As we all know, in ancient times, the change of power was quite frequent. Who under the heavens doesn't want to be emperor? Especially in the imperial court, there is an undercurrent, and countless people covet the position of emperor and do whatever it takes to achieve the goal, so they often see the historical story of the emperor's early death.
In history, there may be hundreds of ways for emperors to die, the most normal is the old death, and because of excessive use of Dan medicine, endocrine disorders died violently. And if they catch up with the power struggle, few emperors can end well, some of them are cut off their heads, some are forced to hang themselves, and some are secretly poisoned and poisoned.
Speaking of this poisoning, it can be said that it is the most curious of all the ways to die. I believe that many people have questions, what kind of poison is poison in ancient times, can't the emperor see it at all?
Emperors have been poisoned in all dynasties, and if someone really wants to poison the emperor, the method is actually very simple, as long as you find the imperial dining room for the emperor to cook, you can directly poison it. Moreover, there was not even any obstacle, the imperial dining room was not a mysterious department, as long as it was a person in the palace, anyone could enter.
The closest emperor to our modern era who was poisoned was the Guangxu Emperor. How did he get poisoned? According to Yongzheng's ninth-generation grandson Ai Xinjue Luo Qigong, on the eve of Cixi's death, Qigong's great-grandfather was on standby outside the Leshou Hall. He saw a eunuch come out with a bowl of something he didn't know what it was. Qi Gong's great-grandfather asked what it was, and the eunuch said that it was the yogurt that Cixi had given to Banzai Ye.
According to legend, Guangxu drank this bowl of yogurt and died not long after. Later, when archaeologists examined Guangxu's body, a large amount of arsenic deposits were found in the hair area, and it was not surprising that Guangxu was indeed poisoned by Cixi. As for why Cixi poisoned Guangxu, it is still an unsolved mystery to this day.
However, it is worth mentioning that Cixi did not poison through the imperial dining room, but directly poisoned Guangxu. Why didn't Cixi go to the imperial dining room? After all, in this way, the person who can also throw the pot to the imperial dining room can also fall into a good reputation without a murderer.
In fact, if Cixi had gone to the imperial dining room and poisoned him, the Guangxu Emperor might not have died. Because, the emperor would not eat the meals of the imperial dining room at all! Why?
Puyi described the scene of the emperor eating at that time in "The First Half of My Life", and also gave the answer. It turned out that there were too many dishes in the imperial dining room, basically 120 dishes per squat. If you wait until the meal is ready to do it, so many dishes, just after cooking, the emperor is estimated to be starving to death.
Therefore, the imperial dining room is generally a day in advance to make the next day's dishes ready, before the meal, just heat up, has long passed the heat that just came out of the pot, so although there are many dishes, it is not delicious. The emperor of that meeting would not eat the dishes of the imperial dining room, after all, the dishes were only slightly hot, and all the dishes were cold after serving.
And the people in the imperial dining room also know that the emperors of the past dynasties did not rely on their own cooking to fill their hunger, they only made a show, and brought the emperor over, just for the sake of pomp. In fact, the emperor could not move a single chopstick.
So what did the emperor eat? Puyi also gave the answer, the emperor actually ate the dishes sent by the empress every day, and after the empress's death, the four concubines took turns to send them. This is the emperor's real menu, after all, the meals made by his relatives are certainly safe and non-toxic, and the dishes will not be too much, only less than 20, each of which is a fine product that has just come out of the pot, and it is still very hot.
Therefore, it was impossible to poison and kill the emperor in the imperial dining room, and it was the dishes sent by Empress Dowager Cixi to Guangxu that could poison the Guangxu Emperor. Therefore, in the ancient power struggle, it was basically difficult to kill the emperor in the imperial dining room. Moreover, even if the emperor really ate the dishes of the imperial dining room, so many dishes, do you know which one he ate? You can't poison everyone, right?