Song Renzong's life turmoil and the story of "Tanuki Cat for Prince"

The qing dynasty Shi Yukun's "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness" begins with the story of "Tanuki Cat for Prince". The story tells that Empress Zhenzong of Song died of illness, Liu Fei and Li Fei were pregnant at the same time, and Liu Fei conspired with the eunuch Guo Huai to exchange a skinned tanuki cat for Li Fei's newborn child during Li Fei's childbirth, and let the palace maid strangle the child to death. The palace maid could not bear it and gave the child to the eunuch Chen Lin, who sent the child to the Palace of the Eight Sages, who raised the child as his own son. Emperor Zhenzong of Song beat Concubine Li into the Cold Palace because Concubine Li gave birth to a demon, and Concubine Liu became empress. Empress Liu's son later died prematurely, and Emperor Zhenzong of Song adopted the son of the Eight Sages, the child who had been replaced, as his adopted son and made him crown prince. When the crown prince grew up, she once accidentally met Concubine Li, and Empress Liu was so frightened that she told Emperor Zhenzong of Song that Emperor Zhenzong of Song would put Concubine Li to death. The eunuchs managed to rescue Concubine Li and send her to Chenzhou, where they happened to meet Bao Zheng, who was releasing grain in Chenzhou. After Bao Zheng learned the truth, after several twists and turns, he finally solved this earth-shattering case, and finally Empress Liu hanged herself, and Concubine Li was reunited with the mother and son of Song Renzong, who had inherited the throne.

The plot of this story is vivid and tortuous, which has aroused great interest from the general public, is widely circulated in society, and has been continuously adapted by various music and art. Peking opera, Pu opera, etc. have "Tanuki Cat for Prince", "Dragon Robe After Encounter", Liyuan Opera has "Chen Zhou Relief", Han Opera has "Kao Kou Zhu", Qin Cavity has "Holding Makeup Box", Huai Tune has "Chop Guo Huai", and the interpretation is this story.

The story of "Tanuki Cat for Prince" is based on the historical events of Liu E's adoption of Li Chenfei's son during the time of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, but there are many places that are fictional and differ from historical facts. The "History of Song" says: "Li Chenfei, hangzhou people also." Zu Yansi (祖延嗣), of the Shiqian clan (士錢氏), was the chief of Jinhua County; his father Rende (仁德), the final left Ban Dian Zhi(陳) was straight. When he first entered the palace, he was a servant of Empress Dowager Zhang, who was strong and taciturn, and Zhenzong thought that he was a priest. There are concubines, from the emperor to the platform, jade pendant, concubine evil. Di Xin Bu: After the plutonium is finished, be a man. Take left and right, and the fruit will not be destroyed, and the emperor is very happy. He was born to Emperor Renzong, and was enfeoffed as the Prince of Chongyang County; he was reborn as a daughter and was infertile. Enter the talent, and then be a gentle person... In the beginning, Emperor Renzong was in his infancy, and Zhang Xian thought that he was his son, so that Yang Shufei could protect him. Emperor Renzong ascended the throne, and concubines were in the first court of concubines, and they did not taste different. No one fears the Empress, nor does he dare to speak out. In the last life of the empress, Emperor Renzong did not know that he was born of a concubine. "Later Zhang Xian empress dowager collapsed, and the King of Yan said for Emperor Renzong: 'Your Majesty was born to Concubine Li Chen, and the concubine died instead of her life.'" Emperor Renzong was destroyed. Regardless of the tired days, the edict of mourning blames itself, honoring Concubine Chen as the empress dowager, Emperor Zhuangyi, Xinghongfu Temple, Yi Zi Palace, and personally weeping and looking at it. The jade color of the concubine is like life, and the crown dress is like the empress dowager. Nourished with silver, it is not bad. Emperor Renzong sighed, "Is it credible to say anything!""

