History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 842: Concubine of the Great Zhou Dynasty
【Concubine of the Great Zhou Dynasty】

The royal family of the Later Zhou Dynasty was very special and rare since ancient times.

One is the tragic fate of the royal family.

The reason why Guo Wei overthrew the Later Han Dynasty and established the Later Zhou Dynasty was because he enjoyed the treatment of having his entire family executed in the Later Han Dynasty. This was also the main reason why Guo Wei passed the throne to his adopted son Chai Rong.

According to official historical records, Guo Wei had two sons, both of whom were killed in the Xiao Qiang Rebellion at the end of the Han Dynasty. When they died, they did not even have time to be named, and only had nicknames, Qingge and Yige. After Guo Wei became emperor, he named his two deceased sons Guo Tong and Guo Xin, and posthumously named them King of Shan and King of Qi respectively.

His other nephews Shouyun, Fengchao and Dingge were also killed in that disaster.

As Guo Wei's adopted son, Chai Rong also enjoyed the treatment of having his entire family executed. His three sons were killed. Except for the eldest son who had a nickname "Yi Ge", the other two children did not even have a nickname.

After Guo Wei became emperor, he gave names to his three grandsons who died: Yi, Cheng, and Zhen.

Later generations were accustomed to calling them Chai Zongyi, Chai Zongcheng, and Chai Zongzhen.

Before his death, Chai Rong designated his fourth son, Chai Zongxun, who was only 7 years old, as the heir to the throne. Some people on the Internet have asked why Chai Rong, who obviously had 7 sons, chose to depose the eldest and enthronize the youngest, and chose the fourth son to ascend the throne? The reason was that the first three had already died. Chai Zongxun was already the oldest among the princes.

Chai Zongxun had three younger brothers. After he ascended the throne, the three brothers changed the character "Zong" to "Xi" to avoid taboos. They were Chai Xirang, Chai Xijin, and Chai Xihui.

Guo Wei and Chai Rong were not interested in women. Guo Wei had one queen and three concubines, while Chai Rong had only three queens. It should be noted that there can only be one queen at a time, just like the emperor. The reason why Chai Rong had three queens was because they were replaced by the previous one, and the previous one unfortunately died, so the next one came. We can jokingly say that Comrade Chai Rong strictly implemented monogamy.

The above is the first characteristic of the Later Zhou royal family: the royal family members were scarce and miserable.

The second characteristic is the openness of marriage concepts in the Later Zhou Dynasty, which particularly reflects "female supremacy".

In the feudal period, society was almost dominated by men, and women had a very low social status. Even the emperor's daughters were often regarded as political tools, such as marriage alliances. It is also often said that men at that time could have three wives and four concubines, while women had to be faithful to one man.

The Later Zhou Dynasty refuted this fallacy with its actual actions. For example, the founding emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Taizu Guo Wei, had one empress and three concubines who were all second-hand. Who said that women cannot remarry? Even the emperor was the scapegoat, so why are you, a commoner, so hypocritical?
The truth about the concubines of the Later Zhou Dynasty:

Guo Wei's Queen: Empress Shengmu Chai
Chai was originally a concubine of Li Cunxu, the Emperor Zhuangzong of the Later Tang Dynasty. Li Cunxu was quite lustful and had 3,000 beauties in his palace, so Chai did not attract people's attention at that time. After Emperor Mingzong Li Siyuan became emperor, he dismissed the harem of Zhuangzong and sent everyone back to their own homes.

Chai's parents took her back, but encountered heavy rain on the way, so they had to stay temporarily to discuss remarriage.

It is said that one day, an army passed by the door of her hotel. There was a soldier who was almost naked and extremely poor. Chai took a liking to him at first sight, so she told her parents that she planned to marry him.

When the parents heard this, they hurried to find the commander of the army to inquire about the details. The commander pointed and said, "Him? Guo Que'er." Guo Que'er is Guo Wei's nickname because he has an angry bird tattooed on his neck.

Chai's parents followed the gesture and saw the nearly naked tattooed man. They were shocked and angry and almost fainted on the spot. Then they called Chai out and gave her a lecture on verbal abuse (恚曰), saying that you are the emperor's woman, even if you remarry, you should at least find a provincial or ministerial level cadre (Jiedushi), how can you marry that poor loser?
Chai insisted that this person was a nobleman who would be extremely noble in the future. According to the "Old History of the Five Dynasties", Guo Wei was sleeping naked on the side of the road at that time. Chai saw a small five-colored snake playing on his face and entering and exiting his nostrils, so he concluded that Guo Wei had the aura of an emperor.

