On the Lantern Festival night during the Hongwu period in Ming Taizu, Zhu Yuanzhang, the great ancestor of Ming Dynasty, and Liu Bowen, the counselor, went to Beijing to watch the Lantern Festival incognito. In front of a big firm, lanterns hung high with many riddles, which attracted countless people to watch and guess. Zhu Yuanzhang also leaned in to watch the fun, and accidentally noticed an interesting picture. A woman had a pair of natural big feet and a big watermelon in her arms. She was smiling and looked funny. Zhu Yuanzhang didn't understand its meaning, so he asked the learned Liu Bowen, "What does this mystery mean?" Liu Bowen pondered for a moment and replied, "This is also a woman with big feet in Huaixi! Zhu Yuanjin still didn't know who "Huaixi Bigfoot Girl" meant, and continued to ask, while Liu Bowen smiled cunningly and said, "You can go back to the palace and ask the empress. "
After returning to the palace that night, Zhu Yuanjin couldn't wait to mention it to his Ma Huanghou. Ma Huanghou wry smile way: "I'm from Huaixi, skyclan. The answer to this mystery must be Yu Ji. " Zhu Yuanjin was furious when he heard this, and thought, "How dare people in small streets play charades and ridicule the heavenly queen!" So he ordered the riddle maker to be arrested. When Ma Huanghou saw this scene, he generously advised him, "What's wrong with playing with people when the weather is fine? Besides, I was born with feet. What's wrong with that? Don't make a mountain out of a molehill, smile and be generous! " This matter has just been forgotten.
A little thing is enough to show Ma Huanghou's kindness and generosity, but why does a queen, who is the mother instrument of the world, have a pair of natural big feet instead of an inch of golden lotus according to the ancient system? Because of this Ma Huanghou's humble origins, she was originally an orphan. When she was young, she was in the midst of war and had no time to care about foot binding, so she became a rare Dazu queen.
Ma Huanghou's hometown is Xinfengli, Suzhou, Huaixi. Ma's family is a rich family. His mother Zheng died shortly after giving birth to her only daughter. His father is generous and has made many brothers. In order to get justice for his friends, he killed a local gentry. In order to escape revenge, he had to flee to a foreign country. Before he left, he entrusted his daughter, who was less than one year old, to his friend Guo Zixing.
Guo Zixing is also an honest man, so naturally he dare not neglect him because of his friends. He and his wife, Zhang, took Ma Girl as their own and raised her carefully. A little older, I taught Miss Ma to read and write in person, and Zhang gave her a needlework. Teacher Ma is also very clever. No matter what she studies, she can master it with a little guidance. Miss Ma, who is nearly 30 years old, is beautiful, dignified and elegant, and her every move shows everyone's demeanor, which is very popular with the couple. A physiognomy gentleman once said to Guo Zixing, "This woman looks like a natural person, so we can't treat her lightly!" Guo Zixing doubts this, but he is very cautious when choosing a son-in-law for Miss Ma. Looking for it, I have never found the right person. At this time, due to the darkness of the imperial court, insurgents sprang up everywhere, and the world was in chaos. Guo Zixing, who has lofty aspirations and is quite famous, also opposed Yuan in Yuan Shundi in the early spring of the 12th year of Zheng Zhi. At the beginning of the uprising, there were too many things, and Miss Ma's marriage was put on hold for the time being.
Shortly after the war in Guo Zixing, 25-year-old Zhu Yuanzhang defected to his army and became a "centurion". Zhu Yuanzhang is very brave and resourceful. He made great contributions in several battles and was highly appreciated by Guo Zixing. After the victory, Guo Zixing hosted a banquet in honor of all the soldiers, and the seat of senior generals was located in Guo Zixing's handsome account. Although Zhu Yuanzhang's official position is low, he is specially invited because of his high work. In addition to celebrating, the couple also have a secret purpose, that is, to take this opportunity to choose a son-in-law for Miss Ma.