After Empress Liu's death, Zhao Yuanyu, the King of Yan, told Song Renzong the truth: Zhao Zhen was not born of Liu, but was the son of Li. According to the Biography of empress dowagers of the Song Dynasty, Concubine Li Chen was originally the maid of Empress Zhangxian of Song Zhenzong, who made her responsible for Emperor Zhenzong's sleep. Princess Li was born with a graceful appearance, a soft temperament, a knowledgeable book, loved by Zhenzong, pregnant, gave birth to Renzong, and was named Wanyi. After the death of the original Empress Guo, Emperor Zhenzong of Song wanted to make his favorite Concubine Liu empress, but the ministers opposed it, and Song Zhenzong was childless at the time, and if Liu Shi had a son, there would be a reason to make him empress. It just so happened that Song Zhenzong and Li Shi gave birth to a son, and Song Zhenzong arranged for Concubine Liu to be adopted, and Yang Shufei was allowed to take care of her and raise her as an adult, which was the later Song Renzong. After Liu Raised Zhao Zhen, he was very kind to Li Shi and did not beat Concubine Li into the Cold Palace and abuse her as in the story of Gong Dou, and Concubine Li later gave birth to a daughter. After Emperor Zhenzong of Song died and Zhao Zhen succeeded to the throne, Liu E promoted Li to one of the "Nine Concubines" of "Shunrong": "For Shunrong, from Shouyong Dingling Tomb." Previously, Liu E also sent people to search for Li's relatives in the people, found her brother Li Yonghe, sealed Li Yonghe's official position, and asked him to "make up the third class to serve", and later "worship and serve as an envoy to the Zhangxin Army, check the school, and spoil Wo".

Li Shi was aware of her situation and never recognized her own son Zhao Zhen throughout her life. The "Song Shi Hou Concubine Shang" says: "In the final empress dowager's life, Emperor Renzong did not know that he was born to the concubine." Concubine Li Chenfei was a wise man, and did not tell the truth until her death, Shi Zai: "Emperor Renzong is on the throne, and Concubine Hey is in the first concubine, and she has not tasted different from herself." No one fears the Empress, nor does he dare to speak out. In February of the first year of Ming Dao, the 46-year-old Li Shi fell seriously ill. Liu E sent a doctor to diagnose and treat her, and promoted her to concubine, and on the day of the concubine, Li Shi passed away. After Princess Li's death, Liu E initially wanted to keep it secret and hold funerals with ordinary palace etiquette. The chancellor Lü Yijian advised Empress Liu that if she wanted to save Liu's family, she must bury Concubine Li. The "Biography of the Later Concubines of the Song Dynasty" records: "In the beginning, Empress Dowager Zhang Xian wanted to treat the funeral with palace etiquette, and the chancellor Lü Yijian played the ceremony from the thick. Empress Dowager Xuan led the emperor to rise, and there was a moment, sitting alone under the curtain, and Zhao Yijian asked: "When a person in the first palace dies, Xiang Gong yunyun, he Is it?" Yi Jian said: "The subject treats the prime minister with no inside or outside, and there is no improper premonition." The empress dowager said angrily, "Xiang Gong wants to separate my mother and son!" Yi Jian calmly said to him: "Your Majesty does not think of Liu Shi, and his subjects dare not speak; it is better to be generous in mourning than to remember Liu Shi." Empress Liu realized the seriousness of the problem and ordered that Concubine Li be buried with a ceremony, be buried in the Imperial Palace, and dressed Concubine Li in an empressial dress. Princess Li's father was posthumously honored, and her younger brother Li Yonghe was promoted again.

It turned out that Liu E was fortunate to have adopted Lü Yijian's suggestion. As soon as Liu E died, Zhao Zhen learned that his birth mother was Li Shi. Zhao Yuanyu, the younger brother of Emperor Zhenzong of Song and uncle of Emperor Renzong of Song, said that Liu Shi was not his biological mother, saying that his own mother was victimized by people, which was undoubtedly a thunderbolt on a sunny day for Song Renzong. He rushed to the Fengxian Temple where Li Chenfei's coffin was parked to open the coffin for autopsy, opened the coffin, and found that Li Chenfei's face was intact and lifelike, obviously not poisoned, and wearing the empress dowager's costume, protected by mercury. Zhao Zhen sighed, "People can't believe what they say." He then ordered the dismissal of the soldiers who surrounded Liu Zhao, burned incense in front of Empress Liu's portrait, and said: "From now on, the life of the Great Lady is clear. The implication is that Empress Liu is innocent and innocent, and she did not murder her mother.

