Volume 113 Biographies 1: Empresses and Consorts 1

五年六月，命禮臣議宮官女職之制。禮臣上言：「周制，后宮設內官以贊內治。漢設內官一十四等，凡數百人。唐設六局二十四司，官凡一百九十人，女史五十餘人，皆選良家女充之。」帝以所設過多，命重加裁定。於是折衷曩制，立六局一司。局曰尚宮、尚儀、尚服、尚食、尚寢、尚功，司曰宮正，秩皆正六品。每局領四司，其屬二十有四，而尚宮總行六局之事。戒令責罰，則宮正掌之。官七十五人，女史十八人，視唐減百四十餘人，凡以服勞宮寢、祗勤典守而已。諸妃位號亦惟取賢、淑、莊、敬、惠、順、康、寧為稱，閨房雍肅，旨寓深遠。又命工部製紅牌，鐫戒諭后妃之詞，懸於宮中。牌用鐵，字飾以金。复著令典，自后妃以下至嬪御女史，鉅細衣食之費，金銀幣帛、器用百物之供，皆自尚宮取旨，牒內使監覆奏，移部臣取給焉。若尚宮不及奏，內使監不覆奏，而輒領於部者，論死。或以私書出外，罪亦如之。宮嬪以下有疾，醫者不得入宮，以證取藥。何其慎也！是以終明之代，宮壼肅清，論者謂其家法之善，超軼漢、唐。

In the sixth month of the fifth year of his reign, the emperor ordered the Ministry of Rites to deliberate on regulations for palace offices and the duties of palace women. The ceremonial officials submitted memorials, saying: "Under the Zhou system, the inner palace established inner officials to assist in domestic governance. The Han established fourteen grades of inner officials, numbering several hundred in all. The Tang established six bureaus and twenty-four offices, with one hundred ninety officials and more than fifty female scribes, all drawn from respectable families. The emperor considered these establishments excessive and ordered a fresh revision and settlement of the regulations. Accordingly, weighing past precedents, they established six bureaus and one office. The bureaus were titled Director of the Palace, Director of Ceremonies, Director of Wardrobe, Director of Provisions, Director of the Bedchamber, and Director of Works; the office was the Palace Rectifier—all at the regular sixth rank. Each bureau oversaw four sub-offices, twenty-four in all, while the Director of the Palace supervised the affairs of all six bureaus. Admonitions, regulations, and discipline were entrusted to the Palace Rectifier. There were seventy-five officials and eighteen female scribes—more than one hundred forty fewer than under the Tang—sufficient only to attend the palace chambers and dutifully maintain routine custody. Consort titles drew only on Virtue, Grace, Dignity, Reverence, Kindness, Obedience, Peace, and Serenity—titles that signified harmony and dignity within the inner palace. The emperor also ordered the Ministry of Works to cast red warning plaques inscribed with admonitions for empresses and consorts, to be hung within the palace. The plaques were of iron with characters inlaid in gold. Statutes further decreed that from the empress and consorts down to attendants and female scribes, every expense for clothing and food, every supply of gold, silver, silks, and utensils had to be authorized by the Director of the Palace, reviewed and reported by the Inner Palace Directorate, and only then issued by the appropriate ministry. Anyone who obtained supplies from a ministry without authorization from the Director of the Palace and review by the Inner Palace Directorate was liable to execution. Sending private correspondence outside the palace incurred the same penalty. When palace ladies below the rank of consort fell ill, physicians were not admitted; medicines were procured on written certification. Such was the rigor of these precautions! Hence throughout the Ming dynasty the inner palace remained orderly and pure; commentators held that its domestic discipline exceeded that of the Han and Tang.

爰自孝慈以迄愍后，考厥族里，次其世代，雖所遇不齊，顯晦異致，而凡居正號者並列於篇。其妃嬪有事實者，亦附見焉。

From Empress Xiaoci through Empress Min, this chapter lists their lineages and generations in order; though their fortunes varied and their fame rose or fell, all who bore the legitimate title of empress are recorded here. Consorts and concubines with noteworthy deeds are also included where relevant.

○后妃一

○ Empresses and Consorts, Part One

太祖孝慈高皇后孫貴妃李淑妃郭寧妃惠帝馬皇后成祖仁孝徐皇后王貴妃權賢妃仁宗誠孝張皇后宣宗恭讓胡皇后孝恭孫皇后吳賢妃郭嬪英宗孝莊錢皇后孝肅周太后景帝汪廢后肅孝杭皇后憲宗吳廢后孝貞王皇后孝穆紀太后孝惠邵太后萬貴妃

Empress Xiaoci the Filial and Kind High Empress of Taizu; Noble Consort Sun; Consort Li the Virtuous; Consort Guo the Tranquil; Empress Ma of the Jianwen Emperor; Empress Renxiao the Filial and Benevolent of Chengzu; Noble Consort Wang; Virtuous Consort Quan; Empress Chengxiao the Sincere and Filial of Renzong; Empress Gongrang the Respectful and Yielding of Xuanzong; Empress Xiaogong the Filial and Respectful; Virtuous Consort Wu; Consort Guo; Empress Xiaozhuang the Filial and Solemn of Yingzong; Empress Dowager Xiaosu of Zhou; Deposed Empress Wang of Jingdi; Empress Suxiao of Hang; Deposed Empress Wu of Xianzong; Empress Xiaozhen the Filial and Chaste; Empress Dowager Xiaomu of Ji; Empress Dowager Xiaohui of Shao; Noble Consort Wan

太祖孝慈高皇后馬氏，宿州人。父馬公，母鄭媼，早卒。馬公素善郭子興，遂以后托子興。馬公卒，子興育之如己女。子興奇太祖，以后歸焉。

Empress Xiaoci the Filial and Kind High Empress of Taizu, née Ma, was a native of Suzhou. Her father, Lord Ma, and her mother, Lady Zheng, both died while she was young. Lord Ma had long been on good terms with Guo Zixing and entrusted the future empress to his care. After Lord Ma's death, Zixing raised her as his own daughter. Zixing took a keen interest in the Founding Emperor and gave her to him in marriage.

后仁慈有智鑑，好書史。太祖有答刂記，輒命后掌之，倉卒未嘗忘。子興嘗信讒，疑太祖。后善事其妻，嫌隙得釋。太祖既克太平，后率將士妻妾渡江。及居江寧，吳、漢接境，戰無虛日，親緝甲士衣鞋佐軍。陳友諒寇龍灣，太祖率師御之，后儘發宮中金帛犒士。嘗語太祖，定天下以不殺人為本。太祖善之。

The empress was benevolent and discerning, and devoted to books and history. Whenever the Founding Emperor had memoranda to keep, he entrusted them to the empress, who never misplaced them even in the press of events. Zixing once believed slander and grew suspicious of the Founding Emperor. The empress won over his wife with kindness, and the estrangement was resolved. After the Founding Emperor captured Taiping, the empress led the wives and families of his officers across the Yangzi. At Jiangning, with Wu and Han on the borders and fighting nearly every day, she personally stitched armor, clothing, and shoes for the troops. When Chen Youliang attacked Longwan and the Founding Emperor marched to meet him, the empress distributed all the gold and silks in the palace to reward the soldiers. She once told the Founding Emperor that to secure the realm he should make sparing human life his guiding principle. The Founding Emperor approved of this counsel.

洪武元年正月，太祖即帝位，冊為皇后。初，后從帝軍中，值歲大歉，帝又為郭氏所疑，嘗乏食。后竊炊餅，懷以進，肉為焦。居常貯糗糒脯脩供帝，無所乏絕，而己不宿飽。及貴，帝比之「蕪蔞豆粥」，「滹沱麥飯」，每對群臣述后賢，同於唐長孫皇后。退以語后。后曰：「妾聞夫婦相保易，君臣相保難。陛下不忘妾同貧賤，願無忘群臣同艱難。且妾何敢比長孫皇后也！」

In the first month of Hongwu 1, when the Founding Emperor took the throne, she was installed as empress. In their early years with the army, a great famine struck; the emperor was under suspicion by the Guo family and sometimes went without food. The empress secretly cooked flatbread with meat, carried it warm against her body to bring him, and the meat was scorched by the heat. She always kept dried provisions and cured meats for the emperor so he never went without, while she herself often went to bed hungry. After they rose to power, the emperor likened those days to the "turnip-and-bean porridge" and "Hutuo wheat meal" of old hardship, and often told his ministers of the empress's virtues, comparing her to Empress Zhangsun of the Tang. When he withdrew, he told the empress what he had said. The empress said: "I have heard that it is easy for husband and wife to stand by each other, but hard for ruler and minister to do so. Your Majesty has not forgotten our days of poverty; I pray you will not forget the ministers who shared your hardships. And how dare I compare myself to Empress Zhangsun!"

后勤於內治，暇則講求古訓。告六宮，以宋多賢后，命女史錄其家法，朝夕省覽。或言宋過仁厚，后曰：「過仁厚，不愈於刻薄乎？」一日，問女史：「黃老何教也，而竇太后好之？」女史曰：「清淨無為為本。若絕仁棄義，民複教慈，是其教矣。」后曰：「孝慈即仁義也，詎有絕仁義而為孝慈者哉？」后嘗誦《小學》，求帝表章焉。

The empress was diligent in managing the inner palace and, in her spare time, studied the teachings of antiquity. She told the Six Palaces that the Song had produced many worthy empresses and ordered female scribes to copy their household rules for daily study. When someone remarked that the Song were excessively mild, the empress said: "Is excessive kindness not still better than harshness? One day she asked a female scribe: "What is the teaching of Huang-Lao, that Empress Dowager Dou favored it so?" The scribe answered: "Its foundation is purity, stillness, and non-action. If one abandons benevolence and discards righteousness so that the people must be taught kindness again—that is its teaching." The empress said: "Filial piety and kindness are benevolence and righteousness themselves—how can one abandon benevolence and righteousness yet claim to be filial and kind?" She often recited the Elementary Learning and urged the emperor to give it imperial endorsement.

