In ancient times, many women had dreams of concubines. Everyone wanted to be a concubine and enjoy glory and wealth for the rest of their lives. It's just that throughout the ages, only a handful of concubines were able to spend their old age in the harem. They entered the palace when they were young and tried their best to win the emperor's favor. Some were favored by the emperor when they were young, but once they grew old and their beauty faded, they were no longer favored by the dragon.
So, Why doesn’t the emperor let his concubines who are over 50 years old sleep with him? The reason is not entirely due to old age, the truth is too realistic. Let us learn about the intrigues in the ancient harem.
From Qin Shihuang unified the six countries and established the emperor system. Although Qin Shihuang did not establish the position of queen during his life, from the establishment of the emperor system, the concubines in the harem also had corresponding systems.
In "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" written by Bai Juyi, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, there is a widely circulated poem, which is the sentence "There are three thousand beauties in the harem". This sentence expresses the number of concubines in the emperor's harem. The royal palaces of the past dynasties would hold a draft every year to select beauties to enter the palace, and there was a complete process.
Concubines are also divided into levels. The highest level is the queen, and the lowest level is the concubine. Including the maids and others, there are thousands of people in the harem, but with so many people, the emperor does not have equal access to everything. Some concubines with low status have never even been favored by dragons. Some dynasties even stipulated that concubines should no longer sleep with them when they are over 50 years old.
It is recorded in historical materials: " A concubine who is under fifty years old must be a concubine for five days. Then it is known that a concubine who is fifty years old is not allowed to be a concubine." Why is this? Are concubines over 50 years old not qualified to sleep with them? In fact, this regulation was not made by the emperor, and the reason was very practical.
As we all know, the ancients attached great importance to the reproduction of offspring, especially the ancient emperors. One of the important reasons why they adopted concubines was to have more children, so that they could select princes suitable to inherit the throne. Secondly, the ancients were not as open-minded as modern people. The ancients' ideological tradition believed that "more children, more blessings" is the best.
However, the older a woman is, the less likely she is to become pregnant. The body functions of concubines over 50 have begun to deteriorate, so they are no longer suitable for sleeping, so the opportunity is left to young concubines.
In addition, this harem regulation is also to prevent concubines in the harem from being favored. For example, in ancient times, emperors of many dynasties would favor only one concubine, such as Wu Zetian, Yang Yuhuan, one of the four beauties in history, etc. They all received the emperor's exclusive favor, so in order to balance the relationship between the concubines in the harem, this rule was established.
It is said that the concubines in the harem have a life of fine clothing and fine food, but throughout the dynasties, most of the favored concubines are just short-lived. When they are old and golden, there will be no young and beautiful concubines to be favored. If they do not have a prince by their side, most of their later life will be miserable.
