Mi Bazi and Zhao Ji were both Queen Mothers of the Qin State, and they both gave birth to sons with outsiders. Why were their endings completely different?

Mi Bazi is the mother of King Zhaoxiang of Qin Yingji. King Zhaoxiang of Qin is the longest reigning king of Qin. He is a wise king and the great-grandfather of Qin Shihuang. King Zhaoxiang of Qin has a son named Qin. King Xiaowen Yingzhu, King Xiaowen of Qin had a son who was King Zhuangxiang of Qin Yingzi Chu, King Zhuangxiang of Qin had a son who was Qin Shihuang Yingzheng, so Mi Bazi was Qin Shihuang's grandma.

Mi Bazi was still the concubine of King Qin Huiwen. After King Qin Huiwen died, Mi Bazi became the queen mother together with King Qin Huiwen's wife, Queen Huiwen. After King Qin Huiwen's son, King Qin Wu Yingdang, died, Mi Bazi supported his son Ying Ji to ascend the throne as King Zhaoxiang of Qin. Mi Bazi was also called the Queen Mother Xuan and was in charge of the Qin government for many years.

Zhao Ji is the mother of Qin Shihuang. Although there has always been controversy about Qin Shihuang’s life experience, most opinions clearly support that Qin Shihuang is the son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin, not the son of Lu Buwei. Zhao Ji is the eldest son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin. Chu's first wife, the two really lived together for only 6 years, including three years in Handan, Zhao State, and then three years in Xianyang, Qin State. Then King Zhuangxiang of Qin died of illness.

The Queen Mother Xuan’s son, King Qin Zhaoxiang, was only 20 years old when he came to the throne. State affairs were presided over by the Queen Mother Xuan and Wei Ran. The Queen Mother Xuan was only thirty-five or sixteen years old at the time. Zhao Ji’s son King Qin Yingzheng came to the throne. She was only 13 years old at the time, and state affairs were presided over by Zhao Ji and Prime Minister Lu Buwei. Zhao Ji was at most thirty years old at the time, which meant that Empress Dowager Xuan was widowed at the age of 35, and Zhao Ji was widowed at the age of 30.

Empress Dowager Xuan and Ji Zhao were both Queen Mothers of Qin, and both were widowed at a young age. At the same time, their sons were both King of Qin. However, Queen Mother Xuan once had an affair with King Yiqu and had a child. She had two sons. In addition to King Yiqu, the Empress Dowager Xuan also had a lover named Wei Choufu. When the Empress Dowager Xuan got old, she once asked Wei Choufu to be buried with her, but was dissuaded.

After Zhao Ji became a widow, she once had an affair with Prime Minister Lu Buwei. Because Lu Buwei was worried that King Qin Yingzheng would cause a political crisis as he grew older, he withdrew himself, but gave Lao Ai, a man with special male abilities, to her. Zhao Ji, so Zhao Ji had an affair with Lao Ai, and they also gave birth to two sons. However, the endings of Empress Dowager Xuan and Zhao Ji were very different.

Although Empress Dowager Xuan had two sons with King Yiqu, her son King Qin Zhaoxiang did not blame or punish Empress Dowager Xuan. Starting from King Qin, Queen Mother Xuan lived for 42 years. Therefore, Queen Mother Xuan probably lived to be about 78 years old, 3 years longer than her son King Qin Zhaoxiang, and died a good death. At the same time, Queen Mother Xuan was one of the most important figures in the history of Qin. A respected and recognized Queen Mother.

Zhao Ji and Lao Ai gave birth to two sons, and the experience they received was completely different from that of Queen Mother Xuan. Zhao Ji’s son Qin Shihuang threw the two sons born to his mother to death and also killed himself. The mother Zhao Ji was imprisoned and the relationship between mother and child was to be severed. Twenty-seven ministers of the Qin State persuaded Qin Shihuang to release his mother, but they were all brutally killed by Qin Shihuang until the 28th minister, a man named Mao Jiao, said "King Qin" If you want to unify the world, you must put filial piety first" as the reason to persuade Qin Shihuang to let his mother go.

