Know all about the secrets of the harem

Chapter 47 Disaster for the Country
Meixi: Beauties of the Bronze Age
"Beauty" are two soft words. Yiren is dignified and lovely, with a delicate face, like the cardamom on the branch in February, the full moon on the midsummer night, and the fairy walking on the water, "Hands are like catkins." Its skin is like creamy fat, its collar is like a grub, and its teeth are like a gourd rhinoceros." "Its shape is as light as a frightened bird, as graceful as a swimming dragon... as if the moon is covered by light clouds, and the snow flutters like the flowing wind." ; "Scented mist clouds and wet temples, clear radiance and jade arms are cold"; "Jiewu's waist is delicate and soft" are all descriptions of the appearance of a beautiful woman.

All these words are used to describe Meixi's beauty, which may seem exaggerated, but in fact she should be a stunning beauty.However, in the 5000-year history of civilization in China, there is an idiom that has long been deeply rooted.It makes all the appearances of the closed moon ashamed, and the appearance of the fish and the wild goose bear too heavy a crime in the face of the rise and fall of history and the change of dynasties, obliterating all the bright colors of those beauties, leaving only the reputation of disaster, warning the emperors, generals and others of all ages men.

This idiom is "beautiful beauty brings disaster".

The Daughter of Youshi Enters the Summer Palace

The first unjust, false and wrongly case against a beautiful woman in history is probably Meixi.Meixi, Xia Dynasty No.19 is the favorite concubine of Emperor Si Lugui, who is the famous tyrant Xia Jie.

The kings of the Xia Dynasty seemed to have bad tempers, and their fate was ill-fated—from Qi to Jie, there were a total of sixteen kings, and they had the shortest life span among the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.From the beginning to the end, Qi and Jie are out-and-out violent people.I don't know if it has something to do with Qi—the ancestor who jumped out of the cracks in the stone and launched an inhumane matricide war against his mother.Jie is undoubtedly a faint king, a tyrant, and a king of subjugation.Jie's original name was Lu Gui, and "Jie" was a posthumous title added by the Shang Dynasty, which means "the thieves kill many", and the thieves and the common people are easy to kill; The records that Jie was promiscuous and extravagant are credible.

According to legend, the Shi tribe in the east rebelled and refused to submit before Jie succeeded to the throne.After Jie succeeded to the throne, he mobilized tens of thousands of troops to crusade against the Shi clan.There is a Shi tribe with few people and a small country with weak strength. Seeing that the Xia Dynasty's soldiers are overwhelming the land and their demise is imminent, they immediately send people to plead guilty and express their willingness to surrender to the Xia Dynasty.At the beginning, Jie did not accept the surrender of the Youshi people, and planned to wipe out the Youshi tribe. The Youshi people were very frightened, and when they heard that Jie was lustful, they chose a beautiful woman named Meixi and presented them to her. Jie, please surrender again.This Meixi is a fairy beauty, with red lips and white teeth, and a national beauty. When Jie saw Meixi, he was very happy.After embracing the beauty, he returned to the imperial court happily, forgetting about the elimination of the Shi clan.This is how Meixi became Jie's concubine Yuan.

Since Xia Jie and You Shi Meixi got married, "the emperor will not go to court early", and all the big and small affairs of the court were given to Zhao Liang and Hou Zhixing, and Wu Nengyan took care of them. have fun.Although Zhao Liang and the others are deeply trusted by Xia Jie, they dare not decide on their own whenever there is a major event.He must wait for Xia Jie to report to court once every fifteen days, and then Xia Jie will deal with it.So Xia Jie became more at ease, regardless of the affairs of the court.Although those princes surrendered to Xia Jie at this time, they still wanted to be independent and free after all, so they secretly had their own hands and feet.Those veterans were even more resistant, secretly hating Xia Jie and gnashing their teeth.Due to fate, the reincarnation of heaven, somehow, natural disasters began to occur in Xiadu, first there were two major earthquakes, and then there were floods.As a result, the opposition began to spread rumors and make troubles, and the powerful princes began to bully the weak and annex each other.At that time, the court was in a state of chaos.

In order to please Meixi, Xia Jie ordered the palace to be rebuilt.In order to build the palace, Xia Jie tried his best to search for the people's fat and anointment, and recruited and enlisted the people.The palace was built resplendent and magnificent.The palace is so high that it is difficult to look up, and it seems to be toppled from the ground, so it is named "Qingguan".After the completion, Xia Jie and Meixi moved into the palace together.Feast every day, sing and sing every night, and ignore the government.

