The long river of history is running endlessly, there are calm waves, there are also waves, let Xiaobian take you into history and understand history.
The "poisoning case" at Fudan University was shocking, and graduate student Huang Yang was poisoned. A similar scene appeared 19 years ago at Tsinghua University, where Zhu Ling, a female student in the chemistry department, was poisoned by artificial thallium. In fact, poisoning is the most common means of murder in ancient and modern times, the most typical in ancient court murders, and the truth that many emperors were poisoned is still a mystery. Among them, three secret poisoning methods are the most representative.
Poison in the wine——
Typical case: The case of the Hanping Emperor being killed
Poisoning suspect: Sima Wang Mang
Among the hundreds of large and small emperors in China, the first emperor to be directly poisoned was Liu Yan, the Emperor of Hanping.
Liu Yan was the last emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, whose original name was Liu Jizi (劉箕子), who changed his name after the throne. Born in the fourth year of Yuan Yan (9 BC), he was the grandson of Emperor Liu Yi of the Han Dynasty, the son of Liu Xing the Prince of Zhongshan, and his mother Wei Ji.
Liu Yan was one of two minor emperors of the Western Han Dynasty, who became emperor at the age of 9; Another minor emperor was Liu Fuling, the Emperor of Han Zhao, who ascended the throne at the age of 8. The Book of Han and the Chronicle of Emperor Ping records that in June of the second year of Yuan Shou (1 BC), after the death of The Han Emperor Liu Xin at Weiyang Palace, the empress dowager Wang Zhengjun presided over the great politics and removed Sima Dongxian, who was favored by Emperor Liu Xiao of Hancheng, and replaced him with the post of Marquis Mang of Xindu. In September of that year, Miko was made emperor.
Wang Zhengjun was Wang Mang's aunt, and she raised her nephew to a high position, laying the foundation for Wang Mang's usurpation of the throne in the future. Wang Zhengjun was too old, and Liu Yan was too small, which provided Wang Mang with the opportunity to monopolize power. In order to exclude dissidents, Wang Mang simply found a reason to exterminate the emperor's uncle's family and family name, cutting the grass and roots. In order to completely kidnap the emperor, he married his 14-year-old daughter Wang Huan to 12-year-old Liu Yan as empress.
After becoming emperor and father-in-law, Wang Mang's ambitions were even greater. In the fifth year of the First Yuan Dynasty (5 AD), Liu Yan was displeased when he learned the truth about the victimization of his mother's mother's family. After Wang Mang saw it, he was worried about future troubles, and for the sake of the end of the trouble, he suddenly killed the machine. On the Day of December of that year, Wang Mang took advantage of the opportunity to offer wine to the emperor and poisoned the wine. Liu Yan was poisoned after drinking, and soon "collapsed in Weiyang Palace".
Wang Mang's poisoning is found in the Zizhi Tongjian, which contains such a text in the Han Dynasty Twenty-Eight Emperor Xiaoping: "Mang put poisoned wine in the wine on the day of The Waxing Sun." After Liu Yan became poisoned and fell ill, his qi often went up and down, he could not speak, and finally he could not even leave the will, and Wang Mang also falsely expressed his willingness to die on Behalf of Liu Yan.
Historians do not agree on the truth about Wang Mang's poisoning, and some believe that it is nonsense, because there is no such record in the Book of Han, which is more written than the Zizhi Tongjian. There are also different theories about the choice and motivation of Wang Mang's poisoning time, some say that it is in order to prevent his daughter from conceiving a "dragon species" and facilitate his future usurpation of the throne, and the poisoner of Liu Yan is difficult to reveal anyway.
Comments: Killing people with poisonous wine is called "killing"; Killing the emperor in this way is called "the dove".
Poisonous liquor was called "drunken wine" in ancient times. According to Qing Chen Shiduo's "Dialectical Record and Poisoning Gate", the duck is a poisonous bird, mainly eating poisonous snakes and scorpions, so the body accumulates toxins. The feces of the dove are put into the wine, and the wine is toxic and is made into the wine. "If you drink wine, you will not die." Typical symptoms of poisoning are, "White eyes to the sky, shivering, suddenly unaware, like a drunken state, the heart understands, but can not speak, until the eyes are closed or dead." ”
Later, the preparation of duck wine was no longer limited to the preparation of duck manure, but there were many poisons that could be put into the wine to kill people, and "duck wine" became a common name for poisonous wine. It should be noted that it is not uncommon for emperors like Emperor Hanping to be killed, such as Sima Chi, the emperor of Jinhuai, who was poisoned by Liu Cong with wine; Emperor Zhaoxuan of Tang was killed by Later Liang's founding emperor Zhu Quanzhong with wine...