帝前殿決事，或震怒，后伺帝還宮，輒隨事微諫。雖帝性嚴，然為緩刑戮者數矣。參軍郭景祥守和州，人言其子持槊欲殺父，帝將誅之。后曰：「景祥止一子，人言或不實，殺之恐絕其后。」帝廉之，果枉。李文忠守嚴州，楊憲誣其不法，帝欲召還。后曰：「嚴，敵境也，輕易將不宜。且文忠素賢，憲言詎可信？」帝遂已。文忠后卒有功。學士宋濂坐孫慎罪，逮至，論死，后諫曰：「民家為子弟延師，尚以禮全終始，況天子乎？且濂家居，必不知情。」帝不聽。會后侍帝食，不御酒肉。帝問故。對曰：「妾為宋先生作福事也。」帝惻然，投箸起。明日赦濂，安置茂州。吳興富民沈秀者，助築都城三之一，又請犒軍。帝怒曰：「匹夫犒天子軍，亂民也，宜誅。」后諫曰：「妾聞法者，誅不法也，非以誅不祥。民富敵國，民自不祥。不祥之民，天將災之，陛下何誅焉！」乃釋秀，戍雲南。帝嘗令重囚築城。后曰：「贖罪罰役，國家至恩。但疲囚加役，恐仍不免死亡。」帝乃悉赦之。帝嘗怒責宮人，后亦佯怒，令執付宮正司議罪。帝曰：「何為？」后曰：「帝王不以喜怒加刑賞。當陛下怒時，恐有畸重。付宮正，則酌其平矣。即陛下論人罪亦詔有司耳。」

When the emperor grew furious over affairs in the main hall, the empress waited until he returned to the palace and gently remonstrated with him on each case. Though the emperor's nature was stern, he softened punishments and executions many times on her account. Staff officer Guo Jingxiang was defending Hezhou when reports came that his son had taken up a spear to kill him; the emperor was about to have the son executed. The empress said: "Jingxiang has only this one son; the report may be false, and to kill him would end his line. The emperor investigated and found the accusation was false. Li Wenzhong was defending Yanzhou when Yang Xian accused him of misconduct; the emperor intended to recall him. The empress said: "Yanzhou lies on the enemy frontier; it is unwise to replace a commander lightly. Besides, Wenzhong has always been capable—how can Yang Xian's words be trusted? The emperor dropped the matter. Wenzhong later rendered distinguished service before his death. Academician Song Lian was implicated in his grandson Shen's crime, arrested, and sentenced to death. The empress remonstrated: "Even common families treat their children's teachers with courtesy from first to last—how much more should the Son of Heaven? Besides, Lian was at home and could not have known. The emperor would not listen. When the empress dined with the emperor, she abstained from wine and meat. The emperor asked why. She replied: "I am performing merit on behalf of Master Song. Moved, the emperor set down his chopsticks and rose. The next day he pardoned Lian and sent him into exile at Maozhou. A wealthy man of Wuxing named Shen Xiu had funded one-third of the capital's walls and then offered to reward the army. The emperor angrily said: "A commoner who rewards the Son of Heaven's army is a disturber of order and deserves death. The empress remonstrated: "I have heard that law punishes wrongdoing, not mere ill omens. When a subject's wealth rivals the state, he brings ill fortune upon himself. Heaven will send calamity upon such a man—why should Your Majesty execute him!" He then released Xiu and banished him to Yunnan. The emperor once ordered serious convicts to labor on the city walls. The empress said: "Allowing convicts to redeem their crimes through labor is a great act of imperial grace. But worn-out prisoners forced to labor may still die. The emperor then pardoned them all. When the emperor angrily rebuked palace women, the empress feigned anger too and had them handed to the Palace Rectifier to determine their punishment. The emperor asked: "Why do that? The empress said: "A ruler must not mete out punishments and rewards according to his moods. When Your Majesty is angry, punishment may be excessive. Entrusting them to the Palace Rectifier ensures a measured judgment. Even when Your Majesty judges a crime, you issue edicts to the responsible offices."

一日，問帝：「今天下民安乎？」帝曰：「此非爾所宜問也。」后曰：「陛下天下父，妾辱天下母，子之安否，何可不問！」遇歲旱，輒率宮人蔬食，助祈禱；歲兇，則設麥飯野羹。帝或告以振卹。后曰：「振卹不如蓄積之先備也。」奏事官朝散，會食廷中，后命中官取飲食親嘗之。味弗甘，遂啟帝曰：「人主自奉欲薄，養賢宜厚。」帝為飭光祿官。帝幸太學還，后問生徒幾何，帝曰：「數千。」后曰：「人才眾矣。諸生有廩食，妻子將何所仰給？」於是立紅板倉，積糧賜其家。太學生家糧自后始。諸將克元都，俘寶玉至。后曰：「元有是而不能守，意者帝王自有寶歟。」帝曰：「朕知后謂得賢為寶耳。」后拜謝曰：「誠如陛下言。妾與陛下起貧賤，至今日，恆恐驕縱生於奢侈，危亡起於細微，故願得賢人共理天下。」又曰：法屢更必弊，法弊則姦生；民數擾必困，民困則亂生。」帝歎曰：「至言也。」命女史書之冊。其規正，類如此。

One day she asked the emperor: "Are the people of the realm at peace today? The emperor said: "That is not for you to ask." The empress said: "Your Majesty is father to the realm; I am mother to the realm—how can I not ask whether our children are safe!" In years of drought she led the palace women in abstaining from meat and assisted in prayers; in years of famine she served only wheat gruel and simple wild greens. The emperor would sometimes tell her of relief efforts. The empress said: "Relief after disaster is no substitute for storing grain beforehand. When officials who had presented memorials dined together in the hall after court, the empress had eunuchs bring their food and taste it herself. When the food was poor, she told the emperor: "A ruler should live frugally, but nourish his worthies generously. The emperor then reprimanded the Director of the Imperial Household. When the emperor returned from the Imperial Academy, the empress asked how many students there were; he said: "Several thousand. The empress said: "The realm is rich in talent indeed. If students receive grain rations, what will their wives and children live on?" She then had the Red Board Granary established to store grain for their families. Family grain allowances for Imperial Academy students began with her. When the generals captured the Yuan capital, treasures and jades were brought as booty. The empress said: "The Yuan possessed these yet could not keep them—perhaps a true emperor's treasure lies elsewhere. The emperor said: "I know you mean that worthy men are the true treasure." The empress bowed and said: "It is exactly as Your Majesty says. You and I rose from poverty to this day; I always fear that luxury breeds arrogance and that ruin begins in small things—so I pray we may govern the realm with worthy men. She also said: "When laws are changed too often they decay; when laws decay, corruption follows; when the people are repeatedly harassed they grow destitute; when the people are destitute, rebellion follows." The emperor sighed: "Words of the highest wisdom." He ordered female scribes to record them in a book. Her remonstrances were generally of this kind.

帝每御膳，后皆躬自省視。平居服大練浣濯之衣，雖敝不忍易。聞元世祖后煮故弓弦事，亦命取練織為衾裯，以賜高年煢獨。餘帛颣絲，緝成衣裳，賜諸王妃公主，使知天桑艱難。妃嬪宮人被寵有子者，厚待之。命婦入朝，待之如家人禮。帝欲訪后族人官之，后謝曰：「爵祿私外家，非法。」力辭而止。然言及父母早卒，輒悲哀流涕。帝封馬公徐王，鄭媼為王夫人，修墓置廟焉。

Whenever the emperor dined, the empress personally inspected his food. In daily life she wore plain white silk that she washed herself, and would not discard it even when threadbare. Learning that a Yuan empress had boiled old bowstrings for thread, she had coarse silk woven into quilts for the elderly poor. She stitched leftover silk into garments for imperial consorts and princesses, so they would know the hardship of sericulture. She treated generously any consort or palace woman who bore the emperor a son. When noblewomen came to court, she received them as family. When the emperor wished to appoint her kinsmen to office, she declined: "Bestowing rank and salary on one's own maternal kin is unlawful. She firmly refused until he abandoned the plan. Yet whenever she spoke of her parents' early deaths, she wept in grief. The emperor enfeoffed Lord Ma as Prince of Xu and Lady Zheng as his consort, and built a tomb and ancestral temple for them.

洪武十五年八月寢疾。群臣請禱祀，求良醫。后謂帝曰：「死生，命也，禱祀何益！且醫何能活人！使服藥不效，得毋以妾故而罪諸醫乎？」疾亟，帝問所欲言。曰：「願陛下求賢納諫，慎終如始，子孫皆賢，臣民得所而已。」是月丙戌崩，年五十一。帝慟哭，遂不復立后。是年九月庚午葬孝陵，諡曰「孝慈皇后」。宮人思之，作歌曰：「我后聖慈，化行家邦。撫我育我，懷德難忘。懷德難忘，於萬斯年。毖彼下泉，悠悠蒼天。」永樂元年上尊諡曰「孝慈昭憲至仁文德承天順聖高皇后」。嘉靖十七年加上尊諡曰「孝慈貞化哲順仁徽成天育聖至德高皇后」。

In the eighth month of Hongwu 15 she fell gravely ill. The ministers urged prayer sacrifices and sought skilled physicians. The empress told the emperor: "Life and death are ordained by fate—what good will prayers do! Besides, how can physicians truly save lives! If the medicine fails, will you not blame the physicians on my account? As her illness worsened, the emperor asked if she had final words. She said: "I pray Your Majesty will seek worthy men and heed counsel, be as careful at the end as at the beginning, that your descendants be worthy and your subjects find their place—that is all I ask. She died that month on the bingxu day, at the age of fifty-one. The emperor mourned bitterly and never took another empress. In the ninth month of that year she was buried at Xiaoling with the posthumous title Empress Xiaoci. Palace women composed a lament: "Our empress, sage and kind, transformed home and state. She nurtured and raised us; her virtue we cannot forget. Her virtue we cannot forget, for ten thousand years. Deep are those lower springs; far, far is azure Heaven. In Yongle 1 her elevated posthumous title became Empress Xiaoci the Illustrious, Constitutive, Utmost Benevolent, Cultured and Virtuous, Receiving Heaven and Compliant with Sagacity, the High. In Jiajing 17 further honorifics were added: Empress Xiaoci the Chaste in Transformation, Wise and Compliant, Benevolent in Emblem, Completing Heaven and Nurturing Sagacity, Utmost Virtue, the High.

