Chapter 2838 The prevalence of elixirs
Princess Changle frowned and said: "It has been known since ancient times to refine golden elixirs with mercury and mercury. Gold is a strong and indestructible thing; elixir is a perfect, bright and pure thing without loss. The ancient immortals borrowed the name of golden elixir to It is a metaphor for the nature of the true spirit of Yuanming. This nature is called Tai Chi in Confucianism and Yuanjue in Buddhism. In Taoism, it is called golden elixir. Although it has three names, it is actually one thing. It is collected from the essence of the sun and the moon, and is refined and matured by fire. It lasts as long as the heaven and the earth, and shines with the sun and the moon. Of course, it may not become a medicine after taking it. Immortality, but why does it harm the human body? ”
Don't blame her for being puzzled. In fact, people in this era are not aware of the dangers of mercury.
Alchemy first began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and there are records of elixirs in "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" and "Warring States Policy". During the Warring States Period, various princes and kings embarked on a vigorous journey to seek immortality and medicine, and alchemists came into being.
In the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shihuang sent Xu Fu to lead thousands of boys and girls to search for the elixir in the fairy mountains.
When Taoism began to flourish, alchemy entered its climax.
Sun Simiao is a master of alchemy...
Although alchemy has been popular for a long time, there are actually not many materials used to make alchemy. After all, according to the theory of alchemy, eating long-lived things can lead to longevity. What is longevity stuff? Flowers and plants are definitely not acceptable, no matter how precious they are, turtles and tigers are not considered either. The best material that can truly catch the eye of an alchemist is a stone that will remain unchanged for thousands of years.
Not afraid of the wind and the sun, not afraid of the vicissitudes of life, not afraid of birth, old age, sickness and death, isn't this the most perfect state of a person who has attained immortality...
Of course, not all stones will do. Things are rare and valuable. If you pick up a random stone on the road and take it back to make elixirs, how can you reflect the rarity of it? Therefore, alchemists choose ores that are rich in mercury, gold, silver and other unusual-looking ores.
Gold and silver were favored because of their value, while mercury was favored because of its color. Mercury in nature cannot exist alone. It is in the form of compounds and sulfur and other elements to form minerals such as cinnabar. These minerals have a bright color like blood, so they were sought after and loved by the ancients, and they were given many mysterious and powerful meanings.
These metals are indeed valuable, but who can bear to eat them? For ordinary people, it is not a big deal if they occasionally get a chance to eat one or two. Even heavy metals like arsenic are somewhat beneficial to humans in some chemical states and at low concentrations.
But for those nobles who are obsessed with this, especially the emperor, who is the most noble person in the world, their power, wealth, and manpower are enough to support their large-scale alchemy refining, so they take all kinds of weird pills all year round, causing the body to The heavy metal content seriously exceeds the standard...
However, this kind of heavy metal poisoning is an extremely slow process and is by no means visible to the naked eye. Ancient detection methods were extremely scarce, making it difficult to detect, so it has never been taken seriously.
This leads to the fact that almost everyone does not think that taking elixirs is harmful. Although it may not necessarily lead to immortality or immortality, it is definitely good for the body...
The reason why the ministers objected to the emperor refining the elixir and taking it was not because they were afraid that the emperor would be in bad health, but because they were worried that long-term elixir refining would lead to wasteful expenses, and they were obsessed with it and could not extricate themselves from it, thus slacking off the government.
"Wu Shi San" was born in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. It was developed by Zhang Zhongjing, a generation of medical sages. It can cure many diseases. However, after taking too much, it can make people feel energetic and ecstatic. A must-have item for banquets, even Zhang Zhongjing doesn’t think "Wu Shi Powder" is harmful to the body...
Of course, in essence, "Five Stone Powder" is also a type of elixir.
Therefore, Princess Changle could not understand Fang Jun's statement that "taking pills caused physical problems".
Fang Jun shook his head and said: "I have mentioned the harm of mercury to Sun Taoist priest. Sun Taoist priest has made detailed observations and experiments on this. Although its poison is slow and requires accumulation over time to harm the body, its toxicity is very severe. Once the poison is If it accumulates to a certain extent in the body, even the Great Luo Jinxian will not be able to recover. ”
The faces of the princesses suddenly changed.
They would naturally be suspicious of Fang Jun's words, but these three words of Sun Simiao were simply a guarantee of medical skills. As long as Sun Simiao said it was poisonous, it must be poisonous, and there was no need to doubt it.
