We all know that in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, after the emperor died, the concubines and palace people who were fortunate by the emperor were forced to be martyred.
According to incomplete statistics, until the abolition of martyrdom in Zhu Qizhen of Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di, Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Zhanji, and Zhu Qiyu were almost 100 concubines and palace people who were martyred for it.
These poor women withered in the deep palace.
Among the concubines who were martyred, there was one person who was particularly special.
Generally speaking, harem concubines, if they have a more prominent family background or have a son, can be exempted from martyrdom.
But there is a person who not only has an extraordinary family background, is the granddaughter of the founding minister of the Ming Dynasty, but also won the favor of the saint, and gave birth to 3 sons in a row, and the son has grown up**.
But she was still forced to be buried by the queen after the emperor's death.
She is Mingrenzong's favorite concubine Zhu Gaochi, Guo Guifei.
How much does Akihito love her? Why was she forced to be buried?
The emperors and sons of the Ming Dynasty, except for Zhu Yuanzhang at the beginning of the founding of the country, married the founding heroes out of the need to bestow meritorious heroes, so most of his sons were married to noble women.
Starting from Zhu Yunwen, in order to prevent his relatives from interfering in politics, Zhu Yuanzhang selected the future queen for his grandson, who was just the daughter of a small civil official.
Zhu Di also followed his father's example. Whether he was the king of Yan or after he ascended the throne, the wives and concubines he selected for his children and grandchildren basically did not have prominent backgrounds.
Prince Zhu Gaochi's original partner was the crown princess Zhang, and his father got the official position of a commander because his daughter married Zhu Gaochi.
The rest of the prince's concubines were even more mediocre.
However, among the side concubines in the East Palace, there is one person whose background is particularly eye-catching, and that is Zhu Gaochi's beloved concubine Guo.
She is Guo Ying's granddaughter.
Guo Ying, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, followed Zhu Yuanzhang at the age of 18, fought in the south and the north, and was named the Marquis of Wuding for his merits.
Zhu Yuanzhang commented on him: Tang Zhiwei Chi Jingde is not too bad.
It means that even Li Shimin's general, Wei Chi Gong, is not as powerful as him.
Guo Ying's brother Guo Xing was also the founder of the Ming Dynasty. When he died, Zhu Yuanzhang quit for 3 days.
Guo's background is so prominent, why did Zhu Di, who has always prevented his relatives from interfering in politics, point her to the crown prince Zhu Gaochi as a side room?
The history books do not record the specific time when Guo married Zhu Gaochi, but according to Guo's family letters, it can be seen that Zhu Gaochi was already the crown prince when he accepted her.
And Guo's first son was born in the eighth year of Yongle.
Guo's grandfather, Guo Ying, followed Geng Bingwen and Li Jinglong to crusade against Zhu Di when Zhu Di was martyred, but he did not make any contributions, and was dismissed and returned home after Zhu Di ascended the throne, and died the following year.
Guo's uncle, Guo Zhen, married Zhu Yuanzhang's 12th daughter, Princess Yongjia, died during the Jianwen period.
Guo's father, Guo Ming, is Guo Ying's second son, and there are not many records of him in the history books, so it can be speculated that he died before Guo entered the East Palace.
So we can speculate that Zhu Di made an exception to let Guo, the daughter of a lord, marry the crown prince for about the following two reasons:
First, to communicate with the lords.
After all, Zhu Di usurped the throne and needed the support of his ministers, and Guo's orphan daughter, who had great influence in the family, but all the influential people in the family had died, was a very suitable choice.
Second, take pity on the Guo family.
The Guo family made great contributions to the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Di's sister Princess Yongjia also married into the Guo family. But the pillars of the Guo family died one after another in a short period of time, and Zhu Di may have made the Guo family the prince's concubine out of pity for the Guo family.
Since Guo entered the East Palace, he has been deeply favored by Zhu Gaochi.
Guo's family letter has been handed down to this day, and we can see Zhu Gaochi's various preferential treatment for her.
Since Guo came to Zhu Gaochi's side, Zhu Gaochi has favored Guo. His youngest three sons were all born to the Guo family.
When Zhu Gaochi was still the crown prince, he gave Guo a mansion so that she could support her grandmother.
When Guo's youngest son was sick, Zhu Gaochi personally went to the Zhai to pray for his son, and after his son's **, he sent an internal envoy to repay his wishes.
When Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne, the preferential treatment of the Guo family continued unabated.
He made Guo a noble concubine, and his status in the harem was second only to the queen.
Then, he named Guo Guifei's biological mother Mrs. Wuding.
It stands to reason that the sealing of the relatives of the concubine will end with the parents.
However, Zhu Gaochi overstepped the system, crowned Guo Guifei's grandmother Yan as the wife of Yingguo, and sent someone to welcome Yan to Beijing and personally support him.
You must know that even if Zhu Gaochi's original partner Empress Zhang, her mother is only Mrs. Peng Chengbo.
Even Guo Guifei's nephew was awarded a free ride, and he was a thousand households.
Three months after Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne, Zhu Gaochi killed the eunuch Huang Yan for unknown reasons. Huang Yan's guard property and servants were all rewarded by Zhu Gaochi to Guo Guifei's younger brother, Guo Xuan, Marquis of Wuding.
It can be said that no matter how you look at it, Guo Guifei is the most favored concubine in Zhu Gaochi's harem.
Zhu Gaochi reigned for only 10 months before he died suddenly at the age of 48.
Guo Guifei, along with 4 other concubines, was forced to be martyred.
The other 4 buried concubines are Shun Concubine Tan, Shufei Wang, Concubine Li, and Concubine Huang. What they have in common is that they come from humble backgrounds and have no children.
