Is “Executed by having his heart cut out for blunt remonstrance” true?
attested in history
According to the Records of the Grand Historian, chapter on the Yin Dynasty: 'Bi Gan said, "A minister should not shrink from death in remonstrating." He then remonstrated forcefully with Zhou. Zhou, enraged, said, "I have heard that a sage's heart has seven orifices." He cut open Bi Gan and examined his heart.'
Bi Gan
A Shang dynasty royal minister who was executed by Emperor Xin for his forceful remonstrance in official history becomes, in fiction, the subject of myths about a seven-orificed heart and heartless vegetables.