On July 26, the ninth year of Tongzhi (1870), Ma Xinyi, the governor of Liangjiang, was stabbed to death in the street. This was definitely a big deal in the late Qing Dynasty. The Viceroy of Liangjiang had jurisdiction over the three provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi. Jiangsu was a tax powerhouse in the late Qing Dynasty, and whoever managed it was the purse of the imperial court. But it was such a big official who was assassinated by an ordinary person in the street. This is also the biggest doubt in the whole case. And then the entire Qing court official's every move made the case even more confusing. As the first major strange case in the late Qing Dynasty, the thorn horse case, perhaps the truth is really not important. The power struggle after this big case is the most important.
On July 26, Ma Xinyi returned to governor Yamen after the completion of the training at the school grounds. Just at this moment, suddenly a villager shouted in Ma Xinyi's Heze dialect, "Big Shuai! Then another man knelt in the middle of the road and said that he wanted to get justice. When Ma Xinyi had not yet returned to God, the villager drew a dagger and stabbed into Ma Xinyi's right chest. Subsequently, Ma Xinyi died. When the case occurred, the villagers shouted," "I do things alone and do things alone, don't arrest people indiscriminately, I will follow you." This villager is Zhang Wenxiang, the protagonist of the thorn horse case. At this time, Mei Qizhao, the envoy of the government, rushed to the scene and was frightened and helpless. The Jiangning general Kui Yu also rushed to the scene and brought Zhang Wenxiang back to Yamen for interrogation. Kui Yu scolded, "Are you crazy?" Is there a vendetta, and who is directing it? Zhang Wenxiang's answer was: "I will eliminate this evil thief for the world!" This answer is very strange. The official field of the late Qing Dynasty was dark, but Ma Xinyi was definitely a good official. Ma Xinyi traveled all the way from Hefei Zhixian and Luzhou to today's Viceroy of Liangjiang. Ma Xinyi has certain political achievements in both water transportation and water conservancy, and has also done a lot of good things for the people. Therefore, Zhang Wenxiang said that Ma Xinyi was a thief and had problems.
However, judging from Ma Xinyi's performance before taking office, we feel that Ma Xinyi's death is so inevitable. Ma Xinyi once went home to worship his ancestors before taking office. Before he left, he told his brothers that if he suffered an accident, he should not sue, but must swallow his anger to protect himself. The Viceroy of Liangjiang was a fat man, and Ma Xinyi had a premonition that he was dead. More importantly, Ma Xinyi personally went to the capital to meet Cixi after receiving the appointment. But after a long conversation, Ma Xinyi's imperial clothes were all scared and sweaty when he left the palace. Ma Xinyi was also a figure who had been in the official field for a long time, and his Khan was definitely not intimidated by the majesty of Cixi. Ma Xinyi must have received some special order. According to Ma Xinyi's son Ma Yuzhen, the reason why Ma Xinyi was so embarrassed was because Cixi asked him to check whether the Xiang army had hidden treasures after Tianjing was breached. He also asked him to sweep away the Xiang army's forces in the Liangjiang area as much as possible. It was precisely because of such an impossible task that Ma Xinyi was so embarrassed.
At this time, the xiang army's power had reached its peak. In 1864, Zeng Guofan led an army as the governor of Liangjiang to conquer Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Although the Qing Dynasty's confidants were relieved, a new one came. After Zeng Guofan conquered Tianjing, he held more than 300,000 troops in his hands, and the Xiang army at this time was definitely the main force of the Qing Dynasty. Zeng Guofan himself was also the governor of Liangjiang, holding the military and political power of the three provinces on both sides of the Yangtze River. In addition, a large number of Zeng Guofan's subordinates held important positions in the south. Later, Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Sichuan, and Mao Hongbin, the governor of Liangguang, also had contacts with Zeng Guofan. It is precisely because of this that the Qing court is very jealous of Zeng Guofan having such a great power. After the Xiang army conquered Tianjing, the Qing court, instead of rewarding the generals, reprimanded them for letting hong Tianguifu and these people go. From this time on, the Xiang army and the Qing court had already separated from Germany, and a number of generals even encouraged Zeng Guofan to establish himself as king. But at this time, Zeng Guofan knew very well that he could not win at all with his own strength. Due to his long-term war with the Taiping Army, Zeng Guofan was known as "Zeng Shaved Head" by the people. In the absence of a popular base and the serious destruction of the economies on both sides of the Yangtze River, self-reliance as king is also a dead end. Therefore, Zeng Guofan self-cut the Xiang Army to win trust.
