People born into the imperial family may be considered very lucky because they enjoy a life of glittering gold from birth. However, the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi wrote in "Harem Words": "Poor Hongyan always has a thin life, and he is the most ruthless emperor." The life of the emperor's family was not easy, and standing at the pinnacle of power often had to be fearful, and had to use all resources to consolidate the power in his hands. This is why in feudal history there were many princesses who were used by the emperor as political bargaining chips in exchange for peace in the country. In Chinese history, there have been many distressing princesses who were never able to return to their homeland once they married away from home.
and the princess is just a political tool. Harmony is a means of marriage to achieve political goals. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was a precedent of harmony, and the historical records recorded that in order to win over Rong Di, Zhou Tianzi had married a noble woman of the Rong Di clan as the queen. However, it was not until the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, because the national strength was not enough to conquer the Xiongnu who repeatedly violated the border, that the method of harmony began to be frequently used by the rulers at that time. According to Han history, the first princess of Heqin in the Western Han Dynasty to be sent to the Xiongnu was a daughter of a clan. Liu Bang originally planned to send himself and Empress Lu's eldest daughter, Princess Lu Yuan, but was opposed by Lu Bu.
So, Liu Bang had to choose a young girl from the clan, and named her a princess and sent her to the Xiongnu. Although the princess married the Xiongnu in order to promote diplomatic relations between the two countries, her real name is not recorded in the Han history. It can be seen that this princess is just a political bargaining chip. Following Liu Bang's precedent, the rulers of the Han Dynasty also no longer sent real princesses to their relatives, and most of them were "fake" princesses who were crowned before leaving. Later, the rulers of the Central Plains Dynasty no longer selected princesses from their clans, but directly selected beautiful Han court maids in the palace and let them marry foreign countries, such as Wang Zhaojun during the Han Yuan Dynasty.
However, the end of marrying away from home is often bleak. In 33 BC, Xiongnu Shan Yu proposed to Emperor Yuan of Han that he wanted to marry a Han woman as his wife, and after learning the news, Wang Zhaojun offered to go to Saiwai, and Emperor Yuan of Han agreed to her request. Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty initially agreed to the marriage purely because he had never seen Wang Zhaojun's world-class face with his own eyes, but had only seen the "ugly" portrait of Wang Zhaojun painted by a court painter. Therefore, he thought that it would not be a big deal to give a beautiful palace maid to Xiongnu Shan Yu. However, on the day Wang Zhaojun came out of the fortress, Emperor Yuan of Han finally saw her true appearance with his own eyes, and thus regretted not leaving her in the palace in the first place.
Despite this, he had already made a promise to the Xiongnu Shan Yu, so he could not break his promise. Therefore, in the first month of the snow, Wang Zhaojun left the capital with the Xiongnu army. So, what was Wang Zhaojun's life like in the Xiongnu?Although she won the favor of the Xiongnu Shan Yu, this Shan Yu died of illness three years later. According to nomadic tradition, the new Shan Yu should accept everything from the previous Shan Yu, including Shan Yu's wife. Therefore, Wang Zhaojun remarried the son of Lao Shan Yu. However, this practice contradicts traditional Confucian ethics. So, Wang Zhaojun wrote a letter to the emperor of the Han Dynasty, requesting to return to China. However, the Han Emperor failed to grant her wish and instead asked her to "follow the customs of the country".
In addition, in order to maintain his power, Xin Shan Yu also killed Wang Zhaojun and Lao Shan Yu's son. For Wang Zhaojun, who married the Huns, not only could she not control her own destiny, but also had to marry her titular stepson, and her situation could be described as miserable. It is even more regrettable that she could not even protect her own son. Trapped between four husbands, unable to return to his homeland. In addition, there are many princesses who have suffered tragic fates in history, such as Princess Yicheng of the Sui Dynasty. She was the daughter of a Sui Dynasty clan. In 597 AD, the Eastern Turkic Khan asked Emperor Wen of Sui to marry a Sui princess.
Emperor Wen of Sui agreed to this because the internal turmoil of the Turks at that time could pose a threat to the Sui Dynasty, so he needed to rely on this khan to quell the internal strife in the Eastern Turks. However, not long after Princess Yicheng married to the Turks, the old khan died. So, like Wang Zhaojun, she remarried the new Khan. In 619 AD, the new khan also died, so Princess Yicheng had to remarry the next khan. However, the Turkic khan died suddenly of illness a year later, which meant that Princess Yicheng would face a fourth husband. However, in 618 AD, the Tang Dynasty replaced the Sui Dynasty, and Princess Yicheng could not accept the news of the destruction of her family and country, so she tried to use the power of the Turks to destroy the Tang Dynasty and restore the Sui Dynasty.
However, the fact is that the Tang Dynasty had a strong military force and a strong national strength, and the Eastern Turks were not the opponents of the Tang Dynasty at all. The Tang Dynasty general Li Jing conquered the Turkic state in 630 AD, ending his life of pro-Gongism. Princess Yicheng attached great importance to the mission of the Sui Dynasty, and in order to win over the Turkic forces, she married four khans successively. However, the Sui Dynasty's foundation was ultimately unable to hold, leaving her far from her homeland until her death. In the history of feudal dynasties, there were many princesses who were married to each other, and they had the same task, that is, to enlist foreign forces to serve the dynasty. However, most princesses never had the chance to return to their homeland after marrying far away.
For the rulers of feudal dynasties, it seemed more cost-effective to exchange a woman for a brief peace than to send troops to conscription. Military operations cost a lot of money, and the outcome of the war is uncertain. As a result, they preferred to please the foreign chiefs by sending beautiful "princesses of harmony", even though these princesses were most likely not true royal princesses, but were given the title of princess before marrying far away, but could not return to their hometowns.