Early Life and Marriage To Crown Prince Zhong
Jia Nanfeng was born in 257, to the Jin official Jia Chong and his second wife Guo Huai (郭槐). She was their oldest daughter, although Jia Chong had two daughters with his first wife Lady Li prior to his marriage to Lady Guo. They would have one more daughter, Jia Wu (賈午), in 260. They also had two sons, both of whom died young.
In 271, as Jia desperately wanted to avoid an assignment to lead an army against the Xianbei rebel Tufa Shujineng (禿髮樹機能), he decided to try to have his daughter married to Emperor Wu's developmentally disabled crown prince Sima Zhong. Emperor Wu was initially against the idea—he wanted to have Crown Prince Zhong marry Wei Guan's daughter. Indeed, he made the comments:
- There are five reasons why Duke Wei's daughter is appropriate, and there are five reasons why Duke Jia's daughter is inappropriate. The Weis are known for producing male children, and Lady Wei is mild-tempered, beautiful, tall, and fair-skinned. The Jias lack male children, and Lady Jia is jealous, ugly, short, and dark-skinned.
However, Lady Guo was on friendly terms with Emperor Wu's wife Empress Yang Yan, and Empress Yang and Jia's associates all greatly praised Jia's daughters. Eventually, Emperor Wu agreed, but initially Jia Wu was going to be the one married to Crown Prince Zhong. When Jia Wu was to wear formal dress to be examined, however, she was too young and too short for the dress, so Jia Nanfeng was chosen. They married in 272, and she was created crown princess. She was 14, and he was 12. She became quickly known for her jealousy, but she established a relationship with the crown prince where he both loved and feared her. For the rest of her life, she would have him firmly in her control. When several of his concubines became pregnant, she killed them herself in fits of jealousy; Emperor Wu was going to depose her, and only intercession by his second wife Empress Yang Zhi (Empress Yang Yan's cousin, whom he married after her death) led to Crown Princess Jia's being spared. When, on one occasion, Wei hinted to Emperor Wu that Crown Prince Zhong was so unintelligent as to be an inappropriate heir, it was Crown Princess Jia who thought of the solution to Emperor Wu's subsequent inquiries of Crown Prince Zhong—having someone else write simple but correct answers to the inquiries, so that Emperor Wu was impressed.
Crown Princess Jia bore her husband four daughters—the Princesses Hedong, Linhai, and Shiping, as well as one daughter who died early and was given the posthumous name Aixian. However, she would not bear him a son; his only son Sima Yu was borne by Consort Xie Jiu (謝玖), who was initially a concubine of Emperor Wu but given to Crown Prince Zhong shortly before his marriage to Crown Princess Jia, so that she could teach him how to have sexual relations. As the years went on and Crown Princess Jia bore no sons, she became jealous of Consort Xie and Prince Yu, but took no decisive actions against them at this point, because Emperor Wu greatly favored Prince Yu.
When Emperor Wu died in 290, Crown Prince Zhong ascended the throne as Emperor Hui. Crown Princess Jia was created empress that year.
Read more about this topic: Empress Jia Nanfeng
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