In the ninth year of Tongzhi (1870), Jiang Ning trained four battalions of recruits, stipulating that they would be drilled twice a day, including foreign guns, cannons, and spears, and a proofreading on the twenty-fifth day of the month. Due to weather conditions, the July review is rescheduled. On the twenty-sixth day, after the completion of the proofreading, Ma Xinyi, as usual, was escorted back to the Governor's Palace by Yu Jisan, the deputy general of the Zhongbiao Army, Ye Hualong, a wu patrol who gave orders for the governor, and two or three bodyguards. When the group arrived at the side gate, a middle-aged man shouted in the tone of Ma Xinyi's hometown of Shandong Heze: "Big handsome! Then he knelt down, held the letter in both hands, and held his head high.
Ma Xinyi knew him, and when he saw him, he asked, "You haven't gone back yet?" ”
"Back to the big handsome words, the coil is used up." Today I came to ask for a marshal. ”
"Didn't I give it to you twice?" Ma Xinyi was a little impatient.
Just when the man did not know how to answer, someone on the right shouted loudly: "The marshal has done justice!" Then he knelt down too.
When Ma Xinyi looked back, the man suddenly pulled out a short knife from the hem of his clothes, grabbed Ma Xinyi's arm with his left hand, and quickly inserted the knife into his right chest with his right hand.
"Tied!" Ma Xinyi shouted and fell to the ground. As a result, Yu Jisan, Ye Hualong, and others rushed forward and tied up the assassins and the Shandong people who had filed the complaint. At the same time, ma Xinyi was carried back to the upper room to seek medical treatment. Soon, the generals Kui Yu, Acting Clan Si Sun Yiyan, Shu Si Mei Qizhao, and Xue zheng Yin Zhaoyong and others rushed to the governor's office. Only to see that Ma Xinyi could not speak, only one breath remained. When the doctor came, he shook his head when he saw that he had been stabbed to the point. By noon the next day, Ma Xinyi had died.
This is the "thorn horse case" that caused a sensation in the late Qing Dynasty.
A feudal official and a member of the imperial court was actually assassinated and killed in broad daylight, just like a thunderbolt in the clear sky, which not only shocked the hundred officials of the Manchu Dynasty, but also made the royal family angry. Originally, the government and the public also paid attention to the Tianjin teaching plan, and instantly focused on the emergency!
One
Ma Xinyi, zi hub mountain, number Yanmen, alias tiefang, nickname Duanmin, Shandong Heze people, Jinshi origin. At the age of twenty-seven, he served in Taihezhi County, Anhui, and for twenty years successively served as an envoy of Anhui Province, an envoy of the Government, an inspector of Zhejiang, and the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. At the age of forty-seven, Ma succeeded Zeng Guofan and was promoted to governor of Liangjiang.
Soon after assuming the post of Governor of Liangjiang, Ma Xinyi was appointed "Minister of Trade and Commerce" and put in charge of Nanyang Trade Affairs, reaching the highest point of his political career. At the beginning of his term of office, he played the affairs he was doing, and according to the "Qing Shilu", "The most important six points are the day: cultivating the people's livelihood to deal with the aftermath; building embankments to publicize the defense of river affairs; investigating the deficits of officials to pay attention to the governance of officials; selecting generals to rectify the green camp; retaining water divisions at discretion to contact river defense; and keeping treaties to handle foreign affairs." In fact, what he did in Jiangsu basically revolved around these six points.
Soon after he took office, some Suqian merchants filed a complaint: water and drought were disturbed by two passes; and Jiang Bamin filed a lawsuit again: Huaiguan sent a service to demand. Therefore, Ma Xinyi immediately played the game, saying: "Sprinkle Zhouba, as in the old case, should be investigated specifically for soybean cake slices, sesame seeds, iron goods, medicinal materials, fried alkali, and large quantities of mouth, and no matter what the rest of the goods, the Huaiguan patrol must not ask questions." It is not an old practice, and should be dismantled at su min" (Qing ShiLu), "as usual, specially collect water passes, in order to conform to public opinion" ("(Tongzhi) Continued compilation of Jiangning Fu Zhi"). The problem of random charging at the level was quickly solved.
