According to the history books, Ham Huong not only possesses an enticing fragrance but is also very beautiful. She has a fragrance that attracts butterflies to surround her. However, Ham Huong’s life was only favored by Emperor Can Long once. Ham Huong, also known as Dung Phi Hoa Trac Thi, was the concubine of Emperor Can Long. According to the legend, as soon as she was born, her body emitted a fragrant scent like a flower. At that time, when she arrived, there were immediately a swarm of butterflies following her, which made people greatly praise her.
Beautiful Ham Huong with a captivating fragrance
Ham Huong was born into the Hoa Trac clan, belonging to the Duy Ngo Nhi ethnic group in Tan Cuong, so she was also called Hoa Trac Thi. Her older brother was Do Nhi Do, the 29th leader of the Hoi Bo.
In 1760, after suppressing the rebellion in Hoi Bo, Do Nhi Do and his assistants went to Beijing and were warmly welcomed and honored by Emperor Can Long. Ham Huong, his younger sister, who was 27 years old at the time, also entered the palace and was honored as Hoa quy nhan, which was Ham Huong. Can Long, after unifying Tan Cuong, immediately requested a wedding for political purposes.
There are also documents stating that Ham Huong entered the palace in 1756.
When entering the palace, Hoa Trac Thi was 27 years old, which was considered older than the beautiful concubines who entered the palace according to the orthodox procedures.
However, thanks to her graceful beauty, graceful figure, and captivating body fragrance, Hoa Trac Thi was immediately honored by Can Long.
The concubine is only favored once
However, according to the history books, although Dung Phi was greatly favored by Can Long, he only favored her once in his lifetime. Dung Phi lived until she was 55 years old but never got pregnant during her years as a concubine. Not having any offspring is a great loss for a woman in the palace.
According to the “Thanh su cao,” Dung Phi had a fairly severe fungal foot disease for which there was no remedy at the time. That is why, despite the captivating fragrance of her body, her feet had a particularly unpleasant odor. However, during the day, she usually wore tightly closed shoes, so no one could smell this foul odor.
However, when going to sleep or taking a bath, Dung Phi had to take off her shoes. Because of this unpleasant smell, Can Long felt uncomfortable during their first encounter, so he never favored her again.
Although she was not favored by Emperor Can Long, he still treated her very well. In 1765, Emperor Can Long went on an inspection tour to the south, bringing more than 1,000 people from the imperial family, including Ham Huong. Along the way, the king showed great favor to her and gave her more than 80 kinds of food. Ham Huong’s beauty and love for her homeland made the king love and trust her even more. In 1768, the empress dowager honored her as Dung Phi and gave her Man Chau court clothes and jewelry.
After the empress dowager passed away, Emperor Can Long did not want to have another empress. In 1775, the imperial concubine was sentenced to death, and only Dung Phi was the highest-ranked person in the palace, honored by the king.