In different historical periods and regions, the title of "bandit" is also different, for example, the robbers in the "Sui and Tang Dynasties" are called "Xiangma" (Qin Qiong (Shandong), the founding hero of the Tang Dynasty and now worshiped as a door god, and the good Han of Wagangzhai is the ancient Xiangma, and the local opera "Zizi" in Shandong has the song brand name "Xiangma"); for example, the strongmen who gather in the mountains and forests in "Water Margin" are called "Mountain Thieves Caokou", and the tall and high point is called "Green Forest Good Han", the leader of the family, and the title of the official.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the people, it was also a chaotic world, bandits sprang up everywhere, and in the northeast, those who pulled the pole were called "beards".
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, the people also said that "Shandong has a horse, and Henan will be a general". "Shandong Xiangma" is well understood, because of the popularity of "Sui and Tang Dynasties", many great heroes of the late Sui and Early Tang dynasties were born in Shandong". "Ringing horse", in ancient times, refers to the robbers who block the road and rob, and the strong bandits are mostly horse thieves, named because of the arrows fired during robbery, also known as "ringing horses". As soon as the arrow is fired, the horse bandits will kill and rob the goods.
According to scholars, the word "ringing horse" originally originated from Shandong, and it is said that since the Eastern Han Dynasty, bandits in Shandong have hung bells around the neck of horses, and the horses have run up, and the bells are very loud, so they call bandits ringing horses. There have been many great peasant uprisings in Shandong's history, and some people have called Xiangma a synonym for heroes and good men. In fact, many of the ringing horses were not bandits, but mostly rebels.
The reason why Shandong has more "ringing horses" is also related to the persecution of the government. For example, the "horse government" of the Ming Dynasty was one of the direct promoters of the "Xiangma". At that time, the government promoted the "folk herding" of horses, that is, in Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui and other places, there was a number of foals that should be paid, if not enough, the horse farmers had to pay compensation, and many horse farmers broke up their homes and turned into "ringing horses" to make a living.
In ancient times, bandits on horseback appeared in shandong, and before committing crimes, they often said, "Officers and soldiers are not happy with me!" Shandong Xiangma's "most wonderful" appearance in modern times was the sensational international Lincheng carjack launched by Sun Meiyao in May 1923.
"Ringing Horse" is the familiar bandit, so what is the ghost of "Trampling General"? To put it bluntly, "trampling general" is also another name for bandits. Why are the bandits in Henan called "trampling generals"? There are not many historical records, and Zhu Xinfan has a relevant interpretation of this in his book "China's Rural Economic Relations and Its Characteristics": "The people of Henan call the bandits 'Lao Tang', I don't know what it means, they mention 'Lao Tang', they talk about tiger discoloration. ”
The reason why henan people (to be precise, Yuxi people) call bandits "lao tang" is also a clue. Because during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, in the mountainous areas of southwest Henan where banditry activities were most frequent, a considerable number of young peasants worked all year round, and every winter agricultural leisure season, they were recruited to engage in the repair and maintenance of farmland irrigation projects such as terraces and ditches.
These people are known locally as "squatters". Once the work is reduced and there is nothing to do, the team of squatters is very easy to become pole bandits, so that the line between the two becomes more and more blurred, so in the dialect of Lushan, bandits are collectively called "trampling generals".
In the early years of the Republic of China, the most famous general was Bai Lang, the leader of the green forest in Baofeng County, Henan Province, who organized a group of peasants to revolt with him. From Yu, Anhui, and Hubei to Qin and Gansu, the entire journey passed through 5 provinces and successfully won more than 50 large and small cities, but unfortunately lost to Duan Qirui and died in 1914.
After 1949, the people's government vigorously cracked down on bandits, so the beards, horses and tramplers that were once in the limelight all died with the wind and disappeared into the depths of history.
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