Historically, what if the eldest son is a twin?
But interestingly, there are about 500 emperors in the feudal society of more than two thousand years, plus the history of the Zhou Dynasty for nearly a thousand years, including the Western Zhou Dynasty 12, the Spring and Autumn Period 14 and the Warring States Period 12. There are many Harlem, not to mention that the eldest son has no twins, and even other concubines have no such record.
If you count countless princes, there is no record of twins.
In Harem, Zhen Xuan is more favored because she gave birth to twins, but there is no such record in the official history.
This situation is absolutely abnormal. Since the eldest son is a twin, the probability is really small, but it is strange that there is no case in thousands of years of history.
A study by a Swedish medical institution shows that women who take folic acid are twice as likely to have twins as women who don't take folic acid. 1994, the data analyzed by this institution showed that 2.8 out of every1000 women who took folic acid gave birth to twins, while the proportion of women who did not take folic acid was 1.5.
According to some data, the genes of twins are mainly in the mother's side, and the mother is a twin. The probability of having twins is 1.7%. When the father is a twin, the chances of being pregnant with twins again are much smaller.
These are local, not universal statistics, but at least they show the approximate probability of twins appearing.
But in thousands of years of history, there is no record, which makes people doubt.
To understand this problem, I'm afraid we have to talk about ancient customs.
In ancient times, twins were considered unlucky. The two children began to snatch nutrients from their bellies. After they were born, didn't they continue to fight for food and property?
What's more, it is the emperor's home. Wouldn't it be more intense to compete for the throne?
This is usually the case in ordinary people's homes. In order to avoid criticism, a child is often sent away, or sent to a temple, or even left on the side of the road to die.
This is still the case among the people, let alone the palace.
If concubines give birth to twins, not only will they not be more favored than concubines in the palace, but it will be a disaster. If the queen gives birth to twins, I'm afraid she will abort one and not keep all of them.
So there is no case that the eldest son is a twin. This is probably the reason why there is no record of twins in the long history.
There is no historical record, everything is speculation, but this is really an interesting question.
This question is very interesting, but I have to say that the subject is too alarmist.
The patriarchal clan system of the eldest son was founded by Zhou Gongdan in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, which meant that the king should transfer to the eldest son. What is the eldest son? The eldest son born to the wife of an emperor or vassal. Of course, this wife is not immutable. If the wife's conduct is improper or the eldest son is not liked by the monarch, then the monarch will often abolish the original wife and set up other favorite wives or favorite mothers as wives. In this way, the wife's eldest son became the eldest son. For example, Emperor Han Jing was abolished and Mrs. Wang was appointed as the prince.
The enfeoffment system of the Zhou Dynasty made the Zhou Emperor coexist with hundreds of princes, especially since the Spring and Autumn Period, which made the patriarchal clan system of the eldest son face unprecedented challenges, and illegitimate children seized the throne one after another. It was an era when the strong made rules, so I won't discuss it much.
From Qin Shihuang unified the world and claimed to be the emperor, to the last emperor Puyi, there were about 400 emperors in China around 2000. However, not all imperial dynasties set up stores according to the patriarchal clan system. It can be said that the Han Dynasty basically followed this system.
The secret storage system was adopted in the Qing Dynasty, and the Kulitai parliamentary election system was still adopted in the early Yuan Dynasty, with the participation of clansmen, nobles and ministers. Later, it was integrated into the patriarchal clan system of the Han nationality. In addition, in the five dynasties and sixteen countries, the southern and northern dynasties and the five dynasties and ten countries, which accounted for half of the number of emperors, although many emperors used the patriarchal clan system to open stores, it is a pity that most of those emperors were cut off or ousted before they got hot. For them, opening a shop is actually of little significance. Jin and Liao dynasties are short-lived non-Han dynasties, so it makes no sense to talk about them. But Xixia is an exception, and its political system is roughly based on the Song Dynasty, so the establishment of the reserve team is strictly in accordance with the eldest son inheritance system.