In the fifth year of Tongzhi, floods occurred in the north of the river, and more and more people fled south, often renting cattle to cultivate land, but after that, the harvest came less and less, and a large number of barren and fertile fields appeared. To this end, While helping the victims of the disaster, Ma Xinyi played a game of the imperial court, saying: "Reclaiming wasteland is an important task for the aftermath." For the sake of the people's long-term solution, eight regulations on reclamation have also been formulated: "First, it is advisable to grant a wide period of time when reclaiming wasteland and initiating a levy; second, if there is no reclaimed wasteland, it is advisable to clear the box; third, if there is no owner of the wasteland, it can be officially recruited; fourth, the reclamation households, regardless of their indigenous nationality, are allowed to reclaim; fifth, the reclamation household should be sympathetic; sixth, it is appropriate to make the township dong land guarantee and transfer the report; seventh, the foreign soldiers are brave and should not reclaim the land." (Cai Guanluo, ed., "Seven Hundred Celebrities of the Qing Dynasty")
The imperial court did as requested. Through these eight articles, the division between the owner and the ownerless of the barren land was solved, so that the indigenous and the guests (farmers of different nationalities) were recognized and treated equally, and the government slowed down the reclamation of the reclaimed land for a period of time. In this way, the phenomenon of barren land has been solved, and refugees who have fled have been resettled, which has played a positive role in restoring agricultural production.
In June of the eighth year of Tongzhi, Ma Xinyi severely punished You Yong, Liu Jianhong, who had colluded to cause trouble, and took the opportunity to vigorously rectify the rule of officials in Jiangsu.
At the same time, Ma Xinyi also vigorously developed cultural and educational undertakings. According to the "(Tongzhi) Continuation of jiangning fu zhi", in the eighth year of Tongzhi, Ma Xinyi "injured the military supply bureau, together with the Baojia Bureau, bought civilian houses, and paid prices according to the previous finalities, from the west archway, west to Kuixing Pavilion, south to Heganbei Jieguan Street, operating and building as a foreign supervision test, external supply, and foreign patrol treasury official mansion (in the spring of the ninth year, completed)". In the ninth year of Tongzhi, he also built the second county of Shangjiang to learn at the old site", "High-spirited reconstruction of county school". He also "wounded Daoist Gui Yiqing supervised the construction of Shangyuan, Jiangning County School, and Confucian Temple."
At that time, the war in Xinjiang was tight, and the governors of the provinces had to raise funds for the Gan army, and Ma Xinyi was no exception. According to the "Qing Shilu", in August of the seventh year of Tongzhi, Because Zuo Zongtang asked for "one million taels of silver within the foreign taxes of the six cities of each customs". The Qing government "wrote Zeng Guofan, Ma Xinyi, and Ding Richang to draw 500,000 taels of silver at Jianghai Customs." Therefore, in May of the ninth year of Tongzhi, Ma Xinyi set up a "Gan Donation Bureau" in the Governor's Palace to prepare military salaries for Gansu.
However, this was not the most remarkable "political achievement" of Ma Xinyi when he was in Jiangsu, but in running military affairs.
First of all, calm the hearts and minds of the army. At that time, due to the reduction of the flood, it was difficult to raise soldiers on time for a while, according to the "Qing Shilu": Ma Xinyi asked to "intercept 8,660 stones in the north of the Jiangsu River", and allocated them to the pacesetters in each province on average.
Secondly, reorganize the forces nouvelles. In the eighth year of Tongzhi, Ma Xinyi drafted a fold of "Discretionary Allocation of Troops to Add Allowances to Camp Exercises", according to the "(Tongzhi) Continuation of jiangning Fu zhi": He pointed out the reasons for the inability to use the quota soldiers in the fold: "One is too many poor soldiers, and the number of floods is abnormal; one is too little rations, and the recruits are all old and weak." Therefore, he put forward the "method of increasing the training of troops": "The battalion selected two thousand people and set up four battalions of recruits, all of which were stationed in the provincial city, and those outside the province were only Xuzhou Town Biao. Bao called jingjin, selected a thousand people to be set up as the second battalion of Xu Fang's recruits, strictly enforced discipline, gave preferential rations, and stretched out into a strong brigade. At the same time, "leave a number of battalions of Huaiyang water divisions, divide the canal from Yangzhou to Qingjiang, the Lixia River and Gaobao Lakes, and extend to contact the Yangtze River water division." According to the "Qing Shilu", in the ninth year of Tongzhi, he proposed that "instead of martial law above Jiangwan, it is better to divide the troops and block the enemy", plus because of the request of Mo Xiangzhi of Jiangning Zhi County, "the mouth of the Junbei River, pick up the sandbar Khan and dam, and help the defense of the army and soldiers to be brave."
