History can't bear to look at the complete collection

Chapter 72
Changing the civet cat for the prince is a farce

The novel "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness" in the late Qing Dynasty described a story of "a civet cat for a prince".

The story takes place during the reign of Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty.In Zhenzong's later years, his two concubines, Liu Shi and Li Shi, were pregnant at the same time. In order to fight to be the empress, the scheming Liu replaced Li Shi's newly born child with a skinned civet cat, and slandered Li gave birth to a monster.Zhenzong was furious, put Li into the cold palace, and made Concubine Liu the queen.Later, the baby boy born to Concubine Li was established as the prince after twists and turns, and ascended the throne. This is Renzong.With the help of Bao Zheng, Renzong learned the truth and found his mother who was living among the people. The mother and son were reunited.Liu also got the punishment he deserved.

This story has been widely circulated. In recent years, there have been TV dramas with similar content reappearing this story. When kind-hearted people shed tears for Li's misfortune, they also walked into a misunderstanding unknowingly. They believed in this story deeply. No doubt.As everyone knows, this story has been "joked" by the playwrights, and it is far from the truth of history.

Renzong Zhao Zhen, who reigned for 42 years, was the longest reigning emperor in the Song Dynasty.During his reign, the country was stable and peaceful, the economy was prosperous, and science, technology and culture were greatly developed. During his reign, there were many famous officials and talents.In general, Renzong can be regarded as a capable emperor.

Regarding his life experience, people in the world have different opinions. Whether Renzong was the son of the empress Liu of Zhenzong or the concubine Li himself, whether it is novels or operas, almost unanimously agree that Renzong was born of Concubine Li, not the son of Empress Liu.

According to "Song History?According to the "Biography of the Concubine", Li was originally a maidservant of Empress Liu when she was a concubine. She was solemn and reticent. She was favored by Zhenzong and became one of the harem concubines.Before Concubine Li, the concubine Zhenzong had given birth to 5 boys, all of whom died one after another.At this time, Zhenzong was worried and was in the embarrassment of no one inheriting the throne.At that time, Renzong had just been born and was still in his infancy, so he was taken away by Concubine Liu De, who regarded Renzong as his son and raised him with Concubine Yang Shu.

But Li Wanyi lost the qualification to raise her son herself.After Song Renzong ascended the throne, the Li family "stayed silently in the palace, no different from all the maidservants".Others did not dare to tell Renzong the truth because they were afraid of the power of Empress Dowager Liu.Therefore, Renzong always thought that he was born of Empress Dowager Liu, and called him "Big Empress" and Concubine Yang Shu as "Little Empress".There has always been a harmonious relationship between mother and child.

It wasn't until the first year of Ming Dynasty that Li was seriously ill, so she was named Concubine Chen, and died soon after at the age of 46.

In 1034, after the death of Empress Dowager Liu, the 24-year-old Renzong began to really rule, and this secret was gradually made public.As for who first told Renzong the truth, there are two theories. One is that Concubine Yang Shu (the Empress Dowager Zhang Hui at this time) persuaded him: "This is not the emperor's mother, the emperor has his own mother." Taking care of her diet and daily life, Renzong also has great affection for her. It is very possible for Concubine Yang to tell the truth in such a political environment.

Another way of saying is that the emperor's uncle Zhao Yuanyan told Renzong: "Your Majesty was born by Concubine Li Chen, and the concubine died unexpectedly." At this time, Zhao Yuanyan suddenly came back and told the truth, which should be reasonable.

In short, Renzong learned about his life experience, and while angry and sad, he immediately sent troops to surround Liu Hou's residence, and dealt with it after finding out the truth.He suspected that his mother died unexpectedly, so he must open the coffin for inspection.When the coffin was opened, Concubine Li, whose body was impregnated with mercury, was lying peacefully in the coffin. Renzong sighed, "How can people believe what people say?" And burn incense and pray in front of the portrait of Empress Dowager Liu.

In fact, after the death of Concubine Li, Empress Dowager Liu planned to use the etiquette of ordinary palace people to hold the funeral, but Prime Minister Lu Yijian urged Empress Dowager Liu to bury Concubine Li generously if she wanted to preserve the Liu family.Only then did Empress Liu realize the seriousness of the problem, and decided to use the empress's costumes to pretend to be mourning, and used mercury coffins.Although the birth mother was buried generously, it failed to dilute Renzong's infinite guilt towards Li. He posthumously named Liu as Empress Dowager Zhuang Xianmingsu and Li as Empress Dowager Zhuang Yi.

So far, the truth has come to light. Concubine Liu and Concubine Li were indeed real persons in this "child-seizing case", but the incident was by no means what the legend said, and there was no shadow of a civet cat. Further processing led to the legend of "civet cat for prince".

In addition, in the whole process of Renzong's confession of his mother, Bao Zheng did not actually participate, because this incident happened before the first year of Renzong Mingdao (AD 1032), and Bao Zheng was still a commoner at this time.Until the fourth year of Emperor Renzong Jingyou (AD 1037), 29-year-old Bao Zheng won the Jinshi examination and left home to work in Tianchang County when he was about 40 years old. For a long time, he had never been to the capital. How could he How about helping Renzong find his biological mother?

(End of this chapter)