惠帝皇后馬氏，光祿少卿全女也。洪武二十八年冊為皇太孫妃。建文元年二月冊為皇后。四年六月，城陷，崩於火。

Empress Ma of the Jianwen Emperor was the daughter of Vice Director of the Imperial Household Quan. In Hongwu 28 she was installed as consort to the heir apparent's son. In the second month of Jianwen 1 she was installed as empress. In the sixth month of the fourth year, when the city fell, she perished in the flames.

成祖仁孝皇后徐氏，中山王達長女也。幼貞靜，好讀書，稱女諸生。太祖聞后賢淑，召達謂曰：「朕與卿，布衣交也。古君臣相契者，率為婚姻。卿有令女，其以朕子棣配焉。」達頓首謝。

Empress Renxiao the Filial and Benevolent of Chengzu, née Xu, was the eldest daughter of Prince of Zhongshan Xu Da. From childhood she was quiet and studious, devoted to books, and known as a female scholar. When Taizu heard of her worth, he summoned Da and said: "You and I were friends in humble days. In antiquity, rulers and ministers who were close often sealed their bond with marriage. You have an excellent daughter; let my son Di marry her. Da kowtowed in gratitude.

洪武九年，冊為燕王妃。高皇后深愛之。從王之籓，居孝慈高皇后喪三年，蔬食如禮。高皇后遺言可誦者，后一一舉之不遺。

In Hongwu 9 she was installed as consort to the Prince of Yan. The High Empress cherished her deeply. When she followed the prince to his fief, she observed three years of mourning for Empress Xiaoci on a vegetarian diet, as ritual required. She could recite every memorable testamentary word of the High Empress without omission.

靖難兵起，王襲大寧，李景隆乘間進圍北平。時仁宗以世子居守，凡部分備禦，多禀命於后。景隆攻城急，城中兵少，后激勸將校士民妻，皆授甲登陴拒守，城卒以全。

When the Jingnan campaign began, the prince struck Daning while Li Jinglong seized the chance to besiege Beiping. The heir apparent Renzong held the city; most defensive dispositions were ordered by the empress. As Jinglong pressed the siege with few defenders in the city, the empress roused officers' and citizens' wives to don armor and man the walls; the city was saved.

王即帝位，冊為皇后。言：「南北每年戰鬥，兵民疲敝，宜與休息。」又言：「當世賢才皆高皇帝所遺，陛下不宜以新舊間。」又言：「帝堯施仁自親始。」帝輒嘉納焉。初，后弟增壽常以國情輸之燕，為惠帝所誅，至是欲贈爵，后力言不可。帝不聽，竟封定國公，命其子景昌襲，乃以告后。后曰：「非妾志也。」終弗謝。嘗言漢、趙二王性不順，官僚宜擇廷臣兼署之。一日，問：「陛下誰與圖治者？」帝曰：「六卿理政務，翰林職論思。」后因請悉召見其命婦，賜冠服鈔幣。諭曰：「婦之事夫，奚止饋食衣服而已，必有助焉。朋友之言，有從有違，夫婦之言，婉順易入。吾旦夕侍上，惟以生民為念，汝曹勉之。」嘗採《女憲》、《女誡》作《內訓》二十篇，又類編古人嘉言善行，作《勸善書》，頒行天下。

When the prince became emperor, she was installed as empress. She urged: "North and south have fought year after year until soldiers and people are exhausted; they need rest. She also said: "The worthy men of this age are all legacies of the Hongwu Emperor; Your Majesty should not distinguish old from new." She also said: "Emperor Yao practiced benevolence beginning with his own kin." The emperor always praised and accepted her counsel. Her brother Zengshou had secretly aided the Prince of Yan and was executed by the Jianwen Emperor; when the emperor wished to ennoble him posthumously, she firmly refused. The emperor overruled her, enfeoffed Zengshou as Duke of Ding with his son Jingchang as heir, and only then informed her. She said: "This was not my wish. She never thanked him for it. She once urged that the Princes of Han and Zhao were unruly and that court ministers should be appointed to oversee their households. One day she asked: "With whom does Your Majesty deliberate on governance? He answered: "The Six Ministers handle affairs; the Hanlin Academy supplies counsel." She then had all their wives summoned and bestowed caps, robes, and gifts. She told them: "A wife's duty to her husband is not merely to provide food and clothing—she must also assist him. Friends may be heeded or ignored, but a wife's gentle words are easily accepted. I attend the emperor day and night with the people's welfare in mind—you should do the same. She compiled the Admonitions for Women and Cautionary Admonitions for Women into twenty chapters of Inner Instructions, and anthologized ancient moral exemplars into Exhortation to Goodness, which was circulated empire-wide.

昭獻貴妃王氏，蘇州人。永樂七年封貴妃。妃有賢德，事仁孝皇后恭謹，為帝所重。帝晚年多急怒。妃曲為調護，自太子諸王公主以下皆倚賴焉。十八年七月薨，禮視太祖成穆孫貴妃。

Noble Consort Wang of Illustrious Presentation was a native of Suzhou. In Yongle 7 she was ennobled as Noble Consort. She was virtuous, served Empress Renxiao with reverence, and was highly regarded by the emperor. In his later years the emperor grew irritable. She tactfully soothed him, and from the crown prince and princes down to the princesses, all relied on her. She died in the seventh month of Yongle 18; her funeral rites followed those of Consort Sun of Taizu.

恭獻賢妃權氏，朝鮮人。永樂時，朝鮮貢女充掖庭，妃與焉。姿質穠農粹，善吹玉簫。帝愛憐之。七年封賢妃，命其父永均為光祿卿。明年十月侍帝北征。凱還，薨於臨城，葬嶧縣。

Virtuous Consort Quan of Respectful Presentation was Korean. During Yongle, Korea sent tribute women to the palace; she was among them. She was beautiful and refined, and skilled at the jade flute. The emperor favored her deeply. In the seventh year she was made Virtuous Consort; her father Yongjun was appointed Director of the Imperial Household. The following tenth month she accompanied the emperor on his northern campaign. On the victorious return she died at Lincheng and was buried in Yi County.

后始為太子妃，操婦道至謹，雅得成祖及仁孝皇后歡。太子數為漢、趙二王所間，體肥碩不能騎射。成祖恚，至減太子宮膳，瀕易者屢矣，卒以后故得不廢。及立為后，中外政事，莫不周知。

As crown princess she observed the wife's way with utmost care and won the favor of Chengzu and Empress Renxiao. The crown prince was repeatedly slandered by the Princes of Han and Zhao; he was stout and poor at riding and archery. Chengzu was displeased, even cut the crown prince's rations, and several times nearly replaced him; only because of the empress was he not deposed. Once she became empress, she was thoroughly informed of affairs within and without the court.

宣德初，軍國大議多禀聽裁決。是時海內寧泰，帝入奉起居，出奉遊宴，四方貢獻，雖微物必先上皇太后。兩宮慈孝聞天下。三年，太后遊西苑，皇后皇妃侍，帝親掖輿登萬歲山，奉觴上壽，獻詩頒德。又明年謁長、獻二陵，帝親櫜鞬騎導。至河橋，下馬扶輦。畿民夾道拜觀，陵旁老稚皆山呼拜迎。太后顧曰：「百姓戴君，以能安之耳，皇帝宜重念。」及還，過農家，召老婦問生業，賜鈔幣。有獻蔬食酒漿者，取以賜帝，曰：「此田家味也。」從臣英國公張輔，尚書蹇義，大學士楊士奇、楊榮、金幼孜、楊溥請見行殿。太后慰勞之，且曰：「爾等先朝舊人，勉輔嗣君。」他日，帝謂士奇曰：「皇太后謁陵還，道汝輩行事甚習。言輔，武臣也，達大義。義重厚小心，第寡斷。汝克正，言無避忤，先帝或數不樂，然終從汝，以不敗事。又有三事，時悔不從也。」太后遇外家嚴，弟升至淳謹，然不許預議國事。

Early in Xuande, major military and state decisions were often referred to her for judgment. The realm was at peace; the emperor attended her in the morning and escorted her on outings; even the smallest tribute from the provinces was first presented to the empress dowager. The filial devotion between the two palaces was renowned throughout the realm. In the third year the empress dowager toured the Western Park with the empress and consorts in attendance; the emperor helped her carriage up Longevity Hill, offered a toast, and presented verses in her praise. The following year she visited the Chang and Xian tombs; the emperor himself rode ahead bearing bow and quiver. At the river bridge he dismounted to steady her carriage. People of the capital lined the roads to bow; old and young near the tombs shouted their welcome from the hills. The empress dowager turned and said: "The people love their ruler because he keeps them at peace; the emperor should bear this deeply in mind. On the return journey she stopped at a farmhouse, questioned an old woman about her livelihood, and gave her gifts of money. When simple farm fare and wine were offered, she gave some to the emperor, saying: "This is the taste of the countryside. The accompanying ministers—the Duke of Ying, Zhang Fu; Minister Jian Yi; and Grand Secretaries Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Jin Youzi, and Yang Pu—requested an audience at the traveling palace. The empress dowager comforted and praised them, saying: "You are veterans of the previous reign; do your utmost to assist the new emperor. Another day the emperor told Shiqi: "When the empress dowager returned from the tombs, she said you handle affairs with great familiarity. Zhang Fu, she said, is a military man, yet he grasps the larger principles of state. Jian Yi is conscientious and cautious, but rather indecisive. You, Kezheng, speak without fear of giving offense; the late emperor was often displeased, yet in the end always heeded you, and so nothing was ruined. There were also three matters she now regretted not having followed." The empress dowager was strict with her own kin: her younger brother Sheng was honest and prudent, yet she never allowed him to take part in state deliberations.