After the banquet broke up, Mrs. Guo and Zhang took Miss Ma and hid behind the curtain to secretly observe. At this point, the people in the account are in full swing, full of joy after the victory, punching and shouting. Ma glanced shyly and finally landed on a young officer in the outermost seat. He is a big man with a dark face, deep eyes, a long face and a big mouth. Although his appearance is too rough, his eyes are magnificent and heroic. At this time, he was the only one who didn't laugh and shout with everyone, sitting in a tower with a glass in his hand, thinking slightly. It is precisely because of this that he caught Miss Ma's attention. Ma girl showed her choice to her adoptive mother Zhang. Zhang is also a woman with vision. She once heard her husband talk about the deeds of this young officer. She deeply felt that this man would be successful in the future, so she admired the choice of adopted daughter. And this young officer is Zhu Yuanzhang.
In this way, it was decided by the couple that Miss Ma's marriage was settled, and a lively wedding was held for two young people in the military camp on another day. Since then, Zhu Yuanzhang, who has just emerged in the army, has been commensurate with Marshal Guo Zixing and worshipped many heroes.
When Zhu Yuanzhang was rewarded for repeatedly making outstanding achievements in Guo Zixing's army, he once caused the envy of some cronies who followed Guo Zixing. Now he has become the son-in-law of the marshal, making them jealous all their lives, so they always want to find an opportunity to tear him down.
At this time, domestic heroes rose up, and many uprising teams gradually grew, among which Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youliang had great influence; In this way, the situation of rebel fighting becomes complicated, not only to deal with the Yuan court, but also to guard against the devouring between the rebels. In this case, Zhu Yuanzhang is different from Guo Zixing in fighter and strategy. Because of his straightforward nature and close relationship with Guo Zixing, he often expressed his views, which inevitably caused the displeasure of Guo Zixing who was headstrong. Those Guo Zixing cronies who are jealous of Zhu Yuanzhang on weekdays took the opportunity to talk loudly, saying that Zhu Yuanzhang was arrogant and how to specialize. He must be disloyal and have ulterior motives. Please be careful of Guo Shuai! Guo Zixing's heart rings slightly.
On this day, Guo Zixing called senior generals to discuss the next military action. The ministries were very passive in Nuo Nuo's claim to Guo Shuai and repeatedly agreed; Only Zhu Yuanzhang has objections. He talked freely about his views, which disgusted Guo Zixing and made him give up his views. Zhu Yuanzhang argued and refused to give in. Finally, Weng Xu and his wife quarreled loudly. Guo Zixing was ashamed and ordered Zhu Yuanzhang to be imprisoned in a rage.
It turned out that Zhu Yuanzhang was imprisoned in Guo Zixing to vent his anger, and he never wanted to kill him. After all, he is still a capable assistant and his son-in-law. But Guo Zixing's cronies with ulterior motives secretly ordered the Guards to cut off Zhu Yuanzhang's food supply, and secretly pushed Zhu Yuanzhang, who could not get in touch with the outside world, to death.
Ma Shi, Zhu Yuanzhang's wife, was very anxious when she saw her husband being imprisoned for no reason. She tried her best to get close to another room where her husband was being held, and finally found that she could get close to the back window of the house as long as she passed through a small wilderness cemetery, and the guards didn't notice. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang's fasting was naturally known by Ma Shi. But at that time, the food supply was quite tight, and everyone was only given a certain amount of food every day, even the marshal's daughter Ma Shi was no exception; Ma was afraid to tell others that she had found a passage to another room, so she pretended to be unwell every time she ate and took the food to the bedroom. In fact, she only eats a few mouthfuls at a time, and then saves most of them. In the evening, a man ventured through the cemetery and secretly handed her husband the food saved that day from the back window of another room, barely maintaining Zhu Yuanzhang's life.
This kind of food that can be saved from Ma Shi's mouth can't fill Zhu Yuanzhang's stomach after all. In order to feed her husband, dignified and elegant Ma Shi had to steal from the kitchen. On this day, she saw that the steamed bread in the kitchen had just been steamed, and the cook left the kitchen again, so she slipped in quietly, lifted the lid of the cage, didn't worry about being hot, grabbed some steaming steamed bread at random, and quickly held it in her arms. Unexpectedly, I just ran out of the kitchen and ran into my foster mother Zhang. Seeing that she looked flustered, Zhang became suspicious and asked with concern, "Why is my daughter so flustered?" Ma Shi thought that his behavior had been discovered, and suddenly he blushed, and two lines of tears could not help but drip down. He stopped in front of his foster mother and didn't speak for a long time. Seeing that she seemed to be hiding something, Zhang took her to her room and asked her carefully. Ma couldn't help but burst into tears, and then told her about the foster mother in detail. Zhang was shocked and couldn't help crying with her. When she untied her skirt and took out the bun hidden in her arms, she found that the horse's nipples had been burned red and swollen by the hot air.