Song Renzong was very sorry for his recklessness and felt ashamed of Empress Liu's kindness to him, so he temporarily put aside his own life problems and threw himself into the affairs of the imperial court. However, his heart could not be calmed. After Emperor Renzong learned that his biological mother was Concubine Li Chen, he was so grief-stricken that he ignored the government affairs for several days, and issued an edict to the whole country, announcing the truth, condemning his filial piety of not being able to live and raise and bury, posthumously appointing Concubine Li Chen as the empress dowager, with the nickname "Zhuang Yi", and personally presiding over the funeral ceremony. Although the birth mother was buried thickly, she failed to dilute Emperor Renzong's infinite guilt towards Li. According to the "Benji of The History of Song Dynasty" (宋史仁宗本紀), after Song Renzong learned that he was born to Concubine Li Chen, he immediately demoted the imperial court officials appointed by Empress Liu, such as the chancellor Lü Yijian, the privy councillor Zhang Qi, the privy councillor Xia Chen, and the governor Chen Yaozuo, and reappointed a number of officials who were unsatisfactory when Empress Liu was unambitious, and the government team almost reshuffled the cards. Until more than ten years later, during the Qing Calendar, Song Renzong also punished the current chancellor Yan Shu because of his own lineage. When Concubine Li Died, the imperial court arranged for Yan Shu to write a Shinto tablet, and Yan Shu only said in the inscription that she had given birth to a daughter and died early, and did not mention the birth of Emperor Renzong of Song. After Song Renzong learned that he was born to Concubine Li Chen, he turned over the Shinto tablet written by Yan Shu that year and showed it to the prime minister, saying that when Concubine Li Gave birth to him, Yan Shu was a servant of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, and would not be ignorant of the truth, but did not tell the truth, and was a deceitful person. The prime minister explained that at that time, Empress Liu was listening to the government, and if it was written in practice, I was afraid that the whole court would not be at peace. Song Renzong thought about it and felt that it made some sense, but he still demoted Yan Shu out of the capital and served as the Taishou of Jinling. After being degraded for a period of time, Yan Shu was again favored by Emperor Renzong of Song, and was promoted one after another, and became the prime minister in the second year of the Qing calendar. Later, the "New Deal for Celebrating the Calendar" advocated by Fan Zhongyan and others failed, and the chancellor Yan Shu insisted on demeaning and demeaning Ouyang Xiu, and the counselors jointly impeached Yan Shu, which aroused the memories of Song Renzong and prepared to aggravate Yan Shu's crime. Yan Shu's protégé Song Qi (宋祁), a protégé of Hanlin, argued on the grounds that Song Renzong had demoted Yan Shu to Yingzhou for embezzlement and bribery.

Concubine Li Chen did not dare to recognize her own son for life, and Emperor Renzong did not know who his birth mother was for twenty-four years, and when Zhao Xue was in the snow, the emperor issued an edict to blame himself, causing trouble until the coffin was opened and reburied, which shook the whole country. Although Emperor Renzong later opened the coffin and moved it to the burial, it was verified that he was not killed, but it has left unlimited imagination space for the legends and stories of later generations. For the story of Li Chenfei, there were many speculations and rumors at that time. The legend of Li Chenfei contained in the "Memoirs" of Emperor Zhezong of Song and Emperor Huizong is different from the zhengshi, saying that Li Chenfei was buried in the Dajing of Fengxian Temple. As a weak person, Li Chenfei could not meet her own flesh and blood when she was dying, which was too unreasonable and inhumane, and the people's sympathy for her was increasing. In the meta-drama "Holding Makeup Box", there are more fictional ingredients, and Liu Hou is written as a vicious queen who is greedy for power and mean and unkind. In "Holding the Makeup Box", Empress Liu sent the palace maid Kou Chengyu to the West Palace Li Meiren, falsely rumored that Long Live Grandpa wanted to see it, and sent the prince out of the palace. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there was a "Golden Pill Record" based on "Holding Makeup Box". The Ming Dynasty novel "Bao Gong Case" in the "Sanglin Town" section tells this story, the plot becomes more complicated, the unjust case of zhaoxue becomes Bao Gong. In the "Bao Gong Case", it is said that Concubine Li gave birth to a son, and Concubine Liu also gave birth to a daughter. Guo Huai, the ambassador of the Sixth Palace, cheated and replaced his daughter with a son.