"Biography of Lie Nu Biography of Nie Yan" records that Jie, who is burly and tall, likes to put Meixi's petite body on his lap, like playing with a delicate and soft musical instrument.Yet her disposition was so melancholy that people thought she was a severe melancholia.And winning her every smile is Jie's greatest pleasure.Xia Jie is a master of drinking. He built a wine pool, which is large enough to row a boat.He forced three thousand master drinkers to drink to the sound of drums, and some of them drowned because of drunkenness.Faced with this absurd scene, Meixi smiled sweetly, which aroused Xia Jie's lust and made his behavior even more obscene.

In "Biography of Women", one of Meixi's biggest crimes is her smile.Meixi also has a sin of laughing, that is, she loves to listen to the sound of tearing silk. "Emperor Century Collection" records her strange hobby.Court life is too boring, and even the pleasure of drinking and killing is fleeting.Those silk and bamboo music that reverberated day and night could not dispel the sadness in her heart, and only the noise of tearing silk could win her favor.For this reason, Jie ordered the officials to bring in beautifully woven silk and tear it apart one by one in front of her.Those cracking sounds stimulated the numb nerves, making Meixi smile again.In the early days of the agricultural era, when the silk industry was just emerging, destroying this rare and expensive item was tantamount to waste.But Jie was immersed in the enthusiasm for psychotherapy and turned a deaf ear to state affairs.Jie is Meixi's lover, he spends the fate of the kingdom as the price, and devotes himself to treating the "disease" of the patients.He spent the people's fat to build a luxurious Yaotai, and recruited beauties and actors to rehearse large-scale plays, play gorgeous music, and so on.

All these behaviors are designed to build a carnival spiritual scene, and let Meixi get happiness from it.

Jie's licentiousness and immorality are rarely heard.The people can't bear it, and the princes can't bear it.Despite this, Xia Jie believed that his rule would last forever, for a long time. He compared himself to the sun, hoping to be as bright as the sun and the moon.The slaves and common people cursed him and said: "You sun, when will you perish? We would rather perish with you." But he said triumphantly: "There is a sun in the sky, just like I have people, the sun will perish ?

Of course not, so my reign will never end. "

However, under Xia Jie's extravagance and waste, the originally full treasury finally gradually became empty.In order to make up for this shortfall, Xia Jie continued to conquer the north and south, wantonly plundering the wealth of the people in his own country and neighboring countries.Years of wars have been fierce and dangerous, and the whole country, men, women, and children, were either conscripted to fight or sent to serve. The poor people either died of war disasters, or died of hunger and disease.But the corrupt officials refused to let go of these poor people. When the whips could not drive the people to run for them, the wicked corrupt officials imposed inhumane punishments such as beheading hands, feet, noses, and castration. persecute the people.

However, Jie was not a heinous tyrant as historians said.He did not cut off the head of Yi Yin who had remonstrated with him, nor did he kill Cheng Tang, the leader of the Yin clan who was imprisoned. Because of the crazy love for Meixi.Jie is a low-energy and mentally handicapped warrior. His love burns irresistibly in the declining age, and a scene of strange tragedy is staged.In the end, he did not complete the treatment of Meixi, but together with his sick lover, he provided a high-sounding political excuse for Chengtang's rebellion.

For Xia Jie's self-inflicted blame, the history books regard him as a negative example of being deceived by beauty and leading to the subjugation of the country.It seems that Xia Jie is a mentally handicapped child with no brains, and all the bad things are instigated by Mei Xi behind the scenes.The libretto of Si Xian's "Pao Lao Mei Bo" is written like this: "King Jie lost his political power and made chaos in the government, because he was fatuous and greedy for sex. He trusted the slanderous concubine Xi Nu, and the Xia Dynasty turned into ashes."

For Meixi, people today have many objective evaluations.In "The Death of the Empress in Ancient Chinese Books", Bo Yang introduced a section of Meixi with the title "A Poor Female Prisoner". He said: "Shi Meixi is a poor girl, and her identity is a woman without human rights. A prisoner of a woman, in her youth, had to leave her hometown and her lover (if she had a lover), and be sacrificed to the enemy like cattle and sheep for the survival of the clan." Hu Po in "Chinese Women's Injustice" "Records" said: "In all dynasties, starting from the Xia Dynasty, it seems that people have become accustomed to finding a scapegoat for the rise and fall of each dynasty. All in one... Such words can be seen everywhere in history, as if the demise of a dynasty and the occurrence of a turmoil are all caused by women. But in reality? People often ignore the behind the scenes The truth—if it weren’t for the fatuous and lustful emperors, and the corruption and incompetence of the generals, why would it be here?” "Is it a "women's disaster" or a "male disaster"? "The article said: "Women should not be blamed for the decline and fall of many dynasties in history. It is a common phenomenon. But if licentiousness is immoral and the country is still licentious, then the country must be subjugated.” It can be said that Meixi is the first Tengdi woman who bears the biggest “black pot” in Chinese history.