宣宗崩，英宗方九歲，宮中訛言將召立襄王矣。太后趣召諸大臣至乾清宮，指太子泣曰：「此新天子也。」君臣呼萬歲，浮言乃息。大臣請太后垂簾聽政，太后曰：「毋壞祖宗法。第悉罷一切不急務。」時時勗帝向學，委任股肱，以故王振雖寵於帝，終太后世不敢專大政。

When the Xuande Emperor died, Yingzong was only nine years old, and a rumor spread through the palace that the Prince of Xiang would be summoned and enthroned. The empress dowager hastily summoned the chief ministers to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, pointed to the crown prince, and weeping said: "This is the new emperor. Ministers and sovereign cried "Long live the emperor!" and the rumors subsided. The ministers asked the empress dowager to rule from behind a screen, but she said: "Do not violate the institutions of our ancestors. Only cancel every nonessential undertaking. She constantly urged the emperor to apply himself to his studies and entrusted affairs to his chief ministers; for this reason, though Wang Zhen enjoyed the emperor's favor, he did not dare seize control of government while the empress dowager lived.

正統七年十月崩。當大漸，召士奇、溥入，命中官問國家尚有何大事未辦者。士奇舉三事。一謂「建庶人雖亡，當修《實錄》」；一謂「太宗詔有『收方孝孺諸臣遺書者死』，宜弛其禁」；其三未及奏上，而太后已崩。遺詔勉大臣佐帝惇行仁政，語甚諄篤。上尊諡曰「誠孝恭肅明德弘仁順天啟聖昭皇后」，合葬獻陵，祔太廟。

She died in the tenth month of Zhengtong 7. As she lay dying, she summoned Yang Shiqi and Yang Pu and had eunuchs ask what major state business still remained undone. Shiqi named three matters. The first was that "though the Deprived Heir is dead, his Veritable Records should still be compiled"; the second was that "Taizong's edict declared 'death to whoever collects the surviving writings of Fang Xiaoru and his followers'—that ban should be lifted"; the third had not yet been submitted when the empress dowager died. Her deathbed edict urged the ministers to help the emperor govern with sincere benevolence; its language was deeply earnest. She was posthumously titled Empress Zhao of Sincere Filiality, Reverent Solemnity, Bright Virtue, Expansive Benevolence, and Heaven-Accorded Sage Enlightenment; she was buried with the Xuande Emperor at the Xian Mausoleum and enshrined in the Grand Temple.

宣宗恭讓皇后胡氏，名善祥，濟寧人。永樂十五年選為皇太孫妃。已，為皇太子妃。宣宗即位，立為皇后。時孫貴妃有寵，后未有子，又善病。三年春，帝令后上表辭位，乃退居長安宮，賜號靜慈仙師，而冊貴妃為后。諸大臣張輔、蹇義、夏原吉、楊士奇、楊榮等不能爭。張太后憫后賢，常召居清寧宮。內廷朝宴，命居孫后上。孫后常怏怏。正統七年十月，太皇太后崩，后痛哭不已，逾年亦崩，用嬪御禮葬金山。

Empress Hu of Deposed Submission, consort of the Xuande Emperor, was named Shansxiang and came from Jining. In Yongle 15 she was chosen as consort to the imperial grandson. Later she became crown princess. When Xuande took the throne, she was installed as empress. At the time Noble Consort Sun was in favor; the empress had borne no son and was frequently ill. In the spring of the third year the emperor had the empress submit a memorial abdicating; she withdrew to Chang'an Palace, was given the title Tranquil Kindness Immortal Master, and the noble consort was installed as empress. Leading ministers such as Zhang Fu, Jian Yi, Xia Yuanji, Yang Shiqi, and Yang Rong were unable to object. Empress Dowager Zhang, pitying the deposed empress's virtue, often summoned her to stay in Qingning Palace. At palace banquets she ordered Hu to be seated above Empress Sun. Empress Sun was often resentful. In the tenth month of Zhengtong 7 the grand empress dowager died; the deposed empress wept without end, and a little over a year later she too died and was buried at Jinshan with the rites due a concubine.

后無過被廢，天下聞而憐之。宣宗后亦悔。嘗自解曰：「此朕少年事。」天順六年，孫太后崩，錢皇后為英宗言：「后賢而無罪，廢為仙師。其沒也，人畏太后，殮葬皆不如禮。」因勸復其位號。英宗問大學士李賢。賢對曰：「陛下此心，天地鬼神實臨之。然臣以陵寢、享殿、神主俱宜如奉先殿式，庶稱陛下明孝。」七年閏七月，上尊諡曰「恭讓誠順康穆靜慈章皇后」，修陵寢，不祔廟。

She had been deposed without fault, and all who heard of it pitied her. Later the Xuande Emperor also came to regret it. He once excused himself, saying: "That was the act of my youth. In Tianshun 6, after Empress Dowager Sun died, Empress Qian told Yingzong: "The empress was virtuous and innocent, yet was deposed and made an Immortal Master. When she died, people feared the empress dowager, and her encoffining and burial fell far short of proper rites. She therefore urged that her rank and title be restored. Yingzong consulted Grand Secretary Li Xian. Xian answered: "Your Majesty's intent in this is witnessed by Heaven, Earth, and the spirits. Yet I believe her tomb, spirit hall, and tablet should all follow the model of the Hall of Ancestral Reverence, so that Your Majesty's enlightened filial piety may be fully shown. In the intercalary seventh month of Tianshun 7 she was posthumously titled Empress Zhang of Deposed Submission, Sincere Compliance, Secure Serenity, and Tranquil Kindness; a mausoleum was built for her, but she was not enshrined in the temple.

宣宗孝恭皇后孫氏，鄒平人。幼有美色。父忠，永城縣主簿也。誠孝皇后母彭城伯夫人，故永城人，時時入禁中，言忠有賢女，遂得入宮。方十餘歲，成祖命誠孝后育之。已而宣宗婚，詔選濟寧胡氏為妃，而以孫氏為嬪。宣宗即位，封貴妃。故事：皇后金寶金冊，貴妃以下，有冊無寶。妃有寵，宣德元年五月，帝請於太后，制金寶賜焉。貴妃有寶自此始。

Empress Sun of Filial Reverence, consort of the Xuande Emperor, came from Zouping. Even as a girl she was strikingly beautiful. Her father Zhong was a registrar in Yongcheng County. Empress Xiaocheng's mother, the Lady of Pengcheng, was also from Yongcheng; she often entered the palace and praised Zhong's worthy daughter, and so Sun was brought into court. When she was barely in her teens, the Yongle Emperor had Empress Xiaocheng raise her. When Xuande married, an edict chose Hu of Jining as his principal consort and made Sun a concubine. When Xuande took the throne, she was made Noble Consort. By precedent the empress received both a golden seal and a golden patent, while noble consorts and below received the patent alone. Because the consort was favored, in the fifth month of Xuande 1 the emperor asked the empress dowager's permission and had a golden seal made and bestowed on her. From this time noble consorts began to receive golden seals.

妃亦無子，陰取宮人子為己子，即英宗也，由是眷寵益重。胡后上表遜位，請早定國本。妃偽辭曰：「后病痊自有子，吾子敢先后子耶？」三年三月，胡后廢，遂冊為皇后。英宗立，尊為皇太后。

The consort too had no son; she secretly took a palace woman's child as her own—this was Yingzong—and her favor therefore grew all the greater. Empress Hu submitted a memorial abdicating and asked that the succession be settled promptly. The consort feigned refusal, saying: "When the empress recovers she will bear a son of her own; how could my son dare take precedence over the empress's son? In the third month of the third year Empress Hu was deposed, and Sun was installed as empress. When Yingzong ascended the throne, she was honored as empress dowager.

吳太后，景帝母也，丹徒人。宣宗為太子時，選入宮。宣德三年封賢妃。景帝即位，尊為皇太后。英宗復辟，復稱宣廟賢妃。成化中薨。

Empress Dowager Wu, mother of the Jingtai Emperor, was from Dantu. She was chosen for the palace when Xuande was still crown prince. In Xuande 3 she was made Virtuous Consort. When Jingtai took the throne, she was honored as empress dowager. After Yingzong's restoration she was again styled Virtuous Consort of the Xuande Temple. She died during the Chenghua reign.

英宗孝莊皇后錢氏，海州人。正統七年立為后。帝憫后族單微，欲侯之，后輒遜謝。故后家獨無封。英宗北狩，傾中宮貲佐迎駕。夜哀泣籲天，倦即臥地，損一股。以哭泣复損一目。英宗在南宮，不自得，后曲為慰解。后無子，周貴妃有子，立為皇太子。英宗大漸，遺命曰：「錢皇后千秋萬歲后，與朕同葬。」大學士李賢退而書之冊。

Empress Qian of Filial Serenity, consort of the Yingzong Emperor, came from Haizhou. She was installed as empress in Zhengtong 7. The emperor, pitying her family's modest station, wished to ennoble her kin, but the empress always modestly refused. Thus hers was the only empress's family left without a noble title. When Yingzong was taken captive on the northern campaign, she spent the empress's entire treasury to help ransom and welcome him home. Night after night she wept and prayed to Heaven; when exhaustion overcame her she would lie on the bare ground and injured one leg. From weeping she also lost the sight of one eye. While Yingzong languished in the Southern Palace, the empress gently comforted and reassured him. The empress bore no son; Noble Consort Zhou's son was made crown prince. As Yingzong lay dying, he commanded: "When Empress Qian passes away, bury her with me. Grand Secretary Li Xian withdrew and recorded the command in writing.