Zhang immediately explained the situation and pleaded for Zhu Yuanzhang. Guo Zixing flew into a rage when he heard that his cronies dared to do such a thing behind his back. He immediately ordered the release of Zhu Yuanzhang, reinstated him, and locked the conspirators in another room.
In the fifteenth year of Yuan Shundi, Zhu Yuanzhang was less than three years old when he joined Guo Zixing. However, due to repeated military exploits, he was constantly promoted and promoted. He became the deputy commander-in-chief and general manager of Guo Zixing, containing the generals, thus establishing a high prestige. Soon, Guo Zixing died, and Zhu Yuanzhang succeeded him as the marshal of the Rebel Army, continuing to resist the great cause of Yuan and Xing Han.
In the second year, Zhu Yuanzhang led an army to conquer the important town of Qing Ji, renamed Yingtianfu, established himself as the king of Wu, and became the princess of Wu. At that time, in addition to fighting the Yuan Army, the prince of Wu also competed with Chen Youliang, who claimed to be the Han Emperor, for territory, and the war was frequent and there was no peace. In order to help her husband, Princess Mars mythology personally led the soldiers' wives and daughters to make clothes and shoes for the army, which greatly boosted the morale ahead. Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youliang.
Zhu Yuanzhang lit up the army to fight north and south, wiped out other insurgents, returned to capture the fragile Yuan capital, restored the Han nationality's world, and unified China. Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, with its capital in Tianfu, which is now Nanjing, and he himself became the founding emperor Ming Taizu. The water rose as high as the water, and Ma Shi was made queen.
After the capture of Beijing, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's men collected a large number of treasures and playthings from the Imperial Palace of the Yuan Dynasty and sent them to Yingtianfu for Ming Taizu. Ming Taizu wants to start with a poor boy. He has been a rich emperor for more than ten years. Now that he has so much treasure, he is ecstatic. He is busy calling Ma Huanghou to let them enjoy it together. Who knows Ma Huanghou saw it, but he said dismissively, "The Yuan Dynasty could not keep the country because of these things. Your majesty has no treasure of his own. What do you need these things for? " Ming Taizu was shocked and murmured, "I know the queen said that smart people are treasures!" When Ma Huanghou saw her husband's change of heart, he quickly bowed to him and said, "Your majesty can win the world with this treasure. I congratulate your majesty! My concubine and your majesty were born in poverty. Now that you are the emperor, you are most afraid of giving birth to arrogance and extravagance, and your peril begins with subtlety. May your majesty cherish the sages! " Since then, Ming Taizu, who is conceited and suspicious, has been able to appoint a good minister after he has conquered the country, which is related to Ma Huanghou's persuasion.
Ma Huanghou not only advised the imperial husband to govern the country by virtue, but also ruled the harem by virtue, and advocated the frugality and kindness of the harem concubines with his own words and deeds. Ma Huanghou likes reading ancient history books and often teaches others with ancient teachings. She thought there were many sages in the Song Dynasty, so she ordered female historians to extract their words and deeds to show the concubines in the harem. Someone lamented: "Queen Song is so kind!" Ma Huanghou primly said, "Isn't it better to be too kind than mean?" They have nothing to say.
Ming Taizu's clothes, shoes, diet, Ma Huanghou personally manage frugality, while she is frugal, and her clothes are worn out and she is reluctant to throw them away. She often repairs them before wearing them. Although she is extremely expensive, she will never forget the good habits she developed in poverty and wartime. For the children of concubines, she is not cheap at all, but also gives generous living treatment; She also cares about the preparations for the servants in the palace, and often sends some clothes and food to show sympathy; Whenever the wives of civil and military officials enter the DPRK, she always remembers to send some gifts and talk to them in a cold voice, just like treating her family. Therefore, people inside and outside the court have great respect for Ma Huanghou. Ming Taizu also praised her: "A virtuous queen can be compared with the eldest grandson of Emperor Taizong!" Ma Huanghou replied, "I heard that it is easy for husband and wife to protect each other, but it is difficult for the monarch and the minister to protect each other. Your majesty will not forget the poor princess or the difficult minister. I just want to be innocent, how dare I compare with the virtuous grandson queen! " She not only humbles herself and worships sages, but also reminds her husband that she is successful at all times. She really deserves to be a good queen of Zoff's careful management of the country.
