The first strange case of the late Qing Dynasty, the thorn horse case, which made Cixi angry and suffocated:
The trigger was the assassination of Ma Xinyi, the governor of Liangjiang. The court officials were killed, the Qing court was disgraced, and Zeng Guofan, a Han Chinese who was handling the teaching case in Tianjin, was urgently transferred to be handled. Before leaving, Cixi set the tone for Zeng: Ma Xinyi is doing a good job!
After Zeng Guofan arrived, the case was quickly handled properly: the murderer Zhang Wenxiang was dug into his heart; Ma Xinyi was generously cared for. In a word, Ma Xinyi is a good official, and Zhang Wenxiang is a rebel.
However, this ending clearly only achieves the result of whitewashing. The hidden plot and political game behind it are the truth.
The Qing court's reluctance to disclose the hidden feelings:
The reason why Ma Xinyi was prosperous in official fortune was obtained by falsely reporting military merit and marrying powerful people.
In the so-called "bandit suppression" battle, he was originally a defeated general. After being captured, he had no backbone, and he married Jinlan with the "bandit leader" and became a brother in worship. Then his brother directed a farce of Ma Xinyi's recovery of the lost land, deceived the imperial court, and even climbed to the throne of the feudal officials.
After the flying yellow Tengda, those worshipper brothers originally thought that they could cling to him and travel thousands of miles to surrender. Ma Xinyi took over the wife of the Bai Gang brother and booby-trapped the Bai Gang brother.
Zhang Wenxiang escaped his clutches for accidental reasons, and only then did he make this big case of stabbing horses.
It can be seen that the ministers relied on by the Qing court were fishing negative friends and resembled animals. All these are the epitome of the corruption in the Qing court's officialdom, and it is no wonder that Empress Dowager Cixi took pains to cover up the truth.
The sinister political struggle behind the hidden plot:
Ma Xinyi had a lot of achievements after his arrival, but in addition to fighting piracy and repairing Caoyun, his greatest merit was to disarm 20,000 on behalf of the Qing court, and these 20,000 were all Xiang troops.
Earlier, the Xiang general Zeng Guoquan (brother of Zeng Guofan) attacked Tianjing and plundered the wealth of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Afterwards, it was reported to the imperial court that nothing was found except for the "false jade seal" of the two parties and the "golden seal" of the other party. At that time, there was a lot of discussion in the government and the public, and Cixi was also extremely dissatisfied, but the Xiang army set fire to the city and left no evidence.
After the horse stabbing case, Cixi sent Shangshu of the Punishment Department and Zeng Guofan to act, which also implied the beating of Zeng Guofan. Unexpectedly, Zeng Guofan used delaying tactics to prevent the pursuit of the mastermind behind the thorn horse case.
After Zeng Guofan suppressed the Taiping Army, Cixi transferred him away from Liangjiang and served as the governor of Zhili. Now it seems that the person who killed Ma Xinyi was most likely the leader of the Xiang Army who embezzled the stolen money of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
However, after the assassination case, not a single Xiangjun was investigated and punished. What does this mean?
The hasty conclusion of the horse stabbing case was actually a struggle and compromise between Cixi and Zeng Guofan. Cixi's compromises were reflected in the ineffectiveness of the central government in weakening local power.
After the horse stabbing case, Li Hongzhang, who was also a mercenary, was unwilling to disarm his Huai army, or even formal disarm.
(Shi Hai Shen Hook, welcome to pay attention to Zhou Zhou)