憲宗立，上兩宮徽號，下廷臣議。太監夏時希貴妃意，傳諭獨尊貴妃為皇太后。大學士李賢、彭時力爭，乃兩宮並尊，而稱后為慈懿皇太后。及營裕陵，賢、時請營三壙，下廷議。夏時復言不可，事竟寢。

When Xianzong took the throne, he proposed honorific titles for the two palaces and referred the matter to the court. The eunuch Xia Shi, currying favor with Noble Consort Zhou, conveyed an edict honoring her alone as empress dowager. Grand Secretaries Li Xian and Peng Shi protested vigorously; both palaces were then honored equally, and the empress was styled Empress Dowager of Kind Benevolence. When work began on the Yu Mausoleum, Li Xian and Peng Shi asked that three burial chambers be built and submitted the proposal for court debate. Xia Shi again objected, and the proposal was finally dropped.

成化四年六月，太后崩，周太后不欲后合葬。帝使夏時、懷恩召大臣議。彭時首對曰：「合葬裕陵，主祔廟，定禮也。」翼日，帝召問，時對如前。帝曰：「朕豈不知，慮他日妨母后耳。」時曰：「皇上孝事兩宮，聖德彰聞。禮之所合，孝之所歸也。」商輅亦言：「不祔葬，損聖德。」劉定之曰：「孝從義，不從命。」帝默然久之，曰：「不從命尚得為孝耶！」時力請合葬裕陵左，而虛右以待周太后。已，復與大臣疏爭，帝再下廷議。吏部尚書李秉、禮部尚書姚夔集廷臣九十九人議，皆請如時言。帝曰：「卿等言是，顧朕屢請太后未得命。乖禮非孝，違親亦非孝。」明日，詹事柯潛、給事中魏元等上疏，又明日，夔等合疏上，皆執議如初。中旨猶諭別擇葬地。於是百官伏哭文華門外。帝命群臣退。眾叩頭，不得旨不敢退。自已至申，乃得允。眾呼萬歲出。事詳時、夔傳中。是年七月上尊諡曰「孝莊獻穆弘惠顯仁恭天欽聖睿皇后」，祔太廟。九月合葬裕陵，異隧，距英宗玄堂數丈許，中窒之，虛石壙以待周太后，其隧獨通，而奉先殿祭，亦不設后主。

In the sixth month of Chenghua 4 Empress Dowager Qian died; Empress Dowager Zhou did not want her buried with the emperor. The emperor sent Xia Shi and Huai'en to summon the ministers for consultation. Peng Shi answered first: "Joint burial at the Yu Mausoleum with her tablet enshrined in the temple is established ritual. The next day the emperor summoned him again; Peng Shi gave the same answer. The emperor said: "Do I not know that? I only fear it would one day slight my mother the empress dowager. Peng Shi said: "Your Majesty serves both palaces with filial devotion; your virtue is renowned. What ritual requires is where true filial piety lies. Shang Lu also said: "To refuse joint burial and enshrinement would tarnish your virtue. Liu Dingzhi said: "Filial piety follows what is right, not mere obedience. The emperor was silent for a long time, then said: "If I disobey her, how can that be filial? Peng Shi urgently pleaded that she be buried on the left side of the Yu Mausoleum, leaving the right side vacant for Empress Dowager Zhou. He then memorialized again with the other ministers; the emperor once more referred the matter to court debate. Li Bing, Minister of Personnel, and Yao Kui, Minister of Rites, convened ninety-nine officials; all supported Peng Shi's view. The emperor said: "You are right, but I have repeatedly asked the empress dowager and she has not consented. To violate ritual is unfilial, but to defy a parent is unfilial too. The next day Ke Qian, Wei Yuan, and others submitted memorials; the day after, Yao Kui and others submitted a joint memorial—all insisting on the same position. An edict from the palace still ordered a separate burial site to be chosen. Thereupon the officials prostrated themselves and wept outside the Gate of Literary Splendor. The emperor ordered the ministers to withdraw. They kowtowed and, without receiving leave, dared not rise. From mid-morning until late afternoon, they received permission to withdraw. They shouted "Long live the emperor!" and withdrew. The full account appears in the biographies of Peng Shi and Yao Kui. In the seventh month of that year she was given the posthumous title "Empress Xiaozhuang Xianmu Honghui Xianren Gongtian Qinsheng Rui" and enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. In the ninth month she was buried with Yingzong at Yuling in separate vaults. A few yards from the late emperor's burial chamber, the middle section was sealed off, leaving an empty stone niche for Empress Dowager Zhou; only her passage remained open. Even so, no seat for the empress was provided at sacrifices in the Hall of Ancestors.

弘治十七年，周太后崩。孝宗御便殿，出裕陵圖，示大學士劉健、謝遷、李東陽曰：「陵有二隧，若者窒，若者可通往來，皆先朝內臣所為，此未合禮。昨見成化間彭時、姚夔等章奏，先朝大臣為國如此，先帝亦不得已耳。欽天監言通隧上干先帝陵堂，恐動地脈，朕已面折之。窒則天地閉塞，通則風氣流行。」健等因力贊。帝復問祔廟禮，健等言：「祔二后，自唐始也。祔三后，自宋始也，漢以前一帝一后。曩者定議合祔，孝莊太后居左，今大行太皇太后居右，且引唐、宋故事為證，臣等以此不敢复論。」帝曰：「二后已非，況復三后！」遷曰：「宋祔三后，一繼立，一生母也。」帝曰：「事須師古，太皇太后鞠育朕躬，朕豈敢忘？顧私情耳。祖宗來，一帝一后。今並祔，壞禮自朕始。且奉先殿祭皇祖，特座一飯一匙而已。夫孝穆皇太后，朕生母也，別祀之奉慈殿。今仁壽宮前殿稍寬，朕欲奉太皇太后於此，他日奉孝穆皇太后於后，歲時祭享，如太廟。」於是命群臣詳議。議上，將建新廟，欽天監奏年方有礙。廷議請暫祀周太后於奉慈殿，稱孝肅太皇太后。殿在奉先殿西，帝以祀孝穆，至是中奉孝肅而徙孝穆居左焉。帝始欲通隧，亦以陰陽家言，不果行。

In the seventeenth year of the Hongzhi reign, Empress Dowager Zhou died. Emperor Xiaozong held audience in a side hall, brought out the plan of Yuling, and showed Grand Secretaries Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang the design. "The tomb has two passages," he said, "one sealed shut and one left open for access between them. All of this was done by eunuchs of the previous reign, and it does not accord with ritual. Yesterday I read the memorials submitted during the Chenghua reign by Peng Shi, Yao Kui, and others. The great ministers of the previous reign had served the state as best they could, and my late father had no real choice in the matter. The Directorate of Astronomy claimed that opening the passage would violate the late emperor's burial chamber and disturb the earth's geomantic currents. I have already refuted this to their faces. If the passage is sealed, heaven and earth are shut off; if it is opened, wind and vital energy can flow." Liu Jian and the others thereupon strongly endorsed the emperor's view. The emperor again asked about the rites for enshrining an empress in the ancestral temple. Liu Jian and the others replied, "Enshrining two empresses with one emperor began in the Tang dynasty. Enshrining three empresses began in the Song. Before the Han, one emperor had one empress. It was previously decided that they should be enshrined together, with Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang on the left and the late Grand Empress Dowager on the right, and Tang and Song precedents were cited in support. For that reason we dare not reopen the debate." The emperor said, "Two empresses is already improper—how much more so three!" Xie Qian said, "When the Song enshrined three empresses, one was a successor empress and one was the emperor's birth mother." The emperor said, "We must take antiquity as our guide. The Grand Empress Dowager raised me herself—how could I forget her? That is only private feeling. From the time of our ancestors, one emperor had one empress. To enshrine them together now would mean that the ruin of ritual begins with me. Moreover, when the imperial forebear is sacrificed to in the Hall of Ancestors, the empress receives only a separate seat with a single portion of rice and one spoon. Empress Dowager Xiaomu is my birth mother, and she is worshipped separately in the Hall of Filial Kindness. The front hall of Renshou Palace is now somewhat spacious. I wish to install the Grand Empress Dowager there, and later install Empress Dowager Xiaomu behind her, with seasonal sacrifices conducted as at the Imperial Ancestral Temple." He then ordered the ministers to submit detailed recommendations. When their recommendations were submitted, plans were made to build a new temple, but the Directorate of Astronomy reported that the year was inauspicious for construction. The court recommended temporarily worshipping Empress Dowager Zhou in the Hall of Filial Kindness under the title Grand Empress Dowager Xiaosu. The hall stands west of the Hall of Ancestors. The emperor had used it to worship Xiaomu; now Xiaosu was placed in the center and Xiaomu was moved to the left. The emperor had initially wished to open the burial passage, but because of the geomancers' warnings, the plan was not carried out.

