Tai Hospital
Hello everyone, I am Lantai.
Today Lantai will introduce to you Lin Zucheng, the most powerful imperial physician in history. His life is just like cheating.
01,
Lin Zucheng was born in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty . His father was a famous Chinese medicine practitioner in Fuzhou named Lin Kaisui.
Lin Kaisui was a famous doctor of traditional Chinese medicine in Fujian in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. He compiled " Lin's Living Records Collection ", which was a famous traditional Chinese medicine work at that time.
Lin Zucheng studied medicine with his father Lin Kaizui since he was a child. According to the epitaph of Lin Jun, who was awarded the imperial title of Jinshi, Lan Ling, and the guard of Fengzheng, Hualing, Lin Zucheng's father asked Lin Zucheng to recite various traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions when Lin Zucheng was very young, and Lin Kaizui would often inspect them.
Lin Kaisui suddenly asked his son to recite a certain Chinese medicine prescription or recite a paragraph from a Chinese medical book. If Lin Zucheng couldn't recite it, Lin Kaisui would severely beat Lin Zucheng and punish Lin Zucheng by not allowing him to eat.
Do you think that Lin Zucheng will be trained by his father to become an excellent Chinese medicine doctor?
Lin Zucheng was indeed trained by his father to become an excellent Chinese medicine doctor. However, Lin Zucheng, who had been tall and strong since he was a child, was not willing to be a doctor. He wanted to be a military attaché.
Lin Kaizui really couldn't defeat his son, and looking at his son who was getting stronger and stronger, he also felt that his son might be a piece of martial arts training material, so when Lin Zucheng was 16 years old, he spent a lot of money to hire several martial arts coaches for Lin Zucheng to teach Lin Zucheng martial arts. The only condition was that while Lin Zucheng was practicing martial arts, he must also fully master the secrets of traditional Chinese medicine passed down by the Lin family, and the Lin family's medical skills could not be lost.
Qing Dynasty Martial Arts Examination
Lin Zucheng practiced martial arts and studied medicine at the same time, but he was indeed more talented in martial arts. After only 3 years of study, he first passed the martial arts examination and then the martial arts examination in the fifty-second year of Kangxi (1713).
The son of the famous Xinglin national player Lin Kaisui did not become a doctor but passed the martial arts examination. This suddenly became a legend in Fujian.
In the fifty-seventh year of Kangxi, that is, in 1718 AD, 24-year-old Lin Zucheng passed the Wu Jinshi examination and was selected as a Lanling bodyguard (sixth grade). Lin Zucheng became a glorious Forbidden City security guard.
Qing Dynasty Martial Arts
02,
According to the practice of the Qing Dynasty, Han guards like Lin Zucheng were not qualified to serve the Manchu emperor. They could usually only guard the gates for the emperor in the Forbidden City, Changchun Garden and Chengde Summer Resort .
But Lin Zucheng has one of the biggest advantages over ordinary guards, that is, he understands Chinese medicine, and he is considered the most knowledgeable guard among the guards. Originally, he was the son of Xinglin, a national player, and he became a good story in Fujian when he passed the Wu Jinshi exam.
Lin Zucheng also has a very big advantage in that his father Lin Kaisui is very long-lived. You must know that Lin Zucheng's father Lin Kaisui was born in 1644 (the seventeenth year of Chongzhen), and in the fifty-seventh year of Kangxi, Lin Zucheng's father Lin Kaisui was already 74 years old.
Emperor Kangxi thought that the Lin family had some health-preserving secrets, so he often chatted with Lin Zucheng, who was still a Lan Ling guard, to explore ways to maintain health. It was probably because some of Lin Zucheng's views were to the Emperor Kangxi's liking, or maybe Lin Zucheng had presented some of the Lin family's secret health-preserving recipes. In short, after Lin Zucheng became a sixth-grade Lan Ling guard in the 57th year of Kangxi's reign, his promotion was like a rocket.
Lin Zucheng passed the martial arts examination in the fifty-seventh year of Kangxi's reign. At the beginning of the fifty-eighth year of Kangxi's reign, he was appointed as the Lan Ling bodyguard. At the end of the fifty-eighth year of Kangxi's reign, he was promoted to the third-class bodyguard (full bodyguard). In the 59th year of Kangxi, he was promoted to the second-class bodyguard (the fourth rank); in the 60th year of Kangxi, he was promoted to the first-class bodyguard (the third rank); in the 61st year of Kangxi, Lin Zucheng was promoted to Qianqingmen by Emperor Kangxi as a Han.
The so-called Qianqing Gate Guards are a type of guard in the Qing Dynasty, that is, the Zhang Yi Guards are close to the emperor and are always on duty in the inner court. They are on duty when the emperor is on tour. Their official rank is higher than that of the Qianqing Gate Guards and they are under the command of the imperial ministers.
According to the practice of the Qing Palace, Han guards were generally not allowed to serve as guards at the Qianqing Gate or as guards at the Qianqing Gate. To put it simply, Han guards were not allowed to be on duty in the inner court.
Qing Dynasty Guards
All Han guards who were appointed to walk in the Qianqing Gate were deeply trusted by the Qing Emperor and had established some kind of personal relationship with the Qing Emperor.
