The story of a civet cat exchanged for a prince is a household name in China, and is known to all women and children.

The story tells that in order to compete with Concubine Yang and Concubine Shen for the position of queen, Concubine Liu who was favored by Song Zhenzong came up with the trick of "borrowing her belly to conceive". She deliberately asked a maid named Li next to her to seduce Song Zhenzong.

When Concubine Li became pregnant, she also pretended to be pregnant.

On the day when the maid surnamed Li gave birth, Concubine Liu also pretended to give birth. When Concubine Li was in a coma after giving birth, she took the son away as her own and placed a skinned civet cat next to Concubine Li.

Song Zhenzong learned that Concubine Li had given birth to a civet cat, so he sent Concubine Li into the cold palace.

Concubine Liu was afraid that the conspiracy would be exposed, so she ordered the eunuchs to burn down the palace where Concubine Li lived.

Concubine Li was rescued from the palace by the eunuchs around her and lived in Chenzhou, living in a broken kiln and begging for food.

Fortunately, Bao Zheng put grain in Chenzhou and brought Concubine Li back to the capital to find out the truth and let Concubine Li recognize Song Renzong, who had become the emperor.

Historically, Song Renzong Zhao Zhen was indeed born to the Li family, and it was indeed Liu E who raised him to adulthood and helped him ascend the throne of the emperor. However, the matter of the civet cat replacing the prince was purely a later generation's interpretation and not the historical truth.

Huagu girl became the queen. Liu E's ancestral home was Taiyuan. Her father was the commander of Hujie Capital during the reign of Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin and led the governor of Jiazhou (now Leshan, Sichuan), so the family moved to Huayang, Chengdu.

Unfortunately, when she was very young, her parents died and she became an orphan.

When Liu E was a teenager, she married a silversmith named Gong Mei.

When Gong Mei was selling silverware along the streets, Liu E was playing a rattle to attract customers. In this way, they walked all the way from Sichuan to Kaifeng, the then capital.

In the capital, Gong Mei lived in poverty and was desperate, so he sold Liu E to Zhang Qi.

Zhang Qi worked as an errand in Prince Xiang's Mansion of Zhao Heng (later Song Zhensong).

Zhang Qi saw that Liu E was pretty and presented her directly to Zhao Heng, the king of Xiang. When Zhao Heng saw Liu E, he fell in love with her, and Liu E's fate changed drastically.

After Liu E was favored, when Zhao Heng visited Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi, Zhao Guangyi saw that he was haggard and thin, so he asked Zhao Heng's wet nurse why.

The wet nurse didn't like Liu E, so she told Song Taizong that Liu Heng was not doing his job properly and spent all his time hanging out with a folk girl from Sichuan who knew how to play flower drums.

Song Taizong was furious and ordered Liu Heng to drive Liu E out of the palace and never have any contact with her. He also betrothed the daughter of the founding hero Pan Mei (the prototype of Pan Renmei) to him as his wife.

Liu E had no choice but to move out of the palace.

Zhang Qi saw that she was the woman Liu Heng loved, so he gave his palace to Liu E and moved to another place to avoid suspicion.

Liu E was a blessing in disguise. Instead of complaining, she took the opportunity to read poetry and books, and painstakingly studied music, chess, calligraphy and painting, which laid a solid foundation for her ability to manipulate the courtiers in the future.

After the death of Song Taizong, Zhao Heng ascended the throne as emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty.

Song Zhenzong then took Liu E into the palace. At this time, Pan Mei's daughter had died long before Zhao Heng came to the throne. Guo, the daughter of the famous Northern Song general Guo Shouwen, became Zhao Heng's queen. Therefore, Liu E did not have any status.

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In 1007 AD, Queen Guo died of illness, and Song Zhenzong wanted to make Liu E his queen.

Kou Zhun and others expressed firm opposition on the grounds that "Liu E was from a humble background."

Because Song Zhenzong doted on her, he put forward the theory that Liu E's ancestral home was Taiyuan, and her ancestors had been high-ranking generals in the Five Dynasties, and they were separated from their families because of the war.

Kou Zhun did not believe Song Zhenzong's lies, and still disagreed with Song Zhenzong's appointment of Liu E as queen. This became the main reason why Kou Zhun was later demoted to the coast of the South China Sea by Liu E.

At this time, Li, the maid who served Liu E, gave birth to a baby boy because of her romantic relationship with Song Zhenzong. This was later Song Renzong Zhao Zhen.

Liu E then took Li's son as her own and strictly prohibited outsiders from telling the child the truth.

Although Song Zhenzong had many concubines, all of his heirs died in infancy soon after.

Song Zhenzong, who doted on Liu E, was appointed queen on the grounds that Liu E had an heir.

As a result, this woman who came from a poor family and a flower drum girl ascended to the throne of the queen.

Two men can't play with one woman. After Song Zhenzong got rheumatism, Liu E helped him handle state affairs and gradually took control of the government.

Song Zhenzong was uneasy and feared that Liu E would become the second Wu Zetian, so he planned to let the prince supervise the country.

Therefore, in the third year of Emperor Zhenzong's Tianxi reign (AD 1019), Kou Zhun was ordered to enter the palace to discuss with Song Zhenzong the prince's supervision of the country.

This matter was extremely secretive, and even Liu E didn't know about it.

Unexpectedly, Kou Zhun asked Yang Yi, the official who drafted edicts for the emperor, to draft the plan for the prince to supervise the country. Yang Yi's brother-in-law drunkenly leaked the information. Liu E acted first and went to the palace to question Song Zhenzong.

He actually blamed Kou Zhun for the whole thing on the grounds that he "didn't remember the initial conversation with Zhun."

As a result, Kou Zhun was dismissed from his position and Ding Wei became prime minister.

Kou Zhun has been relied on by Song Zhenzong for a long time since the Chanyuan Alliance, so he will inevitably make others jealous.

As a result, the villains in the court began to slander Kou Zhun behind his back. As time went by, Song Zhenzong also began to resent Kou Zhun for not taking him to the bank of the Yellow River to supervise the battle when the Liao army went south.

Song Zhenzong believed that Kou Zhun was risking his life in exchange for the humiliation of the Chanyuan Alliance.