Probably because of the many controversies, the straight-handed old bookmakers, even if they know the relevant historical facts, dare not and are unwilling to enlist the local chronicles of Xijiren Teng County, so her hometown is still a mystery.All we know today is that her hometown is in today's Tengzhou City. She was a beautiful woman from the Youshi family and the last queen of the Xia Dynasty.

Daji: As beautiful as a flower, with a heart of snakes and scorpions
Daji, the favorite concubine of King Shang Zhou, the last monarch of the Shang Dynasty in Chinese history, is known as the "Generation Fairy Fairy".People's familiarity with Su Daji still comes from the popular TV series "Feng Shen Bang". "Feng Shen Bang" said that she was as beautiful as a peach blossom, seductive and charming, and she was the illusion of a thousand-year-old vixen.She bewitched King Zhou to indulge in women's sex, debauched the country, neglected business, and brought down the Shang Dynasty.When the Zhou people wiped out the Shang Dynasty, they tied up Daji, took her to the execution ground, and beheaded her for public display.When killing Daji, even the executioner was fascinated by her beauty, could not bear to do it, and was willing to die for her.

Of course, this is just a mythological novel, how true the story is, and how much water the author added to the vividness of the story is naturally unknown.But what can be concluded is that the beautiful woman Daji was not transformed by a fox.According to "Jinyu" records: "Yin Xinfa had Su (now Wenxian County, Henan Province), and there was Su's daughter Yan who was named Daji." This means that Da was already the "trophy" of King Zhou's victory in the battle.It is said that the Su family is a tribe with a nine-tailed fox as its totem, which is why there is such an attachment in "Fengshen Yanyi".Although Daji was not transformed by a fox spirit, he still fascinated King Zhou, "I obey Daji's words".As for the reason for the subjugation of the Shang Dynasty, is Daji the culprit?
"King Zhou" means "crippled and damaged good".Later generations use the metaphor of "helping the king to do evil" to help bad people do bad things, which shows the resentment towards King Zhou.Why is there such a title?No matter how inexplicable people are, they will not be so unbearable.Put ashes on your face!There is no lack of elements of the orthodoxy of later generations to vilify and propagate.In fact, "King Zhou" is not the official title of the emperor, but a bad posthumous title imposed on him by later generations. His correct name should be the No. 30 second king Zixin of the Shang Dynasty, also called "Dixin". ".

King Zhou was obsessed with Daji's beauty and obeyed her.Daji likes singing and dancing, and he not only likes Daji, but also makes musicians and teachers create profuse music and obscene dances, and sing happily in the palace day and night.Daji dances to the melodious voice, alluring and charming.As a result, King Zhou neglected the government and held banquets day and night, which eventually led to the demise of the Shang Dynasty.

One severe winter, Daji saw someone walking barefoot on the ice, thinking that his physical structure was special and different from that of ordinary people, so he ordered King Zhou to cut off his feet to study the reason why those feet were not afraid of the cold.

Once, Daji saw a pregnant woman with a big belly. Out of curiosity, she asked King Zhou to order someone to cut open the belly of the pregnant woman to see what was going on inside.

Another time, Daji made a bet with King Zhou, saying that he could see the gender of the fetus in the womb of a pregnant woman, so King Zhou ordered people to find more than a dozen pregnant women who were about to give birth for Daji to identify one by one, and then cut open the belly of each pregnant woman to verify , resulting in the deaths of more than a dozen pregnant women and fetuses.

The most exaggerated thing is that King Zhou's ears are very soft, and he listens to Daji's words the most, even to the point that "Daji praises him and Daji hates him".In this way, the world cannot be peaceful, the common people complain, and the princes rebel.At this time, Daji made another cruel move to King Zhou, inventing a criminal law to punish criminals: "the method of cannon fire".It is to put a thick copper pillar horizontally, coat the top with oil, and set up a charcoal fire below to bake it, and then order it

"Let the guilty do it," and within a few steps, they fell into the red charcoal fire, screaming from time to time, and burned to death like this.Every time she saw the prisoner struggling and screaming in the charcoal fire, Daji laughed.How to laugh, laugh loudly, or sneer, is unknown.King Zhou's uncle Bigan couldn't stand this cruel and perverted approach.So he remonstrated with him and said: "If you don't practice the codes and laws of the previous kings, but use the words of a woman, the disaster will never end." These words hit King Zhou's pain, and he was very angry. Embarrassed.At this time, Daji added oil and vinegar to the side, opened Cherry's small mouth, and spit out a bloody sentence: "I heard that the saint's heart has seven orifices..." King Zhou heard that Aifei has such a desire for knowledge, so open it and have a look .Therefore, "cut the heart and observe it".

King Zhou also set up a "wine pond" in Weizhou (now Qixian County, Henan Province), and hung meat on trees to form a "meat forest". There were as many as 3000 people drinking at each feast, making it unsightly for men and women to chase after them naked.Jiuhou (the fiefdom is in Linzhang, Hebei Province today) had a very beautiful daughter who was summoned to the palace. She was killed because she couldn't understand Daji's lewdness. to the princes.

