Outsiders have never been allowed to enter the palace, after all, there is an emperor living inside, and no one dares to act recklessly. However, not all people will be jealous of the majesty of the Son of Heaven, especially those who haunt the "gentlemen on the beam" in the middle of the night.
As we all know, there are too many buildings in the Forbidden City, and there are many people walking in and out, and such an environment and conditions are very conducive to the entry and exit of thieves. Looking at the "Selected Historical Materials of the Qing Dynasty Archives", it can be found that there was theft in Miyagi, and there were two cases registered, and both occurred in confidential places. In the "Tongzhi Chapter" of the "Selected Historical Materials of the Qing Dynasty Archives", such a situation is recorded: the theft of the "Hong Reverse False Golden Seal".
On October 25 of the fourth year of Tongzhi, the Military Aircraft Department issued an official document to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, saying that the "Hong Reverse False Gold Seal" stored and kept in the Zhangjing Duty Room of the Military Aircraft Department was missing. So, what is the "Hong Reverse False Golden Seal"? We all know that Hong Xiuquan, he set off the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, after becoming the Heavenly King, naturally need a gold seal to represent his identity, and this "Hong Reverse False Golden Seal" is his, and this gold seal is cast with full gold.
So why call it a "false gold seal"?
At that time, it was the Qing Dynasty that ruled, and later, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that rose up, so the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom naturally became an "anti-soldier and anti-thief", and the golden seal used by Hong Xiuquan was a "pseudo-golden seal".
This is actually just a title caused by different political positions, and has nothing to do with the casting material of the gold seal.
In an official document issued to the Ministry of internal affairs by the Military Aircraft Department, it was requested that all suspicious persons be handed over to the Department of Cautionary Punishment of the Ministry of internal affairs at noon on the same day. So, who would be suspected of committing a major crime?
In fact, the so-called suspects are some miscellaneous personnel in the military aircraft, such as: cooking, lower-level laborers and so on. After four days, the Ministry of Internal Affairs received an official letter from the Military Aircraft Department, saying: Another suspect, named Sun Kaiwen, is working in the canteen of the Military Aircraft Department. The next day, the Military Aircraft Department issued an official document to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, transferring the other three newly arrested people to the Department of Cautionary Punishment.
So, how did the Hong Xiuquan Gold Seal, which was a stolen item, appear in the Qing government's military aircraft department?
It is said that in June of the third year of Tongzhi, the Xiang army captured Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In the early morning of June 17, a group of Taiping troops prepared to break through, but they were captured by the Xiang army, and then they found Hong Xiuquan's gold seal and two jade seals from several soldiers. Therefore, Zeng Guofan handed over the golden seal and the jade seal, of which the golden seal was stored in the Zhang Jing duty room of the Military Aircraft Department.
In November of the same year, the specific date was empty, so it is impossible to determine which day it was. Later, the Military Aircraft Department received an official document from the Ministry of internal affairs, which stated that the Prudential Criminal Division had conducted an "isolated interrogation" of all suspects, in fact, "isolated interrogation", but no result was reached.
Since the interrogation can not produce anything, then, you can only rely on the detective. As a result, Ouchi's secret agents began to go out to carry out search work in the capital.
Because what was stolen was a gold seal, these spies focused their search on the gold shops and jewelry shops in the capital.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before an important clue was found in a jewelry shop called "Shengwan". The guy at the shop said: On August 24, a man who claimed to be surnamed Sa came and took a gold seal and said that he would melt it into an ordinary gold bar. In addition, the satan also explained the origin of the golden seal, saying that it was brought back by a relative of his who was an official in a foreign country.
If there is business coming, will you not do it?
In the end, the jewelry shop and the Satan reached a deal, and the jewelry shop melted the gold seal into eleven or two gold bars and collected forty hanging wages. This guy still vaguely remembers that the gold seal was engraved with the words "Long live the Balance of Heaven and heaven.". However, judging from the seal stamped on the existing "Heavenly King's Holy Will", the complete text on the golden seal should be "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Golden Seal Avenue King Quan, Fengtian Demon, Beheading Ya Liuzheng".
Isn't this the missing gold seal?
At that time, the secret agents felt that the guys in the store did not write down all the words, because they only managed to cast and melt, and only did business, so who would remember the words so thoroughly? After that, the secret agents followed this clue all the way down, and finally, they locked up a person named Salona, who was actually Lang Zhong of the Zhangjing Punishment Department of the Military Aircraft Department, so he was seriously suspected.
After some questioning and verification, Salona confessed. He said: On August 17, it was his turn to go to the morning shift, and the duty room of the military aircraft department was on duty in different rooms between the Manchus and the Han people, and Sarung Aben was on duty on the Manchu side, but he took the opportunity to sneak into the Han duty room, and after that, he saw a cabinet that was not closed, and it was the golden "Golden Seal of the King of Heaven" inside.