Ma Huanghou knew the importance of loyal ministers and wise men to the imperial court, so he paid great attention to taking care of them like women. Every morning, if there are many things, it will often last until noon. At this time, the official who plays the event will have lunch in the palace as usual. One day, Ma Huanghou ordered eunuchs to prepare lunch for officials. She felt that the taste was not good, and immediately suggested to Ming Taizu: "People should be thin and virtuous, otherwise how can they win virtuous people!" Ming Taizu was so impressed with this that he ordered Guanglu Siqing, who manages food, to improve the quality of official working lunches. Although this is a trivial matter, the officials are very grateful to Ma Huanghou for his concern and concern, and of course they have done their best.
Once, after Ming Taizu returned to his official position after visiting imperial academy, Ma Huanghou asked with concern, "How many students are there in imperial academy?" Mao said there were thousands of people. Ma Huanghou asked again: "There are many talents, but they have long food and grass. Who will support his wife and children?" College students are a group of talents trained by the imperial court. During their study in imperial academy, their living expenses were all provided by the court, and there was no other salary. Who will support the family? This issue has never been considered by any court in the past. Ma Huanghou's mention also attracted the attention of Ming Taizu, so the imperial edict specially set up a "red board warehouse" to store food and distribute it to students' families. From then on, students have no worries, concentrate on their studies and become pillars of talent in the future.
Ma Huanghou is not only virtuous, but also brilliant. She has extensive knowledge of classics and history. Mao wrote all her notes. Whenever Mao has feelings and remarks, she carefully records them. No matter how complicated the situation is, they can be organized and clear, and there is no omission.
In order to repay Ma Huanghou's virtue and George's contribution, Ming Taizu proposed several times to give the Queen a generous salary, but Ma Huanghou always resolutely refused. She said: "It is illegal for a consort to go into politics, and it is easy to get into chaos. The official position is given to a foreigner!" Therefore, although the consorts of the Ming Dynasty also enjoyed high official positions, they were generally not granted higher official positions, and they were also forbidden to interfere in political affairs. This rule was made by Ma Huanghou.
In view of the fact that the chaos in Han and Tang Dynasties was mostly caused by eunuchs' participation in politics, Ma Huanghou, who was good at learning from history, gave Ming Taizu advice in this respect. Therefore, the Ming court strictly stipulated that the minister of the interior should not concurrently hold the civil and military post of the foreign minister, wear the crown of the foreign minister, or have correspondence with the foreign minister, and erected an iron sign in front of the palace, which read: "The minister of the interior should not interfere in political affairs, and offenders will be beheaded!" In this way, put an end to the disadvantages of eunuch chaos.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, was born in poverty and had a rough life. So although he is wise and open-minded on the surface, he is suspicious and harsh in his bones. Fortunately, there is a kind and generous Ma Huanghou by his side, who often remonstrates, lightens many punishments and saves countless innocent suspects. The pardon of Song Qian, a college student, is a typical example.
Song Qian was a scholar in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. He wrote many laws, regulations, rituals, punishments, politics and articles when the Ming Dynasty was founded, and was honored by Ming Taizu as "the head of the founding civil servants". He assisted Ming Taizu for nineteen years and Yu Hongwu for ten years, that is, at the age of sixty-eight, he returned to his hometown and lived in seclusion in Luo Qing.
Three years later, the minister of the DPRK, Hu, was punished for plotting evil. The grandson, because of his close relationship with Hu, was killed by collective punishment; Also suspected of teaching Hu's scriptures; At the age of 72, he was arrested and taken to the capital, and his life was dying. When Ma Huanghou heard the news, he said to Mao, "Mr. Song once taught in the palace and was a teacher for life. Is he the teacher's son, or the beginning of the ceremony, let alone the son of heaven? Besides, he lives in seclusion in Luo Qing. What else can he do? " Mao said proudly, "You don't know that. The old man is unwilling to be lonely. Although he lives in seclusion in Luoqing Mountain, people from all directions come to consult in an endless stream, and practitioners are all over the world. If you have different ambitions, how can you get them! " He refused Ma Huanghou's intercession, and Ma Huanghou was silent.
