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Chapter 496 Empress Dowager Liu E (History of the Northern Song Dynasty)
Li Nian replied, "Radioactive materials cannot release radiation indefinitely; they also deplete, and their harm to the human body weakens over time. Therefore, the radiation that was relatively strong during the reigns of Zhao Heng and Zhao Zhen was greatly weakened by the time of the great calligrapher."

"Of course, the existence of radioactive materials in the Zhao Song imperial palace is just a conjecture by later generations and may not be true. There are also speculations that the palace had excessive levels of heavy metals..."

After discussing the potential problems within the Zhao Song imperial palace that might have affected the reproductive health of the Zhao Song imperial family, Li Nian shifted the focus back to Emperor Zhao Zhen.

"After Zhao Heng's other five sons died young, the throne naturally fell to Zhao Zhen."

There's no need to fight, and there's no need to fight at all. As long as you survive and grow up, you'll have the throne.

"Zhao Zhen's background is also quite interesting. His birth mother, Consort Li, was originally a maid of Empress Liu E, Zhao Heng. She later gave birth to a prince after being favored by Zhao Heng, and this prince was Zhao Zhen."

"But Zhao Zhen was not raised by Consort Li. Empress Liu E had no children, so Zhao Heng claimed that Zhao Zhen was born to Liu E and was raised by her."

This kind of thing is not surprising; it was quite normal practice in ancient times.

"This story spread among the people and evolved into a legendary tale known as 'The Prince Replaced by a Civet Cat'."

"In this story, Zhao Heng was getting older but had no children, while Consort Liu and Consort Li became pregnant one after another. Zhao Heng then made it clear to the two of them that whoever gave birth to a son would be made empress."

In reality, Zhao Heng would not have done that, and historically, Zhao Heng did not do so.

"When Consort Li gave birth before Consort Liu, Consort Liu devised a plan to replace Consort Li's newborn prince with a skinned raccoon cat, thus falsely accusing Consort Li of giving birth to a monster."

"But the prince born to Consort Li was rescued and sent away, and Consort Li herself also escaped from the palace. A few years later, the prince born to Consort Liu died of illness. Zhao Heng discovered that the third son of the Eighth Prince's Mansion looked very much like himself, so he adopted him and made him the crown prince."

Even a child could guess how the story would unfold. Meng Tian was somewhat speechless and said, "Is the third son of the Eighth Prince the son of the rescued Consort Li?"

Li Nian smiled and said, "That's right! Later, Consort Li, who had fallen into poverty, met the incorruptible and upright Judge Bao. With Judge Bao's help, Consort Li successfully cleared her name and reunited with her son, while Consort Liu died out of fear of punishment."

"This is the legendary story of the Chinese people, 'The Prince Replaced by a Civet Cat.' The prince who was replaced was Zhao Zhen, Consort Li was Zhao Zhen's birth mother Consort Li Chen, and Consort Liu was Zhao Heng's empress Liu E."

This story cannot be truly investigated; if it were, too many loopholes would be found.

Feng Jie asked, "And who are these Eighth Prince and Judge Bao?"

Li Nian smiled and said, "The Eighth Prince is a fictional character in the story, but he often appears in folk tales related to the Song Dynasty. There is an Eighth Prince in 'The Prince Replaced by a Civet Cat' and there is also an Eighth Prince in 'The Generals of the Yang Family'. Some versions of the Eighth Prince are Zhao Defang, some are Zhao Yuanzuo, and some are Zhao Yuanyan..."

"In the story, the Eighth Prince often appears as a wise prince. He has a golden mace bestowed by the late emperor, which can be used to strike down tyrannical rulers and treacherous ministers."

This story is fabricated. First, it's impossible for an emperor to bestow such an item. Second, even if such an item truly existed, the emperor who succeeded to the throne would certainly regard the holder as a thorn in his side.

"As for Bao Gong, he is also known as 'Bao Qingtian' in folk culture, which can be understood as a righteous official who can seek justice for the people. This person was indeed a real person in history, namely the famous minister 'Bao Zheng' during the reign of Emperor Zhao Zhen. Because he once served as a scholar of the Longtu Pavilion, he was also known as 'Bao Longtu'."