The family was arguing fiercely. Chai was very opinionated and refused to marry anyone else. She also proposed dividing the family property on the spot, taking one part for herself and leaving one part to her parents. Then from then on, no one would know each other and no one would care about each other.

When the parents saw how strong-willed and resolute their daughter was, they were forced to compromise and agreed to the marriage.

So Guo Wei, a poor man who had nothing (not even enough clothes to wear), was happy to be the savior of Zhuangzong Li Cunxu.

Unfortunately, Chai did not live to see Guo Wei ascend the throne. She died very early and the history books do not give the exact year and month of her death. However, we can infer based on indirect historical facts that Chai should have died in the early Later Jin Dynasty.

Guo Wei's Concubine:
1. Concubine Yang

Yang was from Zhenzhou, Hebei. At that time, Wang Rong was the governor of Chengde Army in Zhenzhou. It was the heyday of the three towns in Heshuo. According to the local laws and regulations of the Heshuo area at that time, no matter who gave birth to a daughter, when she grew up to about 10 years old, she would first be sent to the general's mansion. Those who were not selected by the governor would be released back to the people.

Yang was born with natural beauty, so Wang Rong accepted her with pleasure.

Later, Zhang Wenli launched a rebellion and killed Wang Rong, and Yang and others became exiled. At that time, Li Siyuan was in Zhenzhou, so he went to Wang Rong's "harem" and provided relief. Yang's family was taken care of by Li Siyuan's confidant, An Zhonghui. Soon, Yang's parents married her to Shi Guangfu, an honest man from the same hometown.

A few years later, Comrade Shi Guangfu passed away, and Yang became a widow again.

Coincidentally, Guo Wei had just lost his wife, Chai had unfortunately passed away. At this time, Guo Wei had been promoted to a junior officer. He heard that there was a widowed beauty in the capital, so he asked someone to match her up with Yang. Yang flatly refused the marriage. It was like a toad wanting to eat swan meat!
Guo Wei was furious and asked the matchmaker to scare her: It's a time of chaos and war, right? We are the warlords who are doing the work. If you don't obey, I will kill your whole family!
Guo Wei convinces people with reason.

Yang was both scared and angry, so she told her brother Yang Tingzhang that a soldier wanted to force her to marry him. What should she do? Yang Tingzhang went to the meeting alone to see which soldier was so righteous. As a result, he met Guo Wei and they had a great time. When he came back, he told his sister that this man had amazing bones and looked like he was rich, so she should marry him.

So, Guo Wei happily married the widow Yang.

2. Imperial Concubine Zhang

Zhang's grandfather was the judge of Chengde Army in Zhenzhou, and her father was also a high-ranking official in Zhenzhou, assisting Wang Rong. It is not known whether Zhang was also accepted by Wang Rong. In short, when Wang Rong died in the rebellion of Zhang Wenli, the history books said that Zhang was "still young". At that time, Wu Congjian, a comrade of Youzhou who participated in suppressing the rebellion, temporarily lived in Zhang's home. Seeing that she was beautiful, he married her to his son. So Zhang became Wu Congjian's daughter-in-law and moved to Taiyuan.

During the reign of Shi Jingtang of the Later Jin Dynasty, Guo Wei assisted Liu Zhiyuan in ruling Taiyuan Prefecture in Hedong. Unfortunately, his newly married wife Yang died, and Wu Congjian's son also died. One had just lost his wife, and the other had just lost her husband, so Guo Wei happily took Zhang.

Chai and Yang died young of natural causes, while Zhang unfortunately died in the imperial turmoil at the end of the Han Dynasty.

3. Consort Dong

Dong's father and grandfather were also officials in Zhenzhou. When Wang Rong was murdered by Zhang Wenli, Dong was only 7 years old. She was lost from her family in the chaos and wandered on the streets. She was later taken in by a general in Luzhou. The general's wife was infertile, so he treated Dong as his own child, raising her, educating her, and cultivating her with all his heart.

After six or seven years, this general was promoted to the capital, and someone in the capital recognized Dong and explained to him the girl's life experience. He also said that her brother had never stopped looking for her relatives. There were missing person notices all over the streets. You can see for yourself.

When Dong was 13 years old, with the help of this Luzhou general, she was finally reunited with her family. The following year, when she was 14 years old, Dong married an official named Liu Jinchao.

