The short videos I watched from all dynasties

【The last perspective: What are the harmful effects of Wu Shi San?

Hazardous

my country has always had a firm attitude towards drugs. Drugs not only cause mental damage, but also easily breed violent behavior. Wushisan was also the equivalent of drugs of that era, and its addictiveness and symptoms basically ran through the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Looking through the history books of that period, we can find that people in the books were easily violent and irritable. Some of them worked hard in their youth, but became cruel and violent in middle age. Some even became mentally ill. We can't help but wonder if it was the effect of Wu Shi San?

The earliest record of Wushisan comes from Zhang Zhongjing, a great doctor in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the "Golden Chamber", it is recorded that it can be used to treat typhoid fever, so it is also called "Hanshisan". It was originally used to treat diseases, but it turned into a poison after some additions and subtractions.

The inventor and promoter of Wushisan was a famous scholar named He Yan. He Yan was the grandson of He Jin, a great general of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Because his father died early, his mother remarried to Cao Cao with He Yan. He Yan lived in Cao's family and later became Cao Cao's son-in-law. During the reign of Cao Shuang, he served as the Minister of Personnel. He Yan was also the founder of Wei and Jin metaphysics and a model of the elite scholars of Wei and Jin.

He Yan was a beauty lover and was lustful. He liked to tinker with prescriptions when he had nothing to do, which was why he was not in good health. So, in order to beautify his face and strengthen his virility, he took medicine.

He tried to improve Zhang Zhongjing's "Hanshi Powder" prescription, and after tasting it, he felt unusually comfortable. He renamed "Hanshi Powder" to "Wushi Gengsheng Powder". He once said: "Taking Wushi Powder not only cures diseases, but also makes the mind bright and cheerful."1

He Yan vigorously promoted Wushisan, and many famous scholars began to imitate him and took Wushisan, which became a trend. Even Ji Kang, the spiritual leader of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove", took stone medicine to maintain health and prolong life.

Gradually, more and more celebrities began to take Wu Shi San, including the famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi, the general Xie An, etc. However, taking Wu Shi San made the body weaker and seriously damaged the vitality.

The darkness during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was not only politically dark, but also due to the widespread spread of Wushisan and the decadent social atmosphere. When "drug abuse" becomes the mainstream of a country, then the country is not far from destruction.

The first person who discovered that Wu Shi San was poisonous was Huangfu Mi, a famous doctor in the Western Jin Dynasty. He had smoked Wu Shi San and suffered from it. So he wrote a lot of symptoms after taking Wu Shi San in his medical books, such as hot body, needing to strip naked and eat ice in winter, and even more painful heat in summer, edema, sore limbs, and pus, sores, and lice on the skin.

After taking Wu Shi San, some people died of their hair falling apart; some died of pain so severe that their tongues sank into their throats; and some died of poisonous carbuncles that sank deep into their backs and completely festered. These were all deaths caused by taking Han Shi San.

However, as a popular social trend, the emperor believed that eating this could make one immortal, and ministers and nobles also ate it. Later, it was improved and gradually became popular among the wealthy and powerful. In the hundreds of years between the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty, the number of people who smoked Wu Shi San reached millions, and countless people died from it.

In the Tang Dynasty, some people began to realize that Wu Shi San had caused great harm. The King of Medicine Sun Simiao strongly opposed Wu Shi San and wrote to the Tang emperor many times to order a ban on Wu Shi San. He also called on everyone to "burn this prescription if you encounter it, and don't keep it for long."

Because Sun Simiao lived to be 141 years old and was called a living immortal, the Tang Dynasty royal family respected him very much, Li Shimin also summoned him, and he was very popular among the people. So under his influence, his disciples and grandchildren followed suit and burned the prescription of Wu Shi San. After hearing what Sun Simiao said, the rest of the people stopped taking it and burned the prescription.

But, it is a pity. Although Wushisan experienced the glory of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and gradually declined later, it did not become extinct. Many alchemists added cinnabar to it. Emperor Xianzong, Emperor Wuzong and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang were so obsessed with elixirs that they died because of it.

In the Ming Dynasty, it merged with the art of sex and developed red lead and other foul-smelling substances into elixirs. For example, Zhu Changluo, the Emperor Guangzong of the Ming Dynasty, died less than a month after he ascended the throne because he took the red pills presented by Li Kezhuo. This became the "Red Pill Case", one of the three major cases in the late Ming Dynasty.

