Introduction to Empress Hongli
Emperor Qianlong ascended the throne at the age of twenty-five. He served as emperor for sixty years and as supreme emperor for another four years. He died at the age of eighty-nine. This romantic emperor enjoyed the happiness earned by his predecessors and visited the south of the Yangtze River six times, lavishly spending extravagantly. The deaths of his two queens, Fucha and Uranala, were related to Xingxing. However, his attitude towards the death of the two queens was completely opposite.
In the 13th year of Qianlong's reign (1748 AD), in order to relieve the worries of his beloved Queen Fucha, Emperor Qianlong served the Empress Dowager Niu Hulu and the Queen's two palaces in the name of the Eastern Tour. , came to Shandong in great force, visited Kongling, offered sacrifices to Mount Tai, and visited all the places of interest and historical sites. However, Empress Fucha could not help but mourn for her two sons who had died in recent years. The beautiful mountains and clear waters on the road, the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers, turned into a sad red and a sad green in her eyes, which particularly touched her heart. Unfortunately, she caught wind and cold in the boat, became seriously ill and was dying, and fainted several times. Emperor Qianlong panicked and hurriedly ordered to return to Beijing, but as soon as he reached Dezhou, he couldn't do it. The Queen Mother came to see her, and she only vaguely said the word "Thank you." Before she died, she stared at Emperor Qianlong with resentful eyes and shed a string of sad tears. This resentful look made Emperor Qianlong heartbroken. He was sad and apologetic, and cried loudly at the queen's corpse. In the twenty-two years since their wedding to the empress, the emperor and empress have always been in love with each other. It was only because of Qianlong's temporary confusion that he did something sorry for the queen, that there was a gap between the couple. Although the emperor tried his best to reconcile the queen with him, this sad love has remained for a long time. In the Queen's heart. When the empress died, Emperor Qianlong lost a beautiful and gentle companion, and he couldn't help but feel regretful... Empress Fucha was the daughter of Li Rongbao, the general manager of Chahar. In the fifth year of Yongzheng's reign, Emperor Yongzheng chose her as his first wife, Fujin. When Hongli was only seventeen years old, he was granted the title of Prince Bao. After taking the throne, Emperor Qianlong immediately named her the queen.
The Fucha family is affectionate and affectionate, and is loved by her husband. She is respectful and frugal, not luxurious. Usually, I just pick some velvet flowers and wear them on my head as decoration, and never wear any pearls and emeralds. During the New Year, she personally made a purse from the fur of a deer and lamb and presented it to Emperor Qianlong. She imitated the legacy made by her ancestors in the Qing Dynasty outside the customs, showing that she did not forget her roots, so she won the emperor's respect and love. Over the years, the emperor and the empress had been very close to each other and had never blushed. One year, Emperor Qianlong ordered the renovation of Changchun Garden, Changchun Pavilion and Old Summer Palace, merging the three into one. When the garden work was completed, Emperor Qianlong took the empress to visit the garden, and ordered the empress to lead the concubines of the Sixth Palace, the wife of the clan, Princess Fujin, etc. to the garden to accompany them to enjoy the garden. On this day, the spring scenery was bright and beautiful in the Old Summer Palace. The beautiful women who followed the emperor and empress meandering into the garden were dressed in brocade and embroidered clothes, surrounded by green beads, and were all dressed up like gods. The group came to the front of the hall, kowtowed to the Queen Mother first, and then greeted the Emperor and Empress. Emperor Qianlong was sitting on the dragon chair, looking at the crowd, and suddenly found that there was a lady who was particularly outstanding, with eyebrows like mountains, eyes like autumn water, face like peach blossoms, and waist like a thin willow. He couldn't help but be filled with envy and thought to himself. Compared with this beauty, Sixth Palace Fendai pales in comparison. She looks familiar again. I wonder which family she belongs to? After a while, it was the beautiful woman's turn to step forward. After she said goodbye, the queen stood up, shook hands with her, and said, "How is your sister-in-law these days?" It turned out that she was the queen's sister-in-law, the wife of Fu Heng, the minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. At this time, Emperor Qianlong seemed to have left his body and followed the Queen Mother out of the palace in a daze. He had no intention of admiring the beautiful scenery in the garden along the way. He kept thinking about the beauty following the Queen and looked back from time to time. Mrs. Fu seemed to be aware of the emperor's affection, and