A few days ago, I went for a walk with my friends to Xiangshan Park in Xuanhan County and came to the statue of "Bashan Xiucai". Everyone believes that "Bashan Xiucai" refers to Yuan Tingjiao, and Yuan Tingjiao is "Bashan Xiucai", as evidenced by statues and inscriptions. However, the author does not agree with this statement. Let's explain why.
(Statue of Shucai Bashan)
As we all know, there used to be a statue of "Bashan Xiucai" here, which was carved with a personal statue of Yuan Tingjiao, carrying a paper in his hand, hanging his head in despair, and there was no heroic appearance at all. Now it has been changed to a group portrait, and there is also a banner of "Grain Qing Min'an" as the theme, and the obvious and prominent figure in the middle is Yuan Tingjiao. The inscription on the back of the statue reads: Yuan Gongtingjiao, a peasant blacksmith in the shrimp rake mouth field of this county, whose year of birth is unknown. During the reign of the Qing Dynasty, the officials and gentry in the county colluded, the floating faction exploded, and the people did not have a good life. Yuan led the government to control the province and control the capital control, seeking to reduce the burden, but the government protected each other from top to bottom, and added Yuan's penal staff. On May 19, the first year of Guangxu (1875), Yuan led 700 to 800 people to gather in the south of the city, and the banner "Grain Qing Min'an" was still asked to clear the accounts and reduce the endowment. Sun Dingyang of Zhixian County defied the rebellion and asked for suppression, Viceroy Li Youheng waved his troops to burn and kill in March, gold, Changxi, Guandu, Shrimp Rake mouth and other fields, the village community was a ruin, and thousands of peasants were bloodied in the middle of the river, and the whole country was shocked. Yuan Gongdaocong escaped and disguised himself to go to Beijing again to sue for injustice. Cixi was reprimanded by the government and the opposition, and in October of the fifth year, he sentenced Sun Li to beheading. Although Yuan was not rebellious, he was assassinated in Chengdu prison. Although the cast iron stele is never endowed, the shi jia is as usual. Feudal despotism has taken people's lives, and the predecessors have been: Dongxiang mourning, and now people are doing: Bashan Xiucai. The bloody case of eternity, in the hearts of the people of Yongzhi.
(Bashan Hidecai inscription)
Although the inscription is brief, the plot is not false. It is not only a monument to the unjust soul of the "Dongxiang Blood Case" and a legend for "Yuan Tingjiao's troublesome grain", but also to stimulate the patriotic and patriotic heart of officials and inspire the people of the county not to forget the martyrs. It's just that here "peasant blacksmith" has become a "show talent", don't you think it is strange?
The change from a personal statue to a group portrait shows that some people have realized that it is inaccurate for "Bashan Xiucai" to refer specifically to Yuan Tingjiao, but there are still many citizens who do not know why, and to clarify the reason, we must start from the "Dongxiang Blood Case" that shook the government and the opposition in the late Qing Dynasty, lasted for four years, and killed and injured more than a thousand people, because this bloody case was induced by "Yuan Tingjiao's troublesome grain".
During the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, a wusheng in Xuanhan County filed a complaint in Beijing because he was dissatisfied with the local officials not arbitrarily collecting taxes in accordance with the regulations of the imperial court, and after the Kangxi Emperor learned the truth, the imperial pen issued a decree: "Every two pieces of silver are equivalent to 1,400 yuan, forever written as an order, and a monument is erected", and this instruction was cast as an iron stele at the Yamen gate of Dongxiang County, so that the people could supervise the local officials not to arbitrarily levy taxes according to this implementation. However, during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, the local government increased military expenditure in order to suppress the White Lotus Sect uprising, and corrupt officials and corrupt officials also set up legitimate taxes while cleverly enriching their own pockets. At that time, it was a time of successive years of drought, the people were not happy, hunger was everywhere, and the people complained.