To sum up, apart from the two short dynasties of Qin and Sui, only the Han, the Three Kingdoms, the Jin, the Tang, the Song, the Xixia and the Ming dynasties need to be considered when the patriarchal clan system was really adopted, and there were about 100 emperors during this period.
It turns out that the founding emperor was busy attacking the city all his life. Compared with those who enjoy success, they should be short-lived and have fewer children. However, on the contrary, Liu Bang, Cao Cao, Li Shimin, Zhu Yuanzhang and others all lived to be over 60 years old and had many sons. In addition, the romantic emperor Li Longji and Evonne of Song Huizong were also counted. These two men, bold and beautiful, have countless harem women and more than 30 sons. Liu Che, Emperor of the Han Dynasty, and, Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, are regarded as the longevity emperors of their respective dynasties. However, they are busy expanding their territory. Although they lived for a long time, they were not prolific.
In fact, although ancient emperors lived in luxury, their average life expectancy was not long. Take the Ming Dynasty as an example. Maybe Zhu Gaochi has bad genes. Except Zhu Houzong, few emperors are over 40 years old. So short-lived, let alone twins, I have a headache to have another son.
In this way, almost no queen can meet any of the above conditions.
To sum up, even if some emperors are healthy, it is almost up to the queen to decide whether to have twins, and the conditions conducive to having twins are extremely harsh, and almost no queen can do it. Therefore, it was difficult for ancient emperors to have twins.
In ancient times, medical conditions were backward, women gave birth naturally, and almost all twins were premature. Although there is a wet nurse in the palace, the chances of twins surviving are not high. If one of them is strong, the other is more likely to die of congenital deficiency. When the child was born, the prince was not directly inscribed. Therefore, only survivors need to be inscribed as princes.
In addition, if they are identical twins, the two children are not exactly the same in appearance, so it is easy to distinguish them. In this way, just remember that the child belongs to the husband, and that is the eldest son.
This is even more difficult if they are identical twins and both survive. Because the two shapes are almost identical, most people can't tell them apart at all. So what should we do? Really strangle one? Tiger poison does not eat children, what's more, ancient emperors have never encountered such trouble. Even if they know, they may not be able to do it. If I were you, I would choose the healthy one as the prince, and the other one would be kept in secret in the palace. Before the Prince ascended the throne, he served as the reserve army of the Prince. In case the prince was seriously ill before he acceded to the throne, another prince was secretly appointed. If the prince ascended the throne smoothly, then the twin brothers can become twins, and they can also suffer from disasters such as palace changes at critical moments.
The children born to the wives of ordinary people, the children born to the emperor and queen are the first; The first child born is long!
Do one thing and grow one thing. These two things add up to only one office eldest son! Whether twins or triplets, there is only one eldest son!
Under normal circumstances, you can judge whether you are pregnant with twins in advance. Therefore, different wrapping papers will be prepared in advance to distinguish the eldest son from the second son during childbirth. In this case, it is not difficult to distinguish the eldest son from the second son.
The biggest problem with twins is that they are easily confused!
With the medical technology at that time, it was often impossible to tell whether twins were born or not, and it was often discovered at the time of delivery. It's easier to get confused when you're born.
As an ordinary family, it doesn't matter if you are confused. Anyway, they are all their own children, so keep them. A pair of twins also look quite likable.
For the emperor or a big family, once twins are confused, it is very troublesome. This problem is very serious, because it involves the question of which is the eldest son! So neither the emperor nor the extended family liked the fact that the eldest son was a twin.
The eldest son will inherit the throne in the future! It will cause great trouble for the eldest son of the twins to inherit the throne!
Generally speaking, the emperor should be mythical. For example, when his mother was pregnant, she dreamed that the sun entered her abdomen. When she was born, there was a red light in the room. Prove that the emperor is destined to return.
Twins are pregnant at the same time, so which one is the sun entering the abdomen? Who can say that it was born first! This is not good for the mythical emperor.
As the saying goes, there are no two days, and the people have no two masters! At this time, the emergence of a brother exactly like the monarch is very unfavorable to the stability of imperial power!
