Chapter 1729 Needle
"My..." Xu Yu lowered her head, her hair obscuring her expression. Her voice was almost flat as she spoke, "When Wang Yu and I returned to the courtyard, we saw Liang Shan carrying Doctor Zhou's medicine box. I reached out and took it."
"Really? But you said at the beginning that you took the medicine box from Liang Shan after you left the yard."
Xu Yu said: "No, I didn't say that."
County Magistrate Tang smiled, closed the book that Eunuch Wu and the others had written, and waved his hand, saying, "I've finished my questioning. Please send her back to the cell."
When Eunuch Wu heard this, he came forward curiously and asked, "Why, sir, have you got an idea?"
County Magistrate Tang smiled and said, "Although I'm not completely certain, it's about 80% accurate. Xu Yu, do you know what it means to be too clever? You've failed Imperial Physician Zhou's plea for you. However, the Crown Prince has just had a child. If you're willing to confess the person behind this, there might be a glimmer of hope."
Xu Yu said softly, "I am innocent."
County Magistrate Tang smiled and said, "There's nothing Jingzhao Prefecture can't uncover. Have you forgotten why Prince Gong is currently under house arrest? If you want to fight to the bitter end to protect some people, it depends on whether you can truly protect them."
"The emperor's wrath is not ordinary wrath, Xu Yu, the death of people in this palace is too common."
Xu Yu lowered his head and stopped talking.
County Magistrate Tang waved his hand, and Eunuch Wu had her dragged away.
Eunuch Wu waited until she was far away before asking, "Master Tang, are you going to stop the torture now?"
County Magistrate Tang said, "You haven't spoken even after being beaten to this point. There's no point in continuing the fight. It will only result in one more life being lost."
Eunuch Wu said coldly, "Such a person deserves no pity for his death."
County Magistrate Tang said, "Death is not a pity, but death must have meaning. If she died from torture, her death would be in vain. Death on the execution ground is what she deserved."
His purpose was to find out the truth, not to kill people.
However, Eunuch Wu wanted to eliminate all the spies in the Eastern Palace, especially those who were harmful to the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess and the little grandson of the emperor. They should be killed as a warning to the rest.
Unfortunately, the prince said he would spare her life, and County Magistrate Tang did not agree to torture her again, so Eunuch Wu could only retreat with regret.
The two men walked out of the somewhat gloomy Ministry of Punishment. County Magistrate Tang took out a handkerchief, wiped his hands, then folded the handkerchief and tucked it into his sleeve.
Eunuch Wu couldn't help but ask, "How does Lord Tang plan to investigate next?"
"Investigate the people in Chongwen Hall who were close to Xu Yu, and then investigate her family. I also need to go to the Imperial Hospital..." County Magistrate Tang smiled and said, "Please ask Eunuch Wu to tell His Royal Highness the Crown Prince that I will investigate the case with all my heart."
Eunuch Wu smiled and said, "Your Highness can naturally trust Lord Tang in his work."
Lord Tang smiled and went to the Imperial Hospital. Seeing that Zhou Man was not there, he asked curiously, "Doctor Zhou usually doesn't work in the Imperial Hospital?"
Doctor Zheng explained, "Doctor Zhou's main responsibility is to edit books, so he spends most of his time in the Chongwen Hall."
In fact, before the great court meeting and the battle with Wang Ji and others, these imperial physicians often worked in the Chongwenguan. There were not only many books there, making it convenient to look up information, but also plenty of pens, ink, and paper for them to use at will.
Don’t think that it’s just simple pens, ink and paper. These miscellaneous items are very expensive when added together, especially since they have been doing a lot of research and writing a lot of books recently, so they use a lot of paper.
But they have all moved here now. Although they feel regretful, no one dares to say it in front of Xiao Yuanzheng.
County Magistrate Tang nodded and asked, "Your Highness, have you sent the needle bag used by Imperial Physician Zhou to the Imperial Hospital? Have you found the poison in it?"
"You should ask Imperial Physician Liu about this matter. This is Imperial Physician Liu's responsibility."
County Magistrate Tang turned to look for Doctor Liu, and finally found him in a small room. He and Doctor Wan were huddled together. One of them was holding a needle and carefully burning it over a candle. A medicinal scent emanated from it. Doctor Liu leaned closer to smell it and whispered, "Do you smell it? Is that musk?"
"It's musk," Doctor Wan frowned. "That's really cruel. They actually dared to use musk to soak the needles."
Doctor Liu soaked the red-hot needle in a small dish of water, and after it cooled down completely, he placed the small dish of water in the middle.
The two elderly men, who were a hundred years old in total, leaned over the table, dipped a finger in the water, and put it on their tongue to taste it. They almost drank all the water before they slowly figured out the taste. "There's also angelica and three-edged sword."
Doctor Wan added, "And raw Nanxing."
County Magistrate Tang did not step forward immediately, but stood at the door and watched.
The two wrote down the names of the medicines they had identified on paper and said with a headache, "It took us two days to find six herbs. I think there must be more than this."
Doctor Liu said very bluntly, "The rest are hard to find. I've tried everything. I can only ask the person who brewed the medicine. But these herbs are enough. They are all herbs that promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, and promote diuresis and purgation. Giving such medicine to a full-term pregnant woman would not only put her in critical condition, but even if the baby is born, it would probably be useless."
Newborns are already very prone to premature death. A child who has taken such drugs will most likely not survive the third day of birth. Even if he does survive, he will probably be either a fool or have a body like Yin or someone like him.
This method is too vicious.
Imperial Physician Liu and Imperial Physician Wan were both more specialized in pediatrics and women's diseases, so they were both a little angry.
When County Magistrate Tang saw that they didn't speak for a while, he went into the house.
Imperial Physician Liu and Imperial Physician Wan quickly stood up and saluted, then showed him the written prescription, saying that they could not identify the remaining medicines. If County Magistrate Tang wanted to investigate further, he would have to seek help from someone else.
Of course, the two imperial physicians who were most familiar with this type of medicine in the Imperial Medical Bureau could not find the cause, and it was unlikely that anyone else would be able to find the cause. However, for County Magistrate Tang, these six medicines were enough.
County Magistrate Tang asked, "According to the two imperial physicians, was this needle soaked inside the palace or outside?"
Doctor Liu and Doctor Wan exchanged a glance and said, "Even if it's soaked, the medicine must be boiled first. Boiling the medicine will have a medicinal smell. Normally, they wouldn't dare boil such medicine in the palace."
Doctor Wan said, "But if we prepare the needles outside and then just send them to the palace, it wouldn't be right. These needles won't be effective just by being soaked. If we want the medicinal energy to penetrate the bones during acupuncture, the needles must be soaked for at least three days, and the medicine must be changed."
"In addition, the needles must be used within twelve hours after drying. Otherwise, the medicinal aroma will fade and the effect will be weakened." He said, "When this needle was delivered to us, if you smelled it carefully, it still had the medicinal smell. After roasting, the smell became stronger. Today, we roasted a different needle, so the smell is lighter."
County Magistrate Tang understood, "So it should have taken no more than six hours for the needle to dry and appear in Doctor Zhou's needle bag."
See you at 9pm
(End of this chapter)
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