The next day, Ma Huanghou prepared lunch for Mao. All the food was vegetarian, but there was no wine or meat. Asked why, Mao replied tearfully, "My concubine has done a blessing for Mr. Song!" Ming Taizu couldn't help but be moved, so he pardoned Song Lian's death and exiled Maozhou.
Ma Huanghou's kindness not only protected important officials, but also affected ordinary people. Wu Xingyou has a very rich man named Shen Wansan. It is said that his family has a wonderful "cornucopia", which can be called gold and silver, so there are mountains of gold and silver at home. Shen Wansan is generous and impetuous, and likes to show off his financial resources. When the wall of Beijing was built in the early Ming Dynasty, he proposed to share half of the project for the imperial court, and because the imperial court was short of financial resources at that time, he approved his request. Unexpectedly, Shen Wansan was rich, accessible and even completed earlier than the project organized by the imperial court, which made Ming Taizu deeply ashamed.
When Ming Taizu wanted to find an excuse to punish Shen Wansan, Shen Wansan, who was overjoyed, applied for a reward from the Royal Army. Ming Taizu was furious and said, "Good man! He wanted to reward the emperor's army, but he had ulterior motives. He is really a mob! "
Ma Huanghou, on the other hand, thought that although Shen Wansan was too arrogant, he would not be sentenced to death, so he remonstrated: "I heard that national laws are used to punish those who don't obey the law, not those who are not appreciated by the monarch. Although Shen Wansan is arrogant, he has not broken the law and should not be punished. " Ming Taizu thought it made sense, so he didn't kill Shen Wansan. He just sent him to the Yunnan border region with his own financial resources.
It is said that Pujiang has a rich man, a harmonious family, ten generations living under one roof and a famous preacher. The local people called his family "Yimen", and the county magistrate also praised his family's harmony and joy, and gave him a plaque of "the best in the world". Mingzu was very interested when he heard about it. He specially called Zheng Qian to the capital to see him and asked how many people were there in his family. Zheng Qian replied: "More than a thousand." Ming Taizu said admiringly, "It is rare in the world that more than 1000 people live and eat together. It is really the first in the world! " So I gave him a generous gift to go back.
Ma Huanghou listened to their conversation behind the screen and felt very uneasy. He quickly sent a message to Ming Taizu: "Is your majesty the first person to do things or win the world?" There are more than 1,000 people in Zheng Qian's family, if it is too easy! " Ming Taizu was surprised, so he called Zheng Qian to the official and asked him, "Is there any way to govern your family?" Zheng Qian replied; "Nothing else, just don't listen to your wife." Ming Taizu smiled with relief and told him to go home. This time, although Ming Taizu didn't fully accept Ma Huanghou's opinion, he just showed that he attached importance to Mali. He thinks that his success depends on his wife's help. Since Zheng Qian never listened to his wife, he decided that he could not become a climate.
In August of the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Ma Huanghou, who had gone through a lot of hardships, was seriously ill. After the failure of the experiment, she insisted on refusing to take any more medicine. Ming Taizu begged, but she said, "Life and death are fate. My illness can't be cured. What's the use of taking medicine!" Lying on her sickbed, she repeatedly said to her husband, "May your majesty seek wisdom from those who can be admonished and be cautious in the end, so that children and grandchildren will have virtue and subjects will get what they want!" Then, he called the prince and princess to his side and told him, "When you grow rich, you must know that it is not easy to raise silkworms, and you should cherish what is for the people of the world!" At the last moment of her life, she still did not forget to influence her husband and children with virtue, worrying about the country and the people. Soon, Ma Huanghou died in anger at the age of fifty-one, and hurried through her vicissitudes from orphan to mother instrument.
Ming Taizu lost his wife and right-hand man who shared weal and woe. His sadness is beyond words. In order to always remember the respectable and lovely Queen Ma, I decided not to be a queen. The imperial secretary of the harem was also very grateful for Ma Huanghou's virtue, and made a special song to commemorate the virtuous and kind queen. The lyrics are as follows:
I am a saint, and I am a country of experts;
Caress me, nurture me, Wilder will never forget.
Wilder unforgettable, in Vance;
Under the spring, the sky.