After the restoration of Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, he changed the Yuan Tianshun and named Shi Heng, who made the first contribution to the restoration, as the Duke of Zhongguo. At the instigation of Shi Heng and Xu Youzhen, Yingzong also killed a group of upright ministers such as Yu Qian and Fan Guang, and he then became emperor for another seven years, then died of illness and was buried in Yuling.

Yingzong died, and Zhu Jianshen ascended the throne, that is, Ming Xianzong, and the year name was Chenghua. Xianzong for Yu Qian's rehabilitation, restore the emperor title of Daizong, at that time many people said fast, but also able to understand the people's feelings, hard work, as if there is a Ming monarch's capital, Ryukyu, Hami, Siam, Turpan, Samarkand and other countries have paid tribute.

But he himself is introverted, so he rarely sees ministers in the court, pampering Wan Guifei, who is also a wife and mother, and favoring eunuchs Wang Zhi, Liang Fang and others. Xianzong directly issued the edict and sealed the officials, which was for the sake of serving the officials, which caused fraud to become commonplace, and it was not until Xiaozong that all of them were abolished.

Wan Guifei, a native of Zhucheng in eastern Ming Dynasty, entered the palace at the age of four. Tianshun chose to serve the East Palace, and was named a noble concubine in the second year of Chenghua. She was seventeen years older than Xianzong, but she was quick-witted, scheming, and deeply favored. In order to consolidate her favor, she indulged in the eunuchs Qian Neng, Wang Zhi and others to extort the people's property, and poured all the treasures of the treasury, and later died of a violent illness.

There are countless favored concubines in history, but most of them are flattered by pure youthful appearance, and those who are favored as before in the confrontation with the ruthless years are no one as good as Wan Zhen'er, the beloved concubine of Ming Xianzong.

Wan Zhen'er was originally from Zhucheng, Qingzhou, and his father Wan Gui was a county official, and he was degraded to the border for breaking the law. Empress Dowager Sun took pity on her for being smart and clever, and ordered her to manage clothing and other matters in Renshou Palace.

Xianzong often went to the court to see the Empress Dowager Sun when he was a child, and Zhen'er supported the Empress Dowager next to him, and he was close to Xianzong, and gradually became affectionate. When the crown prince Zhu Jianshen gradually grew into a fourteen-year-old boy, Zhen'er was already over thirty years old, and they were still close to each other, and they had no suspicions about each other.

Wan Zhen'er is beautiful and beautiful, with a plump body like Yang Yuhuan, because she is still a virgin, she looks only about twenty years old. Wan Zhen'er, who was born wise, seduced the young man who was in love with her eyebrows and teasingly, and the two hid from the people in the palace.

After Yingzong's death, sixteen-year-old Zhu Jianshen ascended the throne, it was Xianzong, it was time to marry and choose a concubine, he obeyed his mother's order and canonized Wu Nu as the queen. Since the posterior position has been decided, Wan Zhen'er is appointed as a noble concubine, and Wang and Bai are virtuous concubines.

Wan Zhen'er was very annoyed, because in the past, she was the only one who shared the bed with Xianzong, but now there are many more women for no reason. Wan Zhen'er was pampered, and every time she saw Queen Wu with a straight face, she even deliberately put on a show, which made Queen Wu very angry.

At first, she was reluctant to tolerate it, and she endured it for more than 20 days, but she couldn't bear it, and she couldn't help but reprimand her for being unreasonable. However, instead of knowing how to restrain herself, Concubine Wan sneered at the queen, which once made Empress Wu very angry, and ordered the palace people to drag her to the ground, and personally took the stick and struck her several times in a row.

Wan Zhen'er returned to the palace and cried non-stop, just when Xianzong came in and asked her why she was crying, Wan Zhen'er deliberately didn't say, and finally the maid explained the reason. Xianzong was furious and wanted to go to the queen to comment, so she grabbed Xianzong's clothes and pretended to be comforted. Xianzong hated and pity, and slowly untied Concubine Wan's clothes, and saw that on her snow-white skin, the scars of the staff were full of blood, and he couldn't help but be angry, and swore that "such a spicy product, if I don't abolish her, I won't even be the emperor." ”

Wan Zhen'er choked up and said: "The concubine is already old and decrepit, and she is not as beautiful as the queen, so please ask Your Majesty to order the concubine to leave the palace, so as not to make the queen angry, and the concubine will not be punished with the cane." "It's obviously an anti-radical constitution, and he said it so sadly.

