Empress Zhou was the last queen and a virtuous queen, and she died at will.

The story has to start from the beginning. Zhou Kui, one of hundreds of millions of beings in Ming Dynasty, was an ordinary citizen. He comes from a poor family. Since he went to Beijing from Suzhou, his hometown, to drift north, he found his life more and more sad. You know, the pressure of life faced by "Beijing Piao" in this most prosperous and gorgeous city of the Ming Dynasty is cruel. Helpless, Zhou Kui had to make a living by fortune telling on Qianmen Street. In the long run, maybe there will be at most one more "week" in the Jianghu instead of enjoying the splendor in the future.

On this day, a scholar-like man suddenly came to Zhou Kui's house for the night. This person calls himself Chen. After spending the night, Chen accidentally met Zhou's daughter. At that time, she was still very young, but Chen surprised her. He said to Zhou Kui, "Your daughter will be a noble person in the world in the future!" Zhou Kui doesn't think so. Looking at the little girl, he didn't find anything remarkable about her, except that she was very handsome and her little hand had some cocoons because she helped with the housework at home. You know Zhou Kui lives by fortune telling. Does her daughter have such a good life? Later facts will prove that amateur fortune-telling exceeds several stages of professional fortune-telling.

Fortune-telling, recorded in ancient books, many records are made by a fortune-teller who showed her "the future in the palace" before the empresses entered the palace. However, fortune telling is not credible. That is, according to Chen's calculation, he worked out Zhou's expensive, but did not work out Zhou's tragic ending)

Chen decided that Zhou's youngest daughter would become a noble person in the future, so he became a governess for Zhou's family for free. He taught Zhou when he was young, such as Zi Jian, a smart and studious Zhou, and he had amazing knowledge since he was a child.

With the growth of age, Zhou has become a slim girl. Her skin is white and bright as jade, dignified and beautiful, and the rate of turning around when walking in the street is absolutely 100%. What is commendable is that Teacher Zhou is not only amazing in beauty, but also amazing in knowledge. A woman with both talent and color like this is rare in the world.

The turning point of the Zhou family's fate began in the sixth year of the Apocalypse when Xin Gong chose a princess.

Zhu Youxiao's only younger brother, Xin Wang Zhu Youjian, chose his wife, which the court attached great importance to. Zhangyan, the empress of the Apocalypse Emperor Zhu Youxiao, personally presided over the choice of a wife for his brother-in-law. There are many beautiful women from all over the world. Among many beautiful women, MISS ZHOU and two other ladies reached the "final" after strict "sea election" and "re-election". The finalists are not small, but only Empress zhangyan and Liu (the concubine of Emperor Wanli) have the final say.

At first, Queen zhangyan didn't like MISS ZHOU. She thinks Miss Zhou is young and a little thin. But among the three people, Liu is the most satisfied with Teacher Zhou. She said to Queen zhangyan, "Although this girl is weak now, she will definitely grow up in the future." Zhang Qian wanted to give Liu this grandmother face, so she obeyed her meaning. Finally, MISS ZHOU was successfully elected as Princess Xin.

Zhou was chosen as Princess Xin, which is in tune with her husband. After marriage, Zhou personally took care of the housework. The hard training of folk life makes Zhou have no aristocratic demeanor, and he is often complacent about marrying such a good couple.

Fate is always unpredictable. If this situation continues, Zhou will live happily with her husband and become a carefree prince and queen. However, with the untimely death of Emperor Apocalypse and childless, the important task of the empire fell on her husband Zhu Youjian.

In the seventh year of Revelation, the faithful king Zhu Youjian was invited to inherit the emperor in the palace. He is the most tragic emperor in the history of the Ming Dynasty-Emperor Chongzhen. At the beginning of entering the palace, Emperor Chongzhen faced a severe and unpredictable situation. Wei Zhongxian, an autocratic eunuch, had many henchmen. Sister-in-law zhangyan warned Zhu Youjian not to eat the food in the palace in case he was poisoned. Therefore, the diet of Chongzhen in the palace is taken care of by Zhou himself, which is not difficult for Zhou, who grew up in the folk and came into contact with housework prematurely.

After Chongzhen ascended the throne, Zhou was made queen. After experiencing the difficulties at the beginning of succession, Emperor Chongzhen came to power, and he was determined to revive the former empire. Seeing that her husband was dealing with state affairs day and night, and her body was getting thinner, Queen Zhou also made up her mind to help her husband and manage the harem without distracting him. She practiced frugality in the harem, dressed in cloth, ate vegetarian food, and set up 24 spinning wheels in the palace to personally lead the ladies-in-waiting to spin. She reduced court expenses and started from herself. In summer, Queen Zhou wore a white tulle without any decoration as a blouse. Chongzhen also joked: "You are really a scholar in white." Under the leading role of Queen Zhou, the concubines in the palace changed the extravagant style of the previous dynasty and all made skirts with white gauze. The atmosphere in the palace has changed.