孝肅周太后，英宗妃，憲宗生母也，昌平人。天順元年封貴妃。憲宗即位，尊為皇太后。其年十月，太后誕日，帝令僧道建齋祭。禮部尚書姚夔帥群臣詣齋所，為太后祈福。給事中張寧等劾之。帝是其言，令自后僧道齋醮，百官不得行香。二十三年四月上徽號曰「聖慈仁壽皇太后」。孝宗立，尊為太皇太后。

Empress Dowager Xiaosu of the Zhou clan, consort of Emperor Yingzong and birth mother of Emperor Xianzong, was a native of Changping. In the first year of the Tianshun reign she was enfeoffed as Noble Consort. When Xianzong ascended the throne, she was honored as Empress Dowager. In the tenth month of that year, on the empress dowager's birthday, the emperor ordered Buddhist and Daoist clergy to perform fasting rites. Minister of Rites Yao Kui led the assembled ministers to the fasting hall to pray for the empress dowager's blessings. Supervising Secretary Zhang Ning and others impeached the practice. The emperor agreed and ordered that henceforth, at Buddhist and Daoist fasting rites, officials were not to attend to burn incense. In the fourth month of the twenty-third year of his reign she was given the honorific title "Grand Empress Dowager Shengci Renshou." When Xiaozong was enthroned, she was honored as Grand Empress Dowager.

弘治十一年冬，清寧宮災，太后移居仁壽宮。明年，清寧宮成，乃還居焉。太后弟長寧伯彧家有賜田，有司請厘正之，帝未許也，太后曰：「奈何以我故骫皇帝法！」使歸地於官。

In the winter of the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign, Qingning Palace burned down, and the empress dowager moved to Renshou Palace. The following year, when Qingning Palace was rebuilt, she returned to live there. The empress dowager's younger brother, Changning Earl Yu, held imperial grant lands in his household. When officials requested that the holdings be corrected, the emperor had not yet consented, but the empress dowager said, "How can I, for my sake, bend the emperor's law!" She had the land returned to the state.

弘治十七年三月崩，諡孝肅貞順康懿光烈輔天承聖睿皇后，合葬裕陵。以大學士劉健、謝遷、李東陽議，別祀於奉慈殿，不祔廟，仍稱太皇太后。嘉靖十五年，與紀、邵二太后並移祀陵殿，題主曰「皇后」，不繫帝諡，以別嫡庶。其后穆宗母孝恪、神宗母孝定、光宗母孝靖、熹宗母孝和、莊烈帝母孝純，咸遵用其制。

In the third month of the seventeenth year of the Hongzhi reign she died. She was given the posthumous title Empress Xiaosu Zhenshun Kangyi Guanglie Futian Chengsheng Rui and buried with Yingzong at Yuling. On the recommendation of Grand Secretaries Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang, she was worshipped separately in the Hall of Filial Kindness rather than enshrined in the ancestral temple, and was still styled Grand Empress Dowager. In the fifteenth year of the Jiajing reign, she was moved together with Empresses Dowager Ji and Shao to worship at the tomb hall. The spirit tablet was inscribed simply "Empress," without the emperor's posthumous title, to distinguish principal from secondary consorts. Thereafter the birth mothers of Muzong, Shenzong, Guangzong, Xizong, and the Chonglie Emperor—respectively Xiaoke, Xiaoding, Xiaojing, Xiaohe, and Xiaochun—all followed this arrangement.

景帝廢后汪氏，順天人。正統十年冊為郕王妃。十四年冬，王即皇帝位，冊為皇后。后有賢德，嘗念京師諸死事及老弱遇害者暴骨原野，令官校掩埋之。生二女，無子。景泰三年，妃杭氏生子見濟，景帝欲立為太子，而廢憲宗，后執不可。以是忤帝意，遂廢后，立杭氏為皇后。七年，杭后崩，諡肅孝。英宗復位，削皇后號，毀所葬陵，而后仍稱郕王妃。景帝崩，英宗以其后宮唐氏等殉，議及后。李賢曰：「妃已幽廢，況兩女幼，尤可憫。」帝乃已。

Deposed Empress Wang of Emperor Jing, a native of Shuntian. In the tenth year of the Zhengtong reign she was invested as consort of the Prince of Fu. In the winter of the fourteenth year, when the prince took the throne, she was invested as empress. The empress was a woman of worthy character. Mindful of those who had died in the capital's defense and of the old and weak left slain in the fields, she ordered officials and guards to gather and bury the exposed bones. She bore two daughters and had no son. In the third year of the Jingtai reign, Consort Hang bore a son, Jianji. Emperor Jing wished to make the boy heir apparent and depose Xianzong, but the empress firmly refused. Because of this she offended the emperor, who deposed her and installed Consort Hang as empress. In the seventh year of his reign Empress Hang died and was given the posthumous title Su Xiao. When Yingzong regained the throne, her title as empress was revoked, her tomb was destroyed, and she was again styled consort of the Prince of Fu. When Jing died, Yingzong ordered the women of his inner palace, including Lady Tang, to follow him in death, and the discussion extended to the former empress as well. Li Xian said, "The consort has already been confined in disgrace, and her two daughters are still young—she is especially to be pitied." The emperor thereupon desisted.

憲宗復立為太子，雅知后不欲廢立，事之甚恭。因為帝言，遷之外王府，得盡攜宮中所有而出。與周太后相得甚歡，歲時入宮，敘家人禮。然性剛執。一日，英宗問太監劉桓曰：「記有玉玲瓏系腰，今何在？」桓言當在妃所。英宗命索之。后投諸井，對使者曰：「無之。」已而告人曰：「七年天子，不堪消受此數片玉耶！」已，有言后出所攜鉅萬計，英宗遣使檢取之，遂立盡。正德元年十二月薨，議祭葬禮。大學士王鏊曰：「葬以妃，祭以后。」遂合葬金山。明年上尊諡曰「貞惠安和景皇后」。

When Xianzong was reinstated as heir apparent, he knew well that the empress had opposed the change of succession, and he treated her with great respect. He therefore spoke to the emperor on her behalf, and she was moved to an outer princely residence, permitted to take with her everything she possessed in the palace. She got on extremely well with Empress Dowager Zhou, visiting the palace at the proper seasons to observe family courtesies. Yet her nature was firm and unyielding. One day Yingzong asked the eunuch Liu Huan, "I recall a jade ornament called linglong worn at the waist—where is it now?" Liu Huan said it should be in the consort's possession. Yingzong ordered it sought out. The empress threw it into a well and told the envoy, "It is not here." Later she told others, "He was emperor for seven years—can he not bear to keep these few pieces of jade!" Before long it was reported that when the empress left the palace she had taken out wealth amounting to tens of thousands; Yingzong sent envoys to inspect and seize it, and her possessions were exhausted. In the twelfth month of the first year of the Zhengde reign she died, and the rites of sacrifice and burial were deliberated. Grand Secretary Wang Ao said, "Let her be buried with the rites due a consort, but sacrificed to with the rites due an empress." She was then buried at Jinshan accordingly. The following year she was given the posthumous title "Empress Zhenhui Anhe Jing."

憲宗廢后吳氏，順天人。天順八年七月立為皇后。先是，憲宗居東宮，萬貴妃已擅寵。后既立，摘其過，杖之。帝怒，下詔曰：「先帝為朕簡求賢淑，已定王氏，育於別宮待期。太監牛玉輒以選退吳氏於太后前複選。冊立禮成之后，朕見舉動輕佻，禮度率略，德不稱位，因察其實，始知非預立者。用是不得已，請命太后，廢吳氏別宮。」立甫踰月耳。后父俊，先授都督同知，至是下獄戍邊。謫玉孝陵種菜，玉從子太常少卿綸、甥吏部員外郎楊琮並除名，姻家懷寧侯孫鏜閒住。於是南京給事中王徽、王淵、朱寬、李翱、李鈞等合疏言玉罪重罰輕，因並劾大學士李賢。帝怒，徽等皆貶邊州判官。

Deposed Empress Wu of Emperor Xianzong, a native of Shuntian. In the seventh month of the eighth year of the Tianshun reign she was installed as empress. Earlier, while Xianzong was crown prince, Lady Wan had already monopolized the emperor's favor. After the empress was installed, she seized upon Lady Wan's faults and had her beaten. The emperor was enraged and issued an edict: "The late emperor selected a worthy and virtuous consort for me and had already chosen Lady Wang, rearing her in a separate palace until the appointed time. The eunuch Niu Yu presumptuously brought the rejected Lady Wu back before the empress dowager for reselection. After the investiture rites were completed, I found her conduct frivolous and her deportment careless, her virtue unworthy of her rank. Upon investigation I learned she was not the woman originally chosen. For this reason, having no choice, I requested the empress dowager's command and deposed Lady Wu to a separate palace." She had been empress for barely a month. The empress's father, Jun, had earlier been appointed Vice Commissioner-in-chief; now he was imprisoned and sent to guard the frontier. Niu Yu was demoted to grow vegetables at the Xiaoling tomb. Yu's nephew, Vice Minister of Rites Lun, and his nephew by marriage, Department Vice Director Yang Cong, were both struck from the rolls; his affinal connection, Marquis of Huaining Sun Tang, was ordered to live in retirement. Thereupon the Nanjing supervising secretaries Wang Hui, Wang Yuan, Zhu Kuan, Li Ao, Li Jun, and others jointly memorialized that Niu Yu's crime was grave and his punishment too light, and also impeached Grand Secretary Li Xian. The emperor was enraged, and Wang Hui and the others were all demoted to magistrates of frontier prefectures.

后孝宗生於西宮，后保抱惟謹。孝宗即位，念后恩，命服膳皆如母后禮，官其侄錦衣百戶。正德四年薨。劉瑾欲焚之。大學士王鏊持不可，乃以妃禮葬。

Xiaozong was born in the Western Palace, and the empress nursed and tended him with the utmost care. When Xiaozong ascended the throne, mindful of the empress's kindness, he ordered that her food and clothing be provided with the rites due a mother empress, and appointed her nephew a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. In the fourth year of the Zhengde reign she died. Liu Jin wished to have her body burned. Grand Secretary Wang Ao objected, and she was buried with the rites due a consort.