she greeted him with her eyes intentionally or unintentionally. From that day on, Emperor Qianlong often missed Mrs. Fu, and sometimes he couldn't help sighing. The queen asked him several times, but he always put her off. A few days later, it was the Queen's birthday again. Emperor Qianlong became excited and reported to the Empress Dowager Ming. He ordered a grand banquet to be held in the palace on the Qianqiu Festival to celebrate the Empress' birthday. He went to Kunning Palace to congratulate the queen and said, "On your birthday, why don't you invite your sister-in-law to the palace to have a drink all day?" The queen replied, "She will come by herself, why bother to summon her?" Emperor Qianlong added, "Previously Xiangyou Yuanmingyuan, I see that you and your sister-in-law are very affectionate, why not take this opportunity to keep her in the palace for a few more days?" After hearing this, the queen nodded and remained silent. On the day of the Qianqiu Festival, Kunning Palace was bustling inside and outside. After the civil and military officials congratulated each other and dispersed, Emperor Qianlong strolled into Kunning Palace and received an audience from the concubines of the Sixth Palace and Princess Fujin who gathered here. The emperor raised his eyes and stared, and sure enough, Mrs. Fu was standing at the top, looking even more beautiful than when he saw her in the garden that day. After the banquet started, the romantic emperor was in high spirits and asked everyone to join poems in turn. Each person should say a sentence, and if he couldn't finish it, he would be fined with wine. Then the drinking order started in a lively manner. You said a word to me, you had a cup, I had a drink, and we crowded together. Mrs. Fu was not good at drinking. After drinking several drinks, her face turned red, her heart wandered, and she could not sit still. Emperor Qianlong saw that she was already drunk, so he called aside the palace maid who was serving the banquet, gave her a few words, and helped her to rest in another palace. Everyone took a short rest and then sat down again to drink. However, the emperor and the empress suddenly disappeared and ordered the palace officials to look for him. However, they did not find him and had no time to take care of him, so he continued to entertain the guests. When the people in the wine circle dispersed, there was still no sign of the emperor. The queen felt strange and ordered the palace servants to see how Mrs. Fu was doing. After a long time, the official reported back: "The door of the palace where Mrs. Fu lives is closed and it is inconvenient to enter." The queen thought about the previous situation and understood something in her heart.
The next morning, Emperor Qianlong still left the palace to sit in court. Mrs. Fu got up and went to Kunning Palace to say goodbye to the queen. The queen glanced at her meaningfully, smiled and said, "Congratulations, sister-in-law!" Mrs. Fu blushed immediately, did not dare to raise her head, and left in a hurry. Since that day, the queen was no longer as gentle and affectionate towards the emperor as before. Sometimes she even cast a resentful look at the emperor, which made the emperor feel very uncomfortable. Because of shame, he did not go to Kunning Palace as often as before, and the queen became even more suspicious of the emperor's indifference to her. The empress originally had a son, Yonglian, who was established as the crown prince by the emperor according to the family law. Unfortunately, he fell ill and died young. Emperor Qianlong comforted her in every possible way, telling her that if she had a legitimate son, she would definitely be crown prince, and he posthumously named Yonglian the crown prince Duanhui. A few years later, the queen gave birth to a son named Yong Cong. Just when the queen was in a bad mood, Yong Cong died of smallpox again. The queen couldn't bear such a blow and cried to death. Therefore, in order to comfort the empress, Emperor Qianlong took the empress dowager out to Beijing for a tour in the name of his eastward tour. Unexpectedly, he said goodbye to the empress forever. Emperor Qianlong took Empress Lingshu of Daxing back to the capital day and night, and set up a mourning hall in Changshou Palace. The funeral ceremony was particularly grand. In addition to keeping the empress in mourning for twelve days, he also personally composed a memorial poem "Shu Bei Fu" to express his grief. Emperor Qianlong gave full play to his talent in this area, and his writing was so sad and pathos that it makes people feel heartbroken after reading it. However, who can know about this difficult entanglement between the emperor and the empress? The queen had asked for a posthumous title for herself during her lifetime. When the imperial concubine Gao Jia died, Qianlong gave her the posthumous title "Huixian". The queen said: "After my death, I will be given the posthumous title 'Xiaoxian'. Is that okay?" At this point, Emperor Qianlong gave her the posthumous title of "Queen Xiao Xian Chun" in accordance with her last wish.
