"Queen Xu served Zhu Di respectfully in the harem, working tirelessly day and night, educating the crown prince and the kings to be filial to their relatives and the people, and educating the concubines to be respectful and harmonious. She also placed many restrictions on relatives, educating them to abide by laws and rules, and to listen to relatives when they say something. If he indulges in indulgence, he will be summoned to the palace to reprimand him. If he hears that he is a humble and prudent relative, he will be summoned from time to time to encourage him with rewards."
"As a person, he was indistinguishable from emotion to anger. If his subordinates made mistakes, he taught them to correct them, and there was no one who did not respect and admire them. Zhu Di was diligent in politics, loved the people, and advocated frugality. The same was true for Empress Xu. She did not like gorgeous decorations and was self-conscious. Frugality and frugality formed a trend in the harem.”
"In addition, Empress Xu also advised Zhu Di that "Emperors and Yao all started benevolence from their relatives." On her deathbed, she told Zhu Di to treat the clan with kindness. In her posthumous title, there was also the sentence "Nine tribes are inherited from kindness." , all embodying her benevolence towards her relatives.”
"In addition to assisting the king, Empress Xu also continued to write books, narrate Empress Ma's teachings and expand them into 20 chapters of "Internal Instructions" to teach the concubines in the palace. It is also similar to the good words and good deeds of ancient compilers. Write a "Book of Encouragement" and publish it throughout the world."
"Because of his Buddhist beliefs and the political need to maintain the legitimacy of Zhu Di, he compiled "The Sutra of the First Rare Great Merit Sutra Said by the Buddha in a Dream", "The Sutra of the Fifty-Three Great Causes and Destinations of the Buddha Said by the Buddha", "The Names of the Buddhas, World Honored Tathagata, Bodhisattvas, Divine Monks" Sutra" and other scriptures. In addition, the "Qianqingtang Bibliography" also includes a volume of "The Poetry Collection of Queen Renxiao", but due to historical reasons, it has been lost."
"At this time, Xu Miaoyun's health was getting worse day by day. When he was young, he traveled around with Zhu Di and gave birth to three sons and four daughters for him. When he launched the Jingnan Campaign, he followed Zhu Di and worked everywhere regardless of his health. After giving birth, She failed to cultivate herself well, not to mention that having so many children was not good for her health. She also worked hard after giving birth. After Zhu Di ascended the throne, she took on the responsibility of the mother of a country to take care of the harem and care about the lives of the people. Her body was already exhausted. The lamp is dry.”
"After Zhu Di learned that Xu Miaoyun was ill, the imperial doctors from the palace sent batch after batch to the queen's palace, and also recruited doctors from among the people to treat her. However, the flowing tonics could not make Queen Xu's body heal. restored."
"When Queen Xu was dying, she did not forget to hold her husband's hand tightly, "I can no longer stay with you. As the king of a country, you must remember to be considerate of the people, be close to the virtuous and far away from the necessities. Only by returning people's lives to normal as soon as possible can the country prosper. "
"Zhu Di burst into tears after hearing this. He never thought that what his wife was thinking about at this time was still himself and the entire Ming Dynasty. On the fourth day of July in the fifth year of Yongle, Empress Xu died of illness at the age of 46."
"How deep the relationship is, how painful it is to lose your beloved wife. On the day Empress Xu passed away, Zhu Di stayed by her side and cried bitterly. The maids and eunuchs serving around her did not dare to come forward to dissuade her."
"In Zhu Di's eyes, there was no woman in the world who could compare to Xu Miaoyun, so he swore that he would never have a queen in the future and only have one wife. After the news of the death of the mother of a country spread throughout the Ming Dynasty, all the people of the Ming Dynasty cried bitterly in the streets."
"After the death of Empress Xu, Zhu Di's temperament changed drastically due to the loss of his beloved wife and virtuous queen. He became more willful in the palace and was often irritable and restless."
"It was even a full year after his death that Zhu Di wore plain clothes and left the court to mourn his wife who had been with him for half his life. The ministers in the court did not dare to make a big deal about happy events at home."
"Zhu Di did not bury his wife immediately. Instead, he let Xu Miaoyun's coffin stay in the palace for six years. It seemed that by doing so, he would not have to admit that Queen Xu had left him."
"Six years later, Xu Miaoyun's coffin was buried in the Changling Underground Palace. Everyone in the world lamented the deep love between Zhu Di and Queen Xu as husband and wife."
"Having said this, I have to mention the matter of women giving birth to children. This matter should be mentioned in the ranking of the previous queen."
"Everyone should know that the age of marriage for ancient women was very low. Many women would be betrothed to others by their parents when they were thirteen or fourteen years old, and then start their own lives as wives."
"If a woman marries a beloved man, her lifespan may be much longer, but if she marries someone who is not a man, her lifespan may be lower. This cannot be avoided by the fact that in ancient times, women's lifespan was lower than that of men. Most people are under 40."
"What do you want to say?"
"A woman giving birth to a child is equivalent to going to hell." This is because the medical conditions in ancient times were very poor. Women gave birth to children at a young age, suffered from metrorrhagia, postpartum hemorrhage, and almost no confinement period. According to the saying, after giving birth and raising a child for two days, they start working in the fields. This has caused serious damage to the physical health of many women, and this kind of damage is an "internal injury" and is difficult to repair. "
"The idea that you can get married at the age of thirteen or fourteen is completely feudal thinking. At this time, women are not fully developed at all, so they have to have children. How can they be healthy? There is no benefit at all, and women are still allowed to have Their lives are in danger, not to mention that some even have one a year. Each dynasty can completely count how many women lost money and died of bleeding due to giving birth to children. There are countless tragic cases. It can be seen that the life span of ancient women was very short, and marrying them Being too young is inextricably linked.”
"Why did I mention the Han Dynasty in this matter? During the Western Han Dynasty, in order to restore the population as soon as possible, special regulations were formulated for women to marry early. If a woman did not marry before the prescribed age, she would most likely be forcibly arranged. For marriage matters, if they don’t want to get married, their family members need to pay the corresponding “single tax.”
"During the Western Han Dynasty, there were constant wars. The population went from 30 million at the beginning to 10 million. It began to decline very quickly, resulting in a situation where there were more women than men."
"So, in order to increase the population, Liu Bang ordered that unmarried women at the age of 15 should pay a single tax of 120 yuan a year. When Liu Ying succeeded to the throne, it increased five times to 600 yuan, which is equivalent to a man's annual tax. Rations. Because of this policy, the men of the Han Dynasty became popular. No matter how ugly they were and their moral character was terrible, they were still called men."
"There are already more boys than girls. A large number of girls have been reduced to concubines. A large number of parents desperately despise their daughters. The status of women has been reduced over and over again, making them even more humble."
"But in just a few decades, the population increased from 15 million to 60 million, which almost coincided with the increase in the single tax. Women were completely controlled by other people's lives and were reduced to props. Although, this policy brought great changes to the development of the Han Dynasty. A solid foundation has been laid, but there is nothing humane about it.”
Qin Shihuang: What a weird policy is this!