The above is only a list of some of The achievements of Ma Xinyi when he was appointed governor of Liangjiang, in fact, the place where he served, including the five provinces of Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu, and Gansu, was the place where the Taiping Army and the Twist Army were frequently active, and it was also the main battlefield of the Xianghuai Army. Ma Xinyi, a scholar, was able to be less degraded in the chaos of the war and stood firm, and he had the support of the Qing court behind him. Therefore, Wang Minyun, who was well versed in the internal situation, pointed out the mystery in it: "Although the new Yiqi family pastoral order is in the army, there is no special achievement." Within a few years, the governor of the throne, even acting as the governor of the two rivers of the state domain, will also have to open his eyes and hide his eyes to resist the marshals of Xianghuai. ”
Two
Let's take a look at another protagonist in the "Thorn Horse Case" - Zhang Wenxiang.
Before Zhang Wenxiang stabbed the horse, he was an unknown person, and there was very little material about his life deeds, but according to the trial case and some materials of historical notes, the historical notes are represented by Jin Tianyu's "Continuation of the Heavenly FangLou" and Zhang Xiangwen's "South Garden Series", and give a brief introduction to his life events:
Zhang Wenxiang, a native of Nanyang, Henan, in the twenty-ninth year of Daoguang (1849), he changed his family property, entered a batch of felt hats, sold them in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, and then settled there, making a living by printing money (usury), and then opened a small shop. At that time, the people engaged in this profession were basically local tycoons and hooligans or people who were closely related to them. In November of the eleventh year of Xianfeng (1861), the Taiping Army conquered Ningbo, zhang Wenxiang joined the Taiping Army, and guarded the rear battalion under the army of Li Shixian, the king of the imperial guard, and successively moved to Anhui, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian and other places. In September of the third year of Tongzhi (1864), Zhang Wenxiang's Taiping Army conquered Fujian, but hong xiuquan had died by then, and even Tianjing was lost. Zhang Wenxiang saw that the Taiping Army's power had declined, and in December of the same year, he took the opportunity to escape, and defected to the Qing army to oversee Huang Shaochun's department, offering a plan to break the Taiping Army, but unfortunately there was no one to guarantee him, huang Shaochun did not believe him, and did not keep him. Therefore, Zhang Wenxiang went to Fujian to serve as a soldier, mixed food, and soon returned to Ningbo, and continued to open a small shop, and secretly interacted with the Nantian pirates to sell stolen goods for them. In the sixth year of Tongzhi, he relocated xiaobaidian to The new city of Huzhou, and because he robbed some of the business of the local powerful land snake, he was repeatedly extorted and extorted, and finally lost his money. After that, Zhang Wenxiang had no place to live and traveled between Jiangsu and Zhejiang until July 26, 2009, when he was arrested for assassinating Ma Xingui, the governor of Liangjiang, and on February 15 of the following year, Yu Jiangning was executed as Ling Chi.
Three
Three days after the "horse stabbing case" case, the Qing court ordered the Jiangning general Kui Yu to try it with Si Dao, and on September 1, Zhang Zhidong went from his brother Zhang Zhiwan to Jinling to meet with Kui Yu for a trial, and Yuan Baoqing, a subordinate of Ma Xinyi, and others asked for severe torture and interrogation, and Zhang Zhiwan said that "the case is serious and it is inconvenient to seek imprisonment." Whoever pays for the punishment and dies of madness, who bears the blame and refuses. At first, the Assassins gave only names, not reasons, until four months after the "trial". According to the "Qing Shilu", Zhang Zhiwan and Kuiyu played together and said: "The murderer Zhang Wenxiang once went from hair to twisting, and restoring pirates, because Ma Xinyi was in Zhejiang fu before, he suppressed the Nantian pirates, and there were many yi gangs. Because his wife Luo Shi was lured by Wu Bingxie to escape, he once stopped the public opinion and filed a complaint against Ma Xinyi when he arrived in Ningbo, and the trial was not allowed, and the criminal was resentful. Suitable for the fugitive pirate Long Qiyun and other repeated instructions, Zhang Wenxiang avenged his accomplices, that is, to vent his hatred for himself, Zhang Wenxiang was allowed to be provoked. ...... On July 26 of