孝貞皇后王氏，上元人。憲宗在東宮，英宗為擇配，得十二人，選后及吳氏、柏氏留宮中。吳氏既立而廢，遂冊為皇后，天順八年十月也。萬貴妃寵冠后宮，后處之淡如。孝宗即位，尊為皇太后。武宗即位，尊為太皇太后。正德五年十二月上尊號曰慈聖康壽。十三年二月崩，上尊諡曰「孝貞莊懿恭靖仁慈欽天輔聖純皇后」，合葬茂陵，祔太廟。

Empress Xiaozhen of the Wang clan, a native of Shangyuan. While Xianzong was crown prince, Yingzong chose a match for him from twelve candidates; the future empress, Lady Wu, and Lady Bo were selected to remain in the palace. After Lady Wu was installed and then deposed, she was invested as empress in the tenth month of the eighth year of the Tianshun reign. Lady Wan's favor surpassed all others in the inner palace, but the empress treated the matter with indifference. When Xiaozong ascended the throne, she was honored as Empress Dowager. When Wuzong ascended the throne, she was honored as Grand Empress Dowager. In the twelfth month of the fifth year of the Zhengde reign she was given the honorific title Cisheng Kangshou. In the second month of the thirteenth year of his reign she died. She was given the posthumous title "Empress Xiaozhen Zhuangyi Gongjing Ciren Qintian Fusheng Chun," buried with Xianzong at Maoling, and enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

孝穆紀太后，孝宗生母也，賀縣人。本蠻土官女。成化中徵蠻，俘入掖庭，授女史，警敏通文字，命守內藏。時萬貴妃專寵而妒，后宮有娠者皆治使墮。柏賢妃生悼恭太子，亦為所害。帝偶行內藏，應對稱旨，悅，幸之，遂有身。萬貴妃知而恚甚，令婢鉤治之。婢謬報曰病痞。乃謫居安樂堂。久之，生孝宗，使門監張敏溺焉。敏驚曰：「上未有子，奈何棄之。」稍哺粉餌飴蜜，藏之他室，貴妃日伺無所得。至五六歲，未敢剪胎髮。時吳后廢居西內，近安樂堂，密知其事，往來哺養，帝不知也。

Empress Dowager Xiaomu of the Ji clan, birth mother of Emperor Xiaozong, was a native of He County. She was originally the daughter of a tribal chieftain. During the Chenghua reign, when the tribes were attacked, she was captured and sent to the inner palace. Appointed a female scribe, she was quick-witted and literate, and was ordered to guard the inner treasury. At that time Honored Consort Wan enjoyed exclusive favor and was fiercely jealous; any woman in the inner palace who conceived was forced to abort. Consort Bo the Virtuous bore the Diligent and Reverent Crown Prince, and she too was destroyed by Wan. The emperor happened to pass through the inner storehouse; her replies pleased him, he favored her, and she became pregnant. When Honored Consort Wan learned of this she was enraged and ordered a maid to obtain abortifacients for her. The maid falsely reported that she suffered from abdominal distension. She was then banished to live in the Hall of Peaceful Joy. After a long while she gave birth to Xiaozong, and the gate eunuch Zhang Min was ordered to drown the infant. Min was horrified and said, "Your Majesty has no son yet—how can we cast him away? He fed the child gruel sweetened with honey, hid him in another room, and the honored consort watched every day but discovered nothing. Until the boy was five or six, they did not dare cut his hair. At that time the deposed Empress Wu lived in the Western Inner Palace near the Hall of Peaceful Joy; she secretly learned of the matter and went back and forth to nurse the child—the emperor knew nothing.

帝自悼恭太子薨后，久無嗣，中外皆以為憂。成化十一年，帝召張敏櫛發，照鏡歎曰：「老將至而無子。」敏伏地曰：「死罪，萬歲已有子也。」帝愕然，問安在。對曰：「奴言即死，萬歲當為皇子主。」於是太監懷恩頓首曰：「敏言是。皇子潛養西內，今已六歲矣，匿不敢聞。」帝大喜，即日幸西內，遣使往迎皇子。使至，妃抱皇子泣曰：「兒去，吾不得生。兒見黃袍有須者，即兒父也。」衣以小緋袍，乘小輿，擁至階下，髮披地，走投帝懷。帝置之膝，撫視久之，悲喜泣下曰：「我子也，類我。」使懷恩赴內閣具道其故。群臣皆大喜。明日，入賀，頒詔天下。移妃居永壽宮，數召見。萬貴妃日夜怨泣曰：「群小紿我。」其年六月，妃暴薨。或曰貴妃致之死，或曰自縊也。諡「恭恪莊僖淑妃」。敏懼，亦吞金死。敏，同安人。

Since the death of the Diligent and Reverent Crown Prince, the emperor had long been without an heir, and both court and realm were deeply worried. In the eleventh year of Chenghua the emperor summoned Zhang Min to comb his hair; looking in the mirror he sighed, "Old age is coming and I still have no son. Min prostrated himself and said, "This is a capital offense—but Your Majesty already has a son." The emperor was astonished and asked where the boy was. He answered, "If I speak and must die, Your Majesty must act as the prince's protector. Thereupon the eunuch Huai En kowtowed and said, "Min speaks the truth. The prince has been secretly raised in the Western Inner Palace; he is already six years old—we concealed this and dared not speak of it." The emperor was overjoyed; that same day he went to the Western Inner Palace and sent envoys to bring the prince. When the envoys arrived, the consort embraced the prince and wept, "When my son leaves, I cannot survive. If you see a bearded man in yellow robes, that is your father. They dressed him in a small crimson robe, placed him in a small palanquin, and escorted him to the foot of the steps; his hair streaming to the ground, he ran and threw himself into the emperor's arms. The emperor set him on his knee, gazed and caressed him for a long while, weeping with joy and grief: "My son—he looks like me. He sent Huai En to the Grand Secretariat to explain the whole affair. All the ministers rejoiced greatly. The next day they entered to offer congratulations, and an edict was issued to the whole empire. The consort was moved to the Palace of Eternal Longevity and summoned often. Honored Consort Wan complained and wept day and night, "Those petty men tricked me. In the sixth month of that year the consort died suddenly. Some say the honored consort had her killed; others say she hanged herself. She was given the posthumous title Consort Gongke Zhuangxi Shu. Min, terrified, also swallowed gold and died. Min was a native of Tong'an.

孝宗既立為皇太子，時孝肅皇太后居仁壽宮，語帝曰：「以兒付我。」太子遂居仁壽。一日，貴妃召太子食，孝肅謂太子曰：「兒去，無食也。」太子至，貴妃賜食，曰：「已飽。」進羹，曰：「疑有毒。」貴妃大恚曰：「是兒數歲即如是，他日魚肉我矣。」因恚而成疾。孝宗即位，追諡淑妃為「孝穆慈慧恭恪莊僖崇天承聖純皇后」，遷葬茂陵，別祀奉慈殿。帝悲念太后，特遣太監蔡用求太后家，得紀父貴、紀祖旺兄弟以聞。帝大喜，詔改「父貴」為「貴」，授錦衣衛指揮同知；「祖旺」為「旺」，授錦衣衛指揮僉事。賜予第宅、金帛、莊田、奴婢，不可勝計。追贈太后父為中軍都督府左都督，母為夫人。其曾祖、祖父亦如之。遣修太后先塋之在賀者，置守墳戶，復其家。

After Xiaozong was made crown prince, Empress Dowager Xiaosu, residing at the Palace of Human Longevity, told the emperor, "Leave the boy with me. The crown prince then lived at the Palace of Human Longevity. One day the honored consort summoned the crown prince to dine; Xiaosu told him, "When you go, do not eat anything. When the prince arrived, the honored consort offered him food; he said, "I am already full." When soup was brought, he said, "I fear it may be poisoned." The honored consort was furious: "At only a few years old this child is already like this—when he grows up he will butcher me." She fell ill from her fury. When Xiaozong ascended the throne, he posthumously ennobled the consort as Empress Xiaomu Cihui Gongke Zhuangxi Chongtian Chengsheng Chun, moved her burial to Maoling, and enshrined her separately in the Hall of Filial Reverence. Grieving for the empress dowager, the emperor specially sent the eunuch Cai Yong to search for her family and found the brothers Ji Fugui and Ji Zuwang, whom he reported. The emperor was overjoyed and ordered that Fugui's name be shortened to Gui, appointing him Assistant Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard; and Zuwang's name to Wang, appointing him Vice Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Mansions, gold, silks, estates, and servants were lavished on them beyond reckoning. The empress dowager's father was posthumously enfeoffed as Left Commissioner of the Central Military Commission, and her mother as Lady. Her great-grandfather and grandfather received comparable honors. He sent men to restore the empress dowager's ancestral graves in Hexian, posted guardians for the tombs, and restored the family's tax and labor exemptions.