In the seventeenth year of Qianlong's reign, she was buried behind the Shengshui Valley on the west side of Xiaoling Mausoleum (the mausoleum of Emperor Shunzhi, the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty). Immediately, construction of Qianlong's own mausoleum, Yuling, began here. In addition, he also extended special favor to the queen's mother's family, conferring the queen's brother Fu Wen as a duke, and Fu Heng as a bachelor of the Baohe Palace and the minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. It can be said that "the kindness of a foreign family is unparalleled" and reached its peak. A year later, the Empress Dowager summoned Emperor Qianlong into the Cining Palace and said to him: "It is the anniversary of the Queen's death. The Sixth Palace cannot be left without an owner, and a person must be chosen as its successor." Qianlong remained silent, and the Empress Dowager continued. Asked: "Which of the six concubines suits you the most?" Qianlong replied: "Although there are many concubines, none of them can match the Fucha family." The Queen Mother said: "I think Concubine Xian is good. She serves the emperor." My son has done nothing wrong for many years and is a kind and gentle person, so I will appoint her as his successor." When Qianlong heard this, he was a little reluctant, but he had always been filial in serving the Queen Mother, not to mention that he could not choose a suitable person. , and reluctantly agreed. The next day, an edict was issued to confer Xian Fei Uranala as the imperial concubine and to take charge of the affairs of the six palaces. She was not immediately appointed as the empress. It was not until the third anniversary of Queen Fucha that the Nala clan was officially registered. Ulanara was the daughter of the resident Narbu. When Hongli was Prince Bao, she became his sidekick. Emperor Qianlong did not like her very much. He gave birth to two sons, Yongxun and Yongjing. Yong Jing died early, and Yong Jing was named Baylor. In the 30th year of Qianlong's reign, Hongli fell ill. Two princes, Yonglu and Yongqi, died of illness one after another, which made him even more sad. Minister He Shen suggested that the emperor take a trip to the south of the Yangtze River to relax, so Emperor Qianlong respectfully invited the Empress Dowager to go with him. The Queen Mother suggested: "There are Suzhou and Hangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River, which are no less beautiful than paradise. The Queen did not accompany her on her previous southern tour. She has been in office for many years, so she should be allowed to have some fun." Although Emperor Qianlong was not very willing, his mother It was hard to disobey the fate, so I had to agree. It was so pleasant to see the mountains and play with the water along the way. When they arrived at Jiangning, Emperor Qianlong said to Heshen: "On my last tour to the south, I was in such a hurry that I didn't take a dip here. I heard that a week's tour on a painted boat on the Qinhuai River would be endless. Why not give it a try?"
The next day, the emperor and his ministers changed into casual clothes and boarded a large ship. There were many beauties waiting on the ship, all of them were famous prostitutes from the south of the Yangtze River. Emperor Qianlong hugged him from left to right, drinking and talking happily. Abnormally, I was still reluctant to leave until the next day. At noon, two eunuchs and a dozen guards were ordered by the Queen Mother to rock the boat to find the emperor, and then they landed back to the palace. On the way from Jiangning to Hangzhou, the queen and the emperor quarreled. It turned out that Queen Ulanara had been ignored by the emperor since she was established, and she was very unhappy. This time, the eunuch heard about the incident on the Qinhuai River, and she couldn't help but argue with the emperor, saying that the emperor It is unbecoming of such an honorable person to take a prostitute and play around. Emperor Qianlong disliked her and naturally had no good words to say, so the queen lost her temper and cut off her hair.
Manchu people's custom is to avoid haircuts. The queen's behavior greatly offended the emperor. In anger, Emperor Qianlong ordered her to return to the capital immediately. He stayed in Hangzhou for a few days to support his wife. He was still angry and did not want to stay out for a long time, so he hurried back to Beijing. From then on, the emperor and empress regarded each other as enemies, and Qianlong no longer visited Kunning Palace. The queen suffered from depression and became ill, which lasted for more than half a year. She died of illness in July of the 31st year of Qianlong's reign. When he was critically ill, Emperor Qianlong ruthlessly left the queen and went to Mulan to play, without even seeing her for the last time. After Emperor Qianlong came back, he issued another edict: "Although the Queen has done nothing wrong since her appointment, however, during the Queen Mother's southern tour, she did not fulfill her filial piety, did not follow etiquette and laws, and behaved erratically, like a crazy person. After returning to Beijing, As for her behavior, it would not be too much to depose her. I still have her name and she is exceptionally graceful. However, the funeral ceremony does not need to be carried out according to the ceremony of the Xiaoxian Queen, but can only be carried out according to the example of the Imperial Concubine. Act." The Manchu ministers fought hard for the queen's funeral, but Emperor Qianlong refused to listen.
It was not until the 43rd year of Qianlong's eastern tour that a minister named Jin Congshan persuaded the emperor to consider the two major matters of establishing a heir apparent and a concubine. Emperor Qianlong was still very angry when he recalled it. From then on, he stopped appointing queens.