"Liu E!" Li Zhang wrote this name in a large piece of paper. There are countless queens in Chinese history, and there are many famous ones, but there are not many queens as legendary as Liu E. Even Li Zhang didn't know where to talk about Liu E's deeds?

Liu E was originally an orphan from Shu. She was sold to a silversmith named Gong Mei as his wife at a very young age. Later, the couple came to Kaifeng from Shu to make a living, but they still had a hard time making a living. So Gong Mei planned to sell Liu E, but she happened to be bought by a Zhang Qiren, who was the confidant of King Han, so she presented her to King Han, and the King of Han at that time was Zhao Heng.

Zhao Heng fell in love with Liu E at first sight, and the two of them were almost together day and night during that period. Unfortunately, Zhao Heng's father, the Taizu of Song Zhao Kuangyi, became furious when he learned about Liu E's identity and issued an order to drive Liu E out of the Han Palace. However, Zhao Heng risked the great danger and hid Liu E in Zhang Qi's mansion for a full fifteen years. In the past fifteen years, he often went to meet Liu E. As for the unlucky Zhang Qi, in order to avoid suspicion, he did not dare to go home for fifteen years.

Later, Zhao Heng ascended the throne and Liu E also entered the palace. However, she encountered some twists and turns when she entered the palace, that was, the woman who entered the palace had to get the permission of the queen. However, Empress Guo refused to issue an order to let Liu E enter the palace. As a result, Liu E did not enter the palace, Zhao Heng refused to formally enthrone the Queen Guo because Zhao Heng had just ascended the throne at that time, and the queen also needed to get his enthronement to be considered legitimate. In the end, Empress Guo could not afford to delay and could only agree to Liu Liu E entering the palace. Zhao Heng then appointed her as the queen. At that time, Liu E was nearly thirty years old.

However, Liu E had no status after entering the palace. Even though Zhao Heng wanted to give her the imperial concubine, Empress Guo and the ministers disagreed. The prime minister at that time Li Heng even burned Zhao Heng's imperial edict. On the contrary, Liu E did not fight or rob, and even took the initiative to persuade Zhao Heng not to have disputes with the queen and ministers because of her own affairs. But the more Liu E did this, the more Zhao Heng favored her.

A few years later, Zhao Heng finally made it clear to the queen and ministers, and finally named Liu E a fourth-rank beauty. No matter how high the ministers were, they would not allow it. Zhao Heng also played a trick. He actually lowered all other concubines except the queen to the fifth-rank. In this way, Liu E became the second largest figure in the palace after Queen Guo. After a few years, Empress Guo passed away, and she finally got her wish and became the queen, from an orphan to a mother's favor in the world.

Liu E's legend did not end because she became the queen. On the contrary, her legend had just begun. Zhao Heng was sick in his later years, so Liu E handled the government affairs on his behalf. When Zhao Heng passed away, Renzong, who ascended the throne, was too young, so Liu E began to take charge of her son's rule, and she was also the first queen in history to "rule behind the curtain".

During the reign of Liu E, she had three major political achievements. The first was to end the Heavenly Book Movement initiated by her husband Zhao Hengshi, and the second was to suspend party struggles, because she put the relationship between relatives and friends of the ministers in the court in the palace, strictly prohibiting ministers from making private contributions. The third was to issue Jiaozi, which is the first banknote in history. Under her governance, the Song Dynasty finally began to recover from the previous chaos.

"No wonder Mrs. Liu said that she was lonely when she was young, but it was this miserable woman who could do what ordinary people could not do!" After reading Liu E's deeds, Li Zhang couldn't help but express his admiration and said to himself.

Next, Li Zhang wrote Zhao Heng's name next to Liu E's name, connected it with a thread in the middle, and wrote "Couples" in it, then wrote Zhang Qi's name, and "Bo Le" in the middle. Next, there were Zhao Zhen, Ding Wei, Empress Guo, etc. Anyone who Li Zhang could think of was related to Liu E was written on it, and the relationship between them was also marked.

When Li Zhang finished writing, a complex relationship picture appeared in front of him. He was not writing it for fun, but was planning to figure out what connection he had with Liu E.

First of all, Li Zhang crossed out all those not-so-intimate relationships, and there were some hostile relationships with Liu E, because he felt that Liu E had no malice towards him. As a result, most of the people in the entire relationship map were fewer, and the rest were the people with the closest relationship with Liu E, such as Zhao Heng, Zhao Zhen and his son, Ding Wei, Gong Mei and others.

Looking at the few names in the picture, Li Zhang considered one by one whether he might be related to these people, and then crossed them out one by one, but in the end there were only three people left, namely Zhao Heng, Zhao Zhen and Gong Mei, who are also one of Liu E’s only three relatives.

