Queen Xiaozhuang's personal maid: Su Malagu

Chapter 42 Sudden Death of Huang Taiji

(1)

In the autumn of 1641, the imperial concubine Hai Lanzhu died, and she never saw Huang Taiji until she died.When she died, only Mingzhu was by her side.

A few days before Bumbutai and Su Moer went to Guanju Palace to see Concubine Chen, Concubine Chen already had a premonition that she would die soon, so she sent someone to deliver a letter to Huang Taiji.At that time, Huang Taiji was fighting the Ming army in Songshan.Huang Taiji has been in Songshan for almost a month. After he and his soldiers fought bravely, the situation of the battle has changed from passive to active.

"Everyone rest on the spot, we must take Songshan!" Huang Taiji said to the soldiers.

However, when he just sat in the tent and picked up a bowl of water to drink, his entourage reported that Manduli and Mu Chengge, who were staying in Shengjing, had come to report something important.

Huang Taiji was surprised: he made a special trip to report to the front line where the war was raging, the matter must be very serious.He put down the bowl in his hand and yelled, "Let them in quickly! Let them in quickly!"

Man Duli and Mu Chengge hurried in and reported: "Concubine Chen is seriously ill, and I hope to see the emperor."

Huang Taiji's eyes widened, and he jumped up from his seat.

"What? Concubine Ai is seriously ill?"

"Yes! Concubine Chen..." Before Mu Chengge finished speaking, Huang Taiji's expression changed.His head was dizzy for a while, and he staggered a few steps.

Concubine Chen Hai Lanzhu has always been considerate and can put the overall situation first, so bringing him a letter at this time is more than auspicious.

"Prepare the horse! I want to go back to the palace!" Huang Taiji yelled.

"Your Majesty, the front line..." Man Duli and Mu Chengge said, looking at each other.

"Let all the generals come to the tent to listen to orders!" Huang Taiji said to the guards, and sat down weakly.

After making the next step of strategic deployment for the generals, he hurried on the road with Man Duli and Mu Chengge.

It took six days and six nights to travel from Songshan to Shengjing. Huang Taiji was so anxious that he didn't stop, and when one horse was tired, he would put on another horse until he rushed back to Shengjing.But before he fell off the horse, he heard the sad news that he least wanted to hear: the 33-year-old concubine Chen had gone.

Huang Taiji's eyes suddenly went dark, and he almost fell off his horse.

When he was supported to Guanju Palace and saw the remains of Concubine Chen, he forgot his identity as emperor and burst into tears.Seeing the emperor crying, the surrounding officials, concubines and maids, and prince Gege also burst into tears.All of a sudden, the crying was earth-shattering.

The grief-stricken Huang Taiji cried until he passed out. After emergency rescue, he gradually regained consciousness.After waking up, he still couldn't accept Concubine Chen's departure, and continued to cry.Seeing that Huang Taiji was too sad, all the kings, ministers and concubines knelt down and said loudly, "Please mourn, Your Majesty!"

Hearing the shaking voices of the ministers and concubines, Huang Taiji suddenly came to his senses.He looked at the kneeling royals and nobles, and made an astonishing move. He wanted to personally arrange the funeral for Concubine Chen.

The emperor personally arranged the marriage for a concubine, which was against the rules and disrupted the rules of the ancestors.But no one's obstruction can change his decision, for the sake of the emperor's dragon body, everyone had to let him do it.

Huang Taiji immediately ordered: All funeral rites should be arranged generously according to the state funeral standards.When the concubine Chen's coffin was carried out from the palace and left Shengjing through the east gate, Huang Taiji personally led the people below the king Baylor, above Niu Luzhangjing, and all the people above the harem Fujin, Gege, and Meile Zhangjing's ordering wife to become the concubine Chen. funeral.

After the funeral, Huang Taiji did not go to live with any of the concubines, but lived in a temporary tent set up in the palace.He didn't think about eating and drinking all day long, and couldn't sleep all night. He also ordered that during the one year of Concubine Chen's death, all congratulations and entertainment activities would be exempted.

In order to express his condolences to Concubine Chen, Huang Taiji also gave her posthumous titles Min Huigong and Concubine Yuan, which is also the most number of posthumous titles among concubines in the Qing Dynasty.

"Unexpectedly, the emperor loves my sister so much." Bumbutai couldn't help saying with red eyes.

Su Mo'er looked at the sad and haggard Bumbutai, and swallowed the words over and over again.Seeing Su Mo'er hesitate to speak, Bumbutai said, "Speak up if you have anything to say!"

"Your Majesty, I heard that the Emperor is going to give the Pearl to the Prince."

"My lord? Which lord?" Bumbutai's eyes widened.

"Prince Rui!" Su Mo'er whispered.

"What do you give him for? To be a maid? Why do you want to give Mingzhu?" Bumbutai's voice became urgent.

"Not to be a maid, but to be a side Fujin. It is said that it is the last words left by the concubine Chen to the emperor."

"Ah! This..." Bumbutai staggered unsteadily, and Su Moer hurriedly supported her.

