There is often a plot in costume dramas: the champion marries the princess. Once he won the champion, the emperor would make him an important **, and then after several years of experience and gradual promotion. Due to the high starting point of the champion and the speed of promotion, his future is bright. However, in reality, marrying a princess is just a beautiful fantasy. In Chinese history, a total of 865 champions were born in the orthodox dynasties and regimes that were not recognized by the Central Plains.
However, of the 865 people, only one married the princess and became a concubine. The conditions for marrying a princess are extremely harsh. In ancient times, marrying a princess required meeting a number of hard conditions, and it was not enough to just study well. Studying and embarking on a career is more to give students from poor families without a family background a chance to change their lives, rather than an opportunity for them to climb into the royal family. Unless the person who is admitted to the top has a strong family background.
A strong family background here does not mean wealth, but a political foundation. For businessmen, it is even more impractical to marry a princess, even if they have a lot of money. The role of the princes is to inherit the throne, continue the royal bloodline, and expand the royal family, so as to maintain *** Once the bloodline is severed, the country may change hands to foreign clans. And the role of princesses, including women of the clan, is to marry.
Although they could not personally go into battle to kill the enemy, they played an important role in national politics, consolidating imperial power and maintaining relations between countries and tribes. Princesses can marry thousands of miles away and make peace with other countries in exchange for peace between the two regimes;It is also possible to marry internally and form alliances with clan relatives to form strong alliancesIn addition, they can also marry the court magnates in order to win over the power of the court and consolidate the position of the emperor.
For example, Qianlong once married his tenth princess to Heshen's son Fengshen Yinde in order to win over Heshen and ensure that his daughter was treated properly. Daughters of the royal family do not have the freedom to marry, nor can they choose their favorite partners before marriage, because they have the responsibility of marriage from birth. Generally speaking, the best destination for a princess is to marry a clansman. Both sides have royal blood, the family checks and balances each other, and the princess is able to be respected and treated kindly.
And the princesses who marry away from other countries and relatives often cannot get a happy ending. Ancient dynasties had different policies for marriage between champions and princesses. In the Ming and Song dynasties, it was possible for a princess to marry a hero, a general, or even a champion. In these dynasties, if a champion appears among the marriage partners, they have the opportunity to become concubines. However, in foreign-ruled states such as the Yuan and Qing dynasties, it was even less likely that a princess would marry a champion.
Because when the Mongols and Manchus were in power, they did not treat other ethnic groups equally, and the princesses at this time could only marry relatives or relatives. For example, the princesses of the Qing Dynasty, if they marry outside, they will basically marry to Mongolia to marry. Mongolia was the "backer" of the Manchu royal family, and when the Qing emperor went to war, the Mongolian iron cavalry would support the Qing army.
Therefore, in order to unify the world, in addition to waging war, the Qing Dynasty also constantly sent princesses to marry in the past to consolidate its own strength. Since the age of the champion does not match the age of the princess, the princess usually marries in her teens, and becoming the champion is very difficult. Even if someone could become a champion in their thirties, he would probably already have a few wives and concubines by then.
Such people usually rely on their own efforts and have no family background, how can such a family marry a princess?In fact, the champions are also reluctant to be colts, because colts are usually idle and will not be assigned official positions with real power. After decades of hard study, those who have achieved the top prize are usually politically ambitious and unwilling to be idle colts. In ancient times, Zheng Hao was the only champion who became a concubine.
At that time, he was already twenty-five years old, and he had been an official for seven years. Tang Xuanzong took a fancy to his talent and ordered him to marry Princess Wanshou. Although Zheng Hao was originally engaged, he had to break up with his original partner due to political considerations. Zheng Hao was gradually promoted after becoming a concubine, and finally became Yin in Henan. However, maybe Zheng Hao didn't really want this, but felt that the original marriage was more suitable for him.