Various rumors about Concubine Zhen have been widely circulated among the people, including film and television works and operas, such as "The Secret History of the Qing Palace" and "Tears of Concubine Zhen".
There are also some authoritative historical records about Concubine Zhen herself, such as "The Death of Concubine Zhen", which was written based on the memories of the eunuchs and included in the "Selected Cultural and Historical Materials" edited by the National Committee of Cultural and Historical Materials.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Cixi was a one-man ruler who was narrow-minded and selfish, and did not tolerate any opposition. Concubine Zhen, on the other hand, is a talented woman, she has a cheerful personality, likes new things, has no rejection of Western ideas, and is an outlier in the palace.
Guangxu likes Concubine Zhen, according to the eunuch, this is because Guangxu has impotence, and Concubine Zhen's company gives him warmth. The young Empress Longyu was sad on her wedding night, while Concubine Zhen was always by Guangxu's side, bringing him comfort.
Concubine Zhen is a very smart person, she only wants the emperor to be happy, which is due to her family education. In addition, she also understands that the emperor likes to play chess, so she can accompany him.
As for the matter of men and women, Concubine Zhen didn't think too much about it. She was not as arrogant and rude as other nobles to her subordinates, but often gave her eunuchs some rewards to make them more motivated to work.
This made the eunuchs very grateful to her and willing to serve her with all their might. Although she has a chance to gradually gain power, due to her overconfidence, some drift away, which may affect her future.
In the Qing court, the queen and concubines had a limited amount of silver every year, but Concubine Zhen did not want to live a poor life. She thinks that the emperor is the biggest, and no one can hinder the emperor's affairs, so someone taught her to earn money by selling officials.
Concubine Zhen took advantage of her position to cooperate with the people below to trade. The money she gets is used for pleasure. Someone even bought an official position of this level in Shanghai Daotai. Concubine Zhen also instigated Guangxu to go to sea, and showed Lu Yangbo's list to Guangxu, officially announcing that he was in this position.
Unexpectedly, the predecessor Shanghai Daotai was Zeng Guofan's son-in-law, and someone asked Guangxu about it.
I don't know much about this person, so you might as well go and investigate. As a result, the Minister of War and Aircraft spent a long time searching for information, but did not find any historical information related to this person.
Later, Concubine Zhen actually sold the position of Sichuan Yanfa Dao to an illiterate person, which made the court very dissatisfied, and some people even reported the situation to the Empress Dowager Cixi.
Although Guangxu has always been on Concubine Zhen's side, the Wuxu change has put him in a predicament, and Concubine Zhen has naturally become an important ally for him. Although Concubine Zhen's actions were not as radical as Guangxu's, she had become the only person Guangxu could confide in at that time, coupled with the accumulation of various previous incidents, Cixi's treatment of Concubine Zhen must not be easily let go.
Guangxu wants to stay, he is the legitimate heir of the Qing Dynasty, and as for Concubine Zhen, her fate becomes unimportant. If Guangxu hadn't interceded for her at the beginning, Concubine Zhen's several heads might not be enough to be cut off.
In the three courtyards in the northeast, Concubine Zhen was imprisoned in a small courtyard. It is a separate courtyard with a seal from the House of Internal Affairs at the door, which is also locked from the outside, and only a small window can be opened from the outside.
People outside would bring food and water inside, but no one was allowed to talk to her. Every day, Concubine Zhen needed to "confess" her crimes in the room, and an old eunuch would educate her on behalf of the Empress Dowager Cixi's wishes, listing various "crimes".
After listening, Concubine Zhen needed to kneel on the ground to express her gratitude. These days are worse than death for Concubine Zhen, but she has to endure them.
Perhaps, Concubine Zhen also longed for Guangxu to save her from the dire situation. However, the news circulating in the market shows that Guangxu misses Concubine Zhen day and night, and even reunites with her through others.
