Chun Yuyan (Chunyu Yan) is a Chinese court official in the 1st century BCE, during the Han Dynasty. As obstetrician and gynecologist to Empress Xu, Chun Yuyan may be the first woman of her medical profession in China. She's also a dangerous player in a deadly game.
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In 75 BCE, a young woman of 15, Xu Pingjun, gives birth to a son, Liu Shi. Her husband Liu Bingyi is a poor commoner, depending on his wife's family for support. Yet, he is of noble blood, the sole survivor of the family of a Crown Prince who opposes the Emperor.
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For taking part in a failed usurpation plot the Crown Prince is accused of witchcraft and made to commit suicide. All his family members are executed except his grandson, infant Liu Bingyi, who is stripped of royal rights and given to the warden to be raised in prison.
Liu Bingyi is released after a strange episode. Magicians of Emperor Wu, late in his reign, detect an "Imperial Aura" in the prisons. Wu orders all prisoners killed. After multiple mass slaughters the Emperor has a change of heart, and only the prison of Liu Bingyi is spared.
Emperor Wu dies in 89 BCE. He's succeeded by his son Emperor Zhao, who is seven or eight years old. The age of majority in China at the time is 20. The regent for the boy emperor is military leader Huo Guang.
As a youth still below the age of majority, Liu Bingyi is put into the care of the Ministry of Imperial Clan Affairs. A chief eunuch takes him in and even pays for his schooling when Imperial funds are cut off.
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Through some manipulation by parents and guardians he's given a wife, pretty young Xu Pingjuin. Her family has some influence but suffers under the current Emperor. Poor or not Bingyi is a legitimate grandson of the Crown Prince. He's still in line to rule.
The young Emperor Zhao dies mysteriously at the age of 20 in 74 BCE. After a few months with the Crown Prince as Emperor, the regent Huo Guang usurps him and puts 17-year-old Liu Bingyi on the throne as Emperor Xuan. Xu Pingjuin becomes Empress Xu.
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Due to the youth of the couple, the regent Huo Guang fundamentally runs the Empire. Less than three years later Empress Xu is pregnant again. She has ongoing health problems and is being treated by court physicians.
Her devoted obstetrician and gynecologist, Chun Yuyan (personal name Shaofu), is with her every day. Chun Yuyan is considered the first woman in China to hold those medical titles.
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One day, entering the palace, Chun Yuyan speaks to her husband Shang, a door guard. Shang tells Chun Yuyan to intercede with Huo Guang's wife, Huo Xian, and secure a position for Shang as director of the An salt wells.
A powerful military and political figure, Huo Guang is chief state official of the Western Han dynasty from 87 BCE until his death in 68 BCE. As a high-ranking palace aide he has powers of life and death.
His wife, Huo Xian, is an ambitious woman. Chun Yuyan does as her husband asks, and has a quiet word with the Lady.
Huo Xian is delighted. She wants her own daughter as Empress and is waiting for just such an opportunity. With promises of promoting Shang and sharing her considerable wealth with Chun Yuyan's family, she convinces Chun Yuyan to murder Empress Xu.
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Huo Xian asserts the murder will be hard to detect, as death in childbirth is common. After some thought, Chun Yuyan agrees. She secretly mixes a medicine for the Empress containing aconite, a deadly poison.
Aconite occurs naturally in plants of the genus Aconitum. Monkshood (wolf's bane) and others have significant levels of highly toxic aconitine and related alkaloids, particularly in roots and tubers. A mere 2 mg of aconite or 1 g of the plant can cause death.
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Aconitum plant poisons act on the nervous system, with symptoms of nausea, diarrhea, convulsions, respiratory paralysis and heart failure. Symptoms usually occur on consuming the poison but may take up to an hour to show. With a high dose, death is almost instant.
Empress Xu is weak after childbirth. Chun Yuyan gives her the poisoned medicine. When the Empress takes it she complains of feeling sick, and developing a headache.
Chun Yuyan assures her it's normal, and gives the Empress more medicine. Soon thereafter, Empress Xu goes into convulsions and dies. She is eighteen years old. The fate of the child she bore is not known.
Ultimately, all physicians who care for the Empress during her illness face accusations of inadequate treatment, leading to arrest and trial. Notably, even when Huo Xian later blurts out the truth, Chun Yuyan emerges unscathed, with no accusations of guilt.
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