Poisoned in the meal
Typical case: Jinhui Emperor's cake poisoning case
Poisoning suspect: Sima Yue, King of the East China Sea
The most famous case of the emperor's poisoning occurred in the Western Jin Dynasty, and the victim was Sima Zheng, the Emperor hui of Jin.
Sima Zheng was the second emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty and a famous "mentally handicapped emperor" in Chinese history. To what extent is mentally retarded? One year, when there was a famine, the people had no food to eat, and many people starved to death, and he actually asked, "Why don't you eat minced meat?"
When Sima Zheng was 15 years old, Emperor Laozi Sima Yan married him a daughter-in-law and selected Jia Nanfeng, the eldest daughter of the chancellor Jia Chong, as the crown princess. The "Biography of Empress Huijia of the Book of Jin" records that the Jia clan is black and short, extremely ugly, and the worst is that the character is not good, and the jealousy is cruel.
Jia Nanfeng never had children after marriage, but let Lady Xie preemptively give birth to Sima Zheng's eldest son, Sima Song, and was made crown prince. After Jia Nanfeng had his own son, he had the mentally handicapped emperor depose Sima Song. Jia Nanfeng was still uneasy about Sima Song in seclusion, and was determined to kill the deposed prince, so he found a "lover" and a tai doctor to order Cheng to plot. Cheng was a poison expert, and he used croton to make a poison called "Croton Apricot Pill" and asked his subordinate Sun Wei to take him to Xuchang to poison Sima Song.
Sima Suo had already taken precautions, was afraid of poisoning people, and cooked his own rice every day. Seeing that the poisoning could not be done, Sun Wei directly forced the prince to take the poison pills. Sima Suo was not convinced, so Sun Wei took advantage of his going to the toilet to knock the 22-year-old Sima Song to death from behind with a heavy pestle.
Perhaps as retribution, Jia Nanfeng was soon poisoned. Jia Nanfeng's behavior infuriated the government and the public, and in the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings", she was forced to drink gold crumb wine by Sima Lun, the king of Zhao, and died - gold crumb wine, which can be seen as a special poisonous liquor, but not poison, but gold crumbs.
After Sima Lun killed Jia Nanfeng, the Jin dynasty became even more chaotic, and he actually forced the foolish emperor Sima Zhenchan to become emperor himself. In this way, the other brothers are gone, who does not want to be emperor? Sima Lun had to abdicate and let Sima Zheng continue to be emperor. All the feudal kings wanted to "blackmail the Son of Heaven to order the princes", and Sima Zheng became a living treasure and was snatched away by the feudal kings.
In the end, Sima Zheng was taken back to the old capital Luoyang by Sima Yue, the king of the East China Sea, with an ox cart, but died half a year later. The Book of Jin and the Book of Huidi records that in November of the first year of Guangxi (306 AD), Sima Zheng "collapsed in the Xianyang Hall, at the age of forty-eight, and was buried in the Sun Mausoleum".
How did Sima Zheng die? The answer given by the history books is very simple, only four words, "cake poisoning.". So who cast the poison? The history books have no definite answer, and the biggest suspect is Sima Yue. However, because no one saw it and the evidence was insufficient, historians could only leave a record of "or the Crane of Sima Yue".
Comments: There are three poisoning plots in the above story, and the poison used and the way of poisoning are different. Killing Sima Song with croton, Chinese medicine said that croton has a "big poison", is one of the poisons commonly used by the ancients to poison, the generations have been prohibited from selling casually, according to the "Great Yuan Shengzheng Dynasty Dynasty Chapter, Punishment Department , Prohibition of Poison" (volume 19), the Yuan Dynasty will be listed as a prohibited drug together with arsenic.
Killing Jia Nanfeng uses gold crumb wine, and "swallowing gold" is a more common method used by the ancients when committing suicide and giving death. After drinking the wine containing gold shavings, he will not die immediately, but will die slowly in extreme pain, dying worse than drinking authentic poisonous wine.
When killing Sima Zheng, the poison was placed in the food, that is, the folk often said "poisoning in the rice", this poisoning method is simple and easier to succeed, so it is more common in modern times, before Sima Zheng was poisoned by the Eastern Han Dynasty Emperor Liu Miao, also ate poisonous food and died, the murderer Liang Ji was to let his cronies secretly put the poison in the cake that Liu Zhen ate. In view of this, in order to prevent bad people from poisoning food, the ancient royal family would put the dish into a special poison testing tool "silver plate" before eating, or the eunuchs, doctors and other personnel would taste the food first, and then move the chopsticks after nothing happened.