"It seems that she will not let me go even if she dies, and she will fight against me even if she dies." Bumbutai's face instantly became gloomy and terrifying.

(2)

Concubine Chen's death dealt a blow to Huang Taiji that was greater than the failures in several wars, and the haunting of Concubine Chen made it difficult for Huang Taiji to extricate himself.He frequently held various sacrificial activities, and invited monks and Taoists to preach and chant scriptures for the concubine Chen to save the souls of the dead.He even wrote the sacrificial oration himself, which was so sincere and tear-jerking.

One day, when offering sacrifices to his concubine Chen, he said to Zhubeile and his concubines: "The mountain will fall if it is too steep, the tree will break if it is too high, and it will weaken when you are old. This is a worry given to me by God. .”

"The emperor is really old, he is only in his 50s!" Bumbutai said with emotion after hearing this.

"Difficulties can't overwhelm people, but sadness can kill a person." Su Mo'er said, her eyes were also red.

Concubine Chen's death made Su Mo'er often feel guilty.She kept blaming herself: If she had told about the poisoning of Batma 璪, Concubine Chen might not have died so early.

"If you had said it back then, it would mean that you would die and I would die, and my Ninth Prince would also be taken away." Every time Su Mo'er blamed herself, Bumbutai would say this to her.

"But Concubine Chen..."

Before Su Mo'er could finish speaking, Bumbutai said again: "You should know that Concubine Chen's grief was not caused by the poisoning of the nanny or the poisonous food given to the Ninth Prince, but by the death of the Eighth Prince. All of this can only be blamed on Batma 璪. Didn’t we get rid of Batma 璪 with the help of the wooden clock? It can be regarded as revenge for her. Don’t think about these things anymore, the death of Concubine Chen and you and me It doesn't matter, it's her life!"

Bumbutai didn't want to mention the concubine Hailanzhu again.The last words left by Hailanzhu let Mingzhu marry Dorgon, which caused great harm to Bumbutai.She felt that Concubine Chen must know her feelings for Dorgon, so she deliberately married Mingzhu to him.

On the day Mingzhu married Dorgon, Bumbutai was sad for a long time.

After she knew from Su Mo'er that Huang Taiji was going to give the Pearl to Dorgon as a side Fujin, she pretended not to know about it, and went to Queen Zhezhe, hoping to keep the Pearl in her room as a maid.

Empress Zhezhe also treated her a lot better after Bumbutai gave birth to the Ninth Prince, and immediately agreed, and immediately summoned Mingzhu, but Mingzhu said indifferently: "The emperor has already given the servant to Prince Rui!"

When Mingzhu was speaking, her expression was indifferent, neither humble nor overbearing, she did not look like a servant at all.

Empress Zhezhe was shocked, and hurriedly asked what was going on, and even went to the emperor, saying that the affairs of the harem should be handled by her, the empress, but Huang Taiji said firmly that this was the last gift given to him by concubine Chen Hailanzhu. A last word, he must do so.

In this way, Mingzhu's majestic place changed from a maid to the side Fujin of Prince Rui Dorgon.

Mingzhu married Dorgon and did not have a big banquet because the concubine Chen passed away not long ago.

"Marrying Dorgon" is something Bumbutai has always hoped for in his heart, but he did not expect it to be easily achieved by a maid. Bumbutai has indescribable sadness in his heart.

For so many years, because he has always wanted to give birth to a prince for Huang Taiji, Bumbutai buried his feelings for Dorgon deeply, but that feeling really existed, and there was never a moment. weakened.So she hated Mingzhu, and hated her sister Hai Lanzhu even more.

"Doesn't she want to fight with me? Even if she dies, she still wants to fight with me? Then fight!" Since then, Bumbutai has been thinking about how to make Huang Taiji make the ninth prince Fulin the crown prince.

"As long as the Ninth Prince is established, my mission will be truly accomplished, and no one will be able to defeat me." Bumbutai thought.

However, everything was beyond Bumbutai's expectations.Just half a year after Concubine Chen's death, Huang Taiji, who was in extreme sadness and loneliness, passed away without any warning.

Huang Taiji died in the eighth year of Chongde (AD 1643).That day, he was as busy as usual in order to alleviate his miss for Concubine Chen.He first met and rewarded 15 people from the Tumote tribe, including Da Norbu and Little Norbu of Jialazhangjing, who came to Gongma, and their entourage; Nomu Xili and his servants belonged to Cheke Chezhangjing of the Mete tribe; finally, he, the queen, Bumbutai and the others summoned Princess Gulun, who married Chahar and Horqin Mongolia, in Chongzheng Palace, and chose the best Good silks and satins were rewarded to Princess Gulun and Horqin's Fufei, Xianfei and Zhufujin who came to court together.

On this day, he did not show any abnormalities.

But on that night, Huang Taiji sat on the Nankang in the East Nuan Pavilion of Qingning Palace where he was sleeping, and went there quietly. He died without any illness at the age of 52.

(End of this chapter)