this year, the entourage entered the Governor's Office, highlighted the murder, repeatedly interrogated him, and did not move his confession, and there was no other master to make each other's feelings, which is still credible. On the twenty-sixth day, ma Xinyi, the former governor of the Imperial Household Department, shot at the Martial Arts Hall of the Right Arrow Road, and gave the quasi-attendant Wu Ben with him, and allowed everyone to come and go to watch. At the end of the year, Ma Xinyi finished school and walked from the back of the martial arts hall from the southwest corner back to the office. Zhang Wenxiang stood outside the corner gate and stood in the south. When Wang Chengzhen, a former governor and fellow villager wusheng, knelt down to ask for help, and after being stopped by Inspector Wu and Ye Hualong and others, Ma Xingui still walked forward, and when he reached the west corner gate, Zhang Wenyan pulled out his knife, took advantage of the crowd, cried out for injustice in his mouth, and violently poked with a knife, until he injured the former governor Ma Xinyi's right ribs. The former overseer was shouted for injury, and Sent Ben Fang Bingren stepped forward and immediately took the murderer Zhang Wenfan. The chinese deputy general Yu Jisan heard the letter, and the governor Tong Cha Ben bound the prisoner, and Ma Xinyi's treatment was ineffective, and he died the next day. ”
In fact, the facts of the case were originally very simple, but a person who ran the rivers and lakes could directly enter the governor's school and stab the court to death, plus after more than four months of interrogation, he came up with such a simple confession, and for a while public opinion was in an uproar, and they all thought that the case was not so simple. Forced by public opinion, Cixi had no choice but to order Zeng Guofan to return to Liangjiang for re-examination, and sent Shangshu Zheng Dunjin and others to Nanjing for trial.
Therefore, after Zeng Guofan arrived in Jiangning Province, he did not try the case, but only read Ji Xiaolan's "Notes on Reading Wei Caotang" every day. On the surface, in fact, he had already secretly sent his subordinates Peng Yulin, Zhao Liewen, wu Rulun, and others to investigate. Soon the results of the investigation came out, and two of the statements were important:
First, Zhang Wenxiang was originally from Gwangju, Henan, and had joined the Twist Army with his friends Cao Erhu and Shi Jinbiao, and Zhang was promoted to leader because of his merits. When Ma Xinyi was in Hefei Zhi County, he once organized a regiment to practice against the Twist Army. Once captured alive by Zhang Wenxiang and others, Zhang borrowed Ma Xinyi's relationship to clear up, and secretly married Ma as a brother. After Zhang Wenxiang was absorbed by Ma Xinyi, he served as a battalion officer, and he commanded the Shanzi battalion. The Shanzi battalion has made many military achievements, so that the horses can be continuously promoted. When Ma was promoted to envoy to Anhui, Cao Erhu took his wife to live in Mafu. Ma saw the beautiful wife of the second tiger, and she had a bad heart and cheated. Zhang informed Erhu that Zhang and Cao thought that Ma Xinyi had misbehaved and plotted revenge. Who knew that Ma sent Cao to Shouchun Town to collect the ammunition, and at the same time sent someone to secretly inform the town's chief soldier Xu Zhou, calling Cao Erhu "Tong twist" and ordering Xu Li to be hunted and killed. Cao Erhu was killed, Zhang Wenxiang escaped, vowed to avenge Erhu, and finally took revenge successfully.
Second, Ma Xinyi was a Hui person, and his father was the head of the Hui people in Heze, Shandong, and was associated with the Hui king of Gansu. Ma fought against the Taiping Army and the Twist Army, and received a lot of hui funding, so he repeatedly made meritorious contributions and was promoted quickly. Ma has been looking for an opportunity to repay the king. Ma had a personal soldier, Xu Yi, who originally defected to Li Shixian's forces with Zhang Wenxiang. After li bing's defeat, Xu Yi surrendered and became Ma's pro-soldier. Once, Xu Yi met with Zhang Yi, and during small talk, Xu informed Zhang Ma Xinyi of his relationship with the Hui people, and said that the King of Hui in the northwest wanted to send troops to the south, and Ma was the internal response, and after the incident was completed, Ma Xinyi was put in charge of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The two thought that Ma Xinyi had secretly returned to the king, and then Ma ordered the ban on private shops, and Zhang Wenxiang cut off his livelihood, so he eliminated harm for the country, vented his anger for himself, and stabbed Ma Xinyi.