However, regardless of whether these rumors are true or not, Cixi's decision has already doomed Concubine Zhen to a tragic fate. In 1900, the Eight-Nation Coalition captured Beijing, and the palace was in chaos, and the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu took the opportunity to escape from the palace.
At this critical juncture, the Empress Dowager Cixi did not care about the life and death of Concubine Zhen, but she suddenly remembered Concubine Zhen. Cixi took the eunuch to Ningshou Palace and ordered Concubine Zhen to be brought to Le Shou Tang.
Cixi insisted that the foreigners were about to invade the Forbidden City, and even if there had been plans to take Concubine Zhen away, the situation was now chaotic, and in the event of an accident, it would damage the reputation of the imperial family.
Therefore, Cixi advised Concubine Zhen to commit suicide to preserve the royal dignity and at the same time avoid disrespect for her ancestors. The eunuchs knelt down and begged Cixi to spare Zhen, but Cixi still insisted that Zhenfei kill herself.
Concubine Zhen looked very tired in the face of all this, but she still cared about the fate of the country and the emperor, and hoped to accompany him through the difficulties.
Concubine Zhen was still stating, and suddenly the Empress Dowager Cixi shouted: "Your life and death have been decided, why bother to say more?" Concubine Zhen resolutely said, "I am not guilty!" The Empress Dowager Cixi did not give Concubine Zhen more time to defend herself, but said coldly: "Whether you are guilty or not, you must die!" ”
In this situation, Concubine Zhen didn't want to do any more struggle, she just wanted to see Emperor Guangxu at the last moment of her life. Of course, she knew that Emperor Guangxu did not want her to die, but Cixi ruthlessly deprived her of this opportunity.
The eunuch Cui Yugui stepped forward and forcibly dragged Concubine Zhen to the well. When Concubine Zhen was pushed to the mouth of the well, she still shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, repay your kindness in the next life!" ”
Emperor Guangxu did not know about the changes that had taken place here. There is another version of the legend: at that time, Concubine Zhen was already pregnant with a dragonborn, and the Empress Dowager Cixi had always had a grudge against Concubine Zhen, and she was unwilling to let Concubine Zhen's genes flow in the royal blood.
In short, no matter why the Empress Dowager Cixi finally made a murderous intention, Concubine Zhen's life and death cannot be changed. Moreover, the Empress Dowager Cixi also carried out the execution in a semi-public manner, because it was about the dignity of the royal family and should not be known to more people, and then she pretended to be benevolent and continued to plan her conspiracy.
Concubine Zhen's death: In order to preserve the royal dignity, the Empress Dowager Cixi blamed Cui Yugui for Concubine Zhen's "mysterious disappearance" and drove her out of the palace, while also expressing her longing for Concubine Zhen to others.
In order to show mercy, the Empress Dowager Cixi specially ordered Concubine Zhen's family to retrieve Concubine Zhen's body. However, because Concubine Zhen's body had been soaked in the well for more than a year, and the wellhead was small, the salvage project was very difficult.
When she couldn't get it at first, Cixi also threatened to ask Concubine Zhen's family for her guilt and avenge the death of Concubine Zhen.
The Internal Affairs Office successfully salvaged the body of Concubine Zhen, who had become a "giant" at that time, her whole body was swollen and deformed, which was terrifying, and at the same time, it was filled with a disgusting stench, and everyone around her pinched her nose.
In order to cherish the memory of Concubine Zhen, Concubine Jin set up a small mourning hall near the wellhead, enshrined the shrine of Concubine Zhen, and there were four big characters on it, "Jingwei Tongcheng", to express Emperor Guangxu's deep feelings for the concubine.
And the well that killed Concubine Zhen was also named "Concubine Zhen's Well". Nowadays, the Zhenfei Well is located in the west corridor of the Jingqi Pavilion of the Forbidden City, and it seems that it is just an ordinary well, it stands to reason that each well in the Forbidden City has a small pavilion and a white marble railing, but this well has nothing, and it is also related to the death of Concubine Zhen.