In Shi Yukun's "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness" in the Qing Dynasty, the story of Li Chenfei evolved into the story of "Tanuki Cat for Prince". The late Qing Dynasty scholar Yu Fan, who had re-edited the "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness", thought that this story was particularly historical and untouchable, so he personally rewrote the first time. Some scholars have conducted research and believe that the story mode of "Tanuki cat for prince" comes from Buddhist texts. Both the Buddha Says Filial Piety to Become a Buddhist Sutra and the Great Ashoka Sutra have plots that are very similar to "Tanuki For Princes". This episode in the Great Ashoka Sutra is found in the Book of Shakya written by the liang dynasty monk Yu:

Ashoka had his land, and the king took his wife, who was eight feet long and had equal hair, and all of them were sufficient. Wang Lingxiang looked at the master, and the master said that he should be the golden son of Wang Sheng, and the king would worship as the second lady. After the end of the body, the full ten months, the king has a fate, it is advisable to go out of the layman. The queen was jealous, so she made it easier for her to get rid of it. The second lady said: "Qing is a young man, and fu er has begun to give birth, and he must not show his face and look at the sky." To be covered, that is, to produce gold, to illuminate the palace, to steal the child, to kill. That is, with pigs on its side. He scolded: "Ru Yun should be the golden son of Wang Sheng, why is the pig?" Then he took the wheel head and ordered cairu to serve vegetables in the back garden of the prisoner. The king was also displeased. After a long time, the king traveled to the garden, saw the remembrance, and welcomed the palace. The second lady gradually became closer and more affectionate. The king was horrified, that is, he killed eighty-four thousand ladies.

This story of the piglet changing the prince is included in the Collected Works of the Scriptures and the Fayuan Zhulin. There are some similar plots in the Buddhist scriptures. There is a story of "Lady Deer Girl" in the Miscellaneous Treasure Sutra and the Lady of the Deer:

Later, when there was a concubine, the Xiangshi zhan said: "When a thousand sons are born." "Lady Wang, hearing this, became jealous, and gradually became a school planner, and enmity beckoned Lady Lu to be a servant around and around, sparing treasures of money and treasure. At that time, the deer girl, the sun and the moon were satisfied, gave birth to Chiba Lotus. When she wanted to be born, the eldest lady hid her eyes from things, did not listen to herself, caught the smelly rotten horse's lungs, carried it underneath, took the thousand leaves of lotus, held the sill, threw it in the river, and said in order to solve the eyes: "Look at the birth of Ru, only see a section of stinky rotten horse lung." The king asked, "For what is it for?" And the king replied, "Only the things that stink and rot the lungs of horses." Lady Shi said to the king, "The king is overjoyed, born of this beast, raised by the immortals, born of this ominous and filthy thing." "Madame Wang, even if she resigns from her post as lady, she will no longer hear her."

The story of the "Lady Deer Lady" is more widely circulated. In the mural paintings of Cave 231 (Middle Tang) of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, there is a Bunsen story with this theme. There are also similar plots in the Great Convenience Buddha's Sutra of Grace and Discussion Articles No. 5.

