Speaking of the Queen, the first impression that comes to people's minds is that of this pampered, extravagant rich woman, wearing a silk-haired dress with rare treasures, just like the kind often seen in TV dramas.

As one of the most noble people in the feudal dynasty, most queens are indeed like this, but there is such a queen who wears patched clothes and eats one dish at a time. There are few stingy people in the world, and that is Queen Xiao Shencheng

Queen Xiao Shencheng was the first queen of Emperor Daoguang. She is gentle, virtuous, smart, honest, and lives in harmony with Emperor Daoguang. She was known for her hard work and frugality. When Emperor Daoguang had not yet ascended the throne, as a Fujin person, she was already very diligent. She wears patched clothes on weekdays and often refuses to let the government cook. She sent the eunuch to buy some sesame seed cakes on the street. She didn't even need food, so one dinner was settled with plain water.

As Queen Xiaoshencheng of Fujin, she is already frugal enough. After being canonized as queen, Xiaoshen made persistent efforts to become queen.

During her reign in the harem, many regulations were enacted. For example, concubines below the throne can only eat vegetarian food every day, and only eat a little meat during celebrations. You are not allowed to wear embroidered clothes, and you are not allowed to wear colorful clothes except on festivals.

Empress Xiao Shencheng took the lead in following the example and took the initiative to reduce her own clothing. Even her underwear and coats were sewn by herself and her maids.

Once she was chatting with Emperor Daoguang and heard Emperor Daoguang say that the minister had sewn a patch worth one or two yuan, while the Ministry of Internal Affairs had sewn a patch worth five or two yuan. Queen Xiao Shencheng immediately said that it was not difficult to sew a patch. She has learned embroidery since she was a child. Since the Ministry of Internal Affairs is so expensive, she can sew that piece of clothing in the future. Later, when the seat cushion broke, she simply did not hand it over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and had her maids sew it together.

Queen Xiaoshencheng worked diligently and had no worries about food and clothing. Of course, she would have no entertainment or even think of singing and dancing at the banquet. Emperor Daoguang saw that she lived such a hard and simple life, so he took the initiative to celebrate her birthday. This was the only birthday of Queen Xiao Shencheng in her life.

Naturally, many people went to attend such a grand ceremony on the Queen's birthday. The royal family and famous wives both inside and outside came, and the palace was very lively. After sending gifts and birthday wishes, they arrived at the banquet. Everyone sitting at the table was shocked. Only a bowl was placed in front of them.

Ordinary people have eight dishes and eight bowls for their birthdays, but the queen of a country only has a bowl of noodles with gravy, and a few pieces of pork floating on the white noodles. Queen Xiao Shencheng is very diligent, and her life is not even as good as ordinary people.

As the saying goes, it is better to open up resources than to save resources, and it is better to increase income than to save money. After many days of worry, Queen Xiao Shencheng thought of a good way, which was to sell off the treasury.

The inner treasury of the Qing Dynasty was very large, with countless treasures accumulated by several generations of emperors. Because of this, a lot of things are kept improperly. For example, some precious medicinal materials were stored in He Yuecun in unknown years, some expensive silks and satins were almost unwearable, and thousands of exquisite porcelain tributes were covered with dust, not to mention the fur spices, which were almost expired and moldy.

How to sell is also a problem. Of course, you can't sell things along the street in the palace, it would be disrespectful to the royal family. Queen Xiao Shencheng thought of a way, and Emperor Daoguang stepped forward and rewarded the ministers with the contents of the treasury. The work was not in vain. The ministers who received the reward gave the money to Queen Xiao Shencheng. In this way, the couple worked together in the past few years and gained a lot.

One of the portraits of Queen Xiao Shencheng currently in the collection is a photo of her admiring lotus flowers in summer. Xiao Shencheng, the queen is wearing a green dress with a lotus on her head, which shows that Queen Xiao Shencheng is also a delicate and beautiful woman, so why is she so stingy?

During the reign of Queen Xiao Shencheng, from 1882 to 1833, the Qing Dynasty was in decline and decline. The rise of the Industrial Revolution in Western countries had a huge impact on the Qing Dynasty.

In particular, Britain sold opium to the Qing Dynasty and absorbed countless real gold and silver in China, which caused the poverty and weakness of the Qing Dynasty. The former Daoguang Emperor, Emperor Jiaqing, attempted to reverse the decline of the Qing Dynasty by eliminating bureaucracy and rectifying corrupt officials. However, due to incompleteness, corruption became more serious in the late Jiaqing period. When Emperor Daoguang succeeded to the throne, the treasury was tight and political corruption led to the further decline of the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty's practice of "Shi Shengzi Ding, without adding taxes, means that the number of Ding Yin in the country in 1711 is a permanent quota for Ding Yin's collection. After that, people had children again, so they did not have to pay Tax, so the annual revenue of the treasury is fixed.

In the fourth year of Daoguang, that is, in 1824, Zhang Geer rebelled. The Qing Dynasty sent troops twice to put down Zhang Geer, who had escaped from Daoguang in six years. With one carbine, the king occupied Hejin City. It took three years for the king to quell the war. The war was always the most expensive, and the Qing Dynasty, which only had a fixed tax every year, could only struggle to support it.

Queen Xiao Shencheng knew very well. This point. The harem cannot be managed. As a queen, she can only help the court in her own way, lead by example, be diligent and thrifty, and lead the harem to reduce expenses by 100 yuan every year. More than 10,000 taels, but during the reign of Queen Xiao Shencheng, the harem only needed 200,000 taels a year, saving a lot of money.

Empress Xiao Shencheng was so frugal that she was secretly laughed at by the aristocratic ladies at the time, but she didn't care. Compared with her help to the previous dynasty, this criticism was nothing.

What the superiors did was effective, and Queen Xiao Shencheng’s diligence and frugality were imitated by ministers, wives and ordinary people. Emperor Daoguang respected Empress Xiao Shencheng very much for her frugal housekeeping. When she passed away at the age of forty-two, not only did she hold a very grand funeral, she also ordered that no entertainment activities be held within a year.

People are born with the instinct to pursue beautiful things. Who doesn’t want delicious food and fine clothes? As the most noble woman in the world, she has power second only to the emperor. If Empress Xiaoshencheng wants to pursue enjoyment , then someone would definitely provide her with gold, silver and jewelry for her to enjoy and spend money on, but Queen Xiao Shencheng lived a simple life throughout her life.

It is very difficult for us modern people to save one-fifth of our salary every month. Most of them are moonlight people, and they spend as much money as they can. But Empress Xiao Shencheng was able to use reason to curb her instincts and desires, restrain her authority, and not be greedy for good food and clothing.

She is a queen but lives a poor life. She teaches by words and deeds in the palace and uses her own efforts to save the country millions of money.

Such a “stingy queen deserves everyone’s respect!