Salonga looked at no one around, so he took the golden seal with his hand, hid it in the package and took it out of the military plane. After a while, he handed it over to the "Shengwan" jewelry shop, spent forty hanging wages, and melted the gold seal into eleven or two gold bars. Among them, there were two gold bars, which were exchanged for silver coins by Salona, and the remaining "eight sticks and a small piece and a small bag" were hidden in the kangtou at home.
Two of the ten gold bars were used, so there should be eight left, so how could there be a small piece and a small packet?
Salona said: It is because the jewelry shop is not well melted, and the "small piece" is one of the ten gold bars folded down, and the "small bag" is obtained from the gold seal before melting. In this way, the Heavenly King's Golden Seal is estimated not to have been minted from a whole piece of gold.
The criminal was caught, the case was complete, and the stolen goods were recovered, and at this point, the truth of this "Hong Reverse False Gold Seal" theft case was revealed. There was no way to deny it, and the Ministry of the Interior criticized Salona for being "blind to the law of the king and bold to the extreme." As for how to deal with such a self-thief, it is said that it is necessary to be beheaded, but there is no way to investigate the final result.
Salona was on duty at the key points of the organs, and his convenient environment was not very self-disciplined, and it was not a strange thing to steal the golden seal, after all, there were quite a few people who guarded themselves.
Then, if it is not the people of the important place, but the miscellaneous servants at the bottom, is it possible to steal and succeed in the palace?
In 1775, the fortieth year of Qianlong, the Ministry of Internal Affairs presented Qianlong with a copy of the recital, which wrote about the theft of the Imperial Palace of the Qing Dynasty. On August 7 of that year, a figure jumped from the shun gate of NingShou Palace, this person's light skills were very good, but the martial arts were very ordinary, and he was caught by the eunuch on duty just after jumping off.
The eunuch on duty not only caught the snitch, but also found a copper lock he had hidden in the gutter, and everyone stole it. Based on this, the Ministry of Internal Affairs speculated that the snitch was no longer a matter of one day or two days when the snitch was hiding in the palace.
In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs also mentioned in the song chapter: In the thirty-ninth year of Qianlong, there was a case of theft of the silver treasury, and no suspect has been caught so far. In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs also mentioned a more excessive case, saying that a hair thief named Guo Siwu had actually infiltrated the imperial palace twice, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs said that these people "must be habitual cornice walking thieves."
In this way, in martial arts dramas, they often play in the heavily guarded imperial palace, whether it is a chivalrous, an assassin, or a thief of Jiangyang, they can come and go freely within the palace.
In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs also put forward some suggestions in this recital, saying that it is necessary to reward the eunuchs on duty who catch the snitch, such as: the chief eunuch Wang Cheng, should be rewarded with silver two or two, but "it is difficult to offset the merits and sins", and after the reward is completed, it is still necessary to punish. Wang Cheng was fined half a year's salary and a year's money and grain, so that the thief was caught in vain, and the reward of two or two pieces of silver was not a consolation reward.
Regarding this proposal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Qianlong Emperor agreed and issued four big characters: According to the discussion, Qin this.
So, what is the reason why thieves frequently enter and leave the palace?
The Ministry of Internal Affairs pointed out that there are some palaces in the Forbidden City that are being renovated, and the personnel entering and leaving are complicated, resulting in the possibility that after completion, someone is lurking in a certain palace, and the eunuchs have not searched every place, so the security situation inside the palace is very serious. However, the theft cases caused by lax searches are not accidental.
In 1776, the forty-first year of Qianlong, the Ministry of Internal Affairs had a report pointing out a theft case caused by a lax search. On April 4 of that year, a man named Da'er, who had been an errand boy in Ouchi, came to the Xihua Gate of the Imperial Palace. Such a strange face suddenly appeared in front of the imperial city gate, and it must be questioned by the guards.
However, The big boy lied that he was a follower in the palace, so the soldiers did not stop him much. Subsequently, he made his way to the place where the six ministers were on duty.
There was no one to guard here, and the duty room was filled with supplies and miscellaneous items of the officials on duty, and the children pried open the iron locks and threw out the small copper mirrors, copper hat racks, small tin boxes, etc., and the items that were easy to take away were all thrown out of the west wall. And when he was about to succeed, someone just came back, saw that the child's behavior was suspicious, and immediately went to the duty room to check, and found that all the items inside were missing.
So the man stepped forward and grabbed the boy.
In fact, in Miyagi, theft is also a common thing, in the face of the palace eunuchs coming and going, who can tell which is and which is not? Not to mention the ministers, guards, and so on, how could so many people tell which was a thief and which was not?
Resources:
[Selected Historical Materials of qing dynasty archives", "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Gaozong Benji", "Shuyuan Jiluo"]