In fact, long before the Buddhist scriptures were introduced to Middle-earth, There was a historical story similar to that of "Tanuki For Prince" in China. In the bamboo books unearthed in the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty, it is recorded in the bamboo books excavated from Kizuka:

King Jiang of Zhou Mu became pregnant after sleeping in the daytime, yue Ji Huan, stole and bred it, killed Xuan Bird Erqi, smeared with blood, put jiang after the death, and then told the king, the king was afraid, and the book was distributed. "The feather of the ephemera, flying in the household; the hongzhi stop, the brother Fukri; the heavy spirit descends, and the still restores it." Asking Zuo Shishi, Shi Bao said: "The insect flying set household is a lost place, but the other villain, Fuke to breed a gentleman." Shi Liangyue: "It is called Guan Qin, who will keep his body, return to the mother's clan, and then get Ning." Book and hide, hugh will be vibrating. "The king and the ling yin book are hidden in the book." In March, Yue Ji died. Seven days later, he said his feelings: "The first king was angry with him, and he said: Eryi Liye, the son of Hu Thief Jun, does not belong to the mother's clan?" Will be put to death, and the prince will be ruled. ”

In later life, because the emperor had many concubines, and grace could not be spread, whether or not to get the emperor's favor, and even related to survival, so although the fight within the palace was not as tragic as those palace fight dramas depicted, it was also fierce in the open and in the dark. Ancient emperors because of indulgence and other reasons, there are so many harem women, but often can not give birth to several sons, and even worry about the continuation of the imperial system, so if you can give birth to a son to the emperor, it is likely to ascend to the throne, the mother is expensive, the son is established as the prince, the mother is naturally the empress. Therefore, court battles often revolve around having children, especially in order to seize concubines, and can come up with many vicious tricks. In the "Book of Han and The Biography of Foreign Relatives", it is recorded that Zhao Feiyan's sisters killed the children born to other wives and concubines of Emperor Cheng, so that Emperor Cheng had no heirs, and during the years of Emperor Cheng, there was a popular nursery rhyme: "Yan Fei lai, peck the emperor's grandson." The Emperor Sun died, and Yan pecked at the arrow. The Biography of Empress Dowager Ming Shi Xiaomuji records the story of Wan Guifei, which is similar to the story of "Tanuki Cat for Prince":

Empress Xiaomuji, Xiaozong's biological mother also. ...... When The noble concubines were favored and jealous, those who had concubines in the harem were all corrupted. Princess Bai Xiansheng mourned Prince Gong and was also victimized. The emperor even walked inside the hidden, should be called the will, happy, fortunate, so there is a body. Wan Guifei knew and was very embarrassed, and ordered the concubine to cure it. False accusations are called sick and sick. Nai Who dwells in the Hall of Peace and Happiness. For a long time, Xiaozong was born, and the door supervisor Zhang Min drowned. Min was shocked: "If there is no son on the top, why abandon it?" Feed the powder and feed the honey, hide it in his room, and the noble concubine will have nothing to gain every day. Until he was five or six years old, he did not dare to cut his hair. When Empress Wu was abandoned and lived in The Inner West, near the Anle Hall, secretly knew its affairs, and fed back and forth, the emperor did not know it. After the emperor mourned Prince Gong, he had no heirs for a long time, and both Chinese and foreign people thought that they were worried. In the eleventh year of Chenghua, the emperor summoned Zhang Minfa and sighed in the mirror: "The old man will arrive and there will be no children." Min Fu said, "Capital offense, long live the son." The emperor was stunned and asked Ann Zai. "Slaves are dead, and long live the crown prince." So the eunuch Wyndon first said, "Min Yan is." The Crown Prince was now six years old and did not dare to hear it. "Emperor Daxi, on the same day, xingxi nei, sent an envoy to meet the crown prince. So that the concubine hugged the crown prince and wept: "If the son goes, I will not be born." The child sees that the yellow robe has a beard, that is, the father of the child. "Dressed in a small silk robe, riding on a small opinion, hugging to the bottom of the steps, hair on the ground, and throwing himself into the emperor's arms." The emperor put his knees on his knees, looked at Jiuzhi, and wept with sorrow and joy: "My son is also like me." ...... Moved concubines to Yongshou Palace, number summons. Wan Guifei cried day and night, "The group of little ones is me." In June of that year, the concubines were violent. Or the death of the noble concubine, or the self-hanging. Concubine Gong Chuang. Fearful, but also swallowed gold to death.