"However, the Bao Gong in 'The Prince Replaced by a Civet Cat' does not match the historical Bao Gong. The historical Bao Gong passed the imperial examination in the first year of Zhao Zhen's reign, but because his parents were old and he was unwilling to leave them, he did not go to the capital to be selected for an official position until the fourth year of Jingyou. By then, Consort Li and Empress Liu had already died."

"Moreover, Liu E was no ordinary woman. She was the first empress dowager of the Song Dynasty to rule as regent. She even considered becoming empress like Wu Zetian, but she restrained herself and did not take the final step. However, she did wear the imperial robes."

The First Emperor and his entourage were immediately intrigued. Could it be that the Zhao Song dynasty had almost produced an empress?
This is much more interesting than Emperor Renzong of the Zhao family!
Wang Wan asked, "Who is this Liu E?"

Li Nian laughed and said, "In my opinion, if Liu E had not been a woman, her achievements as emperor would have far surpassed those of Zhao Heng and Zhao Zhen."

"Liu E was an orphan girl from Shu, meaning that her parents died shortly after her birth and she was raised by her maternal grandmother's family. She was beautiful and good at singing. When she was about ten years old, Liu E married a silversmith from Shu named Gong Mei."

Upon hearing this, the First Emperor and others immediately noticed the key point: Liu E had been married before Zhao Heng.

Well, there's nothing surprising about that. His Majesty's birth mother was once a singing girl in Lü Buwei's household, Emperor Wen's birth mother was also married in her early years, and so was Emperor Wu's birth mother...

"After marrying Gong Mei, Gong Mei took Liu E away from Shu and went to Bianliang to make a living. Bianliang is also known as Kaifeng, Bianjing, or Dongjing."

"After arriving in Bianliang, Gong Mei planned to sell Liu E because of livelihood reasons. At that time, Zhao Heng was not yet the crown prince. He met Liu E through the recommendation of his subordinate commander Zhang Qi. Zhao Heng fell in love with Liu E as soon as he saw her and did not care that Liu E had been married before. He took Liu E back to his mansion."

Zhao Heng truly loved Liu E. If he didn't, he wouldn't have attributed Zhao Zhen, born to Consort Li, to Liu E, and he wouldn't have insisted on making Liu E empress despite the opposition of the court officials.

Although Liu E was not married for the first time, Zhao Heng was still unmarried at that time. Therefore, Liu E was likely to become Zhao Heng's ideal woman, someone he could have. Moreover, the two of them were not very old at the time, only in their teens, and their feelings were pure and innocent.

"But when Zhao Guangyi learned of this, he looked down on Liu E because of her lowly birth and ordered Zhao Heng to drive her out of the mansion. Zhao Heng was forced to send Liu E away, but secretly, he arranged for her to stay in Zhang Qi's house!"

"After Zhao Guangyi died and Zhao Heng ascended the throne, he quickly brought Liu E into the palace. After entering the palace, Liu E did not have a high status at first, and she did not compete for favor with other concubines."

Wang Wan praised, "Liu E is indeed wise. At this time, not contending is the true way to contend. 'He who does not show himself is wise; he who does not assert himself is distinguished; he who does not boast of his achievements is meritorious; he who does not pride himself on his merits is enduring. It is precisely because he does not contend that no one in the world can contend with him.'"

What's the use of vying for temporary favor? What's truly important is leaving a good impression on Zhao Heng. As long as he remembers her, status and title will come sooner or later; there's no need to rush.

Li Nian also said, "This is precisely where Liu E's intelligence lies. When she first entered the palace, Liu E had no official title. It was only in the first year of Jingde that she was granted the title of fourth-rank beauty. In the fourth year of Jingde, Zhao Heng's original empress passed away, leaving the empress's position vacant."