(Shrimp rake mouth today)
In the eleventh year of Tongzhi (1872), Yuan Tingjiao (?), a farmer who worked iron for a living at Shrimp Rake Mouth (then part of Nanping Township, now part of Pear Village, Changxi Town) –1879), dissatisfied with the taxation of the county magistrate, went to Beijing with his cousin Li Jingliang to complain, but because he did not know the way, he mistakenly surrendered to the Beijing Infantry Commander Yamen and was escorted back to Chengdu for training. Wu Tang, the viceroy of Sichuan, did not ask any questions, charged Li and Yuan with the crime of "violating the law and filing a petition" (petitioning at a higher level), and punished Li Jingliang with a staff of one hundred large plates, wearing a shackle to show the public for January, Yuan Tingjiao by one degree, the staff was 90, and the wearing of the shackles was shown to the public for twenty-five days.
The first complaint in Beijing ended in failure. Although Yuan Tingjiao and others suffered from the full yoke of the scepter, their fighting spirit was undiminished and indomitable, and they were determined to wait for the opportunity, improve their tactics, and seek redress for the people.
In the first year of Guangxu (1875), Yuan Tingjiao and others led more than 700 peasants to gather at Guanyin Rock on the other side of the Chengnanzhou River in Dongxiang County (present-day Dongxiang Township, Xuanhan County), and erected the banner of "Grain Qing Min'an" and demanded that the grain accounts be liquidated. The nearby villagers responded one after another, and within a few days, the number of people soon increased to two or three thousand, and the momentum became increasingly large. Dongxiang County made Sun Dingyang worried that the history of the "White Lotus Sect Uprising" would repeat itself in Dongxiang, that is, the fire was anxious to tell Suiding Province (present-day Dazhou City) that the townspeople gathered to make trouble and asked soldiers to "suppress the rebellion". The prefect Yi Yinzhi then personally led his troops to Dongxiang, and seeing that the people's grievances were boiling, the crowd was indignant, and they were afraid that they would provoke a people's rebellion in a hurry, so they plotted to trap Yuan and other peasant leaders with tricks. Yi sent people to negotiate with Yuan and made a wish that next year, according to Yuan's request, he would use 2,500 yuan to complete the grain for one or two, and then asked the people to send representatives to Suiding Province to calculate the grain accounts for the past year.
After consultation with everyone, Yuan Tingjiao sent Deng Hongxi and eight other representatives to Suiding Province to settle accounts with the question. However, after arriving at the prefect, the representative was detained, and the government blackmailed him. When Yuan Tingjiao learned the news, he took thousands of villagers to the prefect Yamen and demanded the release of eight deputies. Yi Yinzhi was forced to temporarily release eight deputies. Yuan Tingjiao saw that corrupt officials were corrupt and had no faith in their words, so he led the villagers to continue to garrison GuanyinYan, determined not to achieve the purpose of settling the grain tax, and never collect troops. Sun Dingyang once again exaggerated the fact that Yuan and others had gathered to rebel, and Yi Yinzhi immediately reported to Chengdu for soldiers.
Wen Ke, the governor of Sichuan at the time, took Dongxiang as the area where the White Lotus Sect was the first righteous district of the White Lotus Sect, calling Dongxiang a "bandit Yuanxue" who disobeyed the Wang Dynasty, and decided to send troops to suppress it to avoid another outbreak of the "White Lotus Sect"-style peasant uprising in Dongxiang, so he ordered The Viceroy Li Youheng to lead 4,500 troops to Dongxiang to clear the country.
Among them, after the chief soldier Xie Siyou went to Dongxiang to conduct an in-depth investigation, he heard that Yuan Tingjiao had absconded in fear of his crime, the people were farming as usual, and the burglary and search did not see arms and equipment, and concluded that it was not a people's change, so he reflected the truth to Li Youheng, but Li Youheng, who was bent on staining the red top with the blood of the people, refused to accept it, so Xie Siyou and the northern Sichuan guerrilla Jin Decheng led their troops to leave Dongxiang and return to their original place.
On March 3, 1876, the officers and men of the former battalion of Li Bu stationed at Guanduchang (present-day Xinhua Town) forcibly took food from the common people, forced the woman surnamed Zhao to rape Wang Yingxiang, killed his father-in-law Guo, and after hundreds of villagers gathered at the scene, Da Liangzi demanded wang Yingxiang's release. In the afternoon, the Qing army plagiarized and the crowd fled. That night, Qing soldiers burned dozens of houses in Gao Dengzi, Wang Jiaping, Liao Jiashan and other places. As a result, the villagers have set up caves to protect themselves. In the name of searching for Yuan Tingjiao, Li Youheng and Lei Yuchun led thousands of armed soldiers to kill every village and village without distinction between good and evil, men and women, old and young, in Puguang, Jinjin, Changxi, Guandu, Shrimp Rake Mouth, and other fields, and "slaughtered countless innocent old and weak women and children." By April 17, more than 1,000 houses had been burned down, more than 1,000 unarmed men, women, and children had been killed, and the blood flowed in the middle of the river, staining the river red and clear water, resulting in a tragic "Dongxiang Blood Case".
