Zhou was the wife of Emperor Chongzhen, the last empress of the Ming Dynasty. Zhou is a native of Suzhou, and his father, Zhou Kui, is from a poor family. His father lives by fortune telling in the downtown area of Qianmen, Beijing. Therefore, Zhou failed to enter the palace through the draft, because Chongzhen was not an emperor at that time, but still believed in the king. 1626. At that time, Xinwang was old enough to get married, and the queen zhangyan was acting as a surrogate mother.
Zhou realized the transformation from a commoner to a queen. But after she became a queen, she didn't become arrogant and extravagant because she became the owner of the harem. On the contrary, she has always maintained the true nature of a civilian. In the harem, she still wears simple clothes and eats vegetarian food. And in order to save money in the palace, she bought 24 spinning wheels in the palace and personally led the ladies-in-waiting to spin. It is also true that under her leadership, all the concubines in the palace got rid of the previous extravagant wind.
Queen Zhou and his wife have a very good relationship. After marriage, they gave birth to three sons and two daughters, of which the eldest son was made a prince. If life is prosperous, Zhou Hui and Emperor Chongzhen will live a happy life. However, the wheel of history will not change because of someone, and it is the same for Empress Zhou and Chongzhen. Unfortunately, they lived at the end of the Ming dynasty, but when the country collapsed, they faced only martyrdom, not for anything else.
1644, at the end of Ming dynasty, Li Zicheng invaded the capital. Both Emperor Chongzhen and Empress Zhou knew that there was nothing they could do, and national subjugation was a foregone conclusion. They couldn't help crying. Chongzhen is going to hang himself, but he can't leave his wife, children and concubines. He first sent his three sons to his consorts for refuge, so that he could have Daming blood and be able to do so in the future.
The first thing Chongzhen wanted to do was to persuade his queen to commit suicide. After all, the queen is the mother of a country, and the queen and the emperor are integrated and represent the face of the dynasty. If it falls into the hands of Li Zicheng, it will be humiliating and detrimental to the face of the dynasty. Therefore, Zhou was advised to commit suicide as soon as possible.
Zhou listened to Chongzhen and didn't say much. As the wife of Chongzhen, she deeply understands the pains of Emperor Chongzhen. After all, even if she dies, she still has to safeguard the dignity of the royal family. Since Emperor Chongzhen, as a husband, abides by the ancestral motto of "the emperor protects the country and the king dies", how can Zhou, as a wife and queen, drag out an ignoble existence? She didn't say a word to protect her innocence and dignity. I just knelt on the ground to say goodbye to Emperor Chongzhen, then turned back to my room, resolutely locked the door, and ended my 33-year-old life with a white silk in Kunning Palace, with no regrets.
After the Queen Zhou committed suicide, the maid-in-waiting told Emperor Chongzhen that the Queen had been ordered to commit suicide. Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help crying when he thought of the mutual affection between husband and wife for many years, but he had become the king of national subjugation, and there was nothing he could do. Sadness returns to sorrow, and he suffered humiliation for his concubines and daughters not to fall into the hands of the enemy. He ordered the execution and hacked to death those concubines and daughters, while he himself went straight to the back of the Forbidden City in a blue robe.
As the last empress of the Ming Dynasty, Empress Zhou was burdened with the fate of national subjugation, but she had a profound sense of justice before her death. When the country broke down, she didn't drag out an ignoble existence and died. Her behavior also reflects her integrity and character, and she is a strange girl in history, which makes people sincerely admire.