So looking at so many emperors in history, no one is the eldest son.
I like to look at the nodes in history in a continuous way.
Aren't twins all longer? Really don't know or don't understand? It's natural to be born first.
In ancient China, monogamy was practiced. In ancient times, men with status generally had many wives and gave birth to a bunch of sons, but no matter how many wives this man had, there was always only one wife, even if this man was a self-centered emperor.
The emperor's wife is called the queen, the prince's wife is called the queen, and the scholar-bureaucrat's wife is called the lady. Whether it is an emperor, a sovereign or a scholar-bureaucrat, their first wives are not necessarily wives. Only those who get married through legal media and are given a prominent position are wives.
Similarly, the eldest son of an emperor, monarch or scholar-bureaucrat is not necessarily the eldest son. The first son can only be called the eldest son, indicating that he is old. The first one indicates that "brother" comes from the inheritance system under the feudal patriarchal clan system, and distinguishes "brother" from "uncle" by status.
As we all know, there is a whole set of inheritance system under the feudal patriarchal clan system, which began to spread from the Zhou Gongdan system in the Western Zhou Dynasty and influenced the history of China for thousands of years. The core of inheritance system is "eldest son inheritance system". The so-called eldest son inheritance system means that the sons of emperors, princes, doctors and even ordinary scholars or ordinary people are all heirs by their wives, and their sons are called eldest sons.
Moreover, there is a principle in the inheritance system, that is, there is no office. Simply put, it is more expensive to do it directly than to do it long. If the directly employed person is not the eldest son, then the right of inheritance takes precedence over the eldest son. In the case of lineal descent, the non-lineal eldest son will take age as the priority of inheritance.
If there is a younger son, the legal inheritance system takes the eldest son as the first heir. That principle is the most effective and clear, and there will be no doubt or black-box operation to ensure the stability of feudal society when the old and the new are alternating for thousands of years.
So the question is, what if the eldest son is a twin? How to determine who is the heir?
In fact, the ancients were very clever. They have considered this problem for a long time. Don't doubt the wisdom of the ancients. The ancients had at least 100 methods to determine who was the heir.
The ancient people's strict principle of the eldest son inheritance system has been deeply rooted. Take the Shang Dynasty as an example. The last Shang king was Shang Zhouwang. In fact, there are two brothers in Shang Zhouwang whose parents are the same. You are not mistaken. Shang Zhouwang actually has two brothers with the same father and mother, but neither of them succeeded to the throne, but the youngest Shang Zhouwang succeeded to the throne. Why?
In fact, this reason seems ridiculous today, because when Shang Zhouwang's mother gave birth to his two brothers, his mother was not the wife of the last Shang king. When Shang Zhouwang was born, his mother was helped to become a wife. According to the eldest son inheritance system, his two brothers were not Di Zi, but Shang Zhouwang and Di Zi, so Shang Zhouwang succeeded to the throne. How's it going? Strict enough!
Let's go back to the principle of feudal inheritance system. If the eldest son is a twin, then even twins are born after the husband. According to the principle, whoever is born first is the heir. Even if the twins are born only a few minutes apart, you can determine who is "long".
Generally speaking, what must be born first is "long", including the fact that we now determine who is the youngest twin, which is determined by the time of birth, and so is the ancients. This method is the simplest and most effective, and will not cause controversy.
If it is in the emperor's house, this situation is easier to distinguish. If the emperor's wife is loved by the emperor, it will be strictly recorded. If she is pregnant, then the queen will get special care. Until the day of birth, a lot of eunuchs and maids were waiting to be served. When the first prince is born, it will be marked immediately, and then the second prince will be born.
In this way, there will be no confusion at all, and the emperor's son will be served by different people. Even if the emperor does have twin sons, they will not be raised together, but separately, and there will be no confusion at all.
Even if there is confusion, the ancients have a hundred ways to determine who is the heir, such as divination. Especially in the ancient Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, if you can't tell who is older and who is younger, you just need to know by divination. Although this method will be wrong, who cares? All people care about is to distinguish clearly, at least right, not so important.
