CHAPTER 610: CHAPTER 398: DIVINE AFFAIRS

Every wise monarch valued talented individuals to some extent, and Li Shimin did so even more.

Although he harbored deep suspicions about a young woman possessing such autopsy skills, given Ran Yan’s calm demeanor and his current headaches over matters concerning the Crown Prince, he had no desire to delve further. Thus, he simply stated, "Speak of the autopsy results."

Ran Yan knew she was temporarily safe and felt slightly relieved. She then said, "According to this concubine’s speculation, the victim died suddenly, and the main culprit that caused his death was not the wound on his back but rather several inconspicuous bruises on his waist and hips."

"Oh?" Li Shimin did not believe it. He had been toughened on the battlefield in his youth, where everyone sustained flesh wounds. In his view, although the wounds on the Crown Prince’s illegitimate son were severe, they were not fatal. Not to mention several unbroken bruises.

Ran Yan, feeling a headache coming on, knew that for an experienced forensic doctor, this was not hard to guess, but explaining it to an ancient person who knew nothing of modern medicine was tricky. Even if Li Shimin was wise, Ran Yan did not have much confidence in convincing him. Thus, she turned to Liu Qingsong for help, "Doctor Liu, please explain the concept of blood clots."

Liu Qingsong suddenly understood. After listening to Ran Yan, he also grasped the cause of death for the Crown Prince’s illegitimate son. Having been around Great Tang people for a long time, he deeply understood their way of thinking and was more able to elaborate than Ran Yan.

"Replying to the Emperor, within our bodies are meridians and blood vessels, and the heart beats, circulating the blood so we can live. Normally, these blood vessels are unobstructed. If something blocks the blood vessels, especially near the heart, preventing the smooth flow of blood, it can cause sudden death," Liu Qingsong tried to simplify his language greatly, avoiding all medical jargon, stating it in very plain terms, which was almost perfect.

He paused for a moment, giving Li Shimin a few seconds to understand, and seeing that he was not confused, continued, "Striking the human body forcefully not only damages the flesh but also the blood vessels inside. Similar to how our external wounds scab over, scabs within the blood vessels, after some time, fall off. As these scabs travel with the flowing blood, they grow larger like a snowball rolling down a hill and eventually block critical blood vessels, leading to sudden death at some point."

Ran Yan looked at him full of surprise, fearful that Li Shimin might overthink, so she dared not show any odd expression on her face.

She couldn’t help but internally exclaim that Liu Qingsong really knew how to exaggerate!

Though the actual situation was not as described, clearly Liu Qingsong’s explanation was easier for an average person to understand. Ran Yan took it as a metaphor.

In fact, the true situation was this: blood clots typically appeared in the deep veins of the lower limbs. If the body’s lower limbs were subjected to repeated violent strikes, the veins in the affected area could be squeezed and crushed, causing the endothelial cells in the veins to potentially die and detach, much like Liu Qingsong had described.

With repeated friction from the bloodstream, these dead cells formed a clot.

Once the clot detached, it followed the path of the body’s blood circulation, passing through the inferior vena cava into the right atrium, then to the right ventricle. When the clot moved from the right heart to the pulmonary artery, its passage narrowed, eventually blocking the pulmonary artery.

The consequences are self-evident.

Ran Yan continued after Liu Qingsong’s explanation, "This point is merely this concubine’s speculation. To confirm, an autopsy would be necessary. However, among the people of Great Tang, very few understand this matter, and it wouldn’t gain widespread acceptance. Even if an autopsy were performed, it probably couldn’t serve as evidence."

Li Shimin looked at Ran Yan; her words sounded arrogant, but from her demeanor, he saw not arrogance but serious earnestness. It made people feel that those words did not have a trace of exaggeration.

And indeed, as Ran Yan said, she was never one to exaggerate.

In future generations, these things were also not understood by the average person, but medical science in the future had reached a certain height. Such knowledge was common in the medical community, and with a vast medical system and a series of standardized regulations, this could be used as evidence for sentencing. But in the Great Tang, only Ran Yan and Liu Qingsong understood it; it couldn’t just be whatever they said it was!

"But for ordinary people, the chances of this happening from one or two heavy strikes are not high." Seeing the unmistakable astonishment on Li Shimin’s face, Ran Yan paused before continuing, "From observing the bruises on the waist and hips of the body, it is very likely that the victim had been repeatedly hit with a wooden blunt instrument before his death."