There were few kinds of poisons in ancient times, and there was no such magic poison at all. In many costume dramas, there are often strange poisons with amazing effects, such as half-step epilepsy and laughter, but this is only the imagination of modern people. Although there are many poisons that can be used in Chinese medicine, there are only a few poisons that the ancients can really use repeatedly.
Shuo Wen Jie Zi: Poisonous, thick and harmful, often generated.
The early ancients realized that the poison used in practice mainly came from plants, such as Aconitum. In Shu Wei, it is recorded that the Huns collected aconite in autumn to make poison, and then used it to kill birds and animals.
With the passage of time, a more famous poison appeared, namely "zhenniao".
It is recorded in ancient books that bonito is a bird that feeds on the head of a poisonous snake, so it is highly toxic and can cause death. Since the Spring and Autumn Period, "bonito poison" has appeared. It is said that if you make wine with bonito feathers, even if you only use bonito feathers, once you take them, you will "enter the five internal organs and kill people."
However, silver carp is very toxic, and it is said that the skin will turn black after being touched by silver carp feathers. It is said that only rhinoceros horn can relieve spasms.
Although poison exists widely in various historical materials, according to archaeological excavations and known biological conditions, no bird meets the characteristics of poisonous birds. The so-called "poison" of the ancients is actually only arsenic, or it is just a legend at all.
In addition to zhenniao, there is also a famous poison, namely Hedysarum japonicum, but what the ancients said is actually arsenic, not a sarcoma on the top of a red-crowned crane-peacock gall, but a poisonous insect called Mylabris in southwest China.
In addition, there is a well-known poison called "morning medicine". It is said that Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi used this medicine to kill Li Yu, the queen of Southern Tang Dynasty. The morning medicine is actually called nux vomica, which is really fatal, but it is not as powerful as the legend.
There are indeed many toxic substances in nature, but there is a big problem in ancient times, that is, most natural poisons have peculiar smell, and because they cannot be effectively purified, they need to be taken in large quantities to produce obvious toxicity. So there were only a few poisons that the ancients could use.
Because only these poisons work too fast, it is impossible to achieve the effect of being undetected.
Royal antivirus is more rigorous than expected. In the TV series, the emperor had eunuchs taste vegetables before eating, and there was a silver needle to test poison. Once the silver is black, it indicates that the food is poisonous.
Although it is impossible for a silver needle to detect all poisons from today's perspective, it is also reasonable in ancient times. In fact, few poisons were used by the ancients, mainly arsenic trioxide, which is arsenic. Due to the limited production technology, arsenic at that time often contained sulfur and sulfide. Once it comes into contact with silver, it will turn silver hair black and produce silver sulfide.
In fact, various preventive measures for ancient royal dining were more stringent than this.
There were many emperors poisoned in ancient times, but most of them were concentrated before the Song Dynasty, and there were almost no emperors in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The reason is that since the Song Dynasty, the royal family has been more strict in controlling food.
First of all, when preparing the imperial cuisine, every chef has a special person to supervise and record the use of all raw materials and the production steps. In the Qing dynasty, every chef in the imperial kitchen had a fixed and responsible dish, with an average of one imperial chef and three people watching the cooking; Secondly, all the dishes presented need to keep the bottom sample, just in case. If something goes wrong, doctors who cure too much can trace back to the source and find out the reason more conveniently, which is the same as leaving samples in the canteen today; And before the royal meal is presented, the chef who cooks must taste it himself. After half an hour, if there is nothing, it is allowed to be presented to the emperor. Finally, the emperor's daily meal list was recorded by a special person, but outsiders were not allowed to spy. In the Qing dynasty, it gradually evolved into the rule of "eating at most three mouthfuls of each dish" to prevent someone from "prescribing the right medicine" according to the emperor's preferences. Many emperors in ancient times were poisoned by people. It is clear that there are no fewer than 20 people recorded in historical books, most of whom are concentrated in the Han Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. These poisoned emperors were in power before the tasting system was perfected, and almost all the poisoned people were in the ruling and opposition parties. For example, Yu Wenyu, the emperor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, was poisoned by Yuwen Hu, a powerful minister. These people have completely mastered the people around the chef and the emperor, so it is easy to poison them.
But after the Song Dynasty, it was really difficult to poison the emperor.
The main problem is that the emperor has a lot of protection around him, and all food sources have to be checked repeatedly, so that the poisoner can't find any chance at all.
Moreover, in ancient times, no poison was effective only when taken for a long time. Even if there is, it is difficult to operate, because the emperor's three meals a day are different, and the next poison is difficult, let alone successful every time.