarily have to be their own children, but You can’t raise your ears if you suffer from love.” The general idea is that not everyone in this world is able to bear children, as long as you raise them with love, other people’s children will also become good children who are filial to you.

Ma Mingde thanked her husband for his understanding of her infertility, raised the child carefully, and cared for him in every possible way. Although her palace was full of servants, she still did everything by herself, so that she was tired and haggard.Ma Mingde's maternal love for this child far exceeds the efforts of other concubines in the palace to raise their own children.

Liu Zu has also been close to his adoptive mother since he was a child. Although Ma Mingde and Liu Da are called adoptive mothers and adopted sons, they are actually closer than many biological mothers and children, and there is no grievance between them.Because of Liu Zhuang's love for Ma Mingde, he hopes to make Ma Mingde his queen.But after all, Ma Mingde has no biological children, so rashly becoming a queen will easily cause criticism and opposition from other concubines who have biological sons.Therefore, in the three years since he succeeded to the throne as emperor, Liuzhuang did not have an official queen.

In the spring of the third year of Yongping, the time for the new emperor Liu Zhuang to guard the system for his father was also full, and it would be unreasonable not to establish a queen.The affairs of the harem are not only the private affairs of the emperor, but also the major affairs of the country.So the personnel of the relevant departments went to play Emperor Ming and asked for the appointment of a queen.At this time, in the harem of Emperor Han Ming, there were at least three concubines who gave birth to the prince. In addition to Jia Guiren, there were two other concubines who gave birth to Qiancheng Ai Wang Liu Jian and Chen Jing Wang Liu Xian.In addition, there is a yin noble in the palace.Although she has not yet given birth to a prince at this time, she is a daughter of the Empress Dowager Yin Lihua's family, and she is a cousin of Liu Zhuang.In theory, they are all more qualified to be queens than Ma Mingde, who has no children.It is a pity that none of them are Liu Zhuang's favorite person. There is only one candidate for queen in Liu Zhuang's heart, and that is his favorite Ma Guiren.But, let Ma Guiren be the queen, the relatives of other concubines will definitely make trouble, what should I do?Liu Zhuang couldn't sleep or eat because of this.

Empress Dowager Yin Lihua stepped forward in due course.In fact, she had been inspecting Liu Zhuang's concubines for a long time. She had always liked Ma Mingde's talent, learning and conduct, and felt that Ma Mingde was the only one in the harem who was suitable to be a queen, so she said: "Ma nobleman is the most honorable official, so he should be a queen. "

When the empress dowager opened her mouth, the Yin family, the Jia family, the other two concubine families, and even the ministers of the Manchu dynasty had nothing to say.In 60 AD, Ma Mingde became the queen of Liuzhuang, and her adopted son Liu Da was also registered as the crown prince.

Empress Ma has not forgotten the lesson of her father Ma Yuan being ostracized. Although she is the lord of the Sixth Palace, she is still as modest and approachable as before, without the queen's airs at all.Empress Ma lived a frugal life, and she wore coarse silk dresses in daily life. She didn't like to wear bright red and green clothes, and she didn't wear jeweled ornaments.Unless there is an important ceremony that requires her to appear, she will wear the queen's dress and accessories.Those harem concubines who were busy competing for splendor every day didn't know the details, they thought the empress was wearing some new and expensive Qiluo, and when they came to see it, they were all stunned, they all thought the empress was dressed too shabby, Empress Ma smiled They said:

"Don't underestimate this coarse silk material. It's not bad, and it's very comfortable to wear. It won't fade easily when it's dyed, and it's durable." Ma Mingde knew that arrogance and extravagance cannot last long, so he set an example and taught the royal family Set an example.The concubines were all amazed, and they followed Ma Mingde's example and practiced strict economy, reducing a lot of unnecessary palace expenses.

Emperor Han Ming was still very young when he came to the throne, and he liked to play around. Empress Ma always advised him with kind words, hoping that he could concentrate on political affairs.Once, Emperor Ming went to a garden to enjoy flowers and brought all his concubines with him, except Empress Ma who did not come.Those concubines usually respected Empress Ma very much, but when they saw that she was not here, they all begged to send someone to invite her.Emperor Ming shook his head and said: "Don't call her anymore, she doesn't like to play. Even if she comes, she won't be happy." Because Empress Ma has been urging Emperor Ming, Emperor Ming has less time to play. up.

Ma Mingde likes to read and has a wide range of subjects. She has studied "Book of Changes", "Spring and Autumn", "Chu Songs" and Dong Zhongshu's profound works.Emperor Ming wanted to test her character and talent. He showed some memorials of ministers to Empress Ma and asked her opinion on how to deal with it.After carefully reading the memorial, Queen Ma clearly listed the solutions to various matters one by one.Emperor Ming admired her very much when he saw her. From then on, whenever he encountered difficult problems in the court, Emperor Ming would come back to discuss with Queen Ma and listen to her opinions.However, after expressing her opinion, Empress Ma still let Emperor Han Ming make his own decision, following the ancestral system that the harem could not interfere with the government.

Emperor Han Ming served as emperor for 18 years. During his reign, he managed state affairs conscientiously with the assistance of Empress Ma.In 75 A.D., Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty died, and Prince Liu Ju came to the throne as Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty.Ma Mingde was promoted to Empress Dowager.

In order to express his gratitude to his adoptive mother, Liu Da wanted to make Ma Mingde's three brothers Marquis as soon as he came to the throne.Ma Mingde politely declined his son's kindness.

Some ministers who are good at sycophancy believe that the empress dowager's refusal to confer titles to her natal family is just doing bureaucracy.

Coincidentally, in the summer of the second year, there was a drought in the Eastern Han Dynasty. These ministers immediately reported to Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, claiming that the severe drought was caused by God's dissatisfaction that the Ma family had not been rewarded.

Emperor Hanzhang knew in his heart that this was nonsense, but because the proposal of promoting uncle was in his favor, he planned to adopt this suggestion.

(End of this chapter)