Has the case of civet cats becoming princes really been tried in the history of Bao Zheng? Is there a historical basis?

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In the traditional Peking Opera, there is a drama called "Civet cats for princes", which tells the story that in the Northern Period, Queen Liu had no children and another concubine Li was pregnant. In order to keep Li's child as her own, Queen Liu came up with a very lethal trick: she pretended to be pregnant and the delivery date was almost the same as Li's. When Li Sheng was a prince, she ordered her cronies to put a civet cat into Li's palace and change the prince, saying that the prince was born to her. After this transformation, her position as queen and future queen mother has been fully consolidated, while Li was rejected by Zhenzong because she gave birth to a monster and was driven out of the harem.

This story is widely circulated, and many people believe that such a strange thing really happened in the Song Dynasty. What is its credibility? If we look at the records in history books, it will be clear at a glance. To understand this matter, we must first understand the three main figures involved: Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng, Queen Liu and Li Guifei. Zhenzong was the third son of Zhao Guangyi of Emperor Taizong, and his eldest brother Zhao Yuanzuo was unable to inherit the throne because of epilepsy. The second brother, Zhao Yuanxuan, died of a sudden serious illness. Zhao Heng, who should not have inherited the throne, picked up an emperor.

As early as when I was working in korean king, by chance, I met Liu, a silversmith's sister who drifted to Bianjing from "Beipiaoer" in Sichuan. Liu is not only beautiful, but also good at singing and dancing, which fascinates him. Zhao Heng's wife is Pan Shi, the daughter of the founding general Pan Mei, and Pan Shi's mother is a maid-in-waiting who made a fortune in Zhao Guangyi. Pan Shi was angry when he saw Zhao Heng snubbing her, so he told Zhao Guangyi about Zhao Heng's affair. Angry, he immediately ordered Liu to be driven out of the house. Dare not disobey orders, and don't want to lose this beautiful woman, they put Liu's secret in the home of Zhang Jian, the captain of Wangfuwei. A few years later, he became the emperor, and he rushed to take Liu into the harem, and he loved him in every way, needless to say.

After that, Liu Yi Road was promoted and became the Queen of the Great Song Dynasty. It's a pity that Liu didn't have children until Zhenzong's later years, and her stomach didn't bulge once, which naturally became her biggest heart disease. Fortunately, Li, her maid, was once lucky enough to be pregnant with a dragon seed by Zhao Hengxing. Please note: at this time, Li is not a concubine at all. She has no birthright or title. She is just a little girl walking in Queen Liu's palace. Li knows everything about her pregnancy. Before Li went into labor, he specially took his concubines to Xuande Building to make a folk "prophecy": if the jade hairpin thrown downstairs is broken, it indicates that Li will have a princess; If it doesn't break, it will give birth to a prince. As a result, Yuchai fell to the ground, intact! A few days later, the prince was born, which made Zhao Heng very happy. But he was only happy to have a son, but he forgot Li.

Queen Liu is a woman with a strong desire for power. Zhao Heng has always been afraid of her. In addition, in his later years, Zhao Heng was in charge of major and minor matters. Therefore, Empress Liu snatched the Prince away from Li and gave him to a courting Yang Guifei to raise him. The reason is simple: Li is a maid, and the future emperor comes from such a person and has a bad reputation. Zhao Heng and Li have no feelings, and Queen Liu is not to be taunted, so she has to turn a blind eye and let her go. Soon he became ill. He was too busy to take care of his own needs, so Li remained a maid. Since he was able to speak, Zhao Wang likes to call Wei Liu "the great queen" and Yang Guifei "the second queen", without knowing who his biological mother is. Under the arrogance of Queen Liu, Li was "silent in the palace, like all ladies-in-waiting". Although the harem and eunuchs in the palace all know the details, who dares to poke this hornet's nest? Later, he died of illness, and thirteen-year-old Zhao benefited from the succession. Being too young, Empress Liu listened to politics. For more than ten years, he has been in charge of the supreme power of Dasong, and no one will mention it. It was not until Liu's death that his eighth brother told the truth to Zhao Yicai, the then reigning Emperor Renzong. In his grief, Renzong buried his biological mother Li in the tomb of Zhang Yi, the queen of Zhenzong, and the case-solving ended.

Although Liu's practice is not as absurd as "civet cats for princes", it has been unanimously condemned by future generations. In the Yuan Dynasty, the dramatist turned it out and made it into a play. There is a "Makeup Box" in Yuan Zaju, which was re-created according to this incident. In the play, Song Zhenzong shoots a projectile in the backyard, and agrees which concubine will pick it up, so they are lucky. Li accidentally picked up the projectile, so she was lucky to get pregnant and gave birth to a son. Liu was so jealous that he ordered the maid Kou Chengyu to steal the prince, stabbed him to death and threw him into Jinshui River. Kou Chengyu couldn't bear it, and conspired with eunuch Chen Lin to put the prince in a cosmetic box, pretending to be the gift of eight kings, and transferred the prince to the house of eight kings for foster care. In order to avoid disaster, the Eight Kings lied that this son was their twelfth son. Later, Zhenzong died, and the twelfth son of the Eight Kings was elected as the prince before his death and inherited the throne. Liu learned that the new emperor belonged to Li Sheng and forced him to ask Kou Chengyu, who crashed into the stairs and died. The new emperor finally found the reason and rewarded the eunuch Chen Lin. This drama is intended to expose that Liu, regardless of Zhao Jiangshan, wanted to kill the prince out of jealousy, and there was no story of a civet cat replacing the prince. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was further processed on this basis and became the prototype of "civet cats for princes". Because it is outrageous to exchange civet cats for princes, the play quickly became popular. Until today, it is almost a household name, and everyone knows and believes it. As everyone knows, this story originally came from the playwright's "joke", which is far from the historical truth.

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Song Dynasty is a very important dynasty in China in the Middle Ages, and it is also a controversial and mysterious dynasty. It has been 300 years since the storm broke out. What interesting stories have happened? Are there any historical details worth digging up? Professor Li Zhiliang, a philologist in Song Dynasty, has studied Historical Records for decades and has published nearly 30 million words of related basic research works. In recent years, he published several volumes of historical novel Song Zhao Dynasty, which attracted the attention of many fans of Song history. Today, Professor Li Zhiliang, our special guest, opened a column on Zhao and Song in this magazine to share his scientific research and creative experience with readers. I hope this column can bring you thinking and pleasure.