On the night of the Qing army's suppression, Yuan Tingjiao and his son Yuan Nengbai escaped by chance. Yuan learned that Wu Zhen, a native of Baiyi (present-day Pyeongchang County) in Suiding Province, was then serving as the imperial history of Guangxi Province, and was able to do things impartially, and his mother lived in Suiding Province. Yuan sneaked into the Wu family, cried to Wu Mu about the grievances of Dongxiang, and begged Wu Mu to write a letter to Wu Yushi. Mother Wu ordered Yuan Tingjiao to change his name, disguised himself as a servant of the Wu government to follow him to Beijing, and presented the truth to the then inspector of Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Guangxi, Yushi Wuzhen, who reported the truth of the "Dongxiang Blood Case" to the imperial court, and a major bloody case was exposed to the world.
The Guangxu Emperor issued a decree to "order Wen Ke to check and play together", but the governor of Sichuan, Wen Ke, vigorously defended Li Youheng, saying that Yuan Tingjiao had instigated the townspeople to rebel against the imperial court and confront the Qing soldiers. It was difficult to justify the inconsistencies between Wen Ke's performances, so the imperial court ordered that Yi Yinzhi, the prefect of Suiding, be demoted and Yuan Tingjiao should be released from Beijing and imprisoned in Chengdu. In the autumn of that year, the imperial court transferred Li Hanzhang,the governor of Huguang (Li Hongzhang's brother), to oversee Chuanchuan, and ordered Li Hanzhang and Wen Ke to jointly handle the case.
In the first month of the third year of Guangxu (1877), the Qing court suddenly transferred Li Hanzhang back to Huguang to serve as the governor of Shandong, Wen Ke was transferred away from Sichuan to serve as the governor of Shandong, and the former inspector of Shandong, Ding Baozhen, was transferred to the governor of Sichuan. It turned out that Wen Ke had bribed Empress Dowager Cixi's close associates behind his back, and the activities were reversed with Ding Baozhen, so that both sides could protect each other in the new office as their own original evils. Ding Baozhen basically maintained Wen Ke's view on the "Dongxiang Blood Case" after he oversaw Chuan, falsely accusing Yuan Tingjiao of "gathering a crowd to plot rebellion" and "planning to be beheaded."
However, the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu talked a lot about the "Dongxiang Blood Case", and most of the relevant officials did not recognize Ding Baozhen's views and did not draw a pledge on the relevant documents. Li Yanxiao, the inspector of Shaanxi Province, was instructed to investigate the case, and found that the local officials reported the facts of the case were untrue and improperly handled, so he joined hands with Zhang Peilun (Li Hanzhang's son-in-law) and other officials of the Hanlin Academy to request another review. Empress Dowager Cixi, in response to public opinion in the government and the public, ordered Li Zongxi, a Kaixian who had been the governor of Liangjiang, to "go to the nearest place, find out exactly, and play according to the facts." ”
Li Zongxi, a native of Kaixian County, was born in 1818. In 1873, he was promoted to Governor of Liangjiang and Minister of Trade and Commerce. At that time, Japan was premeditated to invade, and Li Zongxi strengthened the construction of river defense, so that Japan did not dare to act rashly. Later, Empress Dowager Cixi decided to rebuild the Yuanmingyuan on a large scale, and Li Zongxi twice wrote to dissuade him from being adopted, so he was sick and recuperated at home. Kai County is adjacent to Dongxiang. After Li Zongxi received the order, he immediately arranged for his second son to infiltrate Dongxiang for a secret visit and obtain the truth of the "Dongxiang Blood Case" . Subsequently, Li Zongxi himself took an entourage to the secret inspections of various fields in Zhonghe, Dongxiang County, in the name of a provincial relative, which lasted for two months, and witnessed many houses becoming ruins, new mounds in the mountains, few pedestrians on the roads, and many fields deserted. With conclusive evidence, Li Zongxi determined that the "Dongxiang Blood Case" was indeed an unjust case, and in June he played it according to the facts under tremendous pressure. In order to exonerate himself of his guilt, the relevant responsible person in Sichuan went so far as to fabricate perjury and instruct Li Youheng's mother, Yi Shi, to go to Beijing to "wrong" Li Youheng, Sun Dingyang, and others, to accuse Li Zongxi of "having a friendship with Yuan Rebellion," "accepting bribes from the villagers, and not coming to investigate in person," and so on.
