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Wang Jiezhai stated that for symptoms of consumptive disease (Xulao) with cough, the use of Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen) and Astragali Radix (Huangqi) should be prohibited; those who take them will surely die. He subsequently added, "Lung heat further injures the Lung." With this statement, practitioners treating pulmonary consumptive coughs in the world began to regard Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen) as a deadly poison. The Hand-Taiyin Lung channel governs the Qi of the whole body. Qi can be deficient or excess. Excess refers to pathogenic excess, characterized by a surging and rapid pulse that is forceful upon deep pressure. In such cases, taking Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen) will inevitably lead to qi rebellion with panting, chest heat, and irritability; the medicine aids the pathogen, and symptoms will certainly worsen. Is the heat in consumptive cough due to deficiency or excess? If it is deficiency, the pulse may be rapid but must be fine and thready, feeling weak and powerless upon deep pressure. Symptoms might include irritability, heat, thirst, red face, and panting, yet with shortness of breath and inability to inhale deeply. This is a deficiency syndrome where Yin deficiency leads to Ministerial Fire insulting the Metal (Lung). In cases of Yin deficiency, the internal heat is likely to be blazing. If mistakenly diagnosed as excess and treated with formulas like Baihu Tang (White Tiger Decoction), Xiebai San (Drain White Powder), or Zhibai Dihuang Wan (Anemarrhena, Phellodendron, and Rehmannia Pill) to nourish Yin and clear heat, death will ensue immediately. This type of deficiency heat cannot be cleared except by sweet-warm herbs. Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen) is sweet in taste and warm in nature. Although it tonifies the Yuan Qi of the five Zang organs, its action on the Hand-Taiyin Lung channel is particularly potent. Therefore, for pulmonary consumption resulting in cough, only Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen) can cure it. This aligns with Danxi's saying that "deficient fire can be tonified," referring to herbs like Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen) and Astragali Radix (Huangqi). Since Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen) is a lung-tonifying herb, why is it said to injure the Lung? Is it because there is heat? However, heat is divided into deficiency heat and excess heat. Excess heat requires caution against using Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen), whereas deficiency heat requires tonification. Here, we are not tonifying fire, but tonifying the Qi in the Lung to generate Kidney Water. When Ministerial Fire insults Metal, it is not because Fire is excessive, but because Water is insufficient. Thus, to control Ministerial Fire, one must strengthen Kidney Water; to strengthen Kidney Water, one must nourish the mother of Water (i.e., Lung Metal). By clearing Metal and protecting the Lung, if Lung Qi becomes robust, the source of water overflows, thereby controlling the fire of Yin deficiency and calming lung heat. No herb other than Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen) can achieve this. If one does not distinguish between Lung excess and deficiency, but rigidly adheres to the theory that "lung heat injures the lung" and prohibits Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen), then few patients with consumptive disease would survive.

The Classic states: "When humans are injured by Cold, they develop febrile diseases." Since febrile diseases are treated by sweating, where does the so-called "Yin Syndrome" come from? A thorough examination of the *Suwen* and *Lingshu* reveals no mention of "Yin Syndrome." Therefore, Liu Shouzhen discussed Cold Damage (Shanghan), stating that regardless of the three Yin or three Yang channels, all are Heat, with no Cold. Hence, it is said that Cold Damage has no Yin Syndrome; Yin Syndrome belongs to miscellaneous diseases. However, Zhang Zhongjing stated: "Those without fever but aversion to cold originate from Yin." The absence of fever and presence of aversion to cold indicate no yang-channel constraint-heat, and originating from Yin indicates transmission not from yang channels, thus necessitating the use of Sini Tang (Frigid Extremities Decoction) and Lizhong Tang (Regulate the Middle Decoction). Does this mean Cold Damage has no Yin Syndrome? In fact, it does. There are cases of True Cold directly invading the Shaoyin channel, termed Yin Syndrome; there are cases of Kidney injury due to sexual indulgence, leading to upper and lower deficiency-cold and Yin deficiency, also termed Yin Syndrome. These Yin Syndromes cannot be conflated with Cold Damage. If heat pathogens from the three Yang channels transmit to the three Yin channels and are called Yin Syndrome, this is a Yin transformation of a Yang-channel heat syndrome, not a direct invasion or Kidney-injury Yin Syndrome. Some argue that for Yin Syndromes transmitted to the three Yin channels in Cold Damage, Zhang Zhongjing used warm-hot medicines like Sini Tang and Lizhong Tang because the original heat pathogen transmitted via channels, and due to erroneous treatment with cold-cooling medicines, the heat transformed into cold. This argument is even more absurd. The heat pathogens transmitted from the three Yang channels enter the three Yin channels; their origin is Heat. Even if erroneously treated with cold medicines, how could they instantly transform into Yin-Cold as an Yin Syndrome, requiring treatment with Sini Tang and Lizhong Tang to warm the channels and dissipate cold?