Emperor Guangxu deeply missed this concubine, posthumously named her as the imperial concubine, the departure of Concubine Zhen made him have no other women for the rest of his life, and he buried his love for Concubine Zhen deep in his heart.
After the Empress Dowager Cixi returned to Beijing, she always adhered to the attitude of "doing a full set of plays", not only set Le Shou Tang as a forbidden area in the palace, but also burned incense and prayed for Concubine Zhen every day, chanting sutras and reciting Buddha.
And all of this, there is a story behind it. It is said that the Empress Dowager Cixi was an extremely superstitious person, especially after fleeing to Xi'an, she often dreamed about Concubine Zhen, and her heart was full of fear, fearing that it was Concubine Zhen's "ghost" who would ask for her life.
Every time she woke up from a dream, the Empress Dowager Cixi would be speechless for a long time, and her throat would swell.
With more and more historical information, the details of the Zhenfei incident have also surfaced. Many people wondered: When Emperor Guangxu was under house arrest, why did he still treat Concubine Zhen so ruthlessly, didn't this aggravate his condition?
Moreover, even if Concubine Zhen is resentful, the decision-making power in the palace is in the hands of Cixi, so imprisoning her is already a "top punishment". According to the record of "Guowen Beicheng", Concubine Zhen also has a capital crime, that is, her former betrayal of official positions.
It turned out that after Concubine Zhen's official betrayal was revealed, Li Lianying found a letter written by her in the palace, which was full of accusations and dissatisfaction with the imperial court. Li Lianying told Cixi about this, the stability of the court is Cixi's lifeblood, and Concubine Zhen can sell such an important position bypassing her, which she can't tolerate.
The Empress Dowager Cixi summoned Concubine Zhen and severely reprimanded: "You ignore the rules of the family, who taught you?" Concubine Zhen, who was favored by the emperor's side and did not fully understand things, replied: "Naturally, someone broke the family rules first. ”
She thinks that the Empress Dowager Cixi's drapes and obedience to politics is itself a violation of the family rules, otherwise how could the Empress Dowager Cixi herself do such a thing? The matter of selling officials was originally taught to her by the Empress Dowager Cixi, who appropriated the wealth of the world for herself through higher-level means, and she herself only sold a few official positions, so no one should blame anyone.
This kind of resistance just hit the sore spot of the Empress Dowager Cixi. She has listened to politics for many years, and the voices of doubts outside have never stopped, and it is just that the civil and military officials have opinions outside, after all, they dare not say it to their faces, but now, these voices of doubts are actually coming from the palace, which is very different.
The relationship between the emperor and the empress was strained, and Cixi was always dissatisfied with this. She had always wanted to get rid of Concubine Zhen, but she didn't have the right opportunity. The invasion of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Coalition forces caused chaos in the palace, and it was naturally possible to cover up the truth in the chaos.
So Concubine Zhen became farther and farther away from Cixi. The "Forbidden City Overview" pointed out that Cixi was always hesitant to execute those close to the emperor because her power was not legitimate in the first place.
On the day she decided to do it, she was silent for an afternoon. For the people, Cixi's guilt was even more serious. The Restorationists also pointed the main finger at Cixi, accusing her of "closing Guangxu and sinking Concubine Zhen", and these views also received widespread support from the public, driving the actions of the Restorationists.
The public knows very little about the royal news, and the access to information is not smooth. Nowadays, someone has exposed the scandal of Cixi, which has resonated with the masses and spread it to everyone.
After Concubine Zhen's death, she was initially buried in the Enjizhuang Eunuch Cemetery until 1913, when she was transferred to Chongling, where she was buried with the Guangxu Emperor. This fact shows that from a folk point of view, even if Concubine Zhen had a bad record of selling officials, she dared to confront Cixi after all and paid the price with her life.
This is enough to make her "famous in history".