History can't bear to look at the complete collection

Chapter 54 The Power Seizure Mystery 2
When a child is a prince, the mother must die

In the ancient court, the mother was usually more expensive than the child, and the status of the concubine had a lot to do with whether the emperor could give birth to an heir to the throne.In order to make their own son the crown prince, many concubines are engaged in life-and-death struggles.If the son becomes the heir to the throne, the concubine's status will inevitably rise rapidly and become an enviable empress or queen mother, such as Wang Zhengjun, Wu Zetian, Empress Xiaozhuang, Cixi, etc.

But there are exceptions. Some concubines are not willing to give birth to a prince, because not only can they not be valued by their mothers, but they will also cause murder. For example, the Northern Wei Dynasty is a typical example.In the laws of the Northern Wei Dynasty, there is a very strict system of setting up sons to kill their mothers: after a certain empress or concubine's son is established as the crown prince, the crown prince's mother is given to commit suicide.

This practice began with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty was old and wanted to make the young Liu Fuling the crown prince.However, Mrs. Gouyi, Liu Fuling's biological mother, was in her prime. Emperor Wu worried that after her death, the heroine would be monopolized, so he ordered her to be executed. Mrs. Gouyi took off her jewelry and kowtowed to the emperor for forgiveness.Emperor Wu ordered her to be pulled down from the palace and sent to the palace prison. When the wife was about to leave the palace, she looked back frequently, hoping that the emperor would change his mind.But Emperor Wu waved his hand and said, "Hurry up, you won't survive!" When Mrs. Gouyi died, the wind raised dust, and the people felt sad for her.But Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty said to the people around him: "In the past, there were turmoil in the country, mostly because of the young and the strong. The heroine is arrogant and unrestrained, and no one can stop it. Haven't you heard of Empress Lu?"

In the Northern Wei Dynasty, it became a legal system to set up sons to kill their mothers.Beginning with Emperor Daowu, all concubines whose sons were established as crown princes had to be bestowed with death, and this system was carried out for seven generations, and lasted for a century. I don't know how many innocent mothers were sacrificed.

Emperor Daowu's favorite concubine, Liu Shi, had the eldest son Tuoba Si, and Tuoba Si was bestowed to death after being established as the prince.Tuoba Si missed his mother and wept sadly.Emperor Daowu comforted him and said: "In the past, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty would set up a prince and kill his mother first. Now that you are a prince, I have to follow the example of Han Wu in order to avoid the future trouble of a female leader in politics." After hearing this, the prince was still sad and couldn't restrain himself. He was kicked out by the angry Emperor Daowu.

During the historical development of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the old system of "the son is precious and the mother dies" developed to its peak.This has a lot to do with Tuoba's old system.At that time, the Northern Wei Dynasty had not yet established a system of succession from father to son, and the establishment and enthronement of the crown prince often depended on the strength of the mother clan, which can be described as "the mother strengthens the son".By the time of Emperor Daowu, this situation had changed.Emperor Daowu first used war to forcibly disperse large tribes such as the Helan tribe of the mother clan, the Dugu tribe of the wife clan, and the Murong tribe of the grandmother clan.Although the old system of setting up sons and killing mothers was exchanged for the stable succession order of the throne in the Northern Wei Dynasty and promoted the stability of the Tuoba tribe, it was bought by sacrificing innocent mothers.Therefore, the concubines at that time were not willing to give birth to a prince. "Empress Xuanwuling" recorded in this way: "In the Jiaoting court, according to the old system of the country, they prayed for each other, and all wished to have kings and princesses, but not a prince."

Emperor Xiaowen Tuobahong's father believed in Buddhism and was not interested in politics.When Tuoba Hong was only five years old, he gave up the throne to Tuoba Hong.Since Tuoba Hong's mother, Li Shi, was bestowed to death when he was established as the prince, the young Tuoba Hong was raised by Queen Mother Feng.But Feng's treatment of the little emperor was very bad, and he often punished the young Tuoba Hong with a cane.Once, even in the cold weather, the little emperor in single clothes was locked in an empty room and was not given food for three days.

Later, Emperor Xiaowen's favorite concubine, Lin, was established as the crown prince because of her son Tuoba Xun, and Lin was also bestowed to death.The concubines "were together and prayed, wishing to give birth to kings and princesses, but not a prince", so that Emperor Xiaowen left only a single seedling of Emperor Xiaoming.Emperor Xiaowen asked Empress Dowager Feng, who was in power, to abolish the old law, but was refused.

Xuanwu Emperor Yuanke, who believed in Buddhism, could not bear to kill. He "set up the prince's pride, and never killed his mother", and "the son cherishes the mother's death" was finally abolished.The concubines in the harem no longer put themselves in danger because of it, "It's not too much to correct them too much"!
(End of this chapter)