Well, that’s all about Wushisan. In the next video, we will talk about “opium” which has brought heavy impact to China. See you next time! 】

＜He Yan is such a bad person…＞

＜The great ruler of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Tuoba Gui, gave a thumbs up

＜I suspect the monarch at that time was crazy and took drugs＞

＜Oh my god, this is the first time I know Wang Xizhi also smokes [Surprised]… ＞

＜You should ask who didn't smoke at that time＞

＜Could it be that the group of psychopaths in the Gao family of Northern Qi are also like this [Surprised]… ＞

＜After Tang Dynasty, he stopped smoking but became obsessed with taking pills and pursuing immortality.＞

＜Betel nut?＞

＜ I hate both dynasties that took drugs, one was chaotic Jin and the other was Qing＞

＜ Later, relying on metaphysics and drugs was no longer effective. Life was too hard, so the lower-class people began to believe in Buddhism, which filled the inner suffering of the people at that time, and Buddhism flourished. ＞

＜Alas, it started from the scholar class and gradually sank. The management and governance were not done, and the people at the bottom were the ones who suffered. It’s so annoying. The feudal ruling class is really selfish.＞

＜Sun Simiao is truly a saint＞

＜Compared to Wushisan, the next issue of opium is more irritating and harmful.＞

……

The three people who guessed that their temple names were Emperor Xianzong of Tang, Emperor Wuzong of Tang, and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang: I will never take elixirs again in my life!

People from all walks of life who saw the light curtain, whether they knew about Wu Shi San or not, were all amazed by the theory of ideological rebellion mentioned by the light curtain.

He approved of the Sima family's legal system, but disagreed with some of the views in the light curtain, and was even angry. Isn't the emperor the Son of Heaven? What's wrong with herding people on behalf of the emperor? That's because there are treacherous officials in the court, it's their own problem!

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Eastern Han Dynasty, 24th year of Jian'an

Cao Cao managed to get up from the couch despite his illness and pointed at Cao Pi, "Go and take down that evildoer."

Cao Pi immediately ordered people to arrest He Yan, but a "fake son" dared to show off. Cao Pi didn't like He Yan in the first place and thought he was frivolous and unreal. Now Guangmu said that he was the culprit and he really had to blame himself.

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Western Jin Dynasty, Taishi 2nd year

"Huangfu Mi? My father once issued an imperial edict to recruit him as an official, but unfortunately he has no interest in a career in politics..."

Sima Yan sighed when he thought of this past event. Although his great-grandfather Huangfu Song was once a Grand Commandant, his family was now in decline and the court needed more new forces.

Why don't you go and see it yourself? If it doesn't work once, come more than once.

Huangfu Mi was very pleased to see Guangmu mention what he wrote in his book. He hoped that the Five-Stone Powder could be effectively contained and that Your Majesty should also take action.

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Tang Dynasty, the second year of Zhenguan

"What a disgrace!" Li Shimin, the supreme ruler of the Tang Dynasty, was very angry at the last three Tang emperors mentioned on the light curtain.

But this only made him angry. What surprised him was Guangmu's description of the thoughts during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

So Guangmu is in favor of no monarch, and thinks that monarchs are evil people. I also think that Guangmu said before that China has no emperor, that's it, they will think that we monarchs are exploiting and oppressing the people.

However, the more he thought about it, the more confused and shocked he became, and Li Shimin was deeply conflicted.

Li Yuan had become furious and impotent about the love that later generations had for Li Shimin. You can say whatever you want.

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Ming Dynasty Hongwu 26th year

Zhu Yuanzhang readjusted the money and grain system of the princes, which was a disguised way of reducing the power of the princes. He released the princes at first, and then brought them back to Nanjing in less than two months. The princes could only swallow their dissatisfaction, and now no one knew what Zhu Yuanzhang meant.

Seeing the light curtain, Zhu Yuanzhang could greet Zhu Di calmly, and Zhu Di also avoided it very skillfully. The kings also looked at this loving father and son speechlessly. They even suspected that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to pass the throne to Zhu Di, and everything he did during this period was paving the way for Zhu Di.

After a month-long trip to Fengyang and two months of Zhu Yuanzhang's beating education, Zhu Yunwen was already listless.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very strict with Zhu Yunwen during this period and found that he was indeed kind, but too kind! He was too soft on the civil service group! This was something Zhu Yuanzhang could not tolerate, so he had to recall the princes as backup.

Note: 1 From He Yan’s original words in Shishuo Xinyu.