Three full and one fall, immortal. - Anon
From ancient times to the present, immortality has always been something that people yearn for and constantly study. In ancient times, this was also the most important thing for emperors.
In order to remain young forever, in order to defend the rights and positions in their hands, they often used the Mandate of Heaven to say things, claimed to be the Son of Heaven, and turned themselves into messengers sent by heaven to the earth to administer the imperial court, so as to convince the people one hundred percent and support themselves.
Over time, this became the goal pursued by successive emperors and empresses, who, in order to realize this illusory legend, did not hesitate to use all their military, material, financial and cruel methods to find or prepare elixirs.
At that time, Daoist monks boasted that they knew astronomy and geography, and they were most accustomed to telling fortunes to people.
They go around publicizing that they know the secret recipe for the elixir of immortality, so as to attract the attention of those who are high-ranking officials and nobles, and then use it to make a big profit.
Sometimes they relied on their own skills, and they also mixed with an official and a half-position to be knighted and worshiped.
However, the protagonist of today's story, Zhi Tianbao, because of his clever words, cannot judge the situation, is blinded by the temptation of money and wealth, and has no real ability to spy on the world, so he lost his life.
The act of "conscience" deceives lang
Who is this Wise Heavenly Leopard? In fact, he is just a jianghu langzhong.
From a young age, he was idle and did not learn any skills, and when he did anything, he thought of playing a little clever and slippery, so he got the nickname of "Wise Heavenly Leopard".
When he grew up, he walked around all day long, and he didn't know where to find out that Danglangzhong could make a lot of money, and when he heard about money, Zhitian Leopard couldn't sit still.
Born in a family of traditional Chinese medicine, when he was a child, he also saw his parents grab medicines and pulses for others... So he relied on the knowledge of Chinese medicine in his memory, opened his own small medicine shop, and gave others a pulse according to the gourd painting scoop and prescribed medicine.
Logically, this trick will soon be discovered by people or peers who understand the market, but Zhi tian leopard has a superior talent for language, relying on his slippery tongue, people who go to the doctor are very convinced of him.
Someone once went to his shop to make trouble, saying that the pharmacy he opened had no effect at all.
Zhi Tianbao then explained to him: "This disease is a chronic disease, and it needs to be treated slowly. This medicine is also mild, and I will give you a miracle medicine that I have made myself, and I will ensure that you will be fine within seven days."
But the so-called miracle medicine is just some expensive Chinese medicinal materials that can greatly supplement the body, and no matter who eats these large tonic herbs, the physical condition will be improved.
But people who don't know how to do it don't value the process, they only pay attention to the result, and when everyone sees that the person's physical condition has really improved, people have no doubt about this langzhong.
It is also widely rumored that there is a wise leopard lang who is well seen and who has a conscience.
The "good doctor" of Zhitian Leopard was well known to everyone, and his reputation spread farther.
In the days that followed, Zhi Tianbao no longer cared about it, and deceived the ordinary people of Xiao Li Xiaohui, and he turned to those high-ranking officials and nobles.
For those officials who have knowledge and understand Chinese medicine, Zhi Tianbao avoids it.
The targets he chose to attack were all military attaches with deep pockets, and in the eyes of Zhi Tianbao, these officials had a lot of stupid money, and as long as they coaxed two sentences, they could get rich rewards.
Getting a good reward is still not willing to accept the status quo
Wandering between these bureaucrats made Zhi Tian Leopard more oily, and he also made a lot of money.
But the greedy desires of human nature will never be satisfied. When you are flat, you want to be stimulated, and when you are stimulated, you want to be more exciting.
After zhi tianbao gained glory and wealth, he was not satisfied with the status quo, and he wanted to get more things.
Not only money, but also power and status, so he turned his attention to the Qianlong Emperor.
However, approaching the emperor under the pretext of nourishing his body for the emperor is not possible.
Zhi Tianbao does not know how to match medicinal materials, does not know how to make medicinal properties complement each other, he will only let patients eat those precious Chinese herbal medicines that supplement the body.
However, the emperor kept bird's nest and ginseng every day, and it was impossible to improve his body by eating traditional Chinese medicine.
So Zhi Tianbao thought of another way.
He heard about the emperor and was very concerned about the affairs of the imperial court and his own lifespan, so he did not go out every day, "painstakingly studying" how to please the emperor.
After a month of studying sleep and forgetting to eat, he wrote a book touting the emperor himself, and also gave it a well-known name, "The Fortune of the Great Qing Dynasty".
And he showed this book to Zhang Jiuxiao, an apprentice who was walking with him at that time.
He told Zhang Jiuxiao that the content of the book was told to him by the heavens, and it was the fate of the Qing Dynasty, and he praised the Qing Dynasty and Qianlong to the fullest, and also predicted that the national fortunes of the Qing Dynasty could be like 800 years.
In addition, he also made predictions about Qianlong's longevity, claiming that the Qianlong Emperor would live to be eighty years old.
Zhang Jiuxiao followed Zhi Tianbao, and also did things for many years, and he was very clear about his personality, so he would believe his words.
However, Zhi Tianbao tempted Zhang Jiuxiao to say that if he and himself dedicated the book to the imperial court, they would share half of the wealth and status they had obtained, and promised to never forget Zhang Jiuxiao's wealth and wealth.
Even Zhang Jiuxiao, who was sober-minded, heard such an alluring condition and moved his mind.
Playing small cleverness and losing a big life
On the same day, the two went to the imperial court, just in time for the Qianlong Emperor to pay homage to the tomb of the former emperor, and Zhi Tianbao did not dare to come forward on his own.
He told Zhang Jiuxiao that now was the best time for the emperor to know himself, and such a great opportunity would definitely be reused in the future, so he instigated Zhang Jiuxiao to go.
At this point, Zhi Tianbao was still happy about his little cleverness.
Although eighty years old in that era was already a very long life, as an emperor, he often hoped to live a long life.
Therefore, to say that Qianlong can live to be eighty years old is not a blessing, but more like a curse.
In addition, Zhi Tianbao also predicted the national fortunes of the Qing Dynasty in the book, and how could the national fortunes of a country be determined by him as a grass dweller?
Moreover, although the time of eight hundred years is indeed very long, it also shows that the Great Qing will eventually perish, how can this make Qianlong not angry about it?
Therefore, Qianlong at that time and the ministers accompanying him all thought that what Zhi Tianbao said in the book was really a demon, and the crime could not be blamed.
So in the end, Zhi Tianbao and Zhang Jiuxiao, neither of them escaped the fate of being executed.
epilogue
It is said that language is a technology, saying the right words at the right time is a skill that many people are trying to practice, and the zhitian leopard is a counterexample, and in the end, it did not expect to shoot the horse's hoof.
He played with his own cleverness all his life, and in the end, those little clevernesses not only ruined his own life, but also harmed his wife and apprentice.
So we need to take this as a warning and think twice before we say anything!