In the history books, Emperor Wen of Han reduced labor, reduced taxes, advocated frugality, abolished corporal punishment, benefited the people, and the Xiongnu, and internally suppressed rebellions, creating a peaceful and prosperous era.
Emperor Wen of Han in "Twenty-Four Filial Pieties" "tasted the soup medicine" for his sick mother, "did not look at eyelashes", and "did not understand the clothes". Unfortunately, he only lived forty-five years before he died! Regarding his illness and death, most of the official historical materials are unknown, and Sima Qian only said in the "Records of History" that he "collapsed in Weiyang Palace"; The "Former Han Dynasty" compiled by Cai Dongfan also only mentions that "suddenly he fell ill, and the medicine was ineffective, and he even died", and it seemed that there was no way to find the cause of death. Moreover, in addition to favoring the courtiers, almost all ancient books do not mention other bad habits and amazing hobbies of Emperor Wen's life, and it is difficult to piece together the symptoms of illness. However, there is still no shortage of relevant clues in the vast sea of history.
Portrait of Emperor Wen of Han
First, Emperor Wen suffered from "carbuncles" (abscesses). Historia. The 65th Biography of Yu Xinglie records that a courtier named Deng Tong learned that Emperor Wen had abscesses on his back, and often sucked out the pus on the sores for Emperor Wen. Second, Emperor Wen died in June 157 BC, but during the Xiongnu invasion the previous year, he also went to Zhou Yafu's Camp of Xiaoliu to inspect military affairs. In addition, Emperor Wen's father, Han Gaozu's ancestor Liu Bang, was wounded by an arrow during the conquest of Yingbu, and the wound could not be healed, and finally died of illness. Father and son inherited, and Liu Bang's death became a clue to the cause of Emperor Wen's illness that no one expected.
Liu Bang's arrow was in October 196 BC, and his death was in April of the following year, about half a year apart, which did not coincide with the general time of traumatic death at that time. Excavated in the 1980s, "Bamboo Jane of Han Tombs in Zhangjiashan. The Two-Year Decree states: "If a wounded person dies within twenty days of his injury, the wounded person shall be treated as a murderer." It can be seen that in the Qin and Han Dynasties, general trauma deaths occurred within twenty days after injury; Beyond this period of time, the probability of direct death due to injury is small.
Images of Ying Kuni
Liu Bang also suffered an arrow from Xiang Yu in his early years, shooting it on his chest, and he could gradually recover. For Liu Bang, who is over sixty years old, over the years, depression, resentment, fatigue and alcohol have slowly corroded his once strong physique, and his resistance is much worse than before. Yingbu's arrow is only an inducement, and the direct cause of the disease is that the wound has not healed for a long time, resulting in repeated infection of bacteria and death; The biggest culprit of the wound that is difficult to heal is diabetes similar to today's.
In ancient times, when there was a lack of antibiotics, it is conceivable that such a traumatic surface was the best hotbed for bacteria to multiply and wreak havoc; and the gnawing of bacteria made the wound more eroded, forming a vicious circle until the bacteria "ate" the whole person! There is a disease called "diabetic foot", which is a lesion in which the foot or lower limb tissue of diabetic patients is destroyed, which is the same as the pathogenesis of Liu Bang's arrow injury.
Bacterial infections, ready to move
Let's discuss the time when Emperor Wen was ill. Imagine if he was visibly unwell, could he still inspect the army everywhere? Before visiting Zhou Yafu's Xiaoliu camp, Emperor Wen had visited at least two other camps. What time of year was the Hun invasion? It should be autumn and winter. Because in the autumn, the horses are particularly fat and strong, and the combat efficiency is higher. Nomads on horseback know this better than we do. Coupled with the winter grasslands, full of withering and water and grass, the Xiongnu directly felt the lack of living resources, which further enhanced their motivation for aggression. This is also the common rule of the game of other nomadic armies in history. Therefore, in the autumn and winter of the year before Emperor Wen's death, his health should still be good for himself, and he expected to die in June of the following year half a year later.
Huns
As for the thing that later grew on Emperor Wen's body, it was obviously a lesion that had suppurated on the surface of the body. If it is only lipoma, hemangioma, it is rare to suppurate and die; if it is lymph node tuberculosis or lymphoma, in the era of no chemotherapy drugs, Emperor Wen will almost die because of this, but from asymptomatic to suppuration, and then to death, less than half a year, it seems too short, and the incidence is not high, can be ruled out; if it is a malignant skin tumor (cancer), the possibility is even smaller, because the disease is easy to obtain by Europeans who love to bask in the sun, Asians are rare, and it is difficult to imagine that Emperor Wen of the Nine-Five Emperor will be exposed to the hot sun naked all day. It seems that it is still the most likely common disease of bacterial infections such as "carbuncles" and "gangrene".
What is a "carbuncle"? This refers to an acute purulent infection of the skin tissue, most of which is caused by Staphylococcus aureus. The cause of infection is related to unclean skin, abrasions, and decreased body resistance, which is also called "gangrene" in Chinese medicine. Patients are usually older than middle age, and some patients have original diabetes. Lesions tend to occur in thicker parts of the skin, and initially appear as small patches of hard and swollen skin, dark red, of which there may be several protruding points or pus spots, the pain is mild, but the chills, fever, loss of appetite and general malaise are followed by enlargement of the skin hardness, edema around the area, and local severe pain. As the pus at the lesion site becomes larger and more, the center may burst out of the pus, making the sore mouth honeycomb-like; The skin tissue inside it is necrotic, purple-brown, and difficult to heal on its own. If treatment is delayed, the lesion continues to enlarge and worsen, with severe systemic reactions. Emperor Wen, who is in his forties and has a family history of diabetes, needs others to often suck on the affected area, most likely to continue to produce pus inside, which is consistent with the manifestations of carbuncle.