And other concubines who had children, such as Concubine Li Xian, who gave birth to three sons and one daughter for Zhu Gaochi, were spared from martyrdom.
The childless and unfavored concubine Zhang, her grandfather Zhang Yu died to save Zhu Di, and her father Zhang Fu was a British duke, who also saved his life. The history books say that the reason why she was spared from martyrdom was because she was a queen.
And Guo Guifei, who was also a minister, gave birth to 3 sons, and suddenly appeared in the funeral list, which seemed out of place.
For this reason, even the Ming Dynasty itself has derived a lot of conspiracy theories.
In Zhu Zhishan, one of the four great talents in the south of the Yangtze River, one thing is written vividly:
Guo Guifei is deeply favored by Empress Zhang, and has always been jealous with Empress Zhang, wanting to replace Empress Zhang's position.
After Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne, Empress Zhang ushered in her first birthday as empress. Guo Guifei specially held a banquet in her palace and invited Empress Zhang to celebrate her birthday.
At the banquet, Guo Guifei respectfully took a glass of wine and toasted to Empress Zhang.
Empress Zhang had a cold face and did not move, not giving Guo Guifei any face.
Zhu Gaochi, who was on the side, hurriedly said haha: Since the queen doesn't drink it, then I'll drink this wine for the queen.
Guo Guifei was shocked: she poisoned this glass of wine.
However, if she wants to stop it, it is too late. Zhu Gaochi drank all the poisonous wine.
Not long after, Zhu Gao died of poison.
It was precisely because Guo Guifei killed Zhu Gaochi by mistake that she was forced to be martyred.
Although this story is bloody and wonderful, it does not stand up to scrutiny.
One,It is clearly recorded in the Ming Shilu that Empress Zhang's birthday was the seventh day of the fourth month, and Zhu Gaochi died on May 29, and he was still handling the government normally two or three days before his death. What poison can be latent for nearly 2 months?
Second,The queen's birthday, how could she go to the palace of a noble concubine. The poison testing process in the Ming Dynasty palace was also quite perfect, and the emperor would not easily drink poisoned wine.
Thirdly,If Zhu Gaochi was really killed by Guo Guifei by mistake, then Guo Guifei would be punished by the Ming Dynasty even if she was not exterminated by the Nine Clans, how could she be buried as a concubine, and her three sons would enjoy normal prince treatment?
Even Zhu Zhishan's book itself, the title of the book is called "Wild Notes", which shows that the content of the book is not credible, and it is mostly hearsay.
However, this story, however, can reflect that many people in the Ming Dynasty were also very confused about the reason why Guo Guifei was forced to be martyred.
So, why was Guo Guifei forced to be buried?
There is no clear record of this in the history books.
However, we can speculate that Guo Guifei has been deeply favored by Zhu Gaochi since she entered the palace in the early years of Yongle, and it is inevitable that she will be jealous of the queen and others in the harem.
Perhaps, it was Empress Zhang who hated her for being favored, and after she became the queen mother, she couldn't wait to bury her biggest rival.
Perhaps, it was Concubine Guo Guifei who was domineering because she was favored and offended Queen Zhang, so that Queen Zhang took revenge on her by forcing her to be martyred.
These are all possible.
It is worth mentioning that after Guo Guifei was martyred, she left 3 sons, the eldest of which Zhu Zhankai was the 8th son of Zhu Gaochi.
He also died of illness only 3 months after the death of both parents at the age of 17.
The second son, Zhu Zhanyan, is the famous King of Liangzhuang. He lost his mother because of his youth, and his eldest brother Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji took pity on him, not only giving him double the amount of money for the other princes, but also rewarding him with a lot of property.
His tomb of King Liangzhuang, after being rescued and excavated by archaeologists, unearthed burial goods, shining gold, shocked the world.
The youngest, Zhu Zhanyun, who is also Zhu Gaochi's youngest son, was less than 10 years old at the time and was frail and sickly.
The eldest brother Zhu Zhanji took pity on him and specially allowed him not to go to the fief to become a vassal, but to stay in the capital forever.
However, Guo Guifei's three sons all died early, and Zhu Zhanyan, the longest-lived, only lived to be 30 years old, which is also a sigh.
Although we said that after Guo Guifei was a minister, she gave birth to 3 sons for Zhu Gaochi, which is really cruel.
But if we take a closer look at history, we find that before Guo Guifei, there were no cases where she could be exempted from martyrdom because of her special status and having children.
The will left by Zhu Yuanzhang was that all the concubines were martyred, not the childless concubines.
There is no specific list of Zhu Yuanzhang's funeral concubines recorded in history.
But there has always been a legend in the wild history: Zhu Yuanzhang needs to be taken care of by her mother because her young daughter Princess Baoqing is young, so Princess Baoqing's mother Zhang Meiren does not have to be martyred.
However, there is no record of this in the canonical history.
What's more critical is that Zhang Meiren and Zhu Yuanzhang died in the same year.
There is a high probability that she was still forced to be buried.
And when it comes to Zhu Yuanzhang's son Zhu Di, in his harem, the only one who has an adult son is Queen Xu. And Empress Xu died before Zhu Di.
Among the concubines he was martyred, there were no cases where they were spared from being buried because they had children or were of high birth.
Until Zhu Gaochi died, his concubines finally did not have to be all martyred.
From this point of view, we may not say that Empress Zhang forced Guo Guifei, who should not have been martyred, to be martyred.
It should be said that Empress Zhang pardoned a group of concubines who would have been martyred, and Guo Guifei, who had a reason to be pardoned, was not among them.
This statement may be more accurate.
Don't you think?
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