At this point, Zhang Wenxiang's motive for assassinating Ma Xinyi was:
First, secretly communicating with pirates and taking revenge; second, Ma Jianse forgot his friends, was ungrateful, and Zhang took revenge for his friends; third, Ma secretly returned to the ministry and offended Zhang, and Zhang stabbed the horse by defending the Qing Dynasty and venting his anger.
However, such a conclusion is still as bland as the previous one, too much like deliberately hiding something.
Soon, rumors were spread again. There are some rumors that Ding Richang hired someone to retaliate because Ma Xinyi investigated his son and asked him not to enter. There are also rumors that it is actually related to the power struggle between Zeng Guofan and the imperial court...
In fact, at this time, the most stressful was Zeng Guofan, because the most widely circulated zhang Wenxiang at that time was likely to be ordered by the top level of the Xiang Army to eliminate the threat. Who is this high-ranking member of the Xiang Army? Isn't it Zeng Guofan himself?
The rumor is that there are plates and eyes: in the seventh year of Tongzhi, Empress Dowager Cixi summoned Ma Xinyi and secretly ordered Ma Xinyi to investigate the whereabouts of the gold and silver treasures of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom after the Xiang army captured Tianjing. Ma Xinyi's execution of the secret order may have offended the top brass of the Xiang Army. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has been operating for more than ten years, and has established the "Holy Treasury System", in addition to various grains, it is said that the Heavenly Palace has countless gold and silver treasures, and other royal palaces and generals' palaces also have many rare and toys. After Zeng Guoquan attacked Tianjing, he indulged the Xiang army to plunder for nearly a week, and also set a fire, which burned for several days and nights. As a result, the people speculated that the Xiang army was full of private pockets, and large cars and small cars were transporting property to their hometown in Hunan. In a few years, the sons of the Xiang Army rushed to buy land all over Xiang'e. There was a lot of discussion up and down the government and the public, Prince Gong was a little unpleasant, and Cixi was not happy in his heart. It should be known that after more than ten years of development, the Xiang Army at that time rapidly expanded in strength, and after the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the people rumored that Zeng Guofan had ambitions, in fact, his subordinates had long instigated him to seek the throne. In this way, can Cixi sleep peacefully? To this end, she chose Ma Xinyi to "restrain" Zeng Guofan. After the Xiang Army was dismantled, the black forces in the Jiangnan region gradually expanded, and the scattered soldiers and brave soldiers combined with the black forces, which had long become a major public hazard in society. In terms of punishing the scattered soldiers, Ma Xinyi can be said to be unscrupulous, especially he appointed Yuan Baoqing, who was known for his fierceness, as the chief of the battalion affairs office, and when he caught the scattered soldiers who harmed the people and violated the law, he immediately brought the law to justice on the spot. At that time, these scattered soldiers and the underworld and evil forces hated him to the bone. Guo Baiyin, who had been the governor of Jiangsu and the governor of Huguang, said to his grandson Guo Gongduo: "Zhang Wen's detailed assassination of the instigators behind the scenes should be this kind of person, and it was they who originally intended to create rumors." Gao Baiyou wrote in "The Thorn Horse Case and the Xiang Army": "The thorn horse case, the death of the final Qing, until the truth is unknown, but in fact, the death of the horse died of the arrogance of the Xiang Army." It can be seen that it is difficult for Zeng Guofan to clear the identity of the mastermind behind the "thorn horse case".
Therefore, the outcome of the "thorn horse case" has the following two possibilities.
First, Ma Xinyi was stabbed to death, and the facts of the case were originally simple, but the time of the incident coincided with the fact that the imperial court was secretly investigating the mystery of the treasures of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and other bad deeds of the Xiang army in Nanjing. Zeng Guofan may not be the mastermind, but the mastermind is an important figure in the Xiang Army who has gradually been "solidified", and after the incident, Zeng Guofan may also know who is behind the mastermind, but the situation forces him to not disclose the truth of the case to the public.
Second, Ma Xinyi was stabbed to death, the case was originally simple, and Zeng Guofan investigated for a long time but it was similar to the original investigation results, he was afraid that people would not obey, so he delayed time, who knew that the people thought that he had a ghost in his heart, did not dare to publish the results of the case in time, and was hiding selfish intentions.
However, to tell the truth, Ma Xinyi began to rectify social order and investigate the distribution of wealth in Jiangnan before his death, which really violated the interests of the Xiang Army. Now that he is dead, the one who benefits the most is Zeng Guofan.