Zhu Yuanzhang was a good emperor, but also a very cruel emperor, in order to keep the dragon chair under his ass, he could kill any of his hardcore brothers, and he did not feel guilty about implicating tens of thousands of people for this. Zhu Yuanzhang's cruelty was reflected in every detail, once, he worked late, the palace lady saw that the emperor was busy appropriating the chapter, and took the initiative to bring a bowl of hot porridge, wanting Zhu Yuanzhang to eat a supper. As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the palace maid to be killed, why was this?
1. Is it poisonous in porridge?
Late one night, Zhu Yuanzhang was struggling to write a book and deal with the music sent from all over the country. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang was nearly sixty years old, and his physical strength and energy were not as good as in the past, so he felt very tired, so he stood up and stretched out a few lazy waists. Just at this time, a palace maid came in outside the door, saying that Empress Ma had sent a bowl of hot porridge, hoping that the emperor would eat a little and not be hungry.
This was a very normal thing, and it could also reflect the virtuousness of Empress Ma, but Zhu Yuanzhang shouted at the eunuchs outside the door and asked them to take out a few silver needles to test the poison. Unexpectedly, the silver needle quickly turned black, indicating that the porridge was poisonous. Zhu Yuanzhang was immediately furious and ordered the palace maid to be imprisoned, asking her to account for the instructions behind the scenes.
But I don't know if there is no inside information, or if the palace girl is more patient, in the face of torture, she has never confessed any valuable information. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious, ordered the palace maid to be beheaded, and began a comprehensive inventory, which naturally also found the head of empress Ma who delivered the porridge.
2. Are they all troubled by turnips?
In the course of this investigation, Zhu Yuanzhang found that on that night, when the palace maid delivered porridge, the eunuch outside the door just went to the toilet. Because of this, when Zhu Yuanzhang called the eunuch, no one answered for half a day. Zhu Yuanzhang initially suspected that the eunuch also had a share, but after further investigation, the suspect was locked as a cook.
The cook was interrogated, but he could not tell the truth, so he had to drink poisoned porridge, intending to prove his innocence with death. What stunned Zhu Yuanzhang was that the so-called poisonous porridge did not take the life of the chef, and a few days passed, he was still safe and sound. Even if the poison is poor, it should also be attacked, and there is obviously no poison in the porridge.
So the question is, since there is no poison in the porridge, why does the silver needle turn black? Under severe torture, the chef confessed the whole process of boiling this bowl of porridge, and the radish added to the porridge attracted everyone's attention. Some people think that this bowl of porridge usually does not put turnips, the chef considered the cold weather, wanted to let the emperor replenish his qi, only temporarily added radish, is this the so-called "poison"?
3. It was all a misunderstanding
Zhu Yuanzhang was puzzled, simply did an experiment, he let the imperial dining room make two porridges, one more radish, the other only put a few pieces of radish. Then, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered someone to test the poison with a silver needle, and as a result, the silver needle in the radish porridge became black, but the silver needle in the other porridge did not change significantly.
Immediately after, Zhu Yuanzhang let people drink radish porridge, and the result was the same as the previous chef, there was no danger to life, and there was no abnormal condition in the body. At that time, people all knew that silver needles blackened means poisonous, but turnips are not poisonous, why do they also make silver needles black, is there an error in the wisdom of the ancients?
4. The truth
In fact, the silver needle test is based on the fact that the poison is arsenic, and only this poison can chemically react with silver and appear dark black. It's just that the ancients didn't understand the chemical principle, and when they saw a method of testing poison, they mistakenly thought that as long as this blackening occurred, it meant that someone was poisoned.
There may be some chemicals in the radish, and it can also chemically react with the metal silver, resulting in the appearance of dark black, which in the eyes of the ancients, there is only a reasonable explanation for poisoning. After the truth of the matter came out, Zhu Yuanzhang also felt very sorry, and quickly sent someone to send a pension to the family of the palace girl, and he also took the initiative to apologize for the implicated Empress Ma.
5. Conclusion
Zhu Yuanzhang was originally a peasant, and in order to avoid the war, he entered the temple, but he still did not have enough to eat. By chance, Zhu Yuanzhang joined the rebel army and climbed step by step to the position of commander-in-chief. Subsequently, Zhu Yuanzhang spent more than 10 years gradually sweeping away the princes everywhere, defeating the Yuan Dynasty army, and ascending to the emperor's throne from a low-level commoner.
This success was not easy to come by, and Zhu Yuanzhang was afraid that someone would copy his successful model and make another grassroots counterattack. Therefore, after Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, his desire to control imperial power far exceeded that of previous emperors, and he also founded intelligence departments such as Jinyiwei, which were specifically responsible for monitoring the daily life of courtiers and people, for fear that someone would make small moves behind their backs and appear suspicious.
Despite this, Zhu Yuanzhang was still not at ease, and in order to let the descendants of the Zhu family sit on the throne forever, he raised a butcher's knife to the brothers who had conquered the world together. Except for Tang He and a few other people who voluntarily surrendered their military power and stayed away from the political center, the vast majority of the founding heroes were slaughtered, and Zhu Yuanzhang would use the topic to play every time, amplify the case indefinitely, and several large-scale purges, which eventually led to tens of thousands of people being killed.