Chinese history has been glorious for five thousand years. We often say that is far-reaching and long-lasting. This is as continuous as the mother river. The rolling long inheritance is the pride of our Chinese people and the Chinese nation. Because of this The long-lasting and profound inheritance is unique in the whole world.
This period of history can be roughly divided into three stages. Both the primitive society and the subsequent slavery society can be said to be transitional stages. Only the feudal society that lasted for more than two thousand years is the master of our country's history and is also The most important historical stage, because some of the systems formed during this period are still functioning today.
Of course, the feudal society period had obvious characteristics of the times, such as relatively closed social exchanges, national unity as the mainstream trend, multiple ethnic groups living together, strict hierarchy, strict laws and penalties, all of which were unique to feudal society. Yes, of course, the most important thing is the person who stands at the top of feudal society, the emperor.
The emperor, is the most obvious feature and the most important link in the feudal autocratic monarchy system. The emperor is the core of the court. In addition to his high power, he also has to handle national affairs, formulate various systems, coordinate all parties, and maintain The normal order of society, but Qin Shihuang, as the first emperor in Chinese history, was different from other emperors in one way.
That is, Qin Shihuang had many concubines in his life, but he did not have a queen. Why Qin Shihuang never canonized a queen in his life? In fact, he has been waiting for someone.
Highly powerful queens and concubines in ancient times
For ancient women at that time, the palace may be the only place for them to seek change. This was determined by the social status of women at that time. We know that the social status of women in ancient China was once Great changes have taken place, and the end of primitive society is actually a node of change.
Before, the social status of women in the tribe was very high, mainly because at that social stage of adapting to nature, their direct contribution to the tribe determined their social status in the family and even the entire tribe. Due to the relatively low social productivity at that time , so the tribe mainly relies on women’s collection and picking to maintain the tribe’s normal expenses.
Coupled with the important role of tribe continuation at that time, women's social status at this time was very high. It was not until the end of primitive society and the development of productivity that women's abilities could no longer maintain the needs after the emergence of the country, so they quickly declined, and then The feudal society of China has plummeted even further. It can be said that people have been at the bottom of society since birth.
Faced with this phenomenon, most women will choose to be forced to accept this adversity, but there are also some women who resist without being humble or arrogant. They desire greater power and higher status, because only in this way can they get rid of oppression as much as possible. If you hold power in your own hands, you don't have to look at other people's faces to act.
Entering the palace and winning the favor of the emperor has become the pursuit of this type of women. They are often born in the families of royal relatives or famous families, so they have a longer-term perspective than ordinary women at the bottom of society. Most of them have this desire for power. They are all born with it, so they have been aiming for the palace since they were very young.
began to learn various etiquette and postures, and would even spend money to send people to inquire about the emperor's preferences. Even the entire family behind the scenes would contribute money and efforts. As the saying goes one person can achieve enlightenment, chickens and dogs can rise to heaven , if the emperor is lucky enough to like his family If you have a daughter, then the status of the entire family may be prosperous for a while and last forever.
Most women will reach the position of concubines after a lot of hard work. As the saying goes there are three thousand beauties in the harem, although the number of concubines is relatively large, their status is no longer ordinary. Many concubines In fact, I am very satisfied to reach this position, but if I look upward, there is still a prestigious position, and that is the queen of .
The queen is the only one selected by the emperor from among thousands of concubines. She is basically the pinnacle of ancient female power. In ancient times, emperors wore dragon robes, and the queen correspondingly wore phoenix robes. In other words, the queen was in In terms of status, he is second only to the emperor, so this is also the position that all the concubines in ancient times wanted to sit in.
However, it is the emperor who has the final say as to who sits in the emperor's position. China's feudal society has experienced countless dynasty changes. Almost all men in the society, including the emperor, basically have a lot of opportunities as long as they are qualified. There is generally only one concubine, but queen, except for special circumstances such as dethronement, except for Qin Shihuang.
You must know that Qin Shihuang, as the founder of feudal society, actually did not establish a queen, which is very strange. The details must start from Ying Zheng's childhood experience.
A few things about Qin Shihuang's past
We know that in fact Qin State was relatively weak among the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period at the earliest, especially Qin Mugong 's early practices had an impact on the Qin State. It is very big. In order to enhance the strength of Qin State in the early years, Duke Mu of Qin created a system of retainers, which allowed talents from other countries to come to Qin to display their talents when they were unsuccessful.
Although this kind of operation attracted many talents for the Qin State, Qin Mugong did a stupid thing when he died. He was worried that after his death, talents from other countries would be detrimental to the subsequent rulers of the Qin State, which directly caused almost All talents were buried together. This extreme practice directly led to a talent gap in Qin.
