However, in one of so many dynasties, there was never a harem in charge of politics and regency. This is the Ming Dynasty.
The next generation of queen mothers who are qualified to listen to politics. For example, Emperor Renzong's filial piety to Queen Zhang is sincere. Emperor Yingzong, who had just ascended the throne at that time, was still young, only nine years old. So a minister invited Queen Zhang to listen to politics, but Queen Zhang insisted that it was not allowed. Don't break the ancestral law? On the grounds of decisive refusal, he handed over all the political power to Sanyang, who assisted young Yingzong.
Another example is Li Guifei, Emperor of Mu Zong in the Ming Dynasty. His son Zongshen was only ten years old when he ascended the throne. She could have listened to politics in an appropriate way, but she also refused directly and handed over the auxiliary regime to Zhang and other cabinet members.
It can be said that several queens in the Ming Dynasty had the opportunity to listen to politics, and they were justified. But in fact, they did not exercise the right to listen to the political power in the end, but handed over the power of assistance to the cabinet, so that these cabinet members with real talent for governing the country could assist the emperor in governing the world.
Then why did the Empress Dowager of the Ming Dynasty have such consciousness?
First of all, who were the concubines in the Ming Dynasty, especially the concubines in the palace? Xianhui Xianhui? Most of them can set an example. Not only did they not interfere in state affairs themselves, but they even took the lead in curbing the influence of their mother's family, such as Ma Huanghou in Ming Taizu. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang always wanted to seal Ma Huanghou's maiden and make them become senior officials, but Ma Huanghou was not very happy, but tried to stop it. She told Zhu Yuanzhang that the official rank of a country should be talented people. My relatives may not have available talents. In addition, I heard that the consorts' families in the previous life were arrogant, extravagant, unruly and even defeated. Your majesty's kindness to my family is conservative enough. If I have no talent, it is not that I want to be an official, but that I am defeated by my love. The general idea is that the official title of a country is for talents who can govern the country, not for consorts. If the emperor loves my mother's family too much, they know how to be satisfied, but if they don't know how to be satisfied, it will be bad for the country and the people, so they must never give my mother's senior officials a generous salary.
Another example is the founding emperor Xu of the Ming Dynasty. As for the pursuit of the bride's family, Queen Xu once said: At the same time, as the queen of Zhonggong, Xu not only set an example by herself, but also specially compiled internal training and sent it to other concubines in the harem to warn them not to interfere in politics and not to seek benefits for the bride's family. Besides, before Queen Xu died, she never forgot to warn Cheng Zu. Cherish the people, be thirsty for talent, be kind to the imperial clan, and be neither arrogant nor impetuous? .
The harem of the Ming dynasty, except the queen in the palace, set an example and did not interfere in the state affairs. Other concubines don't take the initiative to go into politics, but they also take the initiative to write books on women's virtue that teach women to be obedient and virtuous and not to interfere in state affairs, so as to persuade the harem not to interfere in politics, such as "Female Training" written by Chiang Kai-shek, the mother of Sejong, and "Female Guidance" written by Li, the mother of Sejong.
Secondly, the status of women in Ming Dynasty was much lower than that in Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties. As we all know, the suppression of women in China feudal society has become more and more severe since the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ousted hundreds of schools and respected Confucianism alone. A woman has the intention of following three directions, but there is no special way, so she did not marry her father, but married her husband, who died of her son? After the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties, Confucian ethics reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty. Then, in addition, the upper-class female aristocrats in the Ming Dynasty strongly praised the books that imprisoned women, such as Biography of Women, Training for Women, and Illustration of the Boudoir, and the status of women in the Ming Dynasty was even worse, as Duan pointed out in the article "Research on the Status of Women in the Tang Dynasty". In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the status of women in the family and society also fell to the lowest point in the history of women in China? .
It can be said that women in the Ming Dynasty have fallen into the bottom of the abyss in terms of ethical awareness, legal status and real life. Therefore, it is such a group of women with extremely low status. How can they go forward like the hostess and listen to politics?
Finally, look at the women who listened to politics in past dynasties, such as Lv Zhi, Liu E, Wu Zetian and Cixi. They can suppress North Korean officials and then do whatever they want in North Korea. Although there are various reasons, the most important thing is undoubtedly that they all have political skills that are no less than those of male emperors in previous dynasties. As for the concubines in the Ming Dynasty, due to the unique system of choosing concubines in the Ming Dynasty, these concubines just lacked the political skills to suppress officials.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, hated harem politics very much, so he had his own unique views on harem politics. Zhu Yuanzhang once said: I observed the past and took it as a warning. However, the system has its own way. Don't be confused by the sound, the palace is strictly forbidden, dignity is decent, grace is not hidden, and female pets are born. ? . In order to curb the harem's interference in state affairs, since Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Dynasty has implemented its own set of unique regulations on choosing concubines: every son of heaven and prince who marries into the princess palace must carefully select good women to do it, and those who enter will receive it. So, choose more people after concubines? That is, the emperor's concubines can only be selected from the people.
In fact, emperors of the Ming Dynasty followed this rule. The 45 queens in the history of Ming Dynasty, except Xu, the eldest daughter, and Xiaokang, the daughter of Kaiping Chang Yuchun, all came from ordinary families, just as Wang Weikai said in Selected Works of Ming Princess. Empresses and concubines of the Ming Dynasty have never had a good family since Empress Zhang of Injong. For example, the Emperor, Empress Wu Zongxia and Li Guifei were all born in ordinary families, especially the Empress and Empress? Poor family. Therefore, it is such a group of concubines from ordinary families and even poor families. How can they have the ability to suppress officials?