There is no need to suspect that Fang Jun fabricated lies to deceive them...
Princess Jinyang's face turned pale, she pulled Fang Jun's sleeve and said tremblingly: "What should we do? I will go back to the palace to persuade my father not to eat those things again!"
Fang Jun patted her hand and said comfortingly: "Be patient, the poison of mercury is strong, but after all, it needs to be taken for a long time to harm the body. No one knows how long your majesty took it. Sooner or later, sooner or later One day doesn’t really matter.”
The poison of mercury is a chronic poison. If His Majesty Li Er has been poisoned into his lungs at this moment, it is impossible to remove the toxin even if he stops taking it. Similarly, even if he continues to take it for a few more days, the poison will not suddenly develop...
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Fang Jun looked at Princess Changle and said: "Your Majesty has a strong temper. He seems to be good at accepting advice, but in fact he is arbitrary. Once he has made up his mind, it is useless to wait for others to persuade him. If there is anyone in this world who can listen to what he says, Into the ears, I'm afraid it's the only one Your Highnesses. The minister mentioned this matter today in the hope that the two Highnesses can give them advice after they return, but not too fiercely. Otherwise, things will return to their extremes, which may make Your Majesty feel conflicted and make matters worse. .”
His Majesty Li Er has a stubborn temper. Now after taking the elixir, his temper has become even more irritable. He can only try to persuade him calmly. Once the method is drastic, it may backfire.
And the only people who might be able to persuade him are these two little cotton-padded jackets, and even Princess Gaoyang is one level behind...
The Lord of Changle Palace looked solemn and nodded slowly: "I will find the right opportunity to advise you and will not act rashly."
Fang Jun warned again: "That's it for now. Keep it in mind and make preparations in advance, but don't spread it, even to the prince and the king of Jin!"
The emperor was poisoned after taking an elixir... Once word of this spreads out, it will definitely cause an uproar, and it might even be enough to trigger a palace coup!
Princess Changle frowned: "Of course I know the importance."
Fang Jun looked at Princess Jinyang again.
The little princess's face turned pale, she nodded obediently and said, "Don't worry, brother-in-law, I won't tell anyone."
Princess Changle could no longer sit still and stood up and said: "I will go back to the palace now to see what kind of opportunity I can find to advise my father."
Fang Jun said with relief: "Three feet of ice will not last in a day. The poison of mercury is incurable, but it will not break out in ten days, so your highness can deal with it calmly. The most important thing is the effect of the remonstrance. Don’t expect it to happen overnight.”
Princess Changle looked solemn, nodded, took Princess Jinyang's hand and left in a hurry.
Princess Gaoyang got up to see her off.
Fang Jun also got up and returned to the bathroom, took off his clothes and ran into the hot spring again. He was sweating profusely in an instant. He ordered the maid to make a pot of hot tea and put it aside. He drank the tea while sweating, and his whole body was very clear. To feel refreshed, it feels like I have returned to the feeling of soaking in a bathhouse in my previous life...
There was a sound of footsteps behind her, but it was Princess Gaoyang who saw off Changle and Jinyang. The two princesses turned around, took off their clothes and got out of the bath, soaked their bodies in the hot spring water, and rested their heads on the edge of the bath.
Fang Jun turned his head and looked around, and saw a pair of frowning eyebrows, his beautiful eyes closed, a palm-sized face flushed by the hot water, even the snow-white collarbone was flushed, and the water beads were shining brightly. One by one they gathered on the skin, and then slowly slid off.
Fang Jun swallowed and reached out to take the petite body into his arms. His big hand was about to comfort her, but was knocked away ruthlessly.
"If you're not in the mood, be honest!"
Her eyebrows furrowed, and Princess Gaoyang gave her husband a fierce look.
Fang Jun had no choice but to give up the chatter, caressing his wife's smooth and thin shoulders, and said comfortingly: "Don't be so anxious. Your Majesty himself is well versed in medical science, so the elixir refined by Fan Monk will never be obviously highly toxic, but it is just a matter of various minerals. After entering the body, it gradually settles down and forms toxins. There will be no serious damage for a while. As long as you stop taking it and adjust slowly, you will gradually recover. ”
Whether it is elixirs or five-stone powder, due to the primitive and backward purification methods, the toxicity is not severe, and it can only harm the human body in a slow way over time, which is different from those similar items in later generations.
You only need to stop taking it before the toxicity breaks out, so that the toxins in the human body can be metabolized slowly enough to recover. (End of chapter)