What happened when civet cats became princes?

It is about Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng, the third generation emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty. He has no children and no heirs. Fortunately, his two concubines, Liu Fei and Li Fei, became pregnant one after another. Zhenzong called them together and gave each of them a token, and made it clear that whoever gave birth to the prince was the queen. A stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the struggle for the position of queen quietly rose. Liu Fei, a treacherous and insidious man, was afraid that Li Feiyue would give birth to a prince early and seize the throne, so he colluded with his best friend eunuch Guo Huai to buy off the midwife Youshi and exchange the skinned civet for the prince born to Li Fei. And let the maid-in-waiting Kou Zhun throw the exchanged prince into the moat, so as to avoid any future trouble. Kou Zhun did not lose his conscience, so he gave the prince to the upright eunuch Chen Lin, lent the Eight Immortals Zhao Haoqi a gift machine, put the prince into a gift box and gave it to the Eight Immortals King to raise him. Li Fei was also put in limbo for giving birth to a demon fetus, so that Liu Fei later suspected that the prince was not dead, interrogated Kouzhu and Chen Lin, and set fire to the limbo. Li Fei was rescued by the eunuch in limbo and fled to Chen Zhou (now Huaiyang, Henan). Chen Zhou and Bao Zheng released food, met Li Fei, and secretly protected him back to Korea. The truth was discovered only after Guo Huai was killed. At this time, Injong Zhao Zhen had become an emperor and knew his own. After all, these are legends, and most of them are pure fiction. The real historical story has to be told from the beginning.

The story happened in northern Song Zhenzong. Zhao Heng, the true Sect, had five princes, all of whom died one after another because their lives were short. Song Zhenzong and Liu Defei and Liu E are both 45 years old, and they have no son. Liu Defai's special love affects the communication between Zhenzong and other concubines, so children have become a big worry to him. Although Liu Defei is modest in appearance, he has a deep heart. The phenomenon of "mother is more expensive than son" in the imperial palace of feudal society made her want to have a son day and night, and took this opportunity to ascend to the throne of the queen. However, she has not given birth for 30 years in the palace, and the cruel reality prompted her to come up with a clever plan to replace peaches with plums. Liu Defei was accompanied by a maid named Li, a native of Zhejiang, who was solemn and polite and didn't talk much. De Fei ordered her to be responsible for the sleep and rest of Zhenzong, make the bed and fold the quilt for Zhenzong every day, and hold the pillow. Shi Lier was born beautiful, and she was close to Zhenzong every day. She had been pregnant for a long time. On one occasion, Li Hezhen Zong went to the high platform to see the scenery. Suddenly, her hairpin fell to the ground with a crash. Li thought it was a bad omen, but Zhenzong secretly read: If the jade hairpin is intact, it must be a boy. As a result, Shinjong was very happy. Soon, Li gave birth to a prince, the later emperor (according to legend, the barefoot immortal was reincarnated, reigned for 42 years, and was buried in Yongzhaoling after his death). At that time, Liu E was still a virtuous princess and failed to become a queen. She was very concerned about Li's son and was ecstatic when she heard the news of the birth of the prince. But she was afraid that Li's son would become the heir to the throne, and her mother made Li E compete with herself for the position of queen, which posed a great threat to her. But Princess De also has her own advantages. She is not only the emperor's favorite princess, but also Li's handmaiden. Naturally, she is obedient to her, so she turns passive into active. Just after the prince was born, she came, threatened and connived, forced Li to hand over his son, lied that he was his own son, asked Yang Fei to take care of him, and warned all insiders not to leak a word. Lee was dissatisfied with his son's future, but he didn't dare to expect anything, so Liu Defa gave birth to a prince at the age of forty-five, which became news in the ruling and opposition parties. Zhenzong naturally hoped to increase De Fei's capital as a queen and acquiesced in her practice. Everyone in the palace is afraid of Her Majesty, and no one dares to reveal the truth. As a result, De Liu Fei was successfully promoted to the post of queen in the five years of Dazhong Xiangfu. In the backyard of the palace, it was a great honor for a concubine to give birth to a prince. However, Li never enjoyed any honor before his death, but he was named the monarch of Chongyang (the lowest rank among concubines). Nothing has changed except that with the passage of time, his title has changed from a gifted scholar to a graceful instrument and obedient ability. True Sect is dead, and Injong is the throne. Empress dowager Liu listened to politics and urged Li to live in the mausoleum. It was not until Li was seriously ill that she was quickly promoted to. But soon died of illness, only 45 years old. After Li Chenfei's death, Empress Dowager Liu, who was overbearing, didn't want to make too much publicity about her funeral, and prepared to bury her hastily according to the etiquette of ordinary maids. The prime minister said to Luo Chongxun, the eunuch trusted by Empress Liu, "She is the biological mother of the emperor today, and the queen's etiquette should be used to hold a funeral for her. If the funeral fails, once the emperor knows it in the future, don't blame Jian for not fulfilling her responsibilities. On the other hand, I played the Queen Mother Liu, breaking the rules of funerals in previous dynasties, and held a funeral in the Royal Hall with the queen's etiquette. Empress Liu was afraid that someone would say that her efforts in the past 20 years would be destroyed, so she hurriedly announced her retirement from the DPRK and hurriedly led Injong into the back hall. He immediately summoned Lv Yijian alone and turned to attack: Do you want to interfere in the affairs of the palace? A maid-in-waiting is dead. Why are you so serious? Lv Yijian replied: As the Prime Minister, I should take care of everything, big or small. Empress Liu was very angry and asked, Are you deliberately alienating our mother and son? Lv Yijian said bluntly: How can Empress Dowager Cixi ignore the Liu family? I dare not say much, but if I want to protect Liu's safety for a long time, our funeral will be light. Liu knew what was at stake and reluctantly agreed. It was not until Liu died that Zhao told the truth. Renzong was like a bolt from the blue when he heard the news, and he was extremely sad. He ignored the state affairs for several days in a row, sent letters to the whole country, announced the truth, and condemned his filial piety of not being buried alive and dead. He made Li Chenfei the Empress Dowager, posthumous title "Zhuang Yi" and later changed it to "Zhang Yi", and personally presided over the ceremony of moving and burying Li Chenfei. Seeing that the coffin was full of mercury and dressed as a queen, the body was not rotted, the skin was intact, and the color was like life, which was a little comforting and gave the Liu family a promotion. At this point, Lv Yijian's kindness and suffering have practical significance.

This court scandal was later spread to the people, and after many interpretations and adaptations, it became a historical story of "civet cats for princes", which has been passed down to this day.

reference data

/fj/songling/z-limao.htm