In ancient times, a punishment called "stripping the cane" was practiced, in which the prisoner was stripped of his clothes and beaten with a stick. During the Zhu Yuanzhang period, this system was promoted and became a common means of punishment.
At first, the court staff was mainly aimed at court ministers, but in the Qing Dynasty, court ladies often faced this punishment. Unexpectedly, there was a concubine in the Qing Dynasty, the Imperial Concubine Keshun, who also suffered such humiliation.
He was born on the third day of the second month of the second year of Guangxu, five years younger than Guangxu. Her father is the former right attendant of the household department, Changxu, and the family belongs to the 13th leader of the first staff of the Manchurian Red Banner, and belongs to the ordinary Eight Banners family.
Her ancestor was Ergudai, and his descendants were commoners for several generations, until her grandfather Yutai was admitted to the cabinet book, and later became the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and became a feudal official.
Yutai's appearance changed the fate of her family, causing the family to begin to marry with the royal family, and the family's status was improved. Yutai had four sons, the second of whom was Changshan, the uncle of Emperor Keshun's concubine, who served as a general in Guangzhou.
Emperor Keshun followed her uncle Changshan since she was a child, and Guangzhou was the first place in China to come into contact with Western capitalism.
The father of the imperial concubine is Yutai's fourth son, Changxu, who once served as the right attendant of the household, and his four wives are all from the famous Jue Luo clan of the clan, but none of these four wives left him adult heirs.
Imperial Concubine Keshun and her sister Imperial Concubine Wen Jing were both born to the Zhao family in the side room. Overall, although the ancestors of Emperor Keshun did not have any glorious achievements, but in the two generations of grandfather and father, they have entered the family and continue to marry the royal family, which may be one of the reasons why the two sisters of Emperor Keshun were able to enter the palace.
Empress Dowager Cixi began to prepare for the draft for Emperor Guangxu in the 11th year of Guangxu, during which Yehenala and other show girls went through many selections, and finally Empress Xiaodingjing and Emperor Keshun Tatara stood out.
At first, Cixi took a fancy to the Fucha sisters of the Dexin family, but was prevented. In the end, Yu Ruyi still gave it to the daughter of Guixiang, the deputy capital commander, Yehenala clan. Cixi elected Changxu's two daughters into the palace, including the Tatara clan, and made them concubines.
Concubine Zhen has a lively personality and is deeply favored by Guangxu. And Empress Xiaodingjing and Concubine Jin were not favored because of their mediocre appearance and wooden personality. Empress Xiaodingjing even took the opportunity to frame Concubine Zhen.
Cixi gradually developed a dislike for Concubine Zhen.
In the first month of the twentieth year of Guangxu, the Empress Dowager Cixi was about to celebrate her sixtieth birthday, and the harem concubines were also promoted, and the concubines were promoted to concubines. However, on the 29th, Cixi suddenly ordered the two sisters of Concubine Zhen to be demoted to nobles, and the day before they were demoted to nobles, Concubine Zhen was also severely punished.
Why did Cixi do this? It turned out that Concubine Zhen had some inappropriate behaviors, such as "begging", selling official titles, wearing clothes that did not conform to palace rules, and offering novelties to Guangxu.
These actions violated the principle of "women interfering in politics", which Cixi did not allow, and Cixi believed that other women should not be allowed to interfere in the government. In addition, Concubine Zhen's actions also made Cixi feel dissatisfied and worried, fearing that these actions would undermine family law and lead to chaos in the court.
Therefore, Cixi decided to punish Concubine Zhen as a warning to the other concubines. Also implicated in this is Concubine Zhen's sister Concubine Jin, who was also demoted to a nobleman. In the second year after Concubine Zhen was demoted to a noble, Cixi considered deposing the Concubine Zhen sisters, but eventually abandoned the idea.
It didn't take long for Cixi to order the restoration of Concubine Zhen's sisters' concubine titles, indicating that her punishment of Concubine Zhen's sisters was over.
Concubine Zhen, who was once the favorite of Emperor Guangxu, also became the center of the imperial party. She did her best to support the reformers, but this also touched Cixi's bottom line. Cixi could not tolerate this, so she launched a third palace coup in September of the 24th year of Guangxu, imprisoned Concubine Zhen, and drove her out of Jingren Palace and imprisoned her in Beisansuo.
The North Third Institute was the place where the nurse lived in the Ming Dynasty, and after Concubine Zhen was imprisoned, she was marked with a cross seal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, leaving only one mouth to pass on. During this period, Concubine Zhen's life was very difficult, and she ate the food of inferior people, at the beginning of each month.
On the first and fifteenth, he had to accept the reprimand of the old eunuch, and even had restrictions on going to the toilet.
When the Eight-Nation Coalition was about to invade the city of Beijing, Cixi remembered Concubine Zhen and ordered her to be thrown into the well under the pretext that "Concubine Zhen is young and beautiful, and she will be insulted by foreigners and ashamed of her ancestors and ancestors".
Concubine Zhen ended her life at the age of 25. As for the cause of Concubine Zhen's death, the mainstream school believes that it was because he supported Emperor Guangxu's change of law and took the opportunity to fight for the supreme power, which offended Cixi.
However, some scholars believe that Concubine Zhen was resented by Cixi because she violated the ancestral system that women were not allowed to interfere in politics, sold her official beard, and stole the limelight of Empress Xiaodingjing.
Both views have their reasonableness, and the cause of Concubine Zhen's death is also because of these two points. In the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu, the Empress Dowager Cixi returned to Beijing with Emperor Guangxu, and saw that the well that Concubine Zhen threw was still intact, so she ordered Concubine Zhen's family to fish out the body of Concubine Zhen from the well, and posthumously named her a precious concubine, and then buried Concubine Zhen in the area of the palace maid's tomb in the south of the eunuch tomb of Enjizhuang outside Fucheng Gate.
This result is embarrassing, the dignified Qing imperial concubine, after her death, she was buried with the palace maid.
Concubine Jin's deep friendship with her sister Concubine Zhen is touching. She posthumously named Concubine Zhen as the Imperial Concubine of Keshun, and ordered her sister's body to be reburied in the Guangxu Chongling Concubine Garden. In the gatehouse on the north side of Zhenfei's well, Concubine Jin built a mourning hall for her sister, enshrined her sister's tablet, and wrote on it the four big characters of "Jingwei Tongcheng" to praise her sister's loyalty to Emperor Guangxu.
Concubine Zhen is well-behaved by nature, good at Hanmo and chess, she accompanies the emperor every day, eats and drinks with the emperor, shares happiness, and Emperor Guangxu especially dotes on her. These historical records are mentioned in the "Qing Historical Manuscript", "Dezong Record", "National News Preparation", "Palace Maid Talks about the Past", and "Late Qing Court Experience".