What is the story of "civet cats for princes" in history?

The story "Civet cats for princes" is a passage in the first chapter of the classic "Three Heroes and Five Righteousnesses" written by Shi Yukun in Qing Dynasty.

The legendary Bao Gong's most brilliant achievement was the trial of a major case in the palace ―― the case of a civet cat for a prince, which found Song Renzong's biological mother.

Bao Zheng is also known as Bao Longtu and Bao Gong, and the story about his fair trial has been popular for many years. In all kinds of legends about Bao Gong, the story of civet cat becoming a prince has been circulating for a long time. This story is about Bao Gong's mission to release grain in Chen Zhou. On the way, he met a blind beggar woman with crutches and complained to Bao Gong about a big secret that happened in the harem that year.

When Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng became emperor, Li Chenfei in the harem was favored, which made another gorgeous princess Liu Defai very angry. When she learned that Li Chenfei had given birth to a baby boy for the emperor, she was angry and anxious, so she conspired with eunuch manager Guo Huai to steal Li Fei's baby with a skinned civet cat. Liu Fei ordered the maid-in-waiting to knock on the beads and strangle the prince. Kou Zhun couldn't bear it, and secretly handed the prince to eunuch Chen Lin. Chen Lin put the prince in a suitcase and sent him to the Eight Immortals to raise him. In addition, when Zhenzong saw the skinned civet cat, he thought that Li Fei had given birth to a monster and exiled it to the cold palace. Soon, Liu Fei gave birth, gave birth to a son, and was made a prince, and Liu Fei was also made a queen. Who knows that six years later, the son of Queen Liu died. When Zhenzong had no children, he took his brother's son, the Eight Immortals (actually the prince who was replaced that year) as his adopted son and made him a prince.

One day, the prince met his birth mother Li Fei in the cold palace. Both of them were born with tears on their faces. When Liu learned this, he tortured Kou Zhun, and Kou Zhun touched the steps and died. Then, Liu slandered in front of Zhenzong, and Zhenzong ordered Li Fei to be executed. Just then, a big fire broke out in the cold palace where Li Fei lived. The eunuch Qin Feng took Li Fei out and sent him to Chen Zhou. Qin Feng burned himself to death. Li Fei can't live in Chen Zhou. She lives in a broken kiln and begs for food. Fortunately, Bao Zheng released grain in Chen Zhou, learned the truth, pretended to be a mother and son with Li Fei, and brought Li Fei back to Kaifeng.

At this point, the true Sect has perished, and Li Fei's son became emperor, known as Song Renzong in history. Bao Zheng used the opportunity of entering the palace to congratulate Emperor Injong on his birthday to bring Li Fei into the palace, so that Li Feicai could meet his own son Injong and tell the truth. Later, Bao Gong designed Guo Huai to tell the truth. Liu, a former queen mother, knew that the plot was exposed and committed suicide. Bao Zheng was appointed Prime Minister by Injong because of his great contribution in this case.

The "historical truth" spread on the internet: the story of civet cat becoming a prince is because Renzong did recognize his mother in history.

According to records, it is neither the son of the queen nor the son of the imperial concubine, but the maid Li Shengsheng of Zhenzong Liu Defai. After Injong was born, Liu Defa took him as his own son and raised him personally. Later, he succeeded to the throne when he was young. In this way, Liu Defa became the empress dowager. Because Injong is too young to manage politics, Queen Liu is in charge of politics. Injong didn't know that his biological mother was Lee, and the ministers in the DPRK were afraid of the power of the Queen Mother and dared not say so. However, Queen Liu has a kind heart. After Li, Injong's biological mother, became seriously ill, Liu promoted her from maid-in-waiting to. Later, when Li died, Empress Liu gave her a grand burial as a gift, which was extremely tragic for a maid-in-waiting. A few years later, after the death of Queen Liu, someone around Renzong played Ming Renzong: "Your Majesty was born and Chen Fei died unexpectedly." The implication is that he was hurt by Liu. In any case, Injong naturally wants to find out. Fortunately, Chen Fei's coffin was still there, so Injong personally saw Chen Fei's coffin opened for inspection. Chen Fei's body is protected by mercury, so its skin color is like a living person, not like being killed. Look at her crown dress, it really looks like the queen. This proved that she really died of illness, and Empress Liu was indeed buried according to the empress ceremony. When Renzong saw all this, he said with emotion, "You can't believe what people say!" Therefore, Liu Fei and Li Fei do exist.

However, drama is drama and history is history. No one can tell who is right or wrong. From the comprehensive materials, it seems that the victims of Liu and Liu are in the majority, and the so-called "historical truth" is not so accurate. Just like some TV series now, writers do not hesitate to change history and make things up for selling points, which is the same as New XXX and Legend of XX. They were dazzled at random and couldn't tell the truth of Li Kui jy.

The whole story of civet cats for princes is vivid and tortuous, full of justice. So someone made it into a drama and put it on the stage, which had a great impact on society.