The medicine is adulterated
Typical case: Qing Dezong acute death case
Poisoning suspect: Grand Eunuch Li Lianying
The last emperor to be poisoned in ancient China was Emperor Dezong of the Qing Dynasty, known as the "Guangxu Emperor".
Zai Xiang was the penultimate emperor of the Qing Dynasty, sitting on the dragon chair at the age of 4. The Qing History Manuscript Dezong Benji records that in February of the fifteenth year of Guangxu (Wu Shu Year, 1889 AD), the adult Zai Xiang began to pro-government. At this time, the Qing Dynasty was worried about internal and external troubles, and the young emperor had quite an idea, wanting to revitalize the Manchu Qing Dynasty and revive the dream of a great power. In June of the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu (1898 AD), a group of reformists such as Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei were appointed to announce the change of the law, which was called the "Pengshu Change Law" in history.
The reform movement was strongly opposed by the conservative faction led by Empress Dowager Cixi, and it lasted 103 days and failed, known in history as the "Hundred Days Restoration". Zai Xiang not only failed to level Cixi and complete the reform, but instead dug a big pit for himself, lost his freedom, and was imprisoned in Zhongnanhai.
On October 21, the 34th year of Guangxu (1908 AD), Zai Xiang "collapsed in the Yingtai Hanyuan Hall". The next day, October 22, Empress Dowager Cixi also died in the Zhongnanhai Yiluan Hall. The 38-year-old emperor and the 74-year-old empress died one after another within 24 hours, which stunned the people of the Qing Dynasty.
Strange, how can it be so coincidental? How did Zai Xiang die? At that time, there was a lot of gossip, some said that Zai Xiang was poisoned, some said that he died of illness, of which the "poisoning theory" was the most widely circulated. In order to find out the truth, in the study of major academic issues in the Qing History Revision Project a few years ago, special topics were specially listed to study the "cause of death of the Qing Guangxu Emperor".
According to the published research data, after conducting toxicity tests on the hair, clothing and bones obtained when cleaning the Coffin of Chongling in 1980, it was found that the content of arsenic trioxide in the body was obviously abnormal. Arsenic trioxide, or arsenic, was the resulting study asserting that "the Guangxu Emperor died of arsenic poisoning." ”
This modern conclusion finally clarifies the mystery of the cause of Zai Xiang's death, but the whole mystery of Zai Xiang's death has not been solved one by one. Who cast the poison? And who directed it? How does it work? It is still impossible to figure it out. One theory is that the emperor was very happy to know that Cixi was sick, and Cixi was so angry when he heard about it that he had people mix arsenic in the medicine (one said rice) that Zai Xiang took, and poisoned the emperor before he returned to the west.
Another theory is that Cixi had no intention of harming Zai Xiang, and it was the eunuch who was worried that Zai Xiang's restoration would be detrimental to him, so he used Cixi's name to kill Zai Xiang. Princess Deling, who had lived in the palace for two years, directly identified the murderer as the grand eunuch Li Lianying in her book "Yingtai Weeping Blood". But the legend is a legend after all, and who is the mastermind of poisoning the emperor of the Qing Dynasty may always be a mystery!
Comments: Arsenic is one of the most commonly used poisons for murderers in ancient China, killing people with arsenic, called "arsenic", the fierceness of poisoning, juxtaposed with "killing". Qing Chen Shiduo's "Dialectical Record • Poisoning Gate" begins with a discussion of arsenic, which describes it in detail: "People have the poison of taking arsenic cream, and they are in pain and want to die, and if they do not give first aid, they will rot their stomachs and stomachs, vomit purple blood and die." ”
In fact, arsenic cream is a traditional Chinese medicine with remarkable efficacy, and there are still Traditional Chinese medicines for patients to use, and its treatment principle is called "attacking poison with poison", but the dosage and scope are extremely strictly controlled. It is precisely the path of "taking medicine" that schemers use the path of "taking medicine" to mix poison in medicine and kill others.
In order to prevent arsenic from being used by bad people, it was listed as a "forbidden drug" in ancient times, and it was not allowed to be bought and sold casually on the market. The Yuan Dynasty also implemented a "real-name system", and transactions were registered one by one. The "Prohibition of the Sale and Purchase of Poisons" in the Imperial Decrees of the Great Yuan Dynasty (Vol. 19) stipulates that if something goes wrong, "if an accident occurs, "if a person's life is harmed, both those who buy and sell will be executed." ”
How does the court prevent arsenic poisoning? In addition to experts trying to eat, the Ming and Qing courts used "silver plates" and "silver needles" to test, which were really poisonous, and pure white silverware turned black!
Well, today's sharing ends here, and we'll see you next time