"In the first month of the second year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era, Liu E was promoted to Xiuyi. At this time, Zhao Heng had already conceived the idea of ​​making Liu E empress, but was opposed by ministers such as Kou Zhun and Wang Dan on the grounds that Liu E was of humble origin. Moreover, Kou Zhun reported that the Liu clan was rampant in Shu and was seizing salt wells from the people, which prevented Zhao Heng from immediately making Liu E empress. This is also one of the reasons why Liu E had conflicts with Kou Zhun and others after she took over the regency!"

These people looked down on Liu E's background and hindered her path to becoming empress. Obstructing someone's way naturally leads to enmity.

Meng Tian asked, "Liu E's parents are both dead, leaving her an orphan. Where did these members of the Liu clan come from? Are they uncles or aunts?"

But this raises another question: if her uncles were still alive, why would they have allowed Liu E to be raised by her mother's family from a young age?
Li Nian smiled and said, "He is not Liu E's uncle or cousin, but a member of Gong Mei's clan. After Liu E entered the palace, because she had no clan, Liu E made Mei her brother and changed his surname to Liu." It's quite interesting that these two, who were originally husband and wife, became brother and sister.

Feng Quji laughed and said, "This Liu E is quite tolerant. Not only did she not blame Gong Mei for selling her, but she also recognized him as her brother."

Feng Jie said, "This was also a helpless move by Liu E. She had no other acquaintances and could only rely on Gong Mei for help. Moreover, in Liu E's view, although Gong Mei sold her to Zhao Heng in Bianliang, if Gong Mei had not brought her to Bianliang, she would not have had the opportunity to come into contact with Zhao Heng. Liu E should be grateful to Gong Mei."

Li Nian nodded and said, "That should be the case. Liu E did not have a large clan; she was just an orphan. This may be the reason why Zhao Heng wanted to make her empress."

With someone like Liu E, Zhao Heng basically didn't need to worry that making Liu E empress would cause her maternal relatives to become too powerful.

"In the third year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era, after Zhao Zhen was born, Liu E adopted him as her son. With a son under her name, Liu E had a stronger foundation to become empress."

"Therefore, in the fifth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era, although the ministers opposed it and even refused to draft an edict for Zhao Heng to establish Liu E as empress, Zhao Heng still established Liu E as empress."

"After becoming empress, Liu E not only managed palace affairs in an orderly manner, but also accompanied Zhao Heng in handling memorials, which gave Liu E experience in handling political affairs."

The First Emperor then asked, "Didn't Zhao Heng realize that there was something wrong with this?"

The more this sounds, the more it resembles the story of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, and Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian also accompanied Li Zhi in handling government affairs, and then took over the work herself.

Since the Song dynasty followed the Tang dynasty, it's impossible that Emperor Zhao Heng was unaware of the past affair between Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi) and Empress Wu Zetian.

Li Nian smiled and said, "Of course I noticed it. Moreover, in the third year of Tianxi, the year of Xinmao, Venus was visible in broad daylight, and the divination said: 'The female ruler will prosper.' Zhao Heng doesn't need to think too much to know who the female ruler is."

"Zhao Heng was worried that Empress Liu would endanger the Zhao Song dynasty, so he intended to let Crown Prince Zhao Zhen oversee the country. As long as Zhao Zhen could oversee the country smoothly, even if Empress Liu was ambitious, she would find it difficult to stir up trouble."

If Zhao Heng's plan to make the crown prince regent succeeds, even if Zhao Heng suddenly dies, Liu E will find it difficult to cause any trouble.

Because Zhao Zhen could smoothly ascend the throne as the next emperor from the position of regent, it would be difficult for Liu E to interfere.

"After learning of Zhao Heng's plan, Kou Zhun took the initiative to participate. Unfortunately, the plan was exposed. Zhao Heng had not been determined to carry out the plan in the first place, and after the exposure, he pushed the blame onto Kou Zhun."

The First Emperor said, "Zhao Heng has no sense of responsibility as a ruler. Kou Zhun was loyal to him, but after the matter was exposed, he tried to shift the blame onto Kou Zhun."

