Perhaps in many people's perception, the status of ancient palace maids could not be lower. They were at the bottom of society and were also slaves. If the rulers were in a bad mood, they might execute them at will, or even use them to be buried alive. This is a common thing in history. However, during the Qing Dynasty, there was such a palace maid with a special identity. Not only was she valued and protected by the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, but even the later emperors of Kangxi were respected. It can be said that they were treated as their adoptive mother. She was the legendary palace maid of the Qing Dynasty Su Malagu .
Although he has always been a palace maid, his status in the palace is higher than that of an ordinary concubine. He has experienced many hardships to be able to receive such treatment. He was almost buried alive by the emperor of Shunzhi , and he was almost buried early. Fortunately, Xiaozhuang came to save her in time. Why did Shunzhi bury her alive? What's even more strange is that before burying her alive, someone was pouring lime on her head?
Tianpox ravages the palace, Su Malagu was charged with
After entering the Qing Dynasty, in addition to facing some forces of anti-Qing and restoring the Ming , these Manchus also faced a very serious problem, that is, the infectious disease that ravaged the Central Plains at that time - smallpox. . To this day, smallpox is not a serious disease, and there are special special medicines to treat it, which is not an incurable disease at all. However, it was different at that time. How could the medical level of the Qing Dynasty compare to now? People can only leave it to fate when facing such an unprecedented infectious disease. Anyone who gets smallpox will undoubtedly declare the death penalty. Sometimes, in order to avoid infection, they are still burned to death.
The highest incidence of this disease is . Firstly, because they have lived outside the pass for a long time, their bodies are more adapted to the cold climate outside the pass. Once they arrive in the Central Plains, they will inevitably be unacceptable to the local environment. The body's resistance is greatly reduced, and their ability to resist disease will naturally decrease accordingly.
Secondly, few Manchus have entered the Central Plains and obtained smallpox, so they lack certain antibodies and methods to deal with this disease for generations. On the other hand, the Central Plains people had already experienced smallpox before the Qing army entered the pass through , and they had a certain resistance with the inheritance of genes from generation to generation. In addition, some local methods for dealing with smallpox among the people, although not particularly effective, can suppress the disease to a certain extent.
has neither antibodies nor treatment methods, which led to many Manchus being infected with smallpox after the Qing army entered the pass, including the first Qing emperor Emperor Shunzhi after entering the pass. Not only that, his favorite concubine Dong Efei was also infected, plus Shunzhi's third son Xuanye (later Emperor Kangxi). You should know that this is a life-threatening event for Shunzhi and others. If you can't resist with your own resistance, you must check your ancestor Huang Taiji in advance.
Emperor Shunzhi was very angry about this. He didn't know where the pathogen came from, and he didn't know why it was contagious. He looked at his beloved concubine and son who were deeply tortured by illness. The more he thought about it, he became more angry. Finally, he locked his eyes on Su Malagu, thinking that she was the "culprit". Because before this, Su Malagu had smallpox and later miraculously came alive, so Shunzhi thought that it was all hidden dangers brought by Su Malagu, so he came down to let the eunuch bury her alive, and at the same time, he had to bury her head alive.
What is the purpose of sprinkling lime?
Just as Su Malagu was tied up by a group of eunuchs and palace maids, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang rushed over in time and ordered Su Malagu to be released quickly. Then she went to find her son Shunzhi to argue that Su Malagu would have to live with smallpox, but that happened a long time ago. As for why Dong Efei had Xuanye had smallpox, it was obviously contagious by others. What did it have to do with Su Malagu? Isn’t this intentional killing her to vent her anger? Furthermore, Su Malagu is the personal maid who was dowed by Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang. Although she is a master-servant relationship, she is more like a sister. She has helped her a lot, so how could she kill her if she says she wants? In the end, Shunzhi gave up under the pressure of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, and the matter ended.
But what is puzzled is why did you pour lime before burying Su Malagu alive? In fact, there are some considerations among them. First of all, lime has a certain sterilization and disinfection effect. The ancients found that lime can effectively inhibit smallpox infectious diseases, especially for people suffering from smallpox, which can kill smallpox virus on patients. Therefore, lime poured on Su Malagu is to kill smallpox virus. Of course, there is only a certain reason. If smallpox virus is completely killed, it is definitely impossible. What's more, smallpox disease relies on the air transmission, lime plays a superficial role at most.
is the ancients who believed that lime could suppress the unjust souls of the dead. If Su Malagu was really buried alive, she would definitely have a lot of resentment. After all, she is innocent, even if she is really guilty, treating living people in this way is indeed cruel. It makes people lack oxygen in the soil and are slowly suffocated to death. After death, there will be revenge of the unjust souls. In order to seek psychological comfort, this method was adopted.
The elders of the three dynasties were highly respected by Kangxi
Although Su Malagu was just a maid next to Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, with the change of dynasties, she gradually became a person respected by even the emperor. When she was young, she served Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang and Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty. Because of her meticulousness and dedication, she was highly valued by Huang Taiji. The name Su Malagu was given by Huang Taiji. When Huang Taiji died later, she helped Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang assist Shunzhi in succession. At the same time, because Dorgon was in power, she undermined the young Shunzhi, and she also acted as a "contact person" to convey information to Xiaozhuang and Shunzhi.
Although Dorgon died unexpectedly later, Shunzhi got his wish and regained his power. Unfortunately, Shunzhi also died young due to infection with smallpox at the age of 24, leaving only eight-year-old Xuanye (Kangxi) ascending the throne. Before this, it was Su Malagu who took care of him. After all, she was the most trustworthy, and had the experience of smallpox, and had some experience in taking care of Kangxi who was suffering from smallpox.
That's it. Under Su Malagu's care, Kangxi miraculously survived. Later, he became emperor because of the reason for antibodies. Kangxi was not an ungrateful person. Su Malagu was kind to him. Now that he became an emperor, he naturally gave him good treatment. Not only did the concubines give him some respect when they saw him, Kangxi also often greeted him, and Su Malagu has become a relatively unique existence in the palace.
Conclusion
No matter what, Su Malagu has experienced a tortuous and ups and downs, and finally, as a veteran figure of the three dynasties, he was also well-cared for. In such an era, it was bizarre to have such a life story as a palace maid. At the same time, in her later years, she was unable to work and did not need to take on the responsibilities of a palace maid, so she lived the life of the ancient Buddha of Qinglan and lived until she was over 80 years old. It can be said that this was undoubtedly a good ending for the palace maid.
pictures are from the Internet. If there is any infringement, please contact us to delete it!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-