Chapter 56 2. Concubine Ji's adventure

Concubine Ji, the contender for the favor of Concubine Wan Gui, encounters Emperor Chenghua by chance, and deduces a historical story. Concubine Ji, a native of He County (now Hezhou City, Guangxi).The daughter of a native official.During the Chenghua period, she went to war and was captured in the harem as a court lady.The Ji family is clever and intelligent, proficient in calligraphy, and ordered to guard the collection in the inner palace.At that time, Concubine Wan Gui loved only her and was jealous of other concubines. If she was pregnant in the harem, she would try to abort her.University scholar Peng Shi and Shangshu Yao Kui once advised on this.Emperor Chenghua said: "As for the internal affairs, I take care of them myself." He did not adopt them.Concubine Wan Gui is even more arrogant.As soon as the eunuch disobeyed his will, he immediately dismissed him.There are countless pregnant women in the harem who have been injured by drinking medicine and have abortions.Some concubines gave birth to sons, but were killed.Concubine Baixian gave birth to mourning Prince Gong, and she was also harmed.

One day, Emperor Chenghua happened to go to the collection of cultural relics in the inner mansion and asked Mr. Ji, and he was satisfied with the answer.As soon as Emperor Chenghua was happy, he met Ji's family in the inner palace and became pregnant.When Concubine Wan Gui knew about it, she was jealous and hated, so she ordered the maid to hook the fetus.The court lady lied that Mrs. Ji was a "sick ruffian".The Ji family was relegated to live in Nei'an Letang.An Le Hall is located in the west of Jinao Yudi Bridge (east of today's Beihai Bridge), Lingxing Gate to the north, and Yangfang Jiadao.All palace people who are sick, old or guilty will be sent to this hall first, and then sent to the clothes bureau after a long time.After the maids lied that Concubine Ji was sick, Concubine Ji was sent to Nei'an Hall.

Ji was pregnant in October, and when it was time to give birth, she gave birth to a son, Zhu Youtang, who later became Emperor Hongzhi, Ming Xiaozong.Concubine Wan Gui ordered the eunuch Zhang Min (from Tong'an, Fujian) to drown the newborn child in the water.Zhang Min was surprised and said: "I don't have a son, so how can I abandon it." So he secretly fed the baby with powder soup and honey, fearing that he would be discovered, so he hid it in another room.Concubine Wan Gui sent people to search everywhere, but they couldn't find it.When the child was five or six years old, he did not dare to cut off the fetal hair.At this time, after the abolition of the Empress Wu, she was relegated to live in the west, near the Nei'an Letang. She knew about it secretly, and went to feed it in person, and Emperor Chenghua didn't know it.

Since the death of the eldest son born to Concubine Wan Gui, Emperor Chenghua has never had a boy, and the emperor has no heir, so he is worried inside and outside.In the eleventh year of Chenghua (1475), Emperor Chenghua asked Zhang Min to comb his hair, looked in the mirror and sighed: "The old general has arrived without a son!" Zhang Min immediately knelt down and said: "Death crime, long live has a son!" Surprised, I asked An Zai.Confrontation: "The slave will die, and long live will be the prince's master." The eunuch Wynton played first: "Zhang Min said yes. The prince has hidden and raised Xi Nei. He is six years old now, and he dare not hear it." Emperor Chenghua was overjoyed, and that day Fortunately, Xi Nei sent eunuchs to meet the prince.When the envoy arrived at Ji's residence, Ji hugged the prince and wept, "Go, my son, I will not be born. If you see a yellow robe with a beard, you are the father of your son." , rushed to the bottom of the steps, with hair on the ground, and fled to the emperor's arms.Emperor Chenghua held his son on his lap, looked at him for a long time, was sad and happy, and said with tears: "My son is also like me."——It is my son, very similar to me!Send eunuch Wynn to the cabinet to report the whole story.When the officials heard about it, they were all very happy.Tomorrow, come to congratulate and issue an imperial edict to the world.