At this moment of suspicion, the imperial court received a recital from another famous minister, Zhang Zhidong. Zhang Zhidong was a former Sichuan scholar, guangxu second year (1876) summer to Suiding Province to preside over the government examination (Xiucai), most of the candidates in Dongxiang County wrote on the answer sheet is not the content of the exam, but the details of the Dongxiang blood case, in order to refuse the exam, and for the death of the townspeople to file grievances. Subsequently, Zhang Zhidong synthesized the plot of the examinees, combined with the Suiding folk discussion, and wrote a folding book, which was called "... The investigation and handling of this case was due to indiscriminate killing, indiscriminate killing was due to false accusations and suppression, false rebellion was suppressed because of the gathering of people to make grain, and gathering crowds to make grain was due to illegal and harsh ..."
Eventually, Empress Dowager Cixi adopted Li Zongxi's investigation and Zhang Zhidong's omission. On October 10, the fourth year of Guangxu (1878), the Criminal Investigation Department concluded the entire case. It was judged that Yuan Tingjiao was not a rebel, and that the people of the village were not treasonous to the party; that Sun Dingyang and Li Youheng were beheaded; that Lei Yuchun and others were dismissed from their posts; and that the "bureau gentry" involved in the case were sent to serve hard labor in the border provinces. At this time, Yuan Tingjiao and his son Nengbai were still imprisoned in Chengdu Prison. As for how the father and son of the Yuan clan were to deal with it, the Qing court monarchs and courtiers were all in agreement. Ding Baozhen, the governor of Sichuan, secretly ordered his men to secretly kill Yuan's father and son in prison, and then reported them as "sick deaths". The imperial court recast the iron stele of "never adding endowments" and stood in front of Dongxiang County to soothe the people's hearts.
(Yuan Tingjiao Ancestral Tomb)
Yuan Tingjiao's wife Ai Shi went to Chengdu to collect the corpses with the support of her relatives and neighbors, returned to the township where she was, and the masses spontaneously burned incense and burned paper to mourn, and after arriving in Dongxiang County, they carried coffins around for more than 20 times, and the villagers knelt down to mourn. To this end, Wu Depeng, a native of the same county, wrote "Dongxiang Lamentations" to sacrifice it: Woo The government of Taishou is fiercer than that of the tiger, and the order of the general is poisoned by the dragon, leaving no room for it, causing a disaster. Zeng Ji frequently urged rent collectors to catch people in the village at night. The county magistrate sat on the hall, and the clamp net was high and fearful. Miserable, the people can cry, haotian is not hanging, the fertile soil is not ripe. There is no wheat this year, no grain in the next year, a wife and a beard, and a sore and flesh. Just for Xi can be exempted, the messenger suddenly came, the cloud is my emperor's conquest of BoHai, Hu wei's neighbors are inconsistent, the streets and alleys are talking to each other, and most of the county officials are happy to fish for Mu. People's Name: The chief of the lawsuit, the chief does not inspect; the lawsuit has the north, and the north does not accept. Return to the weeping city and the city is about to collapse, so resentful of the people of Haikeling! The haze and the moon are not open, there are dead breath weeping ghosts, stupid people make up a rogue meter too left, vibrate their arms and call out to the followers, say that the flesh of the ink order sleeps on its skin, who knows otherwise can know. Woohoo! The county officials are too defensive of Bai, the rabbit is dead and the fox is sad, too defensive to think of the city to get rid of the rabbit, and the resignation of the people is pushed in the ditch. There was a great disturbance at noon next to Yushu, and the company camp was anxious to spark. General Li, the son of the Xie clan, was sentenced to human and poultry from then on. Xie Jun cavitated the ape crane and went, and the rain was wet and hungry. Under the season order, sweep the realm and hoe the roots, do not teach the net, burn the jade, the law is terrifying, the fate is lowly and dignified, dare to be obscure, and poison the living beings. He swept the crowd out of the crowd, killed people like grass and did not hear a sound, fathers and brothers and children became ghosts, and all families were destroyed. The souls of the souls go to the bandits, the women are sad and destroyed by others, and they must not complain about death, and who teaches their husbands and wives to regret it. To this day, Tian Lu and other mounds, biphosphorus white bones are long and tired. Hating General Lee alone, the city gate was on fire and the pond fish was frightened. The notice even boasted of Kai, and the group of ugly people washed and cleaned huang chi qing. Yu Yue: Today's officials are all violent, raising Kou sheng to raise soldiers, wenchen abusing cool martial arts and xi, not afraid of Quantai Mu complaining about disputes. I am now singing wildly, talking about wine and tears as a summoning soul.
