People who like history know that there are many strange things in the last years of the dynasty. At the end of each dynasty, something strange happens that frightens the teeth of future generations and leaves a trail of historical mysteries.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, similar strange things also appeared, not one by two, but in a series of successive appearances, adding a bit of mystery and strangeness to this dynasty that was about to reach the end of its life.
In the ninth year of Tongzhi, that is, in 1870 AD, there was a huge case of the assassination of Ma Xinyi, the governor of Liangjiang and the feudal governor of the territory, which shocked the government and the public and attracted the attention of the whole country.
However, when Empress Dowager Cixi ordered a strict investigation at this time, the trial personnel said from the side: "If you continue to investigate, the Great Qing will be finished." "What the hell is going on here?" Take a look with #Fancy History Jun!
First, there is Ma Xinyi, a feudal official who has no return
Ma Xinyi, a native of Heze, Shandong, was born as a jinshi and was an official in Anhui, quite famous, when the Taiping Army attacked Anhui, he organized his own army to resist, made meritorious contributions many times, and became one of the few imperial court generals who were not from the Xiang Army or the Huai Army, and won the trust of Empress Dowager Cixi and others.
After winning many battles in Shengjiaqiao, SanheZhen, and Gargao, Ma Xinyi occupied Luzhou, promoted him to the prefect of Luzhou, gave Hua Ling, and became one of the most powerful people in Anhui, sitting on an equal footing with Zeng Guofan of the Xiang Army and Li Hongzhang of the Huai Army at that time.
In the subsequent military career, Ma Xinyi had several ups and downs, and finally completed the leap from a local petty official to a feudal official, which was rare in the Manchu Qing court with real military merit, and Empress Dowager Cixi attached great importance to him, so she entrusted him with a heavy responsibility and made him the governor of Liangjiang.
However, when he went to work, he obviously felt extremely stressed in his heart, so he told his family who was about to say goodbye that he was afraid that he would not be able to return this time.
The reason why he had such an idea was because Ma Xinyi knew too well the official situation at that time, he was just a pawn of the Manchu Qing court against the Xianghuai Army, even if there was Empress Dowager Cixi behind her back, but to go to the place controlled by the other side to become an official, it was bound to be extremely dangerous.
Sure enough, shortly after he took office, Ma Xinyi was assassinated in broad daylight by a man named Zhang Wenxiang.
However, the strange thing is that after Zhang Wenxiang assassinated Ma Xinyi, he did not flee immediately, but waited for the officers and soldiers to arrest him in the same place.
What is even more bizarre is that after Zhang Wenxiang was hastily tried by local officials, he convicted Zhang Wenxiang of "slipping through the net and committing rebellion" and "restoring pirates", and then executed Zhang Wenxiang, stripped Zhang Wenxiang of his heart, placed it on Ma Xinyi's grave for memorialization, and gave his family a thick pension.
2. Empress Dowager Cixi vowed to track down the mastermind behind the scenes
Although the murderer had already been brought to justice, the clever Empress Dowager Cixi knew that things were not so simple, so she arranged for her most trusted Manchu Qing ministers to dig out the secrets behind this, hoping to find out the real mastermind and get justice for her most trusted minister.
In addition, Cixi also wanted to use this incident to suppress Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang in order to consolidate her rule.
Since the outbreak of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the foundation of Manchu rule has been completely shaken, and the Eight Banner Army and the Green Camp Army on which they depend for their livelihood have been embarrassed and useful, and finally had to rely on the armed forces of Han landlord officials to suppress the Taiping Army, of which the Xiang Army and the Huai Army had the strongest momentum and became the absolute force to suppress the Taiping Army.
After the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Xiang army made a lot of war wealth up and down, which made many people in the Manchu Qing court red-eyed, and what made Empress Dowager Cixi even more uneasy was that the strength of the Han army would inevitably affect the long-term peace and stability of the imperial court, so ma Xinyi, the Han minister she trusted most, sat in Liangjiang in an attempt to use Han to control Han.
However, soon after Ma Xinyi took office, he was assassinated by Zhang Wenxiang, so that Empress Dowager Cixi's elaborate layout was destroyed, how could this tone be endured, so she desperately wanted to track down the truth and find the mastermind behind it.
What Empress Dowager Cixi did not expect was that this decision of her own almost ruined the future of the Qing Dynasty.
After the end of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the Manchu Qing government had become a walking dead on the verge of extinction, and the government that had rotted from the roots showed great decay in all aspects and no longer had the vigor and vitality that a dynasty should have.
The subsequent Sino-French War and the Sino-Japanese War revealed such an outcome, especially the undefeated defeat of the Sino-French War, which made the Qing Dynasty the biggest joke in the world, making countless Chinese people beat their chests and suffer from the cowardice and corruption of this dynasty.
All of this was caused by the Manchu Qing court headed by Empress Dowager Cixi, who also became a sinner in history and left a stink for thousands of years, becoming the object of scorn by everyone in future generations.
Cixi brought the Chinese nation into the abyss of suffering, forty million compatriots became the object of slaughter, countless wealth and lives disappeared, and the darkest period in history came.
The Manchu Qing Dynasty also finally fell after a few decades, becoming the best footnote to the Ma Xinyi Incident.
The best footnote to the mussel incident.