先是，太后在宮中，嘗自言家賀縣，姓紀，幼不能知親族也。太監郭鏞聞而識之。太監陸愷者，亦廣西人，故姓李，蠻中紀、李同音，因妄稱太后兄，令人訪其族人詣京師。愷女兄夫韋父成者出冒之，有司待以戚畹，名所居里曰迎恩里。貴、旺曰：「韋猶冒李，況我實李氏。」因詐為宗系上有司，有司莫辨也。二人既驟貴，父成亦詣闕爭辨。帝命郭鏞按之。鏞逐父成，猶令馳驛歸。及帝使治后先塋，蠻中李姓者數輩，皆稱太后家，自言於使者。使者還，奏貴、旺不實。復遣給事中孫珪、御史滕祐間行連、賀間，微服入瑤、僮中訪之，盡得其狀，歸奏。帝謫罰鏞等有差，戍貴、旺邊海。自此帝數求太后家，竟不得。

Earlier, while still in the palace, the empress dowager had said that her family was from Hexian County and surnamed Ji, but in childhood she had not known her relatives. The eunuch Guo Yong heard this and remembered it. The eunuch Lu Kai was also from Guangxi and had formerly been surnamed Li; in the tribal languages Ji and Li sounded alike, so he falsely claimed to be the empress dowager's elder brother and sent men to find his clansmen and bring them to the capital. Kai's brother-in-law Wei Fucheng stepped forward to impersonate the kin; the officials treated him as imperial relatives and named his neighborhood Reception of Grace Lane. Gui and Wang said, "Wei only impersonated the Lis—how much more so should we, who are truly of the Li clan. They forged genealogies and submitted them to the officials, who could not tell what was true. Once the two men had suddenly risen to wealth and rank, Fucheng also went to court to contest the claim. The emperor ordered Guo Yong to investigate the matter. Yong drove Fucheng off but still had him sent home by courier relay. When the emperor sent men to restore the empress dowager's ancestral graves, several men surnamed Li in the tribal territories all claimed to be her kin and told the envoys so. The envoys returned and reported that Gui and Wang were impostors. He again sent Supervising Secretary Sun Gui and Censor Teng You to travel covertly through Lianzhou and Hezhou, entering Yao and Zhuang country in plain clothes to investigate; they learned the full truth and returned to report. The emperor punished Yong and the others with varying penalties and exiled Gui and Wang to the coastal frontier. From then on the emperor searched repeatedly for the empress dowager's family but never found them.

弘治三年，禮部尚書耿裕奏曰：「粵西當大徵之后，兵燹飢荒，人民奔竄，歲月悠遠，踪跡難明。昔孝慈高皇后與高皇帝同起艱難，化家為國，徐王親高皇后父，當后之身，尋求家族，尚不克獲，然后立廟宿州，春秋祭祀。今紀太后幼離西粵，入侍先帝，連、賀非徐、宿中原之地，嬪宮無母后正位之年，陛下訪尋雖切，安從得其實哉！臣愚謂可仿徐王故事，定擬太后父母封號，立祠桂林致祭。」帝曰：「孝穆皇太后早棄朕躬，每一思念，惄焉如割。初謂宗親尚可旁求，寧受百欺，冀獲一是。卿等謂歲久無從物色，請加封立廟，以慰聖母之靈。皇祖既有故事，朕心雖不忍，又奚敢違。」於是封后父推誠宣力武臣特進光祿大夫柱國慶元伯，諡端僖，后母伯夫人，立廟桂林府，有司歲時祀。大學士尹直撰哀冊有云：「睹漢家堯母之門，增宋室仁宗之慟。」帝燕閒念誦，輒欷歔流涕也。

In the third year of Hongzhi, Minister of Rites Geng Yu memorialized: "After the great campaign in western Guangdong, Guangxi endured war, famine, and mass flight; years have passed and traces are hard to find. In the past Empress Xiaoci Gao and the founding emperor rose together through hardship and made a household into a dynasty; Prince Xu, a kinsman of the empress's father, sought her family while she still lived and could not find them—only then was a temple established at Suzhou with sacrifices in spring and autumn. Now Empress Dowager Ji left western Guangdong as a child to serve the late emperor; Lianzhou and Hezhou are not the heartland of Xu and Suzhou, and she never held the empress's seat in the inner palace—though Your Majesty searches with all earnestness, how can the truth be recovered! I humbly propose following Prince Xu's precedent: confer posthumous titles on the empress dowager's parents and establish a shrine in Guilin for sacrifice. The emperor said, "Empress Dowager Xiaomu left me too soon; each time I think of her, the pain is like being torn apart. At first I thought her kin might still be found through wider search; I would rather be deceived a hundred times than miss one true relative. You say so many years have passed that they cannot be identified, and ask to enfeoff them and build a temple to comfort my mother's spirit. The imperial grandfather already established a precedent; though my heart cannot bear it, how dare I disobey? Thereupon the empress's father was enfeoffed as Duke of Qingyuan, Special Promotion Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and Pillar of the State, with the posthumous epithet Duanxi; her mother was made Dame; and a temple was established in Guilin Prefecture for annual sacrifice by the local officials. Grand Secretary Yin Zhi composed the lamentation text with the line: "To see the gate of Yao's mother in the Han house is to feel anew the grief of Emperor Renzong of Song. Whenever the emperor recited it in private, he would sigh and weep.

孝惠邵太后，憲宗妃，興獻帝母也。父林，昌化人，貧甚，鬻女於杭州鎮守太監，妃由此入宮。知書，有容色。成化十二年封宸妃，尋進封貴妃。興王之籓，妃不得從。世宗入繼大統，妃已老，目眚矣，喜孫為皇帝，摸世宗身，自頂至踵。已，尊為皇太后。嘉靖元年上尊號曰壽安。十一月崩。帝欲明年二月遷葬茂陵，大學士楊廷和等言：「祖陵不當數興工作，驚動神靈。」不從。諡曰「孝惠康肅溫仁懿順協天祐聖皇太后」，別祀奉慈殿。七年七月改稱太皇太后。十五年遷主陵殿，稱皇后，與孝肅、孝穆等。

Empress Dowager Xiaohui Shao was a consort of Xianzong and mother of the Prince of Xing. Her father Lin was from Changhua and desperately poor; he sold his daughter to the eunuch commissioner at Hangzhou, and through this she entered the palace. She was literate and beautiful. In the twelfth year of Chenghua she was made Honored Consort Chen, and soon after was promoted to honored consort. When the Prince of Xing went to his fief, the consort was not permitted to follow. When Shizong succeeded to the throne, the consort was already old and blind; overjoyed that her grandson had become emperor, she felt Shizong's body from head to foot. She was then honored as Empress Dowager. In the first year of Jiajing she was given the exalted honorific Shou An. She died in the eleventh month. The emperor wished to move her burial to Maoling in the second month of the following year; Grand Secretaries Yang Tinghe and others said, "The imperial tombs should not be repeatedly disturbed with new work, troubling the spirits. He did not listen. She was given the posthumous title Empress Dowager Xiaohui Kangsou Wenren Yishun Xietian Yousheng and enshrined separately in the Hall of Filial Reverence. In the seventh month of the seventh year she was redesignated Grand Empress Dowager. In the fifteenth year her spirit tablet was moved to the main tomb hall and she was titled Empress, alongside Xiaosu and Xiaomu.

恭肅貴妃萬氏，諸城人。四歲選入掖廷，為孫太后宮女。及長，侍憲宗於東宮。憲宗年十六即位，妃已三十有五，機警，善迎帝意，遂讒廢皇后吳氏，六宮希得進禦。帝每遊幸，妃戎服前驅。成化二年正月生皇第一子，帝大喜，遣中使祀諸山川，遂封貴妃。皇子未期薨，妃亦自是不復娠矣。

Honored Consort Gongsu of the Wan clan was from Zhucheng. At the age of four she was selected for the inner palace and became a maid in Empress Dowager Sun's service. When she grew up she attended Xianzong in the Eastern Palace. Xianzong was sixteen when he took the throne; the consort was already thirty-five—clever and adept at pleasing the emperor. She slandered Empress Wu until she was deposed, and thereafter few women in the six palaces gained the emperor's favor. Whenever the emperor went on excursions, the consort rode ahead in military dress. In the first month of the second year of Chenghua she bore the emperor's first son; he was overjoyed, sent palace envoys to sacrifice at mountains and rivers, and made her an honored consort. The prince died before his first birthday, and the consort never conceived again.

當是時，帝未有子，中外以為憂，言者每請溥恩澤以廣繼嗣。給事中李森、魏元，御史康永韶等先后言尤切。四年秋，彗星屢見。大學士彭時、尚書姚夔亦以為言。帝曰：「內事也，朕自主之。」然不能用。妃益驕。中官用事者，一忤意，立見斥逐。掖廷禦幸有身，飲藥傷墜者無數。孝宗之生，頂寸許無發，或曰藥所中也。紀淑妃之死，實妃為之。佞幸錢能、覃勤、汪直、梁芳、韋興輩皆假貢獻，苛斂民財，傾竭府庫，以結貴妃歡。奇技淫巧，禱祠宮觀，糜費無算。久之，帝后宮生子漸多，芳等懼太子年長，他日立，將治己罪，同導妃勸帝易儲。會泰山震，佔者謂應在東宮。帝心懼，事乃寢。

At that time the emperor still had no heir, and both court and realm were anxious; memorialists repeatedly urged him to extend grace and broaden the succession. Supervising Secretaries Li Sen and Wei Yuan, Censor Kang Yongshao, and others spoke in turn with especial urgency. In the autumn of the fourth year comets appeared again and again. Grand Secretary Peng Shi and Minister Yao Kui also remonstrated on the same point. The emperor said, "These are palace matters—I shall decide them myself. Yet he would not heed them. The consort grew ever more arrogant. Any powerful eunuch who crossed her was summarily dismissed. Countless women in the rear palace who became pregnant after imperial favor were forced to take abortifacients. When Xiaozong was born, a patch on his crown about an inch across bore no hair—some said it was damage from abortifacients. Consort Ji the Virtuous was in fact killed at her instigation. Favorites such as Qian Neng, Tan Qin, Wang Zhi, Liang Fang, and Wei Xing extorted the people and emptied the treasury under the guise of tribute to curry favor with her. Extravagant crafts, shrine-building, and ritual spending consumed untold sums. In time, as more sons were born in the palace, Fang and his allies feared that once the grown crown prince succeeded he would punish them; they joined her in urging the emperor to replace the heir. When Mount Tai shook, diviners said the omen pointed to the Eastern Palace. Frightened, the emperor dropped the matter.

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