You must know that in the 61st year of Kangxi, Lin Zucheng was only 29 years old, and he was already a first-class guard who could walk in the Qianqing Gate. This was a military position of the third rank, similar to today's rank of senior colonel.
03,
After Emperor Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, Lin Zucheng was not only not ostracized by the new emperor because he was the bodyguard of Emperor Kangxi, but was instead given greater importance.
In the second month after the death of Emperor Kangxi, that is, in February of the first year of Yongzheng, Lin Zucheng was awarded the third rank of Yinsheng by Emperor Yongzheng. In October of the first year of Yongzheng, Lin Zucheng served as the first-class bodyguard of Guanglu Temple, one of the "Nine Qings".
In the Qing Dynasty, Guanglu Temple was an institution in charge of palace sacrifices, banquets, wine and food. Mainly responsible for prior to regular royal sacrifices, the Minister of Guanglu Temple, together with the Minister of Taichang Temple, , under the supervision of the Censor and the Director of the Ministry of Rites, personally inspect the nature of the slaughter, complete the sacrifice, and deliver the sacrificial meat to the emperor and distribute it to various yamen; For the three major festivals and weddings, prepare banquets; for funerals, prepare memorial feasts; monks and Taoists chant sutras and prepare offering and fasting feasts; provide various foods to officials, ethnic minorities and foreign envoys; and at the end of the year, meat and fish must be given to Mongolian princes.
Guanglu Temple consists of the Grand Official Office, the Fine Food Office, the Liang Ling Office, the Palm Tomb Office, the Book Hall, the Monthly Office, the Bank Treasury, the Yellow Book Room, the Livestock Department, etc., which are responsible for supplying pigs, collecting rent money, storing utensils, preparing various foods, managing orchards, managing temple official salaries, cultural transfers, supervision hall seals, and various expenses.
It can be said that the Minister of Guanglu Temple is a position that cannot be held by anyone who is not a close associate of the emperor. At the same time, because he is responsible for the sacrifices used in royal sacrifices, collecting land rent silver, storing utensils, preparing various foods, managing orchards and other matters, it is also a position with a lot of "oil and water".
Emperor Yongzheng allowed Lin Zucheng to serve as Minister of Lu Temple in the first year of Yongzheng. It can be seen that Emperor Yongzheng, like his father Emperor Kangxi, was very satisfied with the Lin family's secret health recipes.
The Yongzheng Emperor played by Tang Guoqiang
In the third year of Yongzheng Emperor Yongzheng appointed Lin Zu to be the foreman of Jinshi guards and the foreman of Three Banners Han guards. In the eleventh year of Yongzheng, he also ordered Lin Zucheng to manage the Three Banners Han guards and Luanyi guards Han guards. It can be seen that as a Han throughout the Yongzheng dynasty, he was deeply trusted by Emperor Yongzheng.
Emperor Yongzheng even appointed Lin Zucheng as the deputy director of Taiyuan Hospital in the eighth year of Yongzheng's reign, which was also the deputy director of Taiyuan Hospital.
Why did Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Yongzheng trust Lin Zucheng, the Han bodyguard, so much? This is directly related to Lin Zucheng's longevity father.
Lin Zucheng's father, Lin Kaisui, lived until 1739 AD, which was the fourth year of Emperor Qianlong's reign in , before his death. If according to the epitaph of the Lin family, Lin Kaisui was already 95 years old when he died.
With a "living brand" like Lin Kaisui, who dares to say that the Lin family's secret recipe for health is unreliable?
However, Lantai did not particularly believe that Lin Kaisui could live for such a long time under the medical conditions at the time, and even if he could live for such a long time, it would be strange for him to have his first son in his fifties.
Therefore, Lantai is more inclined to believe that Lin Kaisui lied about his birth age. It is possible that he was not born in Chongzhen 17.
In any case, Lin Zucheng was indeed deeply trusted by Emperor Kangxi, Emperor Yongzheng and even Emperor Qianlong.
In the first year of Qianlong's reign, Emperor Qianlong also appointed Lin Zucheng to temporarily act as the admiral of Huguang . In the seventh year of Qianlong's reign, he was also appointed as the commander-in-chief of Jiangnan Langshan .
Lin Zucheng did not give up his career in traditional Chinese medicine while serving as a senior military officer. Although he was a military general, he wrote more than a dozen volumes of traditional Chinese medicine works. The prescriptions he invented for treating throat diseases (TCM prescriptions) have been passed down to this day.
Qing Palace Guards
It can be seen that Lin Zucheng is indeed a "military and Chinese medicine" such a talent. His father's longevity became the key to Lin Zucheng's trust among the emperors of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong.
It's just that compared to Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Yongzheng who valued Lin Zucheng's traditional Chinese medicine talents, the young Emperor Qianlong valued Lin Zucheng's military talents more.
But no matter what, Lin Zucheng is the only imperial physician in history who came from a family of traditional Chinese medicine. He served as deputy director of the imperial hospital and also held the highest military positions such as first-class bodyguard, admiral and chief military officer. It is indeed not an exaggeration to say that he is the strongest imperial physician in history.
END
Reference:
"On the "Han Guard" Family in the Qing Dynasty", Chen Zhang, "Shilin" Issue 2, 2018