(Sichuan opera "Bashan Xiucai")
Many years later, Wei Minglun, a famous contemporary playwright known as the "Bashu Freak", created the Sichuan opera work "Bashan Xiucai" with the theme of "Dongxiang Blood Case", which was successively put on the stage and screen. The plot is: In the second year of Guangxu in the late Qing Dynasty, during the period when the empress dowager of the two palaces was hanging down the curtain and listening to the government, Bashan was drought for many years, Sun Yutian of Zhixian County swallowed up the relief grain, and the hungry people could not plan for relief, and wanted to ask the old Xiucai Meng Dengke to write a petition. Wang Dengke did not hear anything out of the window, bent on reading only the Eight Strands of Books, and politely refused the hungry people's requests. In order to cover up the crime of embezzlement, Sun Yutian rushed to the province to lie about the people's rebellion in Bashan, and the governor of Sichuan, Hengbao, did not check the facts and ordered it to be suppressed. The named Admiral Li Youheng obeyed the order and led his troops to wash bashan in blood. Meng Dengke witnessed the gradual awakening of the tragedy, from Mingzhe to defend himself to fight righteousness. However, Meng Dengke was full of nerds, did not understand the mysteries of the officialdom, conspired with the tiger, and was nearly killed. Fortunately, bashan Ge Ji Ni Pei mediated from it and rescued the nerd. Meng Dengke thought bitterly, faced the dripping blood, resolutely abandoned his meritorious name, painfully changed his pedantic habits, and skillfully used the opportunity of the Chengdu provincial examination to write a grievance on the examination paper. The chief examiner Zhang Zhidong and the Governor of Sichuan Hengbao had a long-standing grudge, and took advantage of the situation to play a role, returning to Beijing to play directly, shaking the imperial court, causing infighting between the two palaces, forcing Ci to send the prince into Sichuan, investigate and deal with unjust imprisonment, and calm the people's anger.
Here we can see that although the Sichuan opera "Bashan Xiucai" takes the "Dongxiang Blood Case" as the theme, it has completely transcended historical events and sublimated into a work of art. Its "Bashan Xiucai" refers to Meng Dengke, not Yuan Tingjiao. "Extras" Yuan Blacksmith escaped to cover meng dengke, and was already hung in the third "slaughter of the city" in "Bashan Xiucai".
(Stills from "Bashan Hidecai")
Looking at the whole process of the "Dongxiang Blood Case", Lao Bake believes that "Bashan Xiucai" is the character Meng Dengke in the play, or it can be Dongxiang Xiucai, who participated in the Suiding Fu Examination and wrote the details of the blood case on the examination paper, and can also be Wu Zhen, Li Zongxi, Zhang Zhidong and other officials who are good and honest in eliminating violence and speaking out, but it cannot be Yuan Tingjiao. Yuan Tingjiao was born as a peasant blacksmith, which did not match the identity of "Xiucai". However, as a "grain hero", Yuan Tingjiao was not afraid of life and death, fought righteously in Beijing, and avenged injustice for the people, and could sing and cry, which is worthy of eternal remembrance by the people of Dongxiang. As for the montage techniques of the "Bashan Xiucai" statue and the inscription, they are general and complement each other. What are your views on this, welcome to leave a message below.