Xianzong was even more angry: "You don't want to be like this, I will abolish her tomorrow." ”

Wan Guifei wanted to capture the old man, and provoked him to say: "The canonization of the queen is the will of the queen mother of the two palaces, and if Your Majesty wants to abolish the queen, the queen mother will not agree." ”

Xianzong said, "I have my own way. ”

Early the next morning, Xianzong went to see the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces, saying that Empress Wu acted frivolously, did not abide by the etiquette law, and was unworthy of serving as the head of the six palaces, let alone the mother of the world, and must be abolished. Empress Dowager Zhou dissuaded: "It will be abolished after only one month, which is unreasonable." ”

But Xianzong insisted on abolishing it, and said that if he didn't abolish it, he would go into the mountains and not be the emperor. Empress Dowager Zhou doted on her son, so she had to rely on Xianzong, so an edict was issued to abolish the queen, ordering the Wu family to retreat to the West Palace. Concubine Wan coveted the queen position, and once instigated Xianzong to make her the queen, but the queen mother thought she was too old and from a humble background, so she never agreed.

After two months, after the decree of the Queen Mother, the Wang family, who had been named a virtuous concubine together with the Bai family, was appointed as the queen, and Xianzong had no choice. Fortunately, the Wang family has a gentle temperament, is modest and tolerant everywhere, and is relatively peaceful, but in fact, the queen is afraid of repeating the mistakes of the past, but she just forbears it.

In the second year of Chenghua, Concubine Wan gave birth to a son, and Xianzong was overjoyed. Wan Guifei originally thought that the mother was more expensive than the son, and the child would become the emperor in the future, and she could become the queen mother, but who knew that in less than a month, the child would die in a short life. Since then, Wan Zhen'er and Guifei are no longer pregnant, but they are jealous of other concubines, do not let them get close to Xianzong, and set up eyes and ears in the harem, Xianzong sometimes secretly has a good time with other concubines, if the concubines have signs of pregnancy, more Wan Zhen'er secretly noticed, she will do everything possible to force the order to drink medicine and have a fetus.

Everyone in the palace is in danger, but because of the evil power of Wan Guifei, no one dares to come forward. Therefore, a few years have passed, Xianzong has no heirs, inside and outside the court, the government and the opposition are worried about this, and Xianzong is also extremely anxious about this.

In the fifth year of Chenghua, Concubine Bai Xian gave birth to a prince, Xianzong was very happy, celebrated the event, named Youji, Youji was two years old, was made the crown prince. In February of the following year, the crown prince suddenly fell ill, and the illness came so violently that the medicine was ineffective, so that the imperial doctors were helpless, and he died after a day and a night. Xianzong cried to death, and the palace eunuchs felt that the prince was strangely ill, so they secretly visited, and it was indeed the poisonous hand of Wan Guifei, but they all protected themselves, and no one dared to denounce it, only Xianzong was kept in the dark.

University scholar Peng Shi, Shangshu Yao Kui and others have advised the emperor to get rid of Wan Guifei. But Zhu Jianshen never succeeded in doing so, and Concubine Wan further colluded with the eunuchs Qian Neng, Qin Qin, Wang Zhi, Liang Fang, Wan An and others, and acted indiscriminately inside and outside the court, and everyone looked sideways. Time is like flowing water, and in the blink of an eye, in the eleventh year of Chenghua, Xianzong felt depressed and unhappy because he was controlled by Wan Guifei everywhere, and he missed his deceased son.

One day, he summoned the eunuch Zhang Min to comb his hair for him, and looked at himself in the mirror, and when he saw that there were suddenly several gray hairs on his head, he couldn't help but sigh: "I'm old, and I don't have any heirs, alas, ......."