The Chongzhen Dynasty was beset with internal troubles and foreign invasion. In addition to natural and man-made disasters, there were civil strife in Li Zicheng and Zhang, and the Qing army invaded Shanhaiguan. The court's money is like running water, which is unfair to open source and can only be reduced. Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen was deeply gratified by the frugality of Empress Zhou in the Imperial Palace. Not only that, Queen Zhou often exchanged her private money and the money saved in the palace for military pay. He knew that no matter how difficult the previous dynasty was, there was always the firm support of Queen Zhou behind it.

Empress Zhou also paid attention to strictly restraining her relatives to prevent them from bossing around in foreign countries because of their status. When she entered the palace, even her biological mother Ding Furen came to see her. First the ceremony of the monarch and the minister, then the ceremony of the family. When Queen Zhou saw her mother give her a big gift, she felt very sorry. She wanted the prince to return the gift, and everyone around her advised her, "This is the future master of the world, and it won't work." She had to give up in tears.

The relationship between Empress Zhou and Chongzhen is very good. After marriage, they gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Among them, the eldest son, Zhu Cilang, was made a prince. Husband and wife sometimes have disharmony. On one occasion, Chongzhen was furious with Queen Zhou because of a disagreement in Jiaotai Hall. Chongzhen pushed Queen Zhou to the ground and went on a hunger strike after Zhou. Chongzhen thought about it, regretted it, and let the eunuch reward her and sympathize with her daily life.

With the deterioration of the world situation, Emperor Chongzhen became manic. Looking at her out-of-control husband, Queen Zhou was anxious. The People's Army burned the tomb of Fengyang and reduced food in Chongzhen to show guilt. Empress Zhou looked at her emaciated husband and was very distressed. She cooked some food with meat for her husband, but it was rejected. Later, Chongzhen's grandmother persuaded her to move out of his dead mother with a dream, and Chongzhen barely ate. During the dinner, he cried with Queen Zhou in his arms, and his tears wet the console table. At that moment, Chongzhen really felt overwhelmed by the heavy responsibility of the world, and it was a rare enjoyment to have a meal with Queen Zhou in peace.

The world is in a state of erosion, and Empress Chongzhen is in no mood to watch the play. You know, several generations of emperors in the previous dynasties were very keen on watching plays in the palace to pass the boring time. During the whole period of Chongzhen 17, there were only two performances in the palace, one was for the birthday of Queen Zhou.

In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng's people's army has moved to Beijing. At this critical juncture, Chongzhen ordered officials to donate money to help pay. Chongzhen has high hopes for Zhou Kui, the father-in-law. He sent Xu Gao, the eunuch of Li Si prison, to seal the old father-in-law, Hou Jiading. Zhou Kui, who was extremely stingy, told Xu Gao that he had no money to donate to the court. Xu Gao was filled with indignation and saddened: "If you are the father of the queen, the affairs of state will be over!"

In desperation, Zhou Kui endured heartache and took out 12,000 pieces of silver, half of which was taken by her daughter, Queen Zhou, from her possession. She really couldn't stand her father's manner. As far as her daughter's money is concerned, the old man Zhou Kui is still greedy by half and earns his own pocket. Zhou Kui, who is so stingy, will come to no good end. After Li Zicheng captured Beijing, he was forced to hand over 702,000 pieces of silver and all his possessions under torture. Zhou Kui was stingy and stupid, and became a joke of Beijingers.

Seeing that Beijing was in danger, Queen Zhou once persuaded Chongzhen: "We still have a home in the south." When suggesting a crisis, Chongzhen can consider moving south to stay in Nanjing. But this extremely correct suggestion was abandoned because of the opposition of most courtiers and the death of Chongzhen.

On March 19th, the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the people's army invaded Beijing. At the last moment, Emperor Chongzhen said to Empress Zhou in despair, "The tide is gone! You are the mother of a country, you must not be humiliated, or you will commit suicide! " (Think about Li Zicheng's atrocities of killing people in several cities, and you can understand this sentence of Chongzhen. )

Queen Zhou cried bitterly, "I have served your majesty for eighteen years, and you have never listened to my advice." Today, I gave my life for my country. " Reluctantly, she took one last look at her husband Zhu Youjian, turned and walked into the back room to commit suicide. Emperor Chongzhen remembered their husband and wife's feelings of sharing joys and sorrows for many years, and tears could not stop pouring down. He said silently in his heart, "You won't be alone. I will come with you soon. " Soon after, Chongzhen, who hanged himself as a martyr in Jingshan Park, finally reunited with his lover in Jiuquan.

Empress Zhou, an ordinary woman from the bottom of society, changed from a princess to a queen. She is virtuous and kind, and she is a virtuous queen. Although she was a weak woman, she finally died for Daming with her life, which also explained the unyielding and tragic of the bloody Daming ...