Zhao Heng and his son put aside first. Gong Mei is the husband before Liu E entered the palace. She is an orphan and has no other relatives. So after entering the palace, she recognized Gong Mei as her brother. Gong Mei changed her name to Liu Mei, and now she is the uncle of the Song Dynasty.

Looking at Gong Mei's name, Li Zhang finally crossed him out because he really couldn't think of what his family had to do with the other party? And even if it was related, there was probably no need to disturb Liu E. After all, Liu Mei is rich and powerful now, so there is no need to bother Liu E in everything.

After crossing out Gong Mei, only Zhao Heng and Zhao Zhen and his son were left in the picture. Needless to say, Zhao Heng, the emperor of the Song Dynasty is now recuperating in the hospital bed. As for Zhao Zhen, he is the crown prince, the future Song Renzong, but what does he have to do with these two emperors? Thinking of this, Li Zhang also had no choice but to cross out the names of the two.

"No, the raccoon changed to the prince?" But just as Li Zhang crossed out Zhao Heng and then wanted to cross out Zhao Zhen's name, his subordinates suddenly said to themselves again.

Even the illiterate old men and women in later generations probably heard the story of "The Crown Cats Change to the Prince". There are three protagonists in this story, namely Concubine Liu, Concubine Li and Song Renzong Zhao Zhen. Although most of this story is fiction, some are real. Among them, Concubine Liu's prototype is Liu E, and she is indeed not Zhao Zhen's biological mother.

Speaking of Zhao Zhen's life experience, it was quite bizarre. When Liu E was not the queen, the original Empress Guo passed away, so Liu E's opportunity came. However, most of the ministers in the court opposed it at that time, mainly because Liu E's background was low. Although Liu E recognized her relatives and said that she was the daughter of Liu Tong, the commander Shi, who had already passed away, could only deceive the common people, and the ministers in the court knew her origin.

In this case, Liu E thought of a way, which was to give birth to a child for Zhao Heng. Because Zhao Heng's son died at that time, the royal family had no queen. If she could give birth to a prince, it would be legitimate to establish the queen. However, Liu E was already forty years old at that time, and even in later generations, she was still an elderly mother. What's more, she has been with Zhao Heng for so many years and has not been able to get pregnant, so she can't give birth even if she wants to.

So in this situation, Liu E thought of another way. She asked the maid around her to serve her on her behalf, gave birth to a son after becoming pregnant, and then claimed to the public that she was born to her, and this prince was the current crown prince Zhao Zhen.

"If I remember correctly, Zhao Zhen's biological mother should be surnamed Li, which is the prototype of Concubine Li in the Crown Cat exchange for the prince!" Li Zhang's eyes became brighter and brighter at this time, "Concubine Li, Li Yonghe, Li Zhang, so that's it. If so, everything will make sense!"

When Li Zhang spoke at the end, his expression on his face became more and more excited. He finally guessed the most likely possibility. Zhao Zhen's biological mother's surname was Li, and their father and son were probably the relatives of the Li family. Based on age, Li Yonghe was probably the other party's elder brother or younger brother. In other words, the other party was probably his aunt, and Zhao Zhen was not older than him, that is, his cousin.

"It turns out that my hidden profession is actually the cousin of the future emperor!" Li Zhang whispered again excitedly at this time. He originally thought he was just a civilian from the bottom and was even very troubled to improve his social status. But if his guess was correct, then what else would he read? He would become a royal relative in the future!

However, no matter how excited he was, when Li Zhang's mind cooled down, he found some problems. If his guess was correct, then Liu E's attitude towards their father and son would be a little ambiguous.

First of all, as far as Li Zhang knows, although Liu E is not Zhao Zhen's biological mother, Zhao Zhen himself does not know. He always treats Liu E as his biological mother. It was not until Liu E died that Zhao Zhen realized that his biological mother was another person, and Li had already passed away, which made the mother and son unable to recognize each other until death.

However, although Liu E did not let Li and Zhao Zhen recognize each other, she was still good to Li. She even became the queen and named Li a talented person, and later added it to Wanyi. After Li's death, she was also buried in the queen's clothes. Although this was not Liu E's original intention, it was enough to show that Liu E was not a vicious woman.

"Liu E has no malice towards Li, and she also gave him a title. So what is her attitude towards our father and son? In addition, Li has never recognized Zhao Zhen, so maybe she and Liu E have reached certain agreements, such as in exchange for the wealth of the Li family, so that Mrs. Liu said that she will make arrangements in a while!" Li Zhang said to herself again at this time.

Li Zhang also became clearer and clearer in this line. Although he was not very sure, there should not be too much deviation. But then Li Zhang thought of another key figure, that is, Lu Wu. Lu Wu had known their family for many years and had a close relationship with Liu E. So what role did Lu Wu play in this matter?
Chapter completed!