Who is Princess Pingyang of Han Dynasty | The princess who married her servant

Hi everyone, I’m Ally An audience member requested Princess Pingyang in the comments, so let’s talk about Princess Pingyang However, there are more than a dozen princesses with the same title Pingyang in Chinese history. But only two of them were famous enough to have detailed historical accounts. In this video, I’m going to talk about the one from the Western Han dynasty. She’s known for discovering two empresses for her brother Emperor Wu and consequently establishing two of the greatest generals in Chinese history She’s also famous for marrying her own servant. How did that happen? Let’s find out There wasn’t too much information about the princess’s early life in historical records, such as her name and her birth year We only know that she was originally given the title of Yangxin before marriage. After marrying her first husband the Marquis of Pingyang, her title changed to Princess Pingyang Her husband, however, passed away from sickness, leaving her with only one son Princess Pingyang’s biggest contribution was connecting her younger brother Emperor Wu of Han with his second empress Wei Zifu Emperor Wu ascended to the throne at the age of 16, and for the first few years, he didn’t have any children People were concerned, including his sister Princess Pingyang. So she prepared a dozen beauties in her home for her brother One day the emperor passed by her home and came in for a visit. The princess brought out all the beauties, but the emperor wasn’t interested in any of them The princess then decided to just serve him some wine and let him have some fun She called out the entertainers to sing and dance for him. But to everyone’s surprise, the emperor took a liking to one of the singers Wei Zifu So the princess sent the singer Wei Zifu to go to the palace with the emperor It was recorded that before Wei Zifu boarded the carriage, the princess patted her on the back and said, Go now, eat well, and do your best! If you succeed one day, don’t forget me. Soon Wei Zifu gave birth to the emperor’s first child and eventually bore him a son This secured Wei Zifu’s position in the palace, and earned her the position of an empress Wei Zifu then went on to become the longest serving empress in Chinese history until the record was broken in the Ming dynasty over 1,600 years later This might not have been Princess Pingyang’s original plan, but it certainly turned out better than anyone could have arranged What the princess didn’t know then was that she also planted the seed for her future husband to become a great general. We’ll talk about that in just a little bit Other than Wei Zifu, Princess Pingyang had also recommended another beauty to Emperor Wu, Lady Li. Lady Li was a skilled dancer. Although she passed away at a young age, she was given a posthumous name Empress Xiaowu, which makes Lady Li the second empress Princess Pingyang connected the emperor with But that’s not all, you might be surprised to learn two of the greatest generals in Chinese history were also discovered because of the princess When the singer Wei Zifu was sent to the palace, her younger half-brother Wei Qing went with her Both of them were born as the bastard children of a servant girl at Princess Pingyang’s residence But as a result of Wei Zifu becoming favored by the emperor, it allowed Wei Qing’s talent to be recognized, and that gave him the opportunity to become an acclaimed general who lead seven successful campaigns against the Xiongnu invasions Wei Zifu and Wei Qing also had another older sister, who had a bastard son named Huo Qubing When Wei Qing brought his young nephew Huo Qubing with him onto the battlefield, he turned out to be a brilliant general as well, maybe even better than Wei Qing. Together, they defeated the Xiongnu invasion and won many decisive victories for the Han dynasty Both Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were famous generals in Chinese history, but they both had a humble beginning from Princess Pingyang’s residence And the interesting thing is, the princess ultimately ended up marrying the servant-turned-general Wei Qing as her second husband There are a lot of false information floating around the internet nowadays, and one of them is about Princess Pingyang’s second husband After the princess’s first husband passed away, some people assumed that she married the Marquis of Ruyin But remember I said there were more than ten Princess Pingyangs in China? And the Han dynasty alone had more than five Historical records stated that the Marquis of Ruyin married a Princess Pingyang, but it wasn’t the same princess we are talking about today Since Emperor Wu’s sister was no doubt the most famous Princess Pingyang in her time, a lot of people got them confused, just like what happened with Su Xiaoxiao Now back onto the subject of the princess’s second husband Wei Qing Apparently before his sister Wei Zifu was favored by Emperor Wu, Wei Qing was only a riding servant to Princess Pingyang to accompany her on her outings When he left the princess’s residence, he was still a young boy, but over the years, he made a name for himself When the princess decided to get married again, she asked around for a suitable candidate. Her advisors recommended Wei Qing Upon hearing his name, she laughed and said, He used to be a servant from my residence and followed me on my rides. How can he be my husband? But she was eventually convinced as Wei Qing was now a victorious general with a high-ranking marquis title That’s how Princess Pingyang married her former servant-turned-general Wei Qing Can you imagine what would happen if Princess Pingyang didn’t bring out the entertainers for Emperor Wu all those years ago? There wouldn’t be any empress Wei Zifu, or generals Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, and the princess wouldn’t get a second husband for herself either! Luckily for these people, it did happen and that one event changed all of their lives So that’s the story of Princess Pingyang from the Western Han Dynasty. There’s another famous Princess Pingyang in Chinese history. Her story is even more legendary. That princess was a general herself! Let me know in the comments if you want to learn about anyone else Thank you for watching and I’ll see you next time