Although Qin Shihuang released his mother and welcomed back Xianyang, the relationship between the two was very bad. After spending 10 years in Xianyang, he died alone. Zhao Ji lived almost 50 years old. , not too long, but Zhao Ji has a very bad reputation in Qin and history. Why are Queen Mother Xuan and Zhao Ji both queen mothers, and both gave birth to sons to outsiders, but their treatment, outcome and influence are completely different?

First of all, don’t look at this matter with today’s moral standards, nor with Confucian moral standards. There was no such restriction at that time. Although the Queen Mother was a widow, she was still a woman. There was no such thing in the pre-Qin period. In terms of the concept of chastity, there is no such thing as marrying the chicken and following the chicken. At that time, it was normal to remarry.

For example, Duke Mu of Qin married his daughter Huaiying to the prince of Jin, Ji Yu, who later became Duke Huai of Jin. Later, Duke Huai of Jin abandoned Huaiying and returned to Jin, so Qin Duke Mu married his daughter Huaiying to Chong'er, the uncle of Duke Huai of Jin, who later became Duke Wen of Jin. This was equivalent to Duke Wen of Jin marrying his niece, and the people of Qin did not think there was anything wrong.

At that time, things that violated ethics and morals often happened, and there were many examples. Therefore, it was not a big deal that the Queen Mother Xuan and Zhao Ji had a lover and gave birth to a son. However, the Queen Mother Xuan and Zhao Ji had a relationship. A very important difference is that this difference led to the different endings of the two people. This difference is: although the Queen Mother Xuan gave birth to two sons with King Yiqu, the Queen Mother Xuan eventually trapped and killed King Yiqu and helped Qin to eliminate Yiqu. King Qu, a close friend, helped the Qin State take a further step on the road to unification. Therefore, the Queen Mother Xuan contributed to the Qin State. The matter between him and King Yiqu can be said to be a kind of sacrifice for the country, so her son Qin Zhaoxiang The king did not care at all about her behavior.

Although Empress Dowager Xuan later had other lovers, such as Wei Choufu, Empress Dowager Xuan never caused any losses to Qin because of her personal feelings. On the contrary, Empress Dowager Xuan was always for the benefit of Qin, so she was also regarded as She is treated as a meritorious official of the Qin State. Although her personal feelings are a bit inappropriate, it does not affect her being a meritorious official of the Qin State. This is just like Wu Zetian. Although Wu Zetian has many lovers, Wu Zetian has always been a public servant. Private or private, Empress Dowager Xuan is somewhat similar to Wu Zetian. They both clearly distinguish between big issues of right and wrong.

Zhao Ji is completely different. Zhao Ji and Lao Ai gave birth to two sons, but Zhao Ji helped Lao Ai gain political status and named Lao Ai, who had no merit, as a Marquis of Changxin. The city was granted land again, and Zhao Ji also gave Lao Ai political power step by step. Lao Ai went from a low-level eunuch with nothing to become a political force in Qin that could compete with Lu Buwei. A large part of the reason for Lao Ai's rebellion was Zhao Ji's indulgence.

In the end, Lao Ai launched a mutiny and rebelled in an attempt to kill Lu Buwei and Qin King Ying Zheng, triggering a political turmoil at the top of the Qin State. If Qin King Ying Zheng had not dealt with it calmly and allowed Lai Ai to succeed, Then Qin's politics became a joke, and it also caused turmoil in Qin's country. That's why Qin Shihuang resented his mother Zhao Ji so much, that he severed the mother-child relationship with Zhao Ji, and imprisoned Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji’s behavior is very stupid. On the one hand, it is because Zhao Ji is incompetent and not as talented as Queen Mother Xuan. On the other hand, Zhao Ji is just pure hedonism and does not consider the overall situation of Qin at all. She even preferred to sacrifice the interests of her eldest son Qin Shihuang. She mixed her personal feelings with politics. She personally cultivated a political opponent for her son Qin Shihuang. Qin Shihuang cared most about power. If Zhao Ji did not touch the power of Qin, she would only enjoy pleasure. Personal feelings would be the same as those of Queen Mother Xuan, but Zhao Ji is obviously not like this.

The behavior of Queen Mother Xuan is to sacrifice herself for the sake of Qin, and the behavior of Zhao Ji is to sacrifice the country of Qin for herself. Queen Mother Xuan is for the public and Zhao Ji is for the private. There is an essential difference between their actions. So the endings of the two are completely different.