Because of the fear of this method, no one was available to the Qin court for more than 120 years. Therefore, in the early days of and the Warring States period , Qin often suffered defeats in wars with other countries. Once, he was defeated in a battle with Zhao State, , so Qin had to choose people to be hostages in Zhao State. This is how Qin Shihuang's father came to Zhao State.
Although he went to a foreign country alone as a hostage, he had good luck. Ying Zheng's father met Zhao Ji and the two fell in love at first sight. Not long after the two got married, Ying Zheng was born. Due to the particularity of the situation at this time, Ying Zheng did not even dare to use his original surname. Instead, he changed his name to Zhao Zheng and lived in the country of Zhao.
It was during this period that Ying Zheng met a woman. This seemingly ordinary encounter was actually one of the main reasons why he refused to establish a queen for many years after he became Qin Shihuang.
and Afang's bumpy road
The first reason why Qin Shihuang refused to establish a queen was actually that he had been waiting for someone. This person was the woman Afang whom Ying Zheng met when he was a hostage in Zhao State. Although Qin Shihuang's family was of royal blood in the Qin State, they were not worth mentioning when they were hostages in the Zhao State. His father was suppressed from many aspects when he first entered the Zhao State.
After marrying Zhao Ji, life was barely manageable. When Ying Zheng was young, this kind of misfortune happened to him again. Although Ying Zheng changed his name to Zhao Zheng to avoid trouble, there were still many Zhao Zheng. The royal family of the country knew his true identity, so they often bullied him.
The bullying of the ancients was not just about scolding, but the pride that came from their blood would often make them fight. Ying Zheng, who was a hostage at that time, was often covered with bruises. After being bullied once, Ying Zheng met a Zhao Guo She was a commoner woman, and her family usually made a living by collecting herbs. This woman was called A Fang by later generations, which may be the dialect of the Zhao State at that time.
This simple woman felt very distressed when she saw the injured Ying Zheng, so she brewed herbal medicine to heal his injuries. At that time, Ying Zheng had been bullied, and his heart, which was originally in great pain, became very warm and grateful because of this little sweetness. So I had a secret affection for him, but due to his young age at the time and the real environment of Zhao State, the matter was dropped.
As Ying Zheng returned to Qin Dynasty , after changing his surname back to Ying, the only nostalgia he had for Zhao was Afang. Then Qin Shihuang inherited the throne and worked hard to destroy the other six countries and achieve unification, After establishing the Great Qin Dynasty, he still couldn't forget the woman from back then.
He firmly believed that the two would meet again in the future, so Qin Shihuang even named it after her and built the magnificent Afang Palace to accommodate the two of them later. It turned out that the hard work paid off, , the one who was with Qin Shihuang back then His childhood sweetheart, Afang, was finally found. Qin Shihuang was very moved by this long-lost reunion.
was about to make her a queen immediately, but this decision was opposed by her mother Zhao Ji. You must know that her mother was a noble of the Zhao royal family, and this Afang girl was just a woman from a private family, who valued blood very highly. Zhao Ji was very opposed to Qin Shihuang's decision. Under the social understanding of that parents ordered matchmakers to speak at that time, this opposition was fatal.
At this time, Qin Shihuang could be considered infatuated. For this hard-won relationship, he stood directly on the opposite side of his mother. At this time, Afang was very sad when she saw this. She couldn't bear to let Qin Shihuang bear the charge of unfilial piety for her, so she used At this time, Qin Shihuang was also heartbroken after learning the news.
Qin Shihuang felt very guilty about Afang. He originally wanted to make her the queen and share the happiness of his family, but he never wanted to push her to a dead end, so Qin Shihuang finally decided to keep the position of queen for Afang forever.
Other reasons
In fact, some people say that Qin Shihuang had other reasons for not establishing a queen. Some people suspected that it was because of his love for Fusu . He was afraid that after making the queen, his identity and status would pose a threat to Fusu. This is One. Some people say that the reason why Qin Shihuang did not establish a queen was to better control power.
Because at the beginning of the establishment of feudal society, there was no such thing as a harem that could not interfere in politics, so Qin Shihuang was worried that after sealing the queen, it would restrict his power. If the queen had different intentions, then one day a hundred years later, he would say Maybe he will get involved in his own country.
So when Qin Shihuang didn’t establish a queen, was it to avoid the emergence of another power center besides himself? This would be extremely detrimental to the rule of his descendants. In fact, there are many related opinions, and it’s just a matter of opinion.
