In the TV series "Bao Qingtian", there is a particularly famous story called "Tanuki Cat for Prince". The story is probably about song Zhenzong's favorite concubine Liu Shi, in order to take the throne as empress, murdered her opponent Concubine Li, replaced the baby boy born to Concubine Li with a tanuki cat, took her as her own son, and wrongfully accused Concubine Li of giving birth to a monster and entering the cold palace. Later, Princess Li went into exile and, with the help of Bao Zheng, washed away her grievances and recognized emperor Song Renzong's mother and son.
Is this story true? Judging from the historical records, it can be said that it is half-truth and half-false, with both historical truth and artistic processing.
At that time, in the harem of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, there was indeed a favored "Concubine Liu", that is, Liu Defei. Before entering the palace, Liu Defei had married a silversmith; after entering the palace, she became the favorite concubine of Zhenzong, second only to the empress.
Concubine Liu had no sons, and Concubine Li at that time was a palace maid under Concubine Liu. Once, the emperor made a temporary decision and ordered her to serve the pillow mat, but she became pregnant and gave birth to a boy, the sixth son of Emperor Zhenzong of Song.
Legend has it that when Li Shi was pregnant, the jade on his head accidentally fell to the ground. Zhenzong secretly divined in his heart, saying that if the jade was not broken, it would be a boy who would be born. Later, when I picked it up, I saw that the jade was intact.
Although Li Shi won the male in one fell swoop and made great contributions to the Zhao family's imperial dynasty, she only received a title of "Chongyang County Jun", and her promotion was difficult, and she was only a Wanyi when Zhenzong died.
Soon after Li gave birth, the boy was taken away by Concubine Liu, and when his son was raised, Song Zhenzong's attitude towards this matter was acquiescence. Concubine Liu also warned the palace people not to tell the child the truth.
Emperor Renzong succeeded to the throne and routinely appeased his father's harem. Li Wanyi entered the position smoothly, quietly and silently retreated to the corner that was about to be forgotten. Her own son was the Emperor of The King's Landing, and she could not look at it more, or even have any superfluous thoughts.
As for Concubine Liu, because her son became emperor, she became the empress dowager, and she listened to the government for eleven years, playing an important role in the history of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Empress Liu's only compensation to Li was to order people to find li shunrong's separated relatives, and finally found Li's younger brother, sealed an official position, and made him a member of the establishment.
Ten years after Emperor Renzong ascended the throne, Li Shunrong became seriously ill. Empress Liu ordered her to be made a concubine. Concubine Li died shortly after, at the age of forty-six.
Therefore, from this history, it can be known that although Concubine Liu took Concubine Li's son, she did it with the acquiescence of the emperor, robbing the prince is true, and "tanuki cat exchange" is false.
In 1033, Empress Liu died, and Emperor Renzong of Song took the throne. At this time, the secret of his "mystery of the birth mother" was revealed.
After Empress Liu's death, Lady Yang immediately told this frightening truth. At the same time, Zhao Yuanyu, the King of Yan, did not know what kind of psychology he had, and added oil and vinegar to tell Emperor Renzong: "Your Majesty Was Born to Concubine Chen, and Concubine Chen died of death. "It is said that the emperor's biological mother, Concubine Li, was killed.
Shocked, Emperor Renzong immediately sent troops to besiege Liu's mansion, and while ordering his birth mother to be Empress Zhang Yi, he opened the coffin for an autopsy.
However, after the opening of the coffin, the face of the deceased came to life, and the crown and decoration were all in accordance with the specifications of the empress dowager, and there was no sign of murder at all.
The facts in front of him made Renzong very remorseful, and he sighed and said that people could not believe their words. Therefore, he doubled his kindness to Empress Liu's relatives.
In fact, the matter of "changing tanuki for a prince" could not stand up to scrutiny at all, and it was fabricated by the Yuan people in the miscellaneous drama later. Why did you invent this story? The reason is that Zhao Yuanyu's four words of "death to death" that have no factual basis just happen to meet the characteristics of drama compilation: there is a look, there is talking, there is eye-catching, and it is easiest to attract the melon-eating masses.
Another obvious flaw is time. Princess Li died in 1032, the tenth year of the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song. Later, Bao Zheng, who became famous in the world, was still a diligent student at this time. When he was admitted to the jinshi, it was already 1037, where would he have the opportunity to meet the exiled Tianzi's birth mother?