The Ji family was made a concubine, and moved from Xi Nei An Le Tang to Yongshou Palace in the Sixth Palace of the West.Emperor Chenghua also summoned Concubine Ji several times to drink with each other, very happy.Concubine Wan Gui cried day and night when she heard about it, complaining and sighing: "This group of brats cheated me!"——This group of brats lied to me! In June of the same year, Concubine Ji died violently.The cause of Concubine Ji's death is said to be that Concubine Wan Gui secretly poisoned her to death, and others said that she died by hanging herself.Zhang Min was afraid and swallowed the gold to die.

Zhu Youtang was established as the prince and was protected by the Empress Dowager Zhou, the birth mother of Emperor Chenghua.At that time, the Empress Dowager Zhou lived in Renshou Palace and said to the emperor: "Pay me with your son." The little prince Zhu Youtang lived in Renshou Palace with Empress Dowager Zhou.One day, Concubine Wan Gui summoned Prince Zhu Youtang to have dinner, and the Empress Dowager Zhou said to the prince, "Go, son, there is no food." ——Son, don't eat when you go!When the Crown Prince arrived, Concubine Wan Gui gave him food and said, "I'm full." She gave him soup to drink, and said, "It's suspected to be poisonous." Concubine Wan Gui said angrily, "That's the case when my son is a few years old. In the future, I will be fish and meat."— — This child is just like this at such a young age, he won’t treat me like a fish in the future!

Attached here is the Empress Dowager Zhou, who attaches great importance to good deeds, and is a native of Shuntian Changping (now Changping District, Beijing).In the 14th year of Chenghua (1478), the Empress Dowager Zhou decreed to use internal funds to rebuild Dajue Temple, a famous temple in the western suburbs of the capital ("Records of the Imperial Reconstruction of Dajue Temple").His younger brother Zhou Yunrui (auspicious) was Zuo Shanshi (Zheng Liupin), the monk recording department, and the abbot of Dajue Temple, and passed away in the fifth year of Hongzhi (1492).The "Monk Tower of Zhou Yunrui" and the stele in the south of the existing temple can be used as historical evidence. (Shu Xiaofeng's "Two Auspicious Pagodas of the Zhou Dynasty in Beijing in the Ming Dynasty", edited by Ji Maili, "The Balcony Collection-A Study on the History and Culture of Dajue Temple")

After Zhu Youtang ascended the throne, he pursued his posthumous mother, Concubine Shu, as Empress Xiaomu Cihui Gongke Zhuang Xi Chongtian Chengshengchun, and was buried in Maoling Mausoleum instead of the Hall of Compassion.Emperor Hongzhi mourned his mother, and dispatched eunuch Cai Yong to learn about the Empress Dowager's natal family, and received a report from the concubine's father, Ji Gui, and others.Emperor Hongzhi was overjoyed, and awarded him the command and acquaintance of Jinyiwei, and bestowed mansions, gold and silk, Zhuangtian, slaves and maidservants, the number of which is incalculable.Posthumously presented to the Empress Dowager, her father is the Zuo Dudu of the Chinese Army Dudufu, and her mother is his wife.An official was sent to the ancestral tomb of the Empress Dowager Xiu in He County, Guangxi, to guard the tomb and guard the tomb.

In the third year of Hongzhi (1490), Geng Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, said: After the great expedition in western Guangdong, there were soldiers and famines, and the people ran away.In the past, Empress Gao and Emperor Gao went through hardships together, turning their family into a country. Empress Gao's father, who became the empress, pursued the family, but if they could not find it, they set up a temple in Suzhou and worshiped it in the Spring and Autumn Period.Today, the Empress Dowager left Xiyue when she was young, and went to serve the late emperor, Lian, He Feixu, and stayed in the Central Plains. Although your Majesty visited and searched for it, she was so safe!Chen Yu said that the titles of the Empress Dowager's parents can be determined, and a shrine will be set up in Guilin to offer sacrifices.The emperor said: "The emperor's ancestor has a story. Although I can't bear it, I dare to disobey it!"So he made his stepfather Uncle Qingyuan and his stepmother Uncle's wife, and set up a temple in Guilin Mansion. ("History of Ming Dynasty Biography of Empresses" Volume 13)