Rebirth of the Ming Dynasty: Sixth Generation of Glory, I don't want it

Day two.

Zhang Xin asked for leave from the church for her three children.

Yao Niang and Wen Beijiao carefully examined the three children.

These two people knew when they were in Prince Yan's Mansion that Zhang Xin was not the kind of person who would make a fuss or do something without a purpose.

After taking the pulse and checking the ears, eyes, mouth and nose, the children were asked to take off their clothes and touch their internal organs and bone development under their skin.

After examining all the children, Zhang Xin sent them away.

Wen Beijiao and Yao Niang also carefully checked the pulse of Zhang Xin and Zhu Gaochi.

Both of them looked slightly relaxed, yet also a little solemn.

Yao Niang is more direct.

"Your Highness, you and the Crown Prince are in good health, but not as good as when you were in the capital. The little prince and the little princess are not in good health, much worse than when they were in the capital. Especially in terms of lung qi, it seems to be slightly insufficient. The two little princes, the kidney water is not abundant."

"Not used to the local climate, huh?"

Zhu Gaochi couldn't believe that someone could kill his entire family in the imperial city?

Nowadays, people in the palace are replaced every year, and no one can stay in a position for a long time.

Although eunuchs and servants were not rotated, Zhang Xin did not like to use them very much, so they all stayed with his father.

The palace is very quiet.

"It's hard to say. Logically speaking, young children adapt to the environment the fastest. The two little princes and the little princess shouldn't be suffering from acclimatization at this time. What do you think, Mr. Wen?"

Yao Niang didn’t really understand it and just looked at Wen Beijiao.

It seems that there is no big problem for both adults and children.

The pulse is not particularly good, just an average body.

But no matter what, the royal family always eats better than ordinary people and lives a life of luxury. If their physical fitness is the same as that of ordinary people, then there is a problem.

"Your Highness, is the red color of the imperial city's walls derived from cinnabar?"

Wen Beijiao has a vague speculation.

"Yes. Is there any hindrance?"

Zhu Gaochi confirmed and asked again.

"Your Highness, please check the newly compiled Yongle Encyclopedia. The famous Jin Dynasty doctor Ge Hong wrote a book called Baopuzi, which contains some of the records. At that time, Ge Hong was obsessed with alchemy and immortality, and he tried many recipes. Among them, there is a record that cinnabar can be burned to become mercury, and then it can be transformed back into cinnabar."

Wen Beijiao only brought up the root causes he thought of.

"Mercury? Isn't cinnabar the same as cinnabar? It will turn into mercury? Isn't that poisonous? But hasn't cinnabar always been said to be very good? It can even cure diseases."

Zhu Gaochi was a little shocked.

"No. The little prince and the little princess are fine at the moment. I am just guessing. Your Highness, please listen to me in detail."

Wen Beijiao shook his head and waited until Zhu Gaochi nodded before he continued to explain the basis for his speculation.

After Wen Beijiao left Prince Yan's Mansion, he opened a clinic and treated patients as he saw fit.

Later, King Zhou came to the capital and came to the door.

Because King Zhou and his wife were banished to Yunnan by Zhu Yunwen, they suffered a lot of humiliation and were in poor health.

Zhu Di asked them to come to Wen Beijiao for treatment.

King Zhou was a man who understood medical principles and was fond of studying medical prescriptions. Although he originally came to Wen Beijiao for medical treatment, after they started chatting, the two of them hit it off and got along very well.

While Wen Beijiao went to Prince Zhou's mansion to treat the health of Prince Zhou and Princess Zhou, he also came into contact with some alchemists kept in the mansion.

That is, those Taoists who practice alchemy.

Wen Beijiao had been curious about Taoist alchemy for a long time. Yao Guangxiao had also practiced Taoism in the past, but he had no connection with Yao Guangxiao and he could not ask for advice.

This time, since he had finally met him, he made a point of making friends with him.

According to these alchemists, Taoists believe that gold and stone are the hardest things in the world. They do not dissolve in water or melt in fire, and neither cold nor heat nor the vicissitudes of life can damage them in the slightest.

Therefore, the only elixir of immortality is the golden elixir!

Taking elixirs is to rely on external objects to strengthen oneself.

That is to say, metal minerals are solid and insoluble. After taking them, people can use their characteristics to become strong, immortal, and ascend to become gods.

Thus, Taoists started to pursue immortality by using gold and stone to make elixirs.

The word "dan" in alchemy did not originally refer to the red, round pills in the fairy gourd as later generations imagined, but to cinnabar, a kind of mineral, which is what people now commonly call cinnabar.

In Lu Dongbin's "On Cultivation and Teaching", it is said that cinnabar "is affected by the energy of the sun and is the best of all stones."

Ge Hong also listed cinnabar as the number one elixir in Baopuzi - "Cinnabar is the best elixir."

Taoists always use cinnabar when writing talismans.

The most sacred Taoist Qingci - a prayer document offered to the gods during fasting and offering sacrifices - must also be written with cinnabar on green rattan paper.

When this custom spread to the common people, cinnabar was regarded as a sacred object.

Even the "Shennong Bencao Jing" read by medical practitioners also promoted the miraculous effects of cinnabar - it can cure all kinds of diseases of the five internal organs, nourish the spirit, calm the soul, invigorate qi and improve eyesight, kill evil spirits and ghosts; long-term use can make people feel divine and immortal.

This view that cinnabar was beneficial and sacred continued throughout the dynasties.

Royal family members who are keen on taking elixirs to seek immortality can prescribe a long string of them.

The famous Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, Emperor Wu of Liang, Emperor Yang of Sui, and Emperor Taizong of Tang.

After Emperor Taizong of Tang, the Li family refused to repent and killed five or six emperors one after another before they came to their senses.

After a purge of alchemists, the Li Dynasty was able to survive for a while longer.

It’s a pity that immortality is something that anyone with some money is pursuing.

The more the authorities forbid it, the more alchemy becomes shrouded in a veil of beauty that is out of reach.

In the Song and Yuan dynasties after the Tang Dynasty, the alchemists changed their names to An and acted more secretly. The personnel also gradually changed from the original serious Taoists to a mixed group.

In the Ming Dynasty, it was still the same.

All the alchemists in King Zhou's palace came to him and recommended themselves.

King Zhou allowed them to make elixirs in his palace, but he couldn't tell whether they had real skills or not.

Sometimes I also try the pills made by others, but I’m not obsessed with them.

Wen Beijiao is interested in this and he also supports Wen Beijiao.

As a doctor with a research spirit, Wen Beijiao discovered soon after coming into contact with the alchemists that there might be something seriously wrong with this matter from the source.

According to alchemists, cinnabar has no bad effects.

But according to what Wen Beijiao knows.

As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zheng Xuan, a master of Confucian classics, listed cinnabar as the first of the five poisonous minerals.

No matter how Wen Beijiao evaluated the advantages of cinnabar in some medical books he had read, they all said that it should not be taken in large quantities for long periods of time. The Materia Medica even bluntly stated that cinnabar was highly toxic.

In order to dispel the alchemists' wrong ideas, he read a lot of Taoist books.

A sentence was found in the "Baopuzi" by Ge Hong, a Taoist celebrity who is said to have ascended to heaven.

That is to say - cinnabar turns into mercury when burned, and then turns back into cinnabar after accumulation.