Zhang Min knelt on the ground: "Long live and have a son." ”

Xianzong was stunned: "What do you mean?"

Zhang Min kowtowed again and said: "As soon as the words are spoken, I am afraid that my life will not be guaranteed, long live the lord can be the master of the prince, although the slave dies without regrets." ”

Huai En, the celebrant on the side, also knelt down and said: "What Zhang Min said is true, the prince has been raised in the secret room of the West Inner for a long time, and he is now six years old. Because of the fear of calamity, he hid and did not dare to report it. ”

Xianzong was surprised and delighted, suspecting that he was dreaming, and immediately drove Xingsinei to see the prince. Due to his long-term solitary confinement, this little prince has never even shaved his hair, so his long hair is covered in the ground. He got into a small sedan chair and was carried in front of the emperor, and after getting out of the sedan chair, he opened his little hands and ran to the arms of his father. Xianzong took the child into his arms, looked at it for a long time, couldn't help but mix joy and sorrow, and said with tears in his eyes: "He looks like me, he is my son." ”

Who is this prince? It turned out that in the third year of Chenghua, the southwestern barbarians rebelled, and after the razing, the male and female captives were released into the capital. Among them, there was a Ji girl, who was originally the daughter of a non-commissioned officer in He County, who was beautiful and beautiful, and was filled into the court. The queen saw that she could read and ordered, and ordered her to manage the treasury of the inner palace.

One day, Xianzong occasionally came to the inner treasure and asked how many gold and silver banknotes were in the inner store, and she was articulate and responded to the details, which made the dragon's heart happy, and saw that she was born with bright eyes and bright teeth, charming and moving, and Xianzong had a rainy day in the bed of Ji Nu. A few months later, Ji became pregnant and her belly swelled.

Wan Guifei knew about it, she was very jealous and hateful, and sent a palace maid to inquire about the truth, and the palace maid was a kind person, and only said that the Ji family was just suffering from a bulging disease. Concubine Wan was suspicious and not very reassured, so she ordered the Ji family to withdraw from the inner hiding and move to Anle Hall to supervise her from time to time.

A few months passed, and Ji became pregnant in October and gave birth to a boy. However, she was very sad, she knew that her son would not be able to escape the clutches of Wan Guifei, and if she didn't try to kill her, she was afraid that her life would not be saved. She gritted her teeth, wrapped up the child, and ordered the door supervisor Zhang Min to take the prince out of the palace and drown.

Zhang Min took over the prince, he thought that the emperor was getting old and had no heirs, how could he give up his blood and bones lightly? He risked killing his head, secretly hid the prince in a secret room, and took some honey, powder bait, and other food to feed. Fortunately, the former abolished Wu family, relegated to the west of the country, close to Anle Hall, knew the news, fed back and forth, and under the careful care of everyone, the baby's life was saved. Because Zhang Min acted carefully, the prince survived safely.

Xianzong sent Huaien to the cabinet to report the good news and explain the reason, and the ministers were all happy, and the next morning they congratulated Xianzong together. Xianzong ordered the cabinet to draft an edict and promulgate it to the world, and named Ji as a concubine, moved to the west, and ordered a meeting of the Ministry of Rites to name the prince Youzhang. The scholar was still worried that the prince would repeat the mistake of the crown prince, but he did not dare to say it explicitly, only saying that the prince's country was very important, and let the mother and son live together so that they could take care of and raise them. Xianzong played and ordered Concubine Ji Shu to live in Yongshou Palace with the prince.

Xianzong also boldly shared the same bed with other concubines, and the concubines in the palace let go of their courage a little, and those princes who had given birth were reported one after another. Only Wan Guifei gritted her teeth, complained day and night, and when she couldn't bear it anymore, she killed Concubine Ji again.

Whether Concubine Ji was poisoned or strangled to death, no one dared to ask, Zhang Min saw that Concubine Shu was killed by Concubine Wan Guifei, and thought that he would not be able to escape the poison, so he committed suicide by swallowing gold.