Emperor Wen of Han personally tasted the soup medicine
Diabetes is a combination of congenital and acquired factors, parents have a disease, the probability of children getting sick is relatively large. Coupled with being the king of a country, the intake of calories and sugar does not understand moderation, and it is pampered and treated well, and there is little physical activity, which greatly increases the chance of diabetes. One cause that can be speculated is that Emperor Wen may have suffered from diabetes for a long time like his father, but he has not been aware of it. After inspecting military affairs, he suffered from carbuncles, which could not be healed for a long time due to incomplete treatment and the interference of diabetes. After several months of delay, the bacteria gradually invaded the whole body through the wound, causing severe sepsis and septic shock, and finally devouring The precious life of Emperor Wen. From the beginning to the death of a systemic infection, after several months, the development of the disease is reasonable, and it is the same as the death of his father Liu Bang!
The abscess worsened and there were not many days to come
On that day, after inspecting the Xiaoliu camp, Emperor Wen's motorcade began to gallop in an orderly manner in the direction of Chang'an. The cold wind, the thick fog, the rough roar of the horses, the rolling sound of the axles mixed with the fine snow, and the agitated throat sound of the driver rushing the car, stirred together, completely shattering the quiet four fields. Emperor Wen, who was sitting in the liumaluan driving, was tightening his eyebrows at the moment: the Xiongnu had been exhausted during wartime, and along the way, he always felt rubbed by something on his back, faintly painful; During this time, he also found that he was often thirsty, and the urination had increased inexplicably, and Empress Dou had also reminded him of his recent obvious weight loss. However, Emperor Wen, who had a sense of moral mission and a keen love for Huang Laozhi's technique, treated all this and adopted a similar approach to governing the country and ruled inaction.
Deng Tong treated Emperor Wen's illness
After a while, Emperor Wen felt that his back was getting more and more painful, and he had to ask the imperial doctor to diagnose and treat him. The imperial doctor gently removed Emperor Wen's robe, and his face was suddenly frightened like earth: a huge carbuncle was exposed to his eyes, the top was already black, and a few yellow-green pus spots seemed to be showing a vicious smile... The harem panicked, and the opinions of the group doctors varied. After a few doses of decoction, Emperor Wen did not improve, the back was more painful and unbearable, and the carbuncles became more and more vicious and expanded, and finally competed until they burst. At this time, Emperor Wen's carbuncles had completely become the paradise of Staphylococcus aureus, in which they ate, wasted, and multiplied unscrupulously, making the wounds like garbage heaps and stinky gutters that could not be cleaned for many years, filthy and smelly.
Emperor Wen was desperate, the imperial doctors were desperate, but a young man was hopeful, his name was Deng Tong, just because he looked like Emperor Wen's dream benefactor, he actually got a rare opportunity to work next to the emperor. Because he did not have any means of livelihood and social experience, Deng Tong could only pin all his hopes on cultivating feelings with Emperor Wen. He may not have read the story of the general Wu Qi sucking carbuncles and sucking pus for the wounded soldiers, but he instinctively thought that draining those unpleasant liquids might be beneficial to physical recovery, so he and Emperor Wen repeated this touching scene, but the identities of the two sides were reversed. When the pus was sucked clean by Deng Tong bit by bit, Emperor Wen really felt refreshed for a while, and life seemed to come back to life.
But the good times did not last long, although Bai Ding DengTong was rich and invincible, his "ventriloquism" was indeed good, and his spirit and perseverance were commendable, but his mouth was not a sterile scalpel after all, and his saliva was not an antibiotic after all. After touching a nail, the tenacious Staphylococcus aureus took advantage of the decline in the ability to repair the skin and flesh caused by diabetes to attack again, and took advantage of the victory to expand the results and strength. At this time, in addition to sucking pus vigorously, Deng Tong could only watch the painful Emperor Wen step by step towards the abyss of life. Finally, one day, a creature called Gram-negative bacillus and Staphylococcus aureus completely broke the blood vessel barrier, took advantage of the void, from the wound fish into the blood system of Emperor Wendi, began to circulate throughout the body, where they passed, they were extremely destructive and mutilated. Emperor Wen began to have a high fever and shiver, and then his limbs were cold, his face was like dead ash, and his consciousness was indifferent, so he threw deng Tong away after holding on hard for a few days, and reluctantly went to Baling to report on his own.
Han Dynasty coins
Emperor Wen's bones were not cold, and the newly appointed Jing Emperor Liu Qi quickly and cleanly drove Deng Tong away and deprived him of all his property. Poor Deng Lang, who was once prominent and rich in the world, finally became a starving corpse in the midst of poverty and illness, and his fate was somewhat similar to that of the Qing Dynasty and Yan two thousand years later. However, after all, He yan was a knowledgeable, long-sleeved and good dancer, and a powerful person with good management, and since even he could not protect himself, what could Deng Tong, who was useless, do except wait for death?