In addition to divination, when twins are confused, there will also be situations designated by the emperor. Although the traditional inheritance system in China is the eldest son inheritance system, there are many cases in which the eldest son does not inherit the throne in the 5,000-year history. For example, Liu Heng, Liu Qi and Liu Che, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, were not the eldest sons, but inherited the throne for various reasons. Among them, the emperor of Han Dynasty was appointed by the former emperor. After all, the successor was appointed by the emperor, without anyone's reason.
In addition, it can also be based on which twin is stronger. After all, the ancients had a poor living environment, so they could manage the country better and were more suitable for being heirs.
Of course, if you really can't tell the difference, you can also distinguish it by talent. It is not uncommon in history, especially in the Qing Dynasty, that the twins who are capable are the heirs.
I really can't tell them apart. You can draw lots. Anyway, they are twins. It doesn't make much difference who is the heir.
That depends on the wisdom.
It is confirmed that the order of twins' growth and decline is decided by landing first, and the latter is the younger brother.
I am also interested in history. On this issue, I once wrote an article called "Why didn't the ancient emperors have twins", which explained this issue and hoped it would help you.
Giving birth to children and spreading incense is a major event that everyone attaches importance to, especially the royal family. In order to flourish, the emperor will choose many concubines to enter the palace and have children for the royal family. The emperor called himself seventy-two concubines in three palaces and six courtyards. It stands to reason that there is a great possibility of having twins. Then why can't we find the record that the emperor gave birth to twins by looking up historical materials?
First of all, due to the poor medical conditions in ancient times, when many twins were born, one of them was always in poor health. It was cruel to stay and suffer, and it cost a lot of money to treat the disease. This situation was very common in ancient times. Moreover, in ancient emperors' homes, even numbers were considered unlucky, odd numbers were yang and even numbers were yin. If the yin was heavy, it would be bad for the royal family. Therefore, after the twins are born, they will choose one who is in poor health to be executed, leaving only one healthy child.
Moreover, there is also a saying that the educated and wealthy aristocrats in ancient times thought twins were ominous. Originally, there was only one child, but because of the monster's possession, an extra child was born. One must be killed to protect the peace of the family.
In fact, the most important thing is the battle for imperial power, because the prince can only be one person, and two identical people are born. How can we tell the difference? Moreover, there will be another person who looks exactly like the emperor after he ascended the throne, and the world may be in chaos. The emperor would never allow such a thing to happen. Since the royal family doesn't like twins, what if they are born? Too many doctors will judge which children are stronger and which children are weaker, and then execute the children with weaker vitality, leaving only the children with stronger vitality. Poor child who was executed. The newborn child has no life until he sees the morning sun the next day. In order to inherit the imperial power and kill their own flesh and blood, the royal family is so heartless. Perhaps the emperor has a lot of helplessness in his heart, but he has no choice.
To take a step back, if the twins are not executed, then the two children will be deprived of their inheritance rights, and there is no hope of ascending the throne, and they can only be idle princes all their lives.
Therefore, the concept of fertility in ancient times was relatively backward, and there were many feudal superstitions. Facing twins, they are not as ecstatic as in TV series. However, there are exceptions. According to historical records, in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Lou Zhaojun, the wife of Gao Huan, SHEN WOO, gave birth to twins. The twins were the filial empresses of Wen Xuandi and Levin in the Northern Qi and Eastern Wei Dynasties. However, Gao Huan let his son become emperor because he became emperor. These twins were not born when he was emperor. In addition, it is also recorded in the Ming Dynasty that King Gong of Chu had a concubine named Hu who gave birth to twins. The reason why they were left behind was because they were crowned as queens, and their status could only stop there. Neither of them had the mind to compete for the throne, so they were left behind, so their ending was already very good.
Perhaps an emperor in history had a twin brother when he was born, and fate chose him, while the other one had fallen into a dark hell before he could open his eyes and take a look at the world.