Although Liu Jinchao's official position was not high, his job was very enviable because he was in the central court. He worked in the bureau, city, and province, while others worked in the "sea" and the court. But fate played a little joke on him and made him catch up with the "Jin-Liao War". The central government officials, big and small, were wiped out by the Khitans and all moved to Mobei. Not long after, Liu Jinchao died of illness in Khitan territory, and Dong became a widow.

So...the widow harvester, Comrade Guo Wei, appeared in time.

At that time, Dong was a widow living in Luoyang, and Guo Wei was following Liu Zhiyuan south to seize Bianzhou. When he passed by Luoyang, he gladly accepted her.

The Old History of the Five Dynasties also said that Concubine Yang and Concubine Dong were from the same hometown. Yang had told Guo Wei about Dong's virtues before, which planted a small seed of love in Guo Wei's heart, which later sprouted and bore fruit. This statement is very romantic, but it is also very debatable, because the same book and biography have already explained in the previous text that Dong was only 7 years old when she was separated from her family. In other words, before she was 7 years old, Yang had already seen her "virtue". This... different people have different opinions.

Dong was also a beauty with a tragic fate. When Guo Wei was pacifying Murong Yanchao in Yanzhou, she unfortunately fell ill and died at the age of 39.

Let’s look at Chai Rong’s harem:

Empress Zhenhui Liu was a daughter of a general. She was married to Chai Rong since she was young. Unfortunately, she died in the Xiaoqiang Incident at the end of the Han Dynasty. After Chai Rong became emperor, she was posthumously named Empress.

Empress Xuanyi, surnamed Fu, was known as the "Great Empress Fu". Her father was Fu Yanqing, her grandfather was Li Cunshen (Fu Cunshen), and her great-great-grandfather was Li Keyong. It is said that Fu Yanqing once asked a fortune teller to read the faces and bones of his sons. The fortune teller accidentally saw Fu Yanqing's eldest daughter and was immediately shocked. He told Fu Yanqing secretly that "this girl is too precious to be described"!
This word was passed around and finally reached Li Shouzhen's ears. Li Shouzhen in Hezhong had always had other ideas, so he insisted on marrying his son to Fu Yanqing and marrying Fu to his son Li Chongxun. Li Shouzhen believed that after his rebellion, he would be the emperor, and his son would also be the emperor in the future. Fu was the empress, so of course she was "indescribably noble".

He guessed half right. Fu did become the queen, but the emperor was not his son.

Li Shouzhen rebelled in Hezhong, and Guo Wei led the expedition. On the day when the city was captured, Li Shouzhen chose to commit suicide with his family. His son Li Chongxun took a sword and hacked all his brothers and sisters to death, then planned to kill Fu and then commit suicide. Fu hid in a hurry, and Li Chongxun could not find her in a hurry, so he did not care about her and committed suicide. Fu escaped.

When the rebel soldiers broke into Li Shouzhen's residence, they saw Fu sitting in the main hall, shouting at the soldiers, "I am the daughter of King Fu Wei. King Wei and the Privy Councilor are brothers, so please be rude!"

Fu Yanqing's title at that time was King of Wei, and Guo Wei was the Privy Councilor and Grand Marshal. Fu's meaning was that my father and your commander-in-chief were close friends, and if you dare to be disrespectful, you'll be in big trouble.

The fact that a weak woman could possess such courage and spirit really shocked the soldiers. They did not dare to act rashly and reported the matter in a hurry.

After hearing this, Guo Wei praised her courage and spirit, saying that a weak woman who could protect herself under the swords and sabers was really extraordinary! He then returned her to Fu Yanqing.

From then on, Guo Wei and Fu Yanqing became as close as family, and Fu recognized Guo Wei as his godfather.

Later, when Guo Wei was in charge of Chanzhou, he introduced his goddaughter Fu to his godson Chai Rong, so that the good things would not flow to outsiders. Chai Rong also took over and married the widow.

During Chai Rong's third expedition to Huainan, Fu died of illness at the age of 26.

Empress Xuanci Fu, known as the "Little Empress Fu", was the younger sister of the "Big Empress Fu". After her elder sister died of illness, her younger sister took over and was soon officially canonized as the empress, and then Chai Rong died.

After the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, Empress Xiaofu was honored as Empress Dowager Zhou by Zhao Kuangyin and lived with Chai Zongxun. In 973, Chai Zongxun died of illness at the age of 20. After Chai Zongxun's death, Empress Xiaofu became disheartened and became a nun. She died of illness in 993.

Thanks to the support of friends who "rely on the door to cook", the drama of Chenqiao mutiny is about to be staged
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(End of this chapter)