Today, the History Encyclopedia editor brings you articles by Zhu Zhanji and Hu Shanxiang, hoping to be helpful to everyone.
In 1426, Zhu Zhanji ascended the throne and conferred the title of Empress upon Hu Shanxiang. However, no one expected that the seemingly loving emperor and empress would have a great conflict. In 1428, the position of Empress Hu Shanxiang was abolished, making her the first empress of the Ming Dynasty to be deposed. After being deposed, Hu Shanxiang retreated to Chang’an Palace and was given the title of Master Jingci, receiving the favor of Empress Dowager Zhang. Many people cannot understand what Hu Shanxiang has done, Zhu Zhanji wants to depose her. Actually, she didn’t do anything, it’s all because of Zhu Zhanji.
When Hu Shanxiang was young, he was known for his virtue, being loyal, kind, honest in nature, dignified in behavior, and without any flattery or obedience. So during Zhu Di’s reign, he chose her as the Crown Princess. Zhu Di was very fond of this Empress Dowager, not just Zhu Di. At that time, Zhu Gaochi’s wife also liked her daughter-in-law very much. The relationship between their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was very good, so when Zhu Zhanji deposed Hu Shanxiang later, his mother, Empress Dowager Zhang, still opposed it.
After marrying Zhu Zhanji, Hu Shanxiang did not do anything wrong and can be said to have always been law-abiding. Not only does Zhu Zhanji’s own family highly approve of her, but the overweight minister also highly approves of this empress. However, Zhu Zhanji did not like this wife very much. Zhu Zhanji had a childhood sweetheart named Sun Ruowei, who was quite beautiful in her youth. Her father Sun Zhong is the chief clerk of Yongcheng County. Mrs. Peng Chengbo, the mother of Empress Zhang of Mingren Sect, was also from Yongcheng. She frequently visited the palace and said that Sun Zhong’s daughter was very virtuous, which is why Empress Sun was able to enter the palace. In this way, Sun Ruowei and Zhu Zhanji are very familiar, they can be said to be childhood sweethearts and childhood sweethearts. The reason why Zhu Zhanji married Hu Shanxiang as empress was because it was set by Zhu Di, and he could not go against it. However, he also married Sun Ruowei, and after ascending to the throne, he conferred upon her the title of Noble Consort, second only to the Empress.
After Zhu Zhanji succeeded to the throne, he always wanted to depose the empress and make Sun Ruowei the empress. However, the queen has never made any mistakes, so there is no reason to take action. In addition, with the opposition of the ministers, the resistance is even greater. In 1428, Zhu Zhanji finally took action, claiming that Hu Shanxiang had no remaining boys and only had two daughters, and her health was not good, so he demanded that Hu Shanxiang voluntarily resign from the position of empress. Hu Shanxiang was forced to resign from his position as queen. In fact, this excuse is too absurd. The emperor and empress are both in their twenties, and the empress still has two daughters left before giving birth. And it was not until seven years after Zhu Zhanji’s death that Hu Shanxiang passed away. It is a great irony to say that someone’s health is not good, and yet one’s own life is not as long as theirs. From any perspective, Hu Shanxiang should not be deposed.
However, since the emperor’s thoughts were not on Hu Shanxiang, she had no choice. She knew that even if she didn’t resign from the position of queen, Zhu Zhanji would still find more excuses in the future. It’s better to resign, it’s also good for oneself.
After Hu Shanxiang resigned, Empress Dowager Zhang was still very kind to her. Although Sun Ruowei became the empress, Empress Dowager Zhang ordered Empress Hu Fei to be ranked above her at the imperial court banquet. It has to be said that she is still very satisfied with this daughter-in-law. But this is all the emperor’s intention, and he cannot intervene too much. In fact, Hu Shanxiang’s experience was quite tragic. He did nothing wrong but was deposed. Perhaps she really hasn’t met the right person, otherwise she wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.