It's terrible to think about ancient ignorance. If it were now, everyone would be extremely happy if they gave birth to twins. If they have a son and a daughter, it will be even more enviable, because dragons and phoenixes are auspicious. Nowadays, many women want to have twins, but in ancient feudal society, the fate of twins is so tragic that it is really amazing!
In ancient times, the direct eldest son inheritance system was implemented, that is, the first son born to his wife. Some people say that if a wife gives birth to twins, both of them are direct eldest sons, how to distinguish them is actually very simple. The twins also have a sequence. Brother comes out first, the eldest son, and the younger brother is the only one behind. Of course, having twins is a rare case, and having two sons at the same time can be successfully raised. It was rare in ancient times, and there was no provision in the patriarchal clan system, but later generations still used first come first served to determine the identity of the eldest son.
Lou Zhaojun, the wife of Gao Huan, the Emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty, once gave birth to twins, but only a man and a woman, and her son later became an emperor, not to mention this; The strong evidence is that in the Southern Song Dynasty, Emperor Zhao Kuo of Ningzong and his concubine Zhong Shi gave birth to twins and two baby boys. The first one came out with five children with sequential teeth, and the second one came out with six children with sequential teeth. However, the two boys were unlucky and died not long after giving birth. Song Ningzong is even more unfortunate. A large group of concubines gave birth to nine sons, all of them.
Here's another example. Zhu Ying, the king of Gong and Chu in Ming Dynasty, was a short-lived ghost. When he died, his aunt Hu had a posthumous child and he gave birth to two twins. The first one is Zhu Huakui, and the second one is Zhu. When the two children grew up, his brother Zhu Huakui was a prince, and his successor was named Chu Wangding. His younger brother Zhu was also named King Xuanhua by Emperor Wanli. It can be seen that although he is a twin, he is also respected by Wanli. However, because these two children had no father since childhood, and their relatives coveted their family's throne and property, they were framed that these two children were not the King of Chu in those days, so an identity case was launched, which was called the "Fake King of Chu Case" in history.
The process of this case is very complicated and involves a wide range. In addition, due to the long time, many parties are dead, some are wrapped up, and several parties hold their own words. It was also a struggle within the imperial clan, which made the emperor Wanli head big, so he decided to terminate the matter and not to mention it again without checking, judging or playing. There is a saying on the Internet that in ancient times, the royal family avoided twins. If they are twins, one of them will be executed in secret. But in ancient times, there were few twins, and there were no incidents in which twin princes competed for the throne, and there were no similar cases. So there is no factual basis for avoiding twins.
In ancient China, the succession to the throne was often based on the direct eldest son system, that is, the 1 th son born to his wife would be regarded as the first heir, and so on. Some people may ask, once the first son is two twins, how can we distinguish the size?
This situation was rare in ancient China. After all, the probability of having twins is small, and even fewer people happen to be the eldest son. I have never encountered such a situation in ancient China, but if this happens, the queen whose eldest son is under her should be even worse. Because in this case, it is impossible to tell who is the eldest son and who is the second son, so it is very likely that one of them will suffer.
I remember reading a famous foreign novel called "The Man in the Iron Mask", which means that the French king gave birth to twins, so only one of them can be the heir, and the other simply said that he had never been born and was kept in a secret place. This place is almost isolated from the world, and the king's son can only move in the Fiona Fang of the manor, and can't exceed this limit. And the palace will send people to check regularly to avoid accidents.
But then an accident happened, because someone finally discovered the secret and was dissatisfied with the current king, so they plotted to launch a rebellion, imprisoned the current king, and made the younger brother who was secretly imprisoned king. But because the flaw was too big, it was quickly seen through. All the rebels were killed, and the king's younger brother was exactly the same as the king, so the king finally selflessly hid his younger brother's face forever and exiled him to an overseas island to die.
If this happens in China, I think the handling method is similar, because there are too many cases to prevent similar hand-foot disputes in ancient China. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, not all the princes of the emperor went out of San Francisco, and they were never allowed to go out without imperial edict. If you meet twins, you will probably get rid of one of them to avoid trouble.