Li Nian said, "At this time, Liu E was no longer the woman without any title when she first entered the palace. She was the Empress of Zhao Song and already had power in the court. Liu E, Ding Wei, and others put pressure on Zhao Heng, causing him to dismiss Kou Zhun from his position as prime minister!"

"The plot was exposed and Kou Zhun was dismissed from his post as prime minister, which made the others involved in the 'Crown Prince Regent' plot very uneasy. These people did something stupid. They launched a coup, planning to kill Liu E and Ding Wei, restore Kou Zhun to the position of prime minister, and then let the crown prince ascend the throne and honor Zhao Heng as the retired emperor."

These people have no idea what to think; they don't understand Zhao Heng or Zhao Zhen.

"Not to mention that it would be difficult for these people to succeed in their coup, even if they did succeed and killed Liu E, Ding Wei, and others, their plans would still be difficult to realize. Given Zhao Zhen's nature, even if he ascended the throne, he would still obey Zhao Heng, and power would still remain in Zhao Heng's hands."

These people would have had a better chance of survival if they had simply lay down and surrendered; instead, the mutiny led them to their deaths.

However, they thought that if Zhao Zhen were made emperor, they would have rendered meritorious service in supporting the new emperor, and everything would be fine.

"The plot of these people to stage a coup was also exposed, and they were all arrested. Kou Zhun was further hit hard, stripped of his title of Duke of Lai by Empress Liu, and demoted three times in a row."

"After this upheaval, Kou Zhun and his cronies lost much of their power in the Song court, while Liu E gained more power. In the first year of the Qianxing era, Emperor Zhao Heng died, Emperor Zhao Zhen ascended the throne, and Liu E ruled from behind the curtain."

"Empress Liu's regency was also a necessity of the time, since Emperor Zhao Zhen was only thirteen years old at the time. How could he handle state affairs well?"

Wang Wan laughed and said, "This also shows that those who launched the coup and wanted Zhao Zhen to ascend the throne had sinister intentions."

These people clearly want to install a young emperor so that they can easily control him. If they actually succeed, it will be even more dangerous than Empress Liu ruling from behind the curtain.

These Song Dynasty civil officials may not have genuinely supported the Song Dynasty. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been loyal to Zhao Heng before, but then secretly plotted a coup, planning to have Zhao Zhen ascend the throne and remove Zhao Heng as the retired emperor.

What they want is an emperor who can satisfy their interests!
Li Nian said, "After Zhao Zhen ascended the throne, Liu E and Ding Wei benefited the most. Liu E ruled from behind the curtain, while Ding Wei became a powerful minister. But Ding Wei was not content with this. He wanted to sideline Zhao Zhen and Liu E and seize control of the government!"

"Liu E and Ding Wei, who had originally joined forces against the enemy, developed a rift because of this. However, Liu E was the Empress Dowager, and Ding Wei had not yet become a powerful minister who held sway over the court. Liu E easily dismissed Ding Wei from his post as prime minister and demoted him to Yazhou."

"After Ding Wei was removed, Liu E had virtually no rivals in the court. In the second year of the Tiansheng era, Liu E wore a dragon robe. Liu E originally wanted to go even further and become the empress. She tested the ministers by asking Wu Mei what they thought?"

"The Song court ministers replied that Wu Zetian was a sinner against the Tang Dynasty, almost causing its downfall. Empress Liu then fell silent!"

"But Liu E's desire to emulate Wu Zetian and become empress was obvious. Some people opposed it, while others wanted to seize the opportunity to fight for the throne."

"The Palace Attendant Fang Zhonggong submitted a memorial requesting that Empress Liu E 'follow the example of Empress Wu,' and Cheng Lin, the acting prefect of Kaifeng, presented a painting depicting Empress Wu holding court..."

"But Liu E wisely stopped at this point and did not take the step. She tore up the memorials that encouraged her to become empress and declared that she would not do anything to betray the ancestors of the Zhao Song dynasty."

He was able to hold back, stopping just before he was about to succeed.

That's the chance to ascend the throne and become emperor; not many people can resist such a temptation.

Although she was a woman, Liu E was truly remarkable!
(End of this chapter)