In order to please Daji, King Zhou sent people to collect the world's rare treasures, rare birds and animals, and put them in the deer platform and deer garden. He often drank and had fun all night long, and neglected state affairs.

King Wu of Zhou took the opportunity to mobilize the princes to attack Zhou. He fought in Muye (now south of Qixian County, Henan Province) and destroyed Shang in one fell swoop. King Zhou fled to Lutai and set himself on fire. Daji also hanged himself to death.

Is Daji really that bad?Regardless of the official history books, or the unofficial official history, Daji is a femme fatale, the culprit of the eternal evil.Such an argument has become widely known and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but the question is, is this really the case in history?
Let’s talk about King Zhou first. The past dynasties have symbolized him as a tyrant.But this image is still far from his real situation.During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zigong had long been a little bit disappointed. He complained indignantly for King Zhou, saying: "Zhou is not good, it is not as good as it is! It is because a gentleman is evil, and future generations will criticize him if he says evil."

In the Spring and Autumn Period, the crimes against King Zhou were limited to "died by admonishment by Bigan"; in the Warring States Period, Bigan's death became vivid. Qu Yuan said that he was drowned in water, and Lu Buwei's followers said he was His heart was cut open to death; by the time Sima Qian of the Han Dynasty wrote "Historical Records", there was already a more vivid interpretation, saying that King Zhou cut his heart open to satisfy Daji's curiosity and wanted to see the heart of a "sage" Is it seven orifices?In the Jin Dynasty, because Huang Fumi was a doctor by profession, he would inevitably suffer from occupational diseases when writing some literary and historical articles. He also deduced that King Zhou, at the instigation of Daji, even dissected a pregnant woman to see the fetus. shape.Even if King Zhou was not good, he would not be so bad.Scholars of later generations processed and interpreted it one after another according to their personal likes and dislikes, and spread rumors, isn't it so absurd?
As for King Zhou's most famous legends of "Jiuchi Meat Forest" and "Pao Lao", there are no records in the Zhou Dynasty, nor in the Spring and Autumn Period. However, at the end of the Warring States period, Han Feizi suddenly described it vividly: Zibao thought that elephant chopsticks must not be added to the soil, but rhinoceros and jade cups must be used; elephant chopsticks and jade cups must not be filled with bean sprouts, so they must have wombs, elephants, and leopard fetuses; yan, elephants, and leopard fetuses must not wear short brown clothes If you eat under thatched huts, you will be dressed in nine layers of brocade, with a spacious room and a high platform. After living for five years, Zhou used it as a meat garden, set up cannons, climbed the dross hill, and stood next to the wine pool, and Zhou died."

It is said that Han Feizi stuttered, but his writing was very eloquent, as evidenced by his imaginative writing.But at that time, all the philosophers were eloquent. In order to promote their own ideas and demonstrate their own views, they inevitably only focused on provoking words, and the word "strong" was unreasonable.Many arguments are mostly "taken for granted".Even Sima Qian, who "does not pretend to be beautiful and does not hide evil", sometimes moistens his pen.For example, on the basis of Han Feizi's "Wine Pond Meat Forest", he added the reasonable imagination of "men and women running naked among them".Of course, before him, someone had already made a big fuss about the area of ​​the wine pool, saying that it is possible to "go back to Shipwreck Hill and have more than [-] cattle drinkers in one generation." This kind of imagination can only be described as crazy.

Perhaps, in their view, it doesn't matter how lewd and absurd the description of King Zhou is anyway.Another purpose of history is to warn future generations, so their imagination and embellishment often appear calm and generous.For example, Liu Xiang, a great historian after Sima Qian, upgraded the area of ​​Lutai, king of Zhou, to "three li, a thousand feet high"; while Huang Fumi of the Jin Dynasty felt that it was not enough, so he gritted his teeth and increased the building area of ​​Lutai by ten times. , reaching the point of "a thousand feet high".

At the same time, Daji's monstrous and vicious image has gradually escalated.From "Shangshu" in the crusade against King Zhou, "Listen to women's words", to "Guoyu·Jinyu": "Da has been favored, so she was compared with Jiaoge and died in Yin." "Consciousness": "The king of Shang was in chaos, indulged in wine and morality, Daji was in charge of politics, and there was no way to reward and punish." These are still reasonable inferences that are not too far-fetched.Later, the longer the age, the stronger the imagination, and the more vivid the historical materials written. Until the "Fengshen Yanyi" of later generations, because there were no worries of historians and many materials provided by the literati of the past dynasties, the interpretation was more vivid. It is miraculous.The crime of being a villain through the ages is none other than her.

(End of this chapter)