Of course, in the Ming Dynasty, not all concubines were virtuous. Throughout the history of more than 200 years in the Ming Dynasty, there are still some concubines in the harem of the Ming Dynasty who are obsessed with politics, such as Li, Li and so on.
So here, many people don't understand why these concubines who had the idea of interfering in state affairs failed to succeed in politics in the end.
These concubines, who had the idea of interfering in state affairs, failed in politics entirely because of the literati loyal to the Ming court.
As we all know, the literati of the Ming Dynasty were notoriously fearless of death. For the justice in their hearts, for the world in their hearts, they can be desperate, even if they lose their lives. Therefore, for these scholar-officials who are not afraid of death, once they find that there are concubines in the harem trying to interfere in politics, they will definitely rise up and fight, even at the expense of their own lives, to prevent the harem from interfering in politics.
Like the Wanli period? National dispute? This battle showed the struggle between Chu Jun scholar-officials and Emperor Wanli, but in essence it was the struggle between scholar-officials and Zheng Guifei who tried to use his son to interfere in politics. As Gu Yingtai said: If you give it, you will fight with the ministers, so it will take a long time to make up your mind. When Fang was in his prime, God always tasted Xu Yili's love. As far as different speakers are concerned, this situation may not be true. At first, the minister was asked to visit the palace quickly, but in the end, he didn't have to thank him for his help. At first, I wanted to reward my private love with the weight of the artifact, but I couldn't waste the public of the world with the intimacy of the house. At that time, they knew that once Zheng Guifei's son, King Axe, became a prince, the country would be in turmoil and the chaotic affairs of his former mistress would be repeated. Therefore, in order to prevent Zheng Guifei's son from becoming Chu Jun, the scholar-officials fought to death and confronted the Wanli Emperor. Finally, with their efforts, Zheng Guifei's attempt to interfere in politics ended in failure.
Like during the apocalypse? Moving the palace case? "Ming History" contains: Guangzong collapsed, and Li Xuan served the Qing Palace, forcing the eldest son of the emperor to seal the queen. On the light barrel:? Choosing a servant is neither a first-time mother nor a biological mother, just like living in the main palace, and your highness is retired by kindness, so you can't leave a few banquets for gifts. What is birthright? If you don't decide early today, you will implement autocracy in the name of raising. Wu Shi's disaster will be seen today, and some people will not bear to say it in the future. In September of the forty-eighth year of Wanli (1620), Emperor Guangzong, who had been in office for only a few months, died and Xizong ascended the throne. At this time, Guangzong's concubine first wanted to imprison Xizong, so? Holding the emperor as a minister? . Then, the imprisonment was obstructed by the literati. Li wanted to be a marquis of Wu and be in charge of state affairs, but was severely rejected by the literati.
Later, Li Youwei threatened Xizong to make her the empress dowager, in an attempt to secretly engage in political affairs, but the literati found out, and they tried their best to stop her, such as beating and remonstrating. Choosing a servant is neither a first-time mother nor a biological mother, just like living in the main palace, and your highness is retired by kindness, so you can't leave a few banquets for gifts. What is birthright? If you don't decide early today, you will implement autocracy in the name of raising. Wu Shi's disaster, see you today. Will there be people who can't bear to say anything in the future? Yang Lian also protested: I'd rather choose a servant today, but I don't want to move to the palace soon. It's a pity that I became a woman and monopolized the documents, saying that the curtains were ready? . In the end, Li's attempt to enter politics ended in failure.
From the above two things, we can see how effective the scholar-officials are in preventing empresses from entering politics. Many times, if it weren't for the scholars' argument or even their desperate struggle, it would really be possible for the Ming Dynasty to be ruled by women like the previous dynasties.
Of course, there is an important reason why the concubines who want to be politicians in the Ming Dynasty can't succeed, besides the existence of literati, and that is because of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
As we all know, the reason why women ruled and even dictatored in past dynasties was largely because the emperor who ascended the throne at that time was still young, and the dead emperor left a will for the young emperor's biological mother to be regent, which led to the emergence of female dictatorship. However, this phenomenon did not exist in the Ming Dynasty. First of all, all the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, except Yingzong, who was nine years old, and Zongshen, who was ten years old, were not young emperors when they ascended the throne. Therefore, this put an end to the emperor's mother doing things in the name of youth.
Secondly, under the instruction of Zhu Yuanzhang and Judy, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were very wary of the harem concubines. Ming Shenzong, for example, although he likes Zheng Guifei very much, he is also very wary of his attempts to interfere in politics. At that time, Zongshen was only appointed as an official by Zheng Guifei? Support it? Just angry, will you? Nanjing depends on customers? It was not until decades later that it was recalled to the capital. From Ming Chengzu's reaction to harem affairs, we can see his vigilance against harem affairs. From this, we can also know that Emperor Amin, who was so wary of the harem's interference in politics, would definitely not name his concubine as the regent in his testament.
Generally speaking, there are many reasons why women's dictatorship did not appear in most other dynasties in the Ming Dynasty, but there are three main reasons: First, the empresses of the Ming Dynasty were self-conscious, and they had neither the initiative nor the ability to go into politics. Secondly, Ming Chengzu was very wary of harem politics. If there is any sign, he will put it out quickly at lightning speed. Thirdly, the literati of the Ming dynasty hated the intervention of the harem. No matter who, even the emperor's mother, dares to intervene in politics, she will fight for it, even to the death. In this way, based on the above three points, there is no female administration in the Ming Dynasty.