The "Princess Tomb" during the Qianlong Period

The legend of Princess Tomb

In the Qing Dynasty, there was a large tomb not far to the west of Yuyuantan. People called it Princess Tomb. Which princess's grave is it? According to legend, Qianlong sent people to demolish the Ming Mausoleum to build a mausoleum for himself. Liu Yong's memorial stated that the emperor was guilty of digging graves. Qianlong could not deny it, so he had to go ahead with the memorial and decided to send him to Jiangnan. It is said that it is a distribution, but in fact, it means that one does not wear criminal clothes, and the other does not wear a prison shackles, but just puts on plain clothes and a small hat and walks. Liu Yong and He Shen followed all the way.

This was the first time Qianlong walked among the people, and everything felt new. Along the way, he was pointing and asking questions. Unknowingly, the sun was setting and Qianlong felt tired and hungry. They walked into a small village and came to a door. He Shen went to knock on the door. The person who opened the door was an old man. The old man saw that they did not look like evil people, so he let them into the house and asked his daughter to prepare meals for the three guests. The old man's daughter is only fourteen or fifteen years old. Although her clothes are shabby, she is clean and looks very cute. After a short while, the girl served several bowls of steaming noodles and a large bowl of sweet potatoes. The three of us were very hungry, but the food was delicious.

The next day, when they went out, they saw that the little girl looked more delicate than last night. Qianlong liked this little girl very much and said to the old man: "Old man, if you are willing, let your daughter be my goddaughter!" The old man was very happy when he heard this and asked his daughter to come and pay homage to me. Qianlong took out a piece of silver and said to the old man: "Take it to make some clothes for the child." He also took out a handkerchief from his arms and handed it to the girl, "If the child is in danger, you can use it to come to me in the capital. As long as Ask about the emperor..." At this time, Liu Yong snorted and continued: "Ask about the imperial courtyard!" Qianlong quickly changed his words: "Yes! Yes! The imperial courtyard."

A few years later. There have been famines in recent years. The father and daughter couldn't live any longer, so they had to go to the capital to find the girl's godfather. The father and daughter came to the capital after all the hard work and searched all over the Huang family compound in Beijing, but they couldn't find Laozi Qian's home. The father and daughter complained that they were too careless at the time and did not ask Qing Qian what his name was and which street he lived on. The two men had no relatives or friends in the capital, no money, no food, no place to live. They had no choice but to beg for food along the street during the day and spend the night huddled under a wall or in a ruined temple. The old man was getting older and could not survive the hard days and became seriously ill. The girl was so worried that she just cried and had no choice.

Early that morning, the girl was so anxious that she had no choice but to come to the moat and wanted to commit suicide. But remembering that my father was seriously ill, he hesitated. He couldn't live, he couldn't live, he couldn't die, so he had to cry alone by the river. Coincidentally, Liu Yong happened to be out for a walk at this time. When he heard the sad cry, he came looking for it. When the girl saw someone coming, she quickly stopped crying. I looked up and was stunned: Isn't this the gentleman who came to my house with my godfather? This can help. He quickly stepped forward and knelt down. This kneeling confused Liu Yong. He took a closer look and recognized it, oh, she was the emperor's goddaughter! So, he asked the reason and took the old man and the girl to his house. When they arrived at the house, they found out that Mr. Qian turned out to be Emperor Qianlong, and the gentleman who picked them up was Prime Minister Liu Yong. "Royal Courtyard" refers to the imperial officials. The two men were shocked at first, then afraid. They thought: How dare ordinary people marry the emperor?

Early the next morning, Liu Yong took his father and daughter into the palace to see Qianlong. Besides, after Qianlong returned to the palace, he had long forgotten about having sex with his daughter, but he only remembered it now that he mentioned it, but he was afraid that others would know about it and laugh at the emperor for marrying a country bumpkin, and wanted to skip the marriage. But the father and daughter had their own yellow handkerchiefs in their hands, and Liu Yong was the witness, so how could they rely on it? There was no choice but to announce the two of them to the palace and find a place to live. Unexpectedly, although there is no need to worry about food and clothing in the palace, there are too many red tapes. The royal relatives, civil and military officials, and eunuchs are all snobbish, and the old man can't stand it. He was already sick and frightened, so he died within a few days. Before he died, he asked his daughter to bury his bones in his hometown.

After being beaten here, the girl was left alone in the palace. She missed her father every day and thought about the old man's last instructions, often bursting into tears. The girl had nothing to say. She not only swallowed tears in her stomach, but also lived in fear all day long.

The princesses and concubines were very jealous of her when they saw her beauty, and often made sarcastic remarks about her; the princes, princes, and princes and grandchildren saw that she was very beautiful and very different from Miss Fujin, so they all had ill intentions towards her and always thought of her. Bullying her; the eunuchs and maids also looked down on her because she was born in a poor family and could not afford rewards, and they often scolded her. As the saying goes: It is better to drink porridge that is comfortable than to eat rice that is frowning. The girl's heart was filled with tears all day long, and as time passed, she became ill from holding it in. Not many days later, the girl became extremely ill. She had not had any water or rice in her teeth for several days, and she felt dizzy. Gong'e was frightened and reported back to the emperor. Qianlong had no choice but to come see her, but the girl was already very ill. The next day, the girl died. The palace maid reported to Qianlong that before her death, the girl asked the emperor to bury her and her father's bones in her hometown. Qianlong said: "Let's just bury it!"

At this time, Liu Yong happened to enter the palace. He was very unhappy when he heard this. He took a step forward and said, "Long live Qi, I have something unclear." "When Qianlong heard this, he felt like he was hit in the head. He was afraid of hearing Liu Yong's words. He said "nothing is known" and had participated in the emperor and many ministers. I don’t know who is unlucky this time. Qianlong quickly shook his head and waved his hands towards Liu Yong, meaning: Let's talk about it later. Liu Yong pretended not to see it, and then said: "Although this princess is not Wanzai's biological child, she is your goddaughter! And she left a token, and she was buried like this. Wanzai's face is not glorious!" Qianlong thought to himself! : "The more I'm afraid of you, the more unlucky you become!" With Liu Yong watching over him, Qianlong had no choice but to pass the decree and bury the girl on Cuiwei Road according to the princess's funeral. People call this tomb the Princess Tomb. As time goes by, weeds grow around it. Until liberation, this lonely tomb still stood there alone, as desolate and deserted as the girl had been in the palace during her lifetime.