In 1605, Madame Ke was employed at the imperial court of the Forbidden City at eighteen and given the task of a nanny or wet nurse to the future Tianqi Emperor after his birth in 1605.
[1] Under Ming regulations, Madame Ke, who has borne a son, should not be eligible to nurse the future Tianqi Emperor.
[3] The Tianqi Emperor had no contact with his biological mother, Consort Wang (d. 1619), and thus, became completely dependent upon Madame Ke: she was reportedly so close to him that she kept all his baby hair and his nail cuttings in boxes, while he refused to be pacified at mealtime or at bedtime unless she was there.
Together, Madame Ke and Wei Zhongxian purged the imperial court of their enemies and took control over state affairs in a de facto rule referred to as "Ke-Wei".
In a petition appealing to the Emperor, Wang Yuncheng, a censor from Nanjing, urged Madame Ke to leave the Forbidden Palace.
Ming officials' criticism of Madame Ke is less focused on her actions but rather on how she has overstepped the boundaries of class and gender.
In terms of societal class, Ming scholars believed that the Emperor had overly rewarded a lowly wet nurse.
In terms of gender, Ke’s continued presence in the palace defies societal rules, where women were not allowed to participate in political affairs.
Reportedly, the childlessness of the Emperor was caused by the handiwork of Madame Ke and Wei Zhongxian, who played a significant role in inducing miscarriages among his concubines and consorts.
On another occasion, Ke and Wei were accused of forging imperial decrees during the Taichang Emperor’s reign, where they ordered one of his consorts to commit suicide.
As a result, given Madame Ke’s contributions, he rewarded her for “twenty-three years of total and unwavering loyalty” by promoting honours for her younger brother and her son.
Eunuch Memorist Lin Ruoyu records that Madame Ke, in the predawn hours of October 11, went in mourning dress to Tianqi’s coffin in Renzhi palace.
[19] Despite the initial amicable attitude shown by the Chongzhen Emperor, the winds were beginning to shift for Madame Ke and Wei.
On November 30, Lu Chengyuan, a minor official in the Ministry of Works, accused Wei of many acts of insubordination during his service to the Tianqi Emperor, where Wei was accused of overstepping his position as a palace eunuch by allowing himself to be honoured with temples as well as supplanting the regular bureaucracy by sending eunuchs to control the frontiers.
According to Lin Ruoyu, Madame Ke, now homeless, moved to the Laundry Bureau, a place for old and disabled palace maids and eunuchs.
Enraged, the Chongzhen Emperor agreed to execute Wei’s nephew and Madame Ke’s son, Hou Guoxing.
Given the scattering of Madame Ke’s ashes, this posthumous execution was unable to be carried forward, given that her body was never found.