In order to further disintegrate the Xiang army, Cixi asked Li Hongzhang to organize the Huai army, and the number of people quickly expanded from a few thousand to 70,000. Cixi stationed Guanwen in Wuchang, Fuming'a in Yangzhou, Senggelinqin in Anhui, and nearly a million Green Battalion troops in the Gyeonggi area such as Zhili. The final step was to transfer Zeng Guofan away from the Viceroy of Liangjiang and replace him with the Viceroy of Zhili. In this way, Ma Xinyi was placed in the position of governor of Liangjiang. But no matter how the Qing court split, the power of the Xiang army in Liangjiang was very large. This is also what Ma Xinyi is afraid of. After Ma Xinyi took office as viceroy of Liangjiang, he not only did not ease the relationship between the Qing court and the Xiang army, but on the contrary intensified the contradiction between the two. After Ma Xinyi took office, he formed a new army and promoted Yuan Baoqing to be the head of the battalion affairs office. At that time, the Xiang army that Zeng Guofan had dismissed did not return home to farm, and most of them became bandits. Ma Xinyi was a serious man who ordered Yuan Baoqing to brutally suppress the local bandits. It can be said that at this time, Ma Xinyi was either transferred away or died.
Sure enough, the stabbing horse case happened. After the case, the actions of officials of the Qing court proved how deep the water was. The conclusion reached by The Jiangning general Kui Yu and others after the trial was not approved by Cixi at all, and Zhang Zhiwan was appointed as the minister of Qincha to continue to the trial in Nanjing. Zhang Zhiwan was so frightened that he dragged on for almost a month before he went to Nanjing. Even going to the toilet on the road must be protected by a large number of guards. After arriving in Nanjing, he hid in the Jiangning General's Mansion for several days without showing his face. The final findings are also contradictory. When Cixi saw this contradictory confession, she knew how big the problem really was. Although Tianjing had been conquered, the remnants of the Taiping Army were still stubbornly resisting everywhere. Although Cixi wanted to dismantle the Xiang Army now, if the Thorn Horse case was thus turned into a big case, then the entire political situation in Jiangnan would have a strong shock. This was very detrimental to eradicating the remnants of the Taiping Army. Eventually, Cixi compromised. Shangshu Zheng Dunjin was appointed minister of Chincha, and Zeng Guofan was appointed as the governor of Liangjiang to retry the assassination case. When Zeng Guofan asked Cixi for instructions on what to do, Cixi only avoided saying, "You have to train your troops well."
Now that Cixi's decree was in place, the final outcome of the case would also be known. Zeng Guofan and Zheng Dunjin tried the thorn horse case or upheld the original judgment, that is, this case was committed by Zhang Wenxiang alone. In the end, Zhang Wenxiang was delayed, and his heart was dug out to pay tribute to Ma Xinyi. Ma Xinyi was posthumously awarded the title of Prince Taibao and built zhonglie temples in many places. At the same time, some generals of the Xiang Army set up a tomb for Zhang Wenxiang and called him a hero. The case was closed.
But in fact, Zhang Wenxiang still gave a lot of testimony. During Zheng Dunjin's interrogation, Zhang Wenxiang said that he had been sponsored by a scholar many times. Ma Xinyi's coming out of the school yard was also told to him by the students. Moreover, on the day that Ma Xinyi was stabbed, the school yard, which was not allowed to enter, suddenly poured in and the people said that they wanted to watch the soldiers practice. Ma Xinyi's official voice was good, and he did not stop the people. So there was the fact that Zhang Wenxiang easily assassinated Ma Xinyi. But it doesn't matter anymore, it doesn't matter who the students are, or who the people are directed by. It was enough for Zeng Guofan to become the governor of Liangjiang again. In March 1872, Zeng Guofan fell ill and died while serving as the governor of Liangjiang.
Author: Our special invited author lonely cold light
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Apocalypse of the Assassination of Ma Xinyi in the Late Qing Dynasty, Mystery of the Assassination of